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Jason Bay Is Fitting in Well in Boston

Oct 4, 2008 – 12:10 PM
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Pat Lackey

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For a few years, Jason Bay was baseball's best kept secret. In 2005, he mashed his way to a .306/.402/.559 line that gave him the fifth highest VORP in either league, yet he only finished 12th in National League MVP balloting because he played in the anonymity of Pittsburgh. The next year, he had a stretch in May in which he homered 10 times in 10 days, but the Pirates lost seven of those games and no one took notice. He's in the midst of another hot streak right now, and people are finally noticing because he's now a member of the Boston Red Sox and the hot streak is happening in the ALDS.

In Bay's first two playoff games he's got five hits in nine at-bats, including a huge two-run home run with the Red Sox down 1-0 in the sixth inning of Game 1 an a three-run homer that gave the Red Sox a 4-0 lead in the first inning of Game 2. Two days ago, someone asked Bay how he felt about playing in a playoff game and he responded,"I don't know, I haven't played a game yet." I'm guessing he'd give a different answer right now.

Jason Bay is not a better hitter than Manny Ramirez. It's stupid to try and argue that he is. Whether or not you think Manny Ramirez was a distraction to the Red Sox before he was traded is up to you, but the Sox seems pretty convinced that he was. Right now, I don't think they're upset with their choice.
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