Projo Sox Blog

The days of aspirin and shotguns may be over for Jason Bay.

No, no, it's not like that. The outfielder doesn't abuse either, as far as we know. That's just what the slumping Boston cleanup hitter feels the ball has looked like the last few weeks.

When things are good, Bay said, "Ball looks like a beach ball and stuff, and then there's the exact opposite of that, when it looks like an aspirin coming out of a shotgun, and you're really battling up there. That's kind of the way its been."

After a home run, a double, two runs and two stolen bases tonight, Bay hopes that there will be no need to reference Advil or Remington ever again.

"One game doesn't all of a sudden mean that things have completely turned, but definitely felt a lot better today than I had," he said.

Always a streaky hitter, Bay started off the year scorching hot. He was an early All-Star shoo-in after banging 19 home runs through June 23, and leading the league in RBI for much of the first half.

Then, the hits stopped. He notched only one RBI between the 23rd and July 6, only a handful of hits, and no home runs.

"I've been there before. I knew I wasn't going to hit 80 home runs," Bay said. "You don't sit there and wait for your slump to happen. But you know it's going to. It doesn't make it any easier going through it."

Years of being a streaky hitter have made him understand how to manage both the good times and bad.

"It's riding the hot streaks, manage the cold streaks, and then those 1-for-4 days in between," he said.

Bay has also gotten streaky on the basepaths. He's stolen three bases in the last two games, a surprising jolt of speed for a player who had only five to this point in the season. Bay is reasonably fast, having stolen 21 bases once with Pittsburgh, but a painful knee has limited him in recent seasons.

"I went through a spell there where my knee was bugging me a bit, and it felt like I was running through quicksand, I just had no first step. It didn't really enter the realm of thought that I was going to be stealing," he said.

Then, at the start of this year, he felt good, he started stealing every once in a while, and it got it in his head that he could do it a little bit more. When he's thinking steal, they come in bunches. When he's not, they simply don't come at all.

"I'm not going to steal 50, but I can sneak 15 in, in the right situations. But like I said, a lot of the time it's got to be the right situation, because I'm not fast enough to push the 'maybe' -- I've got to go for the 'highly likely'," he said.

If his slump is truly finished, he'll be on the basepaths a lot more, giving him ample opportunity to swipe second.

Of course, Bay is not officially ready to proclaim his slump over just yet.

"I'm not going to put a sign up on my locker or anything like that," Bay laughed.

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