Bay can't seem to break out with Mets

This was a situation that begged for a slugger with Jason Bay's resume, someone who has proved himself in past seasons to come through with a big run-scoring hit.

Trailing by three, the Mets had the bases loaded with two outs in the seventh inning yesterday when the cleanup spot came up. So Bay stepped in to face Dodgers righthander Kenley Jansen, a hard-throwing 23-year-old who as recently as two years ago was a catcher in the minors, not a pitcher.

Surely this was the exact spot the Mets envisioned Bay being perfect for back when they signed him two winters ago, but do they feel the same way now? Can you blame them if they're not so sure anymore?

Bay has been anything but the run producer the Mets thought they were getting when they gave him a four-year, $66-million contract. And he knows it, too.

"Yeah, absolutely, I'm still waiting to just . . . I don't know . . . be consistent," Bay said. "Ever since I've been here it's been one good game and then it's always something."

When Bay walked to the batter's box to face Jansen, he admittedly allowed himself to think this could be his breakout moment. That didn't help matters, of course.

After working the count into his favor at 2-and-1, Bay practically drooled at the thought of getting a fastball he could drive. He dreamed big. Might this be his turning point as a Met?

"The 2-1 swing I took kind of reflected that," Bay said. "You get caught up in it. The guy's throwing hard and then you swing a little harder than you should."

And bad things usually happen. Bay missed his pitch to hit and was forced to go on the defensive. That's the story of his Mets career so far. Right when he thinks he's on the verge of coming through, something happens to make him feel as if he's playing catch-up.

Now facing a 2-and-2 count, and still knowing how badly the Mets needed those baserunners to score, Bay's goal suddenly became to make contact and, well, hope for the best.

"It was like, 'OK, try to put the ball in play and find a hole,' " he said.

Jansen threw another cutter, and this time Bay got his bat on it, though not enough to do any damage. Off the end of the bat, Bay pulled a floating liner to leftfield for the third out. So much for him breaking out.

After hitting just .259 with a .347 on-base percentage and .402 slugging percentage in a concussion-shortened first season with the Mets, Bay is off to an even worse start in year number two.

Through 14 games he's hitting .241 with a .317 on-base percentage and .352 slugging percentage. And he has only one extra-base hit in his last 44 at-bats.

Of his poor start, Bay said, "you try not to dwell on it," recognizing that 54 at-bats still represent a very small sample size. But he's also eager to prove he's a better player than Mets fans have seen, and he believed he was in a good place at the plate before an oblique injury landed him on the disabled list to start the season.

"Obviously the way this season started didn't propel me to a great starting platform, but that's not an excuse because you've done it long enough," Bay said. "That's the tough thing. I haven't started the way I've wanted to but it's also been two weeks. I'm trying not to base it on that."

Now, once again, Bay has found himself playing from behind. And as tough as it is to watch, think about how suffocating it must be to live through.