Bay might return Tuesday
New York Mets' Jason Bay sits on the bench during the second inning of a spring training baseball game against the St. Louis Cardinals. (March 2, 2011) Credit: AP
ATLANTA -- Now that Jason Bay is playing for Class A St. Lucie, it won't be long before he's back in Queens. The Mets believe that could be as soon as Tuesday for the start of the next homestand.
Bay was put on the 15-day disabled list March 31, backdated to March 25, because of a left rib-cage strain suffered during the final week of spring training. He has been eligible to come off the list since April 9. Although the injury was not expected to be severe, general manager Sandy Alderson said Wednesday that Bay wouldn't be ready until April 26 at the earliest.
Either Alderson was trying to temper expectations or Bay has shown rapid improvement in Florida, because he began playing in extended spring games Friday before switching to the St. Lucie affiliate. "He's been swinging, he's been hitting, he's been throwing, he's been running," Terry Collins said. "He's done everything. Now it's just some game at-bats."
With Bay scheduled to play Saturday and Sunday, that would pave the way for his Tuesday return -- if everything proceeds as planned, of course. "Ideally, in a perfect world, yeah," Collins said. "You know, right now it's not really perfect."
Emaus watch
Brad Emaus, whose days with the Mets now appear numbered, didn't do much in Game 1 of Saturday's doubleheader. He got the start against Braves righthander Derek Lowe, went 0-for-4 to drop his average to .176 and stranded four runners. In the sixth inning, with Willie Harris on third as the tying run, Emaus popped up weakly to second for the third out.
Daniel Murphy started Game 2 at second base with righthander Jair Jurrjens on the mound for Atlanta.
More time for Beltran?
Carlos Beltran started both games of the doubleheader and told Collins he'd like to start all three games of the Atlanta series. Collins believes he is on his way to becoming more of an everyday player in the near future.
"We wanted to monitor his workload so he could become that," Collins said, "instead of forcing it now, and then all of a sudden in the middle of the summer have him say the wear and tear in April is going to limit me from playing every day."
