Bay rediscovering his All-Star stroke

A little more than a week ago, Jason Bay sat down with hitting coach Dave Hudgens in an effort to find himself after nearly two years in limbo. By analyzing video from his 2009 season with the Red Sox, the two apparently have discovered the road map, and it now seems that Bay truly is pointed in the right direction this time.

Bay continued his transformative stretch with a pair of doubles and an RBI in the Mets' 5-4 win over the Cubs Friday night at Citi Field. After Manny Acosta blew the save in the ninth inning -- Bobby Parnell was used in a setup role -- Justin Turner delivered the walk-off RBI double with a long drive over the head of centerfielder Marlon Byrd.

With four doubles in five games, Bay matched his total for the previous 30, and he is batting .444 (12-for-27) over his last eight games with three home runs and 10 RBIs. Though Bay is regarded as a streaky hitter, he believes this is different from his other sporadic flashes earlier this season.

"I kind of feel like me," Bay said before Friday's game. "When I got on those streaks before I was still doing things that were not natural to me. Everything that we did had a purpose, but I started removing myself from what I did well.

"Everything we tried had merit -- it worked for a day or a week. But then all of a sudden, it was like, that's not it. It was like trying to force something."

So earlier this month, Hudgens matched up video clips of Bay's dominant season in Boston with his at-bats from this year. Bay was surprised to see how far he had devolved from that point, and by using the video as a blueprint, the two started working to get him back there by the end of September.

The results have come quickly. Last Friday, Bay snapped an 0-for-35 road skid with a long two-run homer at Nationals Park. He homered again two days later in Florida, and upon returning to Citi Field, he launched a grand slam in Game 1 of Thursday's doubleheader.

"He looks good," Hudgens said. "If there wasn't a track record there, you would say, I don't know. But he has a track record of being an All-Star. It's not like something you're trying to invent. It's something that's there. You've just got to get comfortable and confident."

As for his approach now compared to those Boston days, in comparing the video, Bay said, "They're not carbon copies, but there are some things that are similar." The trigger to his swing remains the positioning of his hands -- a strict adaptation from his Red Sox tenure -- but Bay also has employed a wider stance, which is a new wrinkle.

Another critical part of Bay's makeover during the past eight days or so has been his mindset. He's ditched the whole-field concept to get back to what made him a feared hitter in the first place.

"The biggest thing is I've been pulling the ball a lot, and pulling it with some authority, which in the first four months of the season I wasn't doing," Bay said. "I was a pull hitter that couldn't pull the ball."

"By doing this, maybe I won't be able to hit those line drives to second base on a regular basis. But who cares? If I roll over one to short, I roll one over to short. But if I get that one I should crush, I need to crush it, which is what I wasn't doing."

Johan pitches. Johan Santana stayed on course for a potential start with the Mets later this month by allowing two hits and one unearned run in Friday's rehab start for Class A Savannah. He had one walk and one strikeout while throwing 39 pitches, including 27 strikes.