For one night, Bay makes Citi Field look like a bandbox

Suddenly, Citi Field doesn't feel that big anymore to Jason Bay. For one night, anyway, Bay made the spacious ballpark feel as cozy as his former home, Fenway Park, as he hammered a pair of home runs off the Yankees' CC Sabathia in the Mets' 6-4 victory over the Yankees.

Bay went deep for the first time since April 27 and the shot snapped a career-worst homerless drought of 108 at-bats. The multi-homer game was the 14th of his career.

"Who would have thought my third home run of the year would have been such a big talking point when I first signed here?" Bay said. "Given the environment, and tough pitcher, and a lot of stuff, it was kind of like a big exhale. Now I hope it's not a novelty anymore. We can just kind of move on and get to the day-to-day stories and not so much the one home run that I had."

In the second inning, with Alex Cora at second base, Bay clubbed a 2-and-1 changeup that traveled about five rows deep into the leftfield seats. The estimated distance was 405 feet and it still barely cleared the high wall that Bay has peppered many times.

"This place is interesting because on some days, it will carry and other days it doesn't," Bay said. "There's really no rhyme or reason. The flags don't tell you. It's not the weather. That's why I'm not changing my approach. Just grinding away."

Bay opened the fifth inning with his second shot, this time a long drive to right-centerfield that landed in the Mets' bullpen. But the Yankees didn't give him a chance at the hat trick. Sergio Mitre replaced Sabathia for the sixth inning, and with two outs, he nailed Bay on the left shoulder with an 0-and-1 pitch. It was a 75-mph curveball, but given Bay's earlier pounding of Sabathia, plate umpire Marvin Hudson immediately warned both benches.

Heading into the game, Bay's slugging percentage was a little light at .429 - he finished at .537 a year ago - but he still was hitting .298 and in the middle of a 14-game hitting streak at Citi Field.

He went 4-for-4 with a double in Saturday's 5-3 win over the Yankees and was batting .400 (24-for-60) in his last 16 games.

Other than the size of the park itself, Bay had no issues with Citi Field, where he was hitting .356 with a .447 on-base percentage before Sunday. He was just waiting for his power numbers to catch up.

"My main thing was try not to press," said Bay, who has reached base in nine consecutive plate appearances. "To be the same guy, and it's nice to be rewarded with two home runs in a game. I feel a lot better. Obviously, one game helps. I can't get them all back at once. It's a process."

Maybe seeing the Yankees helped. After his first Subway Series, Bay is now a career .357 hitter against the Yankees with 10 doubles, two triples, six homers and 25 RBIs. "It's not something I do consciously," Bay said. "I'm not good enough to ramp it up team by team."

Still, neither Bay nor Mets manager Jerry Manuel expressed much concern about the dramatic drop-off. Manuel preferred to cite Bay's past production as an indicator of better days ahead. The manager definitely was happy about yesterday's developments.

"I'm sure he's as frustrated with the lack of power numbers as anyone," Manuel said Saturday. "I do believe that if a guy hits 36 one year, I do believe we're in for a good hot streak. I have faith in that."