Mets' Bay having no problem fitting in

The magnetic pull of the Red Sox uniform seized hold of Jason Bay one final time during batting practice on a March afternoon at Digital Domain Park.

David Wright and Jeff Francoeur were among the Mets who mixed with the visiting Boston players near the on-deck circle. They stood and chatted with David Ortiz, Dustin Pedroia and J.D. Drew between trips inside the cage.

But long after Wright and Francoeur spun away and headed toward their own side of the field, Bay remained, almost as if he had forgotten that his uniform was blue and not red. A few minutes passed before Francoeur, peering out from the Mets' dugout, noticed that Bay still was talking with his former teammates.

"Hey," the smiling Francoeur yelled over, "cut the cord!"

Hearing that, Bay finally hustled over and hopped down the dugout steps. Catching up to Francoeur, he joked about his last, lingering moments of Red Sox nostalgia.

"That was the last snip right there," Bay said.

And with that episode, it was finished. Bay had closed the book on his Boston career, an 18-month stretch in which he replaced an icon in Manny Ramirez and left Red Sox Nation mourning his departure.

That's no small feat. But it comes naturally for Bay, whose casual demeanor and laid-back style make him a self-described "chameleon," able to adjust and thrive in any surroundings.

It was a valuable survival skill when the Pirates shipped Bay into a boiling pennant race midway through the 2008 season, and that personality is helping him again as the 31-year-old leftfielder settles back with the Mets.

"In a perfect world, given the chance to pick a spot where you have the best chance to acclimate, spring training is the place," Bay said. "It's a lot less serious early on. There's a lot of downtime. There's all these things that help you settle in, whereas if you jump in the middle of a season, everything's going 100 mph. Now you can kind of wade in instead of having to dive in, and it goes a lot further than you think."

With the Mets' obvious need in leftfield, their pursuit of Bay during the offseason was a no-brainer, and the two sides settled on a four-year, $66-million contract. They identified him early on as a better fit than Matt Holliday for spacious Citi Field, and team officials liked the fact that Bay could excel in the pressure-packed environment of baseball-crazy New England.

The numbers were self-explanatory. Bay slugged career highs in home runs (36) and RBIs (119) last season. The Phillies' Jayson Werth was the only other outfielder in the majors with as many homers, and Bay's RBI total was tops for the position.

His .537 slugging percentage was third among outfielders, behind the Phillies' Raul Ibañez (.552) and the Brewers' Ryan Braun (.551). His .921 OPS trailed only the Dodgers' Ramirez (.949) and Braun (.937).

This one may be of particular interest to the Mets: Only Alex Rodriguez drove in runs with greater frequency last season. Bay averaged an RBI every 4.46 at-bats; A-Rod did it at a 4.44 clip.

But even with the gaudy power numbers, Bay talks about the back of his baseball card in self-deprecating fashion, using his dry sense of humor.

Bay says he is terrible at hitting home runs in batting practice, almost as a warning to fans that they should not fret if they see him spraying pop-ups before games. He also shrugged off all the hype about the dimensions of Citi Field and how they might affect him in his first season playing there.

Red Sox manager Terry Francona, someone very familiar with Bay's high-flying drives, didn't sound too worried for him, either. "I don't know how that ballpark plays, to be honest with you," Francona said, "but I'll tell you what - when Jason Bay hits a home run, it's a home run."

For Bay, the offensive component is a given, and easily checked by calling up any number of Web sites. But the Mets also were concerned about how Bay would mesh with the current group in the clubhouse, and for that they polled a few of their players, including Francoeur.

"When they were thinking of signing Bay, they asked me about him," Francoeur said. "I knew he'd fit in perfect here."

In the weeks leading up to Opening Day, that quickly became apparent. Bay has shied away from the golf outings with his family in town - he has two daughters - but is a regular in clubhouse card games with Francoeur, Wright and Luis Castillo. Bay often is the one chasing down other players to join him in the equipment room for a quick game after batting practice.

"This is a great mix," Bay said. "A lot was made of the clubhouse before I got here, and I haven't seen any of it. That's not pointing a finger at anyone that's not here or anyone that still is here. It's not all about one guy. It's everybody kind of buying into it, the attitude and the culture in the clubhouse."

That's probably no coincidence now that Bay is on the Mets - as anyone from Boston probably can attest.