Tip of the Cap.

Jason Bay was awarded the Tip O'Neill Award by the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame. The award is given to the best Canadian playing the game of baseball. It's Bay's third go-round, as he won in 2004 and 2005. So congratulations to him.

Come Back Bay.

Jason Bay is an extremely streaky hitter and when he goes cold, he goes cold but when he's hitting, there's no one better. Witness: Jason Bay received his first silver slugger award today. I really do think that they need to bring him back. Congratulations to Jason.

Big Words.

The opening shots have been fired in the Jason Bay Free Agency Conflict and Bay's agent, Joe Urbon, has apparently come out swinging. Says Urbon:

"I think the only defensive statistic that I know for sure that is easily measurable is outfield assists and errors committed, and Jason is just the third outfielder in major league history to lead the league in outfield assists while not creating an error all season, the last guy being Carl Yastrzemski. It used to be that those statistics were enough. In baseball we all need a better evaluation of defensive ability but the defensive metrics we have out there are so debatable, and in most cases proprietary, that it is hard to quantify a player’s ability to play defense."

Outfield assists are a nice thing. No doubt about that. And to tell you the truth, I didn't realize that Bay had fifteen last season or that he lead the league. But c'mon errors? Errors are a crap statistic. They're subjective on the part of the scorekeeper and therefore are not easily quantifiable. And I'll say that it also drives me nuts that it's not public information how zone ratings are figured out--how can I trust that they don't just pull the numbers out of a hat, if I can't plug in the numbers myself. But let's be realistic, Jason Bay is no Yaz.

“Jason Bay is a serviceable outfielder. That’s what we know. We know that Jason bay can play left field. Some will say he’s average, some will say he’s below average. But he’s certainly not a DH or, as someone described him, a hockey goalie out there.”

Ok. I'll give you that it's not going to kill the team to put him in left field; he's not dead weight. Plus, you've got a rangy centerfielder who takes away the need for Bay to ever move to his left. (Meanwhile Jacoby apparently has defensive issues of his own.) I wouldn't call him a hockey goalie, though. A statue? Maybe. But not a hockey goalie. Toward the end of the season they played a game with Josh Reddick in left. Someone hit a little bloop to short left and Reddick came charging in and caught the ball. It was by no means an amazing catch (maybe it was down by his knees) and wouldn't normally have been a play of any note but I was stunned, absolutely stunned that it wasn't a base hit. I guess it shows that you can get used to god awful defense.

Look, I like Bay. I do. He seems like a perfectly nice fellow. I certainly wouldn't be adverse to them bringing him back. But no matter how you spin it, defense has never been Jason Bay's strong suit. Plus he strikes out too much.

A-Ring-a-Ding-Ding.

I think I get it (or at least can justify it). The theme of Mike Lowell's fundraiser was "A Night at the Copa". The Copa was popular in the 40s and 50s. With those blue eyes, Jason Bay wasn't going to pass for Sammy Davis Jr. or Dean Martin. And what Frank Sinatra impersonation would be complete without an iridescent fedora? At least, I hope that's what he was going for and that that hat is not a part of his everyday going out wardrobe.

Oni.

Jason Bay shared his thoughts on the All-Star game in blog form with Rob Bradford and crew. It's actually mostly well written. Anyway, he shares a couple of stories but I literally cackled when I read this one:

"Workout day, I run back in from the field to get sunglasses. Locker room completely empty except Ichiro stretching on the floor and his translator sitting on the chair beside him. So we make small talk, and I ask him where he lives in Seattle because I lived in the suburbs.


Well, I had barely got the last word out when Ichiro says something in Japanese. Then his translator turns to me, deadpanned and straight-faced and says, “I’m going to mess with your house.” The way he said it was malicious, and Ichiro is on the floor dying laughing like it was the funniest thing ever. I was just like, “OK, I’ll see you guys out there.” I didn’t know what to say. It was weird."

Who would have thought that inside the little guy with the Oh-my-God-I-really-have-to-pee batting stance lived a trouble maker? And that he would unleash said trouble maker on a poor, unsuspecting, gentle Canadian? Or that casual Ichiro looked like that?

USA! USA!

"When have you ever heard anyone say, 'Honey, let's stay in and order Canadian food'?" --From Canadian Bacon.

Jay Ray Bay joined the cause this afternoon by officially becoming an American citizen. Congratulations to him.

Things That Would Be Awesome.

Jason Bay took the US citizenship test a week ago and passed with flying colors. Sadly, when asked if he would be replicating Manny's citizenship celebration, he quickly shot down the idea:

"I don't think I'll do that."

Bad photoshop skills aside, how awesome would that have been?

We Have Ways of Making You Pronounce the Letter O.

<br/><a href="http://video.msn.com/video.aspx?mkt=en-US&amp;brand=foxsports&amp;vid=86f42a2d-b40c-4e57-b6cb-c43755959e1b" target="_new" title="Red Sox hook Marlins">Video: Red Sox hook Marlins</a>

Jay Ray Bay may attempt to cover his pasty, Caspar-inspired complexion (with the exception of his ass which is, apparently, quite red) with a suntan and a ginger five o'clock shadow. He may spread rumors of behind the scenes blowups and call Josh Beckett a dick (presumably) in an effort to combat the image of an exceedingly nice, polite young man. But a leopard can't change it's spots and Jason Bay can't be un-Canadian. Ask him about hockey and his face just lights up.

Cold Front from Canada.

Jason Bay was incredibly hot against the Yankees. But he might prefer to not be. Says Bay of the rainy, raw weather in New York over the past couple of days:

“I’d much rather have weather like that than that 95 degrees and humidity, which I know sounds strange. This is like a spring-summer day back where I come from.”

Hee!

Also, I'm fairly certain that he lives outside of Seattle in the off-season which would explain the love of rain.

Uncle.

Sometimes when you get one-hit by a guy with a salivary gland problem and your, supposedly, great pitching staff can't seem to figure anything out, you have to turn to the guy on your roster with the most experience in losing. And so we look to Jason Bay for advice and he tells us:

This One Goes to Eleven.

The Pirates hired a new pitching coach in the form of Joe Kerrigan over the winter (who is actually good at his job) and have, consequently, gotten themselves off to a nice little start. This hadn't been the case in Pittsburgh for quite awhile, for proof of which you only have to look as far as Jason Bay. Bay was so excited at the prospect of nine wins in a row that he just couldn't hold it in:

"I was in the shower talking and I said to someone, ‘I don’t know how many 9-0 homestands you’ve been part of, but not me.’”

Let the slash fiction writing commence. It's not my thing, so I don't know who you'd pair him with but to each her own.

Seriously: I can't imagine what he's up to now that they've stretched it to eleven games.

Jason Bay: Not Totally Used to Winning Yet.

I suppose it's only natural given the fact that he's been the best player playing on losing teams for four and a half-ish years. How could you blame him if he doesn't expect to come away with the win if things start going downhill? In that mentality a win like last night's is unexpected, to say the least. Everybody else assumed that the season would get turned around at some point but Bay must have had a little niggling thought at the back of his brain that he was losing again. Said Bay of last night comeback:

"I think most guys haven't really soaked it up yet. I think that's a potential season-changing win."

You're not in Pittsburgh anymore, darling.

New Nickname.

Physically, Jason Bay does not look like he would be (at best) an average defensive left-fielder. He's not overweight. He looks like he can run. His arm doesn't seem to have any deficiencies that would prevent him from throwing in a strong and accurate manner.

At first glance, his problems would seem to be instinctual. He doesn't always seem to get a good read on the ball off the bat. This slows down his response time and he's late going to retrieve the ball-in-play. Whats more, when he does decide to go get a ball he sometimes doesn't take the most efficient route toward catching it. Don't get me wrong, Jason Bay is clawing his way to the top of my list of favorite players but this was the impression I was left with of him after last season.

Turns out I was wrong. Jason Bay's issues aren't physical and they aren't instinctual. As this photo will attest, they're emotional. Jason Bay is afraid of the baseball. So Bay and I have something in common: I have never been not afraid of a foul ball hit in my general direction (three or four sections over and I'm still probably cowering).

It reminds me of a Popsicle-stick joke that I loved when I was in third grade (and really sharing the joke is the point of this post):

Question: Why was Cinderella bad at baseball?

Answer: Here at the old blog, where I may have to return if things go sour again.

Long Day.

I managed to roll out of bed shortly after 5:00 this morning (in my effort to reset my alarm clock to go off at 4:45, I somehow managed to set it for 2:45 instead) in order to catch Daisuke Matsuzaka's start. Matsuzaka struggled through the first of his four innings, throwing twenty-nine pitches and giving up a two-run home run. But he kept it together and made it through the next three frames cleanly. He did continue to have an issue with being up 0-2 only to suddenly find himself 3-2. He did throw some really pretty pitches, though. Overall, he gave up four hits and walked only two batters. Opinions on the outing were varied. Francona said:

"He looked okay. He threw a couple good breaking balls. Left a couple over the middle of the plate the first inning. A little shaky first inning, 29-pitch first inning, gave up some hard hits in the second, but they had a baserunning error. Then he settled down and got eight of the last nine guys out."

Matsuzaka, a little more blunt than Francona, labeled his performance as:

"Not good at all. I was so happy to get the three-run lead in the first."

Japan won 14-2 in a mercy-ruled seven inning game. Their next game is Monday at 5:30 AM as they now await the winner of tomorrow morning's Korea v. China game.

That? That was a lot of fun. The Dutch play some really good baseball. Who knew? I started the game rooting for both teams. I switched sides, cheering for whichever team happened to be hitting; but by the third inning, I was firmly behind Team Netherlands. Then Pedro Martinez came out and I was rooting for stasis--Pedro doesn't give up any runs and the Dominicans don't score any either. Pedro looked good. In the eighth inning baby pitcher Dennis Neuman did an impressive job for Team Netherlands. He threw eighteen pitches, ten of them strikes. He walked one batter but got two fly-outs and a strike out. As for David Ortiz, he went 0 for 2 (both ground outs) with two walks (one intentional). The guys at ESPN, who often don't know what they're talking about, said that he had been penciled in at first but was DHing instead because he had a sore shoulder. But since no one else who might actually know has said anything about it, I'll ignore it. Tomorrow Team Dominican Republic will attempt to atone for today's loss with a win against Panama at 4:30 PM.

Lastly, in what was not a well-played game at all, Team USA chipped and bloodied their fingernails as they clung to their lead to beat Team Canada 6-5. Batting lead off, Dustin Pedroia went one for five; his one hit was a double. Kevin Youkilis (who seems to be going back to the goatee) went one for two, with two walks; his one hit was a home run. He did strike out with the bases loaded. But he also scored three times in the game. On the other side, Jason Bay played center field and didn't seem to make a half-bad job of it. At the plate he was 0 for 2 with three walks and a strike out.

World News.

As a result of iffy pitching, Team Dominican Republic fell to the Orioles 6-1 this afternoon. Johnny Cueto gave up a three-run home run in the first inning from which his team was unable to recover. He did manage to give them an additional two innings without causing further damage. He was replaced by dear old Pedro Martinez. From the box score it didn't look good for Petey, he gave up a couple of doubles and a single in his first inning. But Sports Illustrated says it wasn't too terrible: a gift double, an RBI double, and an RBI single. He then got three fly outs to end the inning. When he came back out for the fifth inning, he walked the lead off batter but got two strike outs and another fly out. Besides being team cheerleader, David Ortiz contributed two hits (both singles) from his four at bats. He also hit a long fly ball for an out.

Team Canada didn't fare any better against the Phillies, losing 9-2. As was generally suspected, Canada will be at the mercy of their pitching for this tournament. With Adam Stern playing center (and doing nicely at the plate, he was 3 for 5 with an RBI), Jason Bay was moved back to left field. He didn't have any more success at the plate, however. He ended up 0 for 2, with a walk. But no strike outs, so that's good.

Neither Kevin Youkilis nor Dustin Pedroia made it into today's Team USA 6-5 loss to Toronto. And, although Puerto Rico beat Tampa 2-1, Javier Lopez has yet to see any action.

Around the World.

Team Dominican Republic played an exhibiton game this afternoon against the Florida Marlins, which they won 10-1. David Ortiz went 1 for 3, with 1 RBI as the result of a pinch hit single in the fifth inning. I normally don't feel bad for Alex Rodriguez but this statement:

"It's nice for me to come in and try to jell as much as I can. So far, so good."

made me laugh. Translation: "I could do a little jig, they don't hate me yet. It's awesome."

Unfortunataly for Rodriguez, the Yankees, and Hanley Ramirez (who greatly enjoys the protection afforded him by Rodriguez' presence in the lineup), this evening the Yankees shipped Alex off the Colorado to have a cyst in his hip examined which may preclude him from playing in the tournament.

Meanwhile, Team USA beat the Yankees 6-5. Dustin Pedroia went 1 for 4, with a strike out and a walk. He was also caught stealing. Kevin Youkilis went 1 for 3, with 2 RBI. He was also on the receiving end of a Derek Jeter balletic spin-throw that didn't quite make it all the way to first base and took a funny hop when it bounced back up to him. And as a result, Youkilis couldn't quite come up with it, much to Michael Kay's delight. Youkilis did manage to have a "what the hell?" kind of look on his face, though.

Team Canada was also in action today. They beat Toronto 6-4. Playing centerfield, Jason Bay went 0 for 1, with a strike out and two walks. He also scored a run.

Bits and Pieces: Twinies.

Two little pieces of news on look-alikes Jason Bay and Jed Lowrie today.

Jed Lowrie has (presumably) returned home to Oregon for the holiday. While there, he stopped by his old middle school to participate in an assembly in his honor.

The Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum (who knew that such a place existed?) gives out the Tip O'Neil Award to the best Canadian player in professional baseball and among those being considered? Jason Bay. Bay took home the award twice before in 2004 and 2005. The public is encouraged to vote (they didn't make it very easy though.) The award will be announced on December 12.

Happy Thanksgiving Jason Bay!

I went to Montreal for New Year's Eve when I was a freshman in college. It was only for a few days but as a portal to the world of legalized drinking and gambling, it was more than enough time. The closest I've come to Canada since then was driving about an hour into Vermont on 91-North.

But I love Thanksgiving. Any holiday that prominently features the wonder of the miraculous cranberry is alright by me. In fact, I come from a long line of Thanksgiving-lovers. Consequently, we've been celebrating Canadian Thanksgiving, in addition to real Thanksgiving, in my family for years. It might not be a proper Canadian Thanksgiving (we don't know any Canadians so we don't know how they do up the holiday) but that certainly hasn't stopped us.

With the safe arrival of the wee one, Jason Bay certainly has a lot to be thankful for this year. So, from a person who has no problem pretending to be Canadian one day a year to a real Canadian: an enthusiastic wave in the general direction of Fenway and a hearty "Happy Thanksgiving!"

Mike Lowell's Competition.

Jason Bay has nothing on Mike Lowell in the looks department. He doesn't have a smile that makes you melt. He's a little bit shorter. He's fair. His cheekbones are a little too prominent and his brow slopes a little too steeply. Nonetheless, he's giving Mike Lowell a run for his money in attractive-ness.

Part of the appeal of Mike Lowell is his supremely dry wit and the brain in his head. Mike Lowell can do math and, for a ballplayer, that's been enough for me. Academically, Jason Bay has been proving himself. He's a man that can reach into his brain when searching for a word and easily grasp 'unbeknownst' or, more impressively, 'onus'. And, as it turns out, has a kick-ass sense of humor.

The most recent issue of Sports Illustrated has an article about Jason Bay. The article contains the following tidbit:

"Afterward, when Bay was asked at the press conference about the two strikeouts that preceded the home run, he said, "That's a big part of my game."

Seriously: Why wasn't this on t.v.? And if it was on t.v., then how the hell did I miss it? Because that is fabulous. Absolutely friggin' fabulous.

Bayball.

In his one foray into baseball (before abandoning it in favor of Calvinball), Calvin made a start in left field. Thankfully, the similarity to Jason Bay ends there. Calvin sucked at baseball and, so far, Bay hasn't.