Even when Jason Bay does what he’s supposed to, it doesn’t work out well.
Bay drilled a Yovani Gallardo pitch to deep left in the seventh inning yesterday after Lucas Duda tied the game 2-2 with a home run in the previous at-bat. But it hit high off the towering left field wall for a double — instead of a home run that would have given the Mets the lead.
When asked if he thought it was a home run when he hit it, Bay, who went 1-for-4, said: “Thought? No. Hoped? Yes.”
Bay was stranded at second and the Mets never scored again.
“At times it’s frustrating,” Bay said after the Mets’ 6-2 loss to the Brewers. “It would have been nice to have the go-ahead home run and things turn out differently, but that’s the reality. At times it helps you and at times it hurts you. It’s not like they just instituted the wall yesterday. It’s frustrating, but this is where we play.”
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Jose Reyes is shooting to play in rehab games by the end of this week and manager Terry Collins believes Reyes will be either with Triple-A Buffalo or Double-A Binghamton.
The shortstop was back on the field before yesterday’s game, testing his strained left hamstring and reported no problems.
“So far, so good,” Reyes said.
Reyes will run the bases today in Philadelphia as the intensity of his workouts picks up and said he needs the rehab games to make sure his hamstrings are OK and not because of timing at the plate.
“I don’t worry about facing live pitching,” Reyes said. “I just worry about my legs. I don’t want to be on the field too soon and not be ready. Hamstrings are tricky. One day you feel good and the next day you try to run and blow your hamstring up.”
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Jason Isringhausen thinks it’s time to let Bobby Parnell close, but the youngster has to earn his spot.
“He’s gotta show he can do the job consistently,” Isringhausen said. “But you’ve gotta throw him out there. Now is the perfect time. I don’t think you want to do it in a pennant race.”
Isringhausen wanted the opportunity to get to 300 saves and now that he’s accomplished that, he is willing to step aside as closer.
“Obviously, Bobby is where the future is,” said Isringhausen, who disagreed with Francisco Rodriguez‘s assessment that Parnell had to get mean in order to succeed. “Is Mariano Rivera mean? No. Everybody’s different.”
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To give Jon Niese an extra day’s rest, the Mets will start Dillon Gee tonight against Cliff Lee in Philadelphia. Niese will start tomorrow against Vance Worley.