NewsBay, Papi flip-flop in order vs. Felix
Outfielder slides down to No. 5, while Ortiz moves to cleanup
By Ian Browne / MLB.com
07/03/09 6:53 PM ET
BOSTON -- One day after becoming a United States citizen, Red Sox left fielder Jason Bay arrived to work with the mission of trying to end the first true slump he's had with the team that acquired him on July 31, 2008.With ace Felix Hernandez pitching for the Mariners on Friday, Bay was moved from cleanup to fifth in the batting order, flip-flopping with David Ortiz.
"You're scuffling a bit and then you have to go face a guy like that," said Bay. "You can't run and hide. It's baseball, and you go out there and take the good days with the bad. Like I said early on, things were going well, really well, and obviously over the last week or so, you hit a little bit of a skid. It's not the first time in my life. Like I said, it's part of baseball."
Manager Terry Francona wasn't sure if the move was just for one night.
"He's that good," Francona said of Hernandez. "Jason's had a tough time lately. We're just trying to make it as difficult as we can [for Hernandez]. You give Felix a run of right-handers, and it might be a quick inning, so I'd rather not do that."
Bay, who struck out a career high of five times in Wednesday's 6-5 win against Baltimore, came into the night hitless in his past 17 at-bats.
He was unfazed by moving one spot down in the batting order.
"I think with the way I've been going lately, it kind of made a little bit of sense, but we've got interchangeable guys all over this lineup," Bay said. "If you go from third or fourth to ninth, there might be a little bit of an issue. But there's really no difference whether you're hitting third, fourth or fifth."
Despite the lack of results of late, Bay doesn't feel there are any major problems with his swing.
"I don't feel like it's a mechanical issue," said Bay. "For me, it's kind of timing and seeing the ball. You get one or two pitches that you foul off. When you're going good, you're seeing the ball, you're laying off those borderline pitches. When you're not, you're trying to reach a little bit and trying to do too much. It's one of those things where the harder you try, the deeper you dig the hole-type deals."
Quite simply, it's something every hitter goes through at some point over the course of the 162-game season.
"Hitters go through that," said Francona. "If I had a good explanation, hitters wouldn't go through that. We all have and it's frustrating; it's not a lot of fun. Then all of a sudden, you get that feeling back and it's OK. It's hard to explain."
Ian Browne is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
