Every day brings more familiarity for Jason Bay.
A new routine. A new route to the ballpark. A new hitting coach. Discovering that to avoid headaches he must remove his helmet after scoring because his new teammates like to pound on it. Learning to love hitting at Fenway Park, where Bay launched a three-run first-inning homer off Oakland lefthander Dana Eveland to give the Red Sox a 5-2 lead en route to a 12-2 win last night over the A's.
While it might be too soon to judge whether the Manny Ramírez-Bay swap has invigorated the Sox in their quest to overtake Tampa Bay in the AL East, there has been an electricity at Fenway the last two nights, sparked by Bay's hitting and presence.
It certainly wasn't all about Bay last night. Kevin Youkilis homered twice, a two-run blast in the first and another in the eighth. There was Jed Lowrie's bases-loaded double in the third, Jon Lester's seven strong inning to earn his 10th win, and Mike Lowell's superb defense at third base (even with a sore right hip flexor).
Ramírez smacks first NL homer in second game with Dodgers. D5
But the microscope remains on Bay.
Everyone wants to know who he is and what he is made of, his strengths and weaknesses. So far, you won't find many of the latter.
"I don't think two games and two wins makes a career, but it's two wins and I'm happy to be a part of it," said Bay.
The righthanded-hitting Bay entered the game hitting just .200 (17 for 85) against lefthanders, far off his career splits - .278 against lefties, .283 against righties.
"It hasn't been a big sample size against lefthanders, just haven't faced a lot this year so far," Bay said. "April was kind of a buzz saw for me, I was in a funk, but I never think that I don't hit lefties well because I've always hit them and I certainly feel more confident facing lefthanded pitchers.
"I hope by the end of the year things will be where they usually are."
He said he's relying on Sox hitting coach Dave Magadan to help him prepare for pitchers he's never faced. Bay knew Magadan briefly when he came up with San Diego, but they are only starting to work with each other. So far Magadan hasn't had to change a thing.
Bay has also found that playing left field at Fenway is going to be easier than in Pittsburgh or in other expansive National League ballparks.
And he'll find that the Sox can win in many ways. Last night's win, in which Boston stroked 14 hits, had a completely different feel than Friday's 2-1, 12th-inning walkoff victory, in which the Sox struggled against Oakland's All-Star starter, Justin Duchscherer. Last night, the A's offered up Eveland, who was crushed for eight hits and nine runs over two-plus innings. Almost everything he threw up was tagged, even some of the outs.
