What's A Guy Gotta Do To Get Benched Around Here?

Original photo taken by: Michael G. Baron

Congratulations, Lucas Duda. You had yourself a pinch-hit home run in last night's game. Your prize? A seat on the bench. What? You thought you'd get a start in left field over Jason Bay? Not today, kid.

Terry Collins' favorite Canadian gets the start in left field this afternoon, despite going 3-33 in his last ten games.

Over that same stretch, Duda is hitting .500. He is also hitting .290 against righties, which today's Marlins starter, Anibal Sanchez, happens to be. More importantly, Lucas Duda is hitting. Period.

In case you're wondering, Bay is hitting a paltry .207 against righties.

Look, I like Jason Bay. I really do. I want to root for him. At the end of the day though, the guy just stinks.

I have never in my life seen a player fall from grace so quickly as Bay did going from Boston to New York.

The one thing I must give Bay credit for, however, is that through all of his troubles at the plate, none of it has carried over to his defense.

If I had to guess, I'd say that's the one thing that has saved Bay this season, and has prevented Duda from playing in left field more often. Duda's not exactly winning any Gold Gloves any time soon.

All season, however, it's been Jason Bay giveth, and Jason Bay taketh away. He'll make an outstanding catch in the outfield, and then in his next at-bat, he'll strike out/ground out/pop out with the bases loaded, or something fantastic like that.

So, what exactly will it take to cause Collins to bench Bay?

It's probably painful for management to bench a guy making $16 million a year, but at the end of the day, it's about trying to win games, and Bay is just not helping this team win.