I'm going to go ahead and pencil in Mike Baxter.

"Jason Bay likely will have until the conclusion of this road trip to show the Mets he deserves to keep his everyday job.

A day after manager Terry Collins told The Post he is considering Mike Baxter for primary left-field duties, a club source yesterday said Bay probably has another week to try and show team brass something."

Unlikely that Bay will start hitting in the next week.

Unlikely that Mike Baxter is going to be any good, either, but ... he couldn't be worse.


"Collins placed Bay in last night’s lineup against Diamondbacks right-hander Ian Kennedy, and he went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts in the 6-3 loss to worsen his rut to 4-for-35 (.114) since returning from his most recent disabled-list stint."

Probably the best thing for Bay is to get injured again. That way, the fans will forget about his bad season. You know, a tragedy makes him more sympathetic to the fans. A physical injury is probably the luckiest thing that can ever happen to a professional athlete.