Bay is ready to rest case

"Early on, I was taking a lot of walks, I was seeing the ball really well," Bay said. "It's just the last few weeks it just hasn't been as it was. I feel like I'm still driving the ball with guys on base, and still scoring runs, but obviously it hasn't been as good as it was."

"Trying to manage the ups and downs. It's been a fairly good up the entire year, so I can't complain. But I realize it's not going to be that, I'm not going to drive in 180 and hit .350, so I'm just trying to manage those."

When asked if he might need a rest, Bay, the only Sox player to have started every game this season, said he expects to get today off.

Though manager Terry Francona declined before the game to discuss a potential day off for Bay, the left fielder said Francona approached him a few days ago to ask if he might need a break.

"He was like, 'Ultimately it's up to you,' " said Bay, who homered in the sixth inning last night. "I said, it sounds like a good idea. It's looking more and more like [today] would be a good time to do it.

"It's one of those things that I think probably makes some sense. Good chance."

Bay has played all 162 games before, but that was when he was younger, and didn't have to worry about a possible extra month of games.

His former team, the Pirates, generally was not in postseason contention.

"This is a different situation for me because the last few years I never really had to worry about pacing for the playoffs," said the 30-year-old Bay. "It was just like when September comes, you're done.

"I think I've matured enough to understand that you're not being soft or you're not taking the easy way out or anything. It's just all around good for everybody, I think.

To Bay, this recent downturn is just a minor blip.

"I think if you look at the end of the year, 162 games, everything's going to kind of meld together," Bay said. "I've done it enough before that I'm confident when the season's over, the numbers will be where they're at, regardless of basically how you get to it."

"I think he's using the whole field," Francona said. "Swinging at strikes. Not going out of the zone. He's hit a lot of line drives up the middle, slapped some to left, pulled a couple to right. With speed like he has, you're going to get some hits."

Though he hasn't been bunting much, infields are creeping in with Ellsbury's speed a threat, which Francona said, "certainly opens the field up to hit."

"I never want to tell him just hit the ball on the ground because I think he's a better hitter than that, but he's staying on top of the ball," Francona said. "I think there's a difference.

"He's hitting the ball on a line. I don't ever care about him hitting home runs. I think those are going to come by accident, and as he gets older he'll grow into it a little bit. But hitting the ball in the gaps and down the line is good."