Nothing much to say on talks

In spring training, Bay and the Sox made substantial progress toward an extension, but they broke off talks when the erratic market for outfielders pushed the sides too far apart. Nearly 2 1/2 months later, with Bay almost certainly on his way to an All-Star Game appearance, talks have yet to restart.

"There's nothing new," Bay said yesterday. "There's really nothing to say about it. It's been a hot topic. I understand that. Until there's something to say, there's nothing to say.

"In spring training, we said we would revisit it at some point. Now we're two months into the season, so there's still a lot of time left. It's not really something that I'm hung up with. If it's in the cards, it'll get worked out. If not . . ."

Bay said he and the Red Sox have "not really" had any contact regarding an extension. He believes that could change because the front office had been tied up with the draft.

"There's still a lot of time left, plus there was some real bad timing with the draft, all the time leading up to it," Bay said. "I understand whether it happens or not, but now is not a great time. Maybe when things settle down. But like I said, there's nothing exciting."

Bay is not worried about the lack of progress. He said he has no point when he would consider it too late to broach an extension, and, "I don't think putting a deadline on anything really benefits anybody."

Bay spent the final two months of the 2008 season, plus the playoffs, with the Red Sox after they received him as part of the trade that sent Manny Ramírez to the Dodgers. Bay quickly blended in, and midway through his second year he continues to thrive in Boston.

Entering last night, Bay led the American League in RBIs (57), ranked fourth in home runs (16), and fifth in on-base plus slugging percentage (.991). Before the season, Bay vowed he would not allow his uncertain contract status to affect him.

"I'm sure the fact that I'm off to a good start helps," he said. "The first two months, almost 2 1/2 months, have kind of flown by, which is a good thing. If it hadn't been such a good start, I don't think it would be that big of a deal, because I'm putting more stock into what I've done before. Granted, things have gone well. I'd like to think in a perfect world it doesn't all boil down to one year when you've played five before that."

Yankees manager Joe Girardi saw things differently.

"Penny's control was pretty good, and I thought it was on purpose," Girardi told reporters. "You know, that's all part of baseball, I guess. We hit Bay, and I know Jose [Veras] did not hit him on purpose. I mean, Jose has struggled with his control. But things like that happen. You expect something could happen in return."

The Penny-Rodriguez fallout was not the only Yankees-Sox controversy yesterday. Mark Teixeira reacted to a tweet Red Sox owner John Henry made Thursday night. On his Twitter feed, Henry wrote, "The MT Curse?" a reference to Teixeira's initials and the fact that with Teixeira the Yankees are 0-8 against the Red Sox.

"I just think it's a little silly," Teixeira said. "Very silly, actually. I don't see any reason to get into it with a 70-something-year-old man about baseball." (Henry is 59.)

Teixeira flirted with the Sox before signing with the Yankees in December. He became perturbed when reporters brought up his free agency decision.

"It's a business, guys," Teixeira said. "Everybody knows the Yankees offered the most, and this is a great place to play, one of the greatest franchises in sports history. I made a decision for my family, for business. If somebody wants to have an opinion on that, they can have it."

Asked if the tiff with Henry could affect his reputation, Teixeira said, "I'll leave that to [the media]. Whose reputation looks worse?"

Adam Kilgore can be reached at akilgore@globe.com