Bay the Pirate swipes again, ties record for straight steals

Jason Bay of Trail, B. C., stole his way into baseball’s record books Monday by executing his 21st consecutive steal without getting caught. The Pittsburgh Pirates’ slugger swiped second against Los Angeles Dodgers starter Edwin Jackson in the fifth inning of a 9-4 Pittsburgh loss. The record for steals without getting caught was set by Kevin McReynolds, who went 21-for-21 during the 1988 season while playing for the New York Mets. Beginning with last night’s game against the Cubs, Bay will have five games to take the base that will give him sole possession of baseball’s all-time record for stolen bases in a season without being thrown out. Bay, who has followed his 2004 NL Rookie of the Year season with fine numbers again this year (.305, 31 HR, 95 RBI), is also negotiating a new contract with the Pirates. The Pittsburgh Post- Gazette reported yesterday that Bay’s agent, Joe Urbon, has had “regular dialogue” with the team about a deal that would keep the 27-year-old all-star outfielder a Pirate until 2010, the first year he is eligible for free agency. “ With Bay

performing like that, certainly he is a guy

we feel is someone we’ll be looking at talking about a long-term deal,” Pirates GM

Dave Littlefield told MLB.com. “ We have

started to investigate it. I’ve talked to his agent and we’ll see how it goes as time goes

on.” Bay is the only Pirate to have played

in each of the team’s 158 games,

entering play last night.