"Howard Johnson spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to get Jason Bay to hit with the Mets last year and said he doesn't agree with the team's recent move to bench the left fielder temporarily.

"It's ridiculous it's come to that," the former Mets hitting coach said by phone yesterday. "If he's supposed to be part of the solution, I don't see the point of taking him out of the equation. It's sending him mixed messages. I don't care if he's 0-for-50, you're not going to get him relaxed by taking him out of the lineup."

But manager Terry Collins felt forced to do so after a move from cleanup to No. 6 didn't do anything to help Bay. He has looked lost at the plate for the majority of the season, and it's why he entered last night's series opener in Pittsburgh hitting .207 with two homers, 10 RBI and a slugging percentage of .279. Bay did not play in the Mets' 8-1 loss to the Pirates last night.

"We had mixed results last year," said Johnson, who was not retained by the organization after last season. "His home runs were down, but he was driving in runs. Jason's a typical example of when things don't go right, they can easily snowball. I know he's searching. . . . Jason has to be able to understand what the goal is of what you're doing. And he at least has to know that he's going to be playing."

Instead, he found himself on the bench last night, in favor of Lucas Duda.

Collins hoped a few games away from Citi Field would be good for Bay, but that hasn't been the case, though Johnson agreed it's become an issue.

"There's no question that now it's a factor," Johnson said of Bay, who had just six homers and 47 RBIs in 95 games before a concussion ended his first season with the Mets last July. "We had a lot of conversations about that last year. Just driving in some runs isn't good enough for him. In baseball, you're paid for what you did in the past."