N.Y. Mets: Ike Davis Still Battling The Man In The Mirror

From the desk of:   HEAD-BUTTING MR. MET

NEW YORK METS - Even If Ike Davis Turns His Season Around, And Replicates Last Year's Second Half Surge, We'll Still Know Little To Nothing About Ike Davis Heading Into Next April.


Because the Mets have options at first base, meaning Lucas Duda and Daniel Murphy, Ike's existence becomes more precarious the closer we get to the trade deadline, and for as long as he continues to struggle.  It's hard to say what the Mets would or would not do as it pertains to trading Ike, but it seems certain he will not be spending any length of time in the Mets minor leagues ever again.  In that sense, I agree with Davis when he says he needs to improve and excel at this level, not AAA.  After all, he's twenty-six years old, so keep take the kids gloves off, shall we?


Last year on June 2nd, Ike Davis was sporting a .170 batting average with five home runs.  This season as of June 2nd, Ike Davis was sporting a .168 batting average with five home runs.  On June 27, 2012, Ike Davis finally broke the Mendoza Line for the first time of the season.  Ike did so going 3 for 5 at the plate, with two doubles, a home run, three runs scored, and four RBI.  On Sunday, Ike was 2 for 4 at the plate, with a home run, and three RBI, but will we have to wait till June 27th until Ike cracks the Mendoza Line again this season?  A consistently sub-.200 batting average is something that should be taken into account when evaluating Ike going forward.  Ike never hit higher than .227 at any point last season.


Obviously, there are still a few things to be determined this year.  Even if Ike has a similar second half to last season's, we'll still head into the off-season with more questions than answers.  The Mets will still not be able to decipher which Ike Davis is the real Ike Davis unless he produces over the length of a full season.  That already puts us into 2014, and sort of throws this year in the hamper, doesn't it?


But you know what I say - once is an accident, twice is a coincidence, and three times is a trend.  So based on odd coincidences, it is safe to call Ike Davis a creature of habit, albeit not for the most positive of reasons.  Last year, Ike Davis didn't hit his sixth home run of the season until June 12th.  I guess we'll revisit this conversation in ten more days.



Mike.BTB