NO-LOOK SWING: Ike Davis reacts after striking out in the sixth inning — his second K of an 0-for-3 night that ended with him on the bench — in the Mets’ 4-3 loss to the Reds last night at Citi Field. (
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The more desperate the Mets get for Ike Davis to break out of his funk, the deeper he sinks. And last night — after grounding out to leave the bases loaded in the first, striking out twice after that, and costing the Mets a run with an obstruction call — the question isn’t how much lower he can sink, but how much longer the Mets can stick with him.
The Mets lost, 4-3, to the Reds in a frustrating game that saw manager Terry Collins ejected and Davis roundly booed before leaving in a double-switch. Starter Shaun Marcum took the loss on Jay Bruce’s tiebreaking home run, but nobody was more culpable or maddening than Davis, whose demotion isn’t as out of the question as it once was.
“That’s something that certainly we’ve considered as we sit and talk: What’s going to be better for him, what’s best for us,’’ Collins said. “I didn’t really feel last year because of the way we were playing that — even though he wasn’t swinging — I wasn’t sure what he was going to get out of going to Triple-A.
“The fact we’re not playing like we did last year, that’s a bigger factor. We’re trying to work with him, make some adjustments. He came out early and hit extra again. It’s not that he’s not trying, we’re just not getting it done in games.’’
Davis, mired in a 1-for-33 skid with his average down to .152, didn’t get it done at the plate or in the field. His first-inning obstruction cost Marcum (0-5), who allowed four runs, three of them in that initial inning.
“It’s tough when you continuously don’t do well. … You’ve got to keep trying. I’m never going to give up,’’ said Davis, whose WAR rating is 465th out of 468 National League players. “The game is really built on momentum and confidence and I just haven’t had a lot of things go right for me to really take off.
“That [first-inning grounder] sneaks through, it’s a whole different game we probably win the game. I’m 1-for-3 with two Ks, but I have two RBIs or I might’ve had more confidence going into the second at-bat and who knows what would’ve happened. That’s just the way it’s going right now.’’
Marcum walked Shin-Soo Choo, and Joey Votto lined a shot off the bag at first that bounded into right. Davis, seemingly oblivious to his surroundings, was cavalierly standing near the bag. Votto brushed against him rounding first and was thrown out at second, but ruled safe due to Davis’ gaffe. Brandon Phillips followed with a two-run single and Bruce added an RBI double to put the Mets in a 3-0 hole.
“It’s a judgment call,” Davis said of the obstruction. “[Votto] has to continue to try to make it to second, which I didn’t think he did. In the ruling of the books, he has to continue on, but I felt like he gave up and just jogged and he was out by 15 feet. By the ruling I thought they wouldn’t award him the base because he gave up.’’
Davis came up with the bases loaded and two out in the bottom of the inning, but Phillips made a diving stop on his grounder to throw him out.
Marlon Byrd — in the lineup because he had been 6-of-11 against Reds starter Johnny Cueto (2-0) — tied the game with a three-run shot in the third. But after Marcum wriggled out of trouble in the fifth, he hung a changeup on his first pitch of the sixth that Bruce clubbed for a solo shot.
“I made four of five mistakes and they all got hit,’’ said Marcum, although a lack of support didn’t help.
Davis struck out in the third and sixth before Collins double-switched him, the manager’s final act before being ejected (along with LaTroy Hawkins) by plate ump Tom Hallion after the top of the seventh for disputing a call that Phillips had been hit by a pitch. Replays showed the ball hit the knob of his bat.