CHICAGO — And THAT is how the Mets can stay afloat, keep beating opponents and keep drawing fans to Citi Field this season.
No, not bludgeoning opponents by 16-run margins, although the Mets pulled that off yesterday with a 17-1 beatdown of the Cubs at Wrigley Field. That probably isn’t a realistic goal. But by getting production from players who have underachieved to date, which would balance out the anticipated regression of a key few players.
Underachievers Nos. 1 and 2, Daniel Murphy and Ike Davis, stole the show, combining for three homers, three doubles and eight RBIs to help the Mets end their four-game skid and, more specifically, prevent a Cubs sweep after opening this series with two very sluggish outings.
“We haven’t had a lot of days where we’ve had multiple guys in the lineup come up big,” manager Terry Collins said. “We kind of thought going into spring training we would have more of those. It’s something we hope continues, for sure.”
We’ve seen this coming with Davis (two doubles, one homer, four RBIs), who now has a .382 on-base percentage and .547 slugging percentage in June. Murphy, though, began the day with a goose egg in his home run column — in 272 plate appearances, for crying out loud — and had been relegated to part-time play. Yesterday marked just his third start in six games, and it has been safe to wonder about his long-term fit with this club.
It’s still safe to wonder that. However, Murphy had looked a little better recently; you might recall he just missed going yard when he flied out to deep right field to end Saturday night’s 4-3 loss to the Yankees. After doubling to center field in the second inning, Murphy came up with two outs, the Mets up by a 2-1 score and Davis on third base in the fourth and slammed a homer to right field off Cubs starter Jeff Samardzija.
In the very next inning, with Davis’ three-run homer making it an 8-1 ballgame, Murphy hit one out to center field against Cubs reliever Casey Coleman.
“It was awesome,” Davis said of his teammates’ success. “Just to get it out of the way. Hopefully he can hit a couple of more and help us win some more games. It’s great.”
“He’s not going to be a big home-run hitter. Never has been,” Collins said of Murphy. “But to hit 12 to 15 homers, he’s going to come up big for us. That’s what he’s going to do. That’s what he’s done in the past. If he hits it in the second half, we’ve got something to look forward to.”
Murphy wasn’t playing along with this narrative.
“It’s a relief to help the team win,” he said. “If we win ballgames and we make the playoffs, I don’t need to hit another one all year.”
He added: “I feel like I’m having better at-bats. It’s nice to get some ABs [yesterday], and I had some [Tuesday]. Today, I just tried to relax and hit the ball hard. The fact that the wind was blowing out didn’t hurt.”
The baseball season serves as one huge math problem. You expect a certain level of production from every player, and when one player doesn’t deliver, another has to contribute more than you anticipate. That the Mets are still in the playoff conversation is a tribute to R.A. Dickey, Scott Hairston and even David Wright, all of whom have overachieved.
That trio could keep going, yet you don’t want to bet on that in the marathon of a 162-game season. You’d rather be prepared for their slowdowns and have guys ready to accelerate.
Enter Murphy and Davis, and maybe Josh Thole, too. And perhaps even some of the struggling relievers, just by luck. They can provide the safety net this team could need.
Asked if he thinks he has a good run coming, Murphy replied, “I just try to hit the ball hard, man. If I could predict, Good Lord, I would’ve tried to predict in spring training.”
Fair enough. No need for Murphy to predict. Just produce like he has previously and protect the guys destined for a slump, and he’ll become relevant once more and make his team the same.
kdavidoff@nypost.com