Sunday Bloody Sunday officially kicked off the Mets’ new season.
Sandy Alderson and Terry Collins finally ran out of patience yesterday and sent Ike Davis packing to Triple-A Las Vegas along with outfielder Mike Baxter and lefty reliever Robert Carson.
More importantly, a message was sent to the players that Scholarship Time is over and it is time to take a look at whatever limited talent is in the organization. The final straw was yesterday’s horrendous 8-4 loss in 10 innings to the Marlins at Citi Field, who are now 8-3 against the Mets and 10-41 against the rest of baseball.
If that’s not a wakeup call to this club, nothing is. Because as bad as the Marlins have been, they have more young position talent than the Mets. As the Marlins were winning in extra innings for the second straight day, some fans behind home plate started chanting, “Bring on Wheeler!’’
That day is coming shortly: next Tuesday in Atlanta. You can be sure Zack Wheeler will make his Mets’ debut that day in one of the games of a doubleheader against the Braves, according to a number of sources.
Matt Harvey also is lined up to pitch that day, so that could be a highlight in a season of lowlights for the Mets.
Alderson showed all the patience in the world with Davis. On May 12, I wrote a column saying Davis should be sent to Las Vegas immediately to try to find his lost swing. The GM waited and waited, hoping Davis would find his power stroke, but Davis has not been able to get his hips and hands where they need to be at the plate.
The lefty struck out again, giving him 66 Ks on the season with only 30 hits and a .258 slugging percentage. He is batting .161. Yikes, Ike.
“At some point you just have to say to yourself, ‘This is not in his best interests,’ ’’ Alderson explained. “I was one of his biggest supporters, and I just felt that at some point we’ve got to get him out of here and hopefully he’ll be back in a short period of time, but he needs to go there.’’
The bottom line is the Mets have grown weary of losing with the same cast of characters. Collins told his team that after the game.
“We’ve been talking all along about the future, the future, the future,’’ a frustrated Collins said. “We have to start getting everybody to understand what it takes to play here.
“Are you going to make changes just to make changes or are you going to make changes to make guys better? If you are going to get beat, get beat with guys that hopefully can get better.’’
That means more time for Jordany Valdespin. He could play second base and Daniel Murphy could slide to first. The Mets will call up Josh Satin for first base, Collin Cowgill for the outfield and bring back Josh Edgin as a lefty reliever.
They have to see if Valdespin can learn from his many mistakes, like yesterday’s terrible decision of trying to steal third base with two outs in the first. He was thrown out to end the inning.
Young Juan Lagares was in center field with Valdespin in right. With Rick Ankiel jettisoned, Kirk Nieuwenhuis is back after his stint in Las Vegas and will get time in center. Don’t be surprised if he plays right field alongside Lagares.
After the horrific 2-1, 20-inning loss to the Marlins on Saturday in which the Mets went a franchise-worst 0-for-19 with runners in scoring position, changes had to be made.
Too many Mets are just happy to be here.
“This is when you reach down inside and find who belongs here and who doesn’t,’’ Collins said. “There are some learning things that had to take place today.’’
“This is not a staff issue,’’ Alderson said of the Mets’ failures. “This is a player issue.’’
Players were finally held accountable yesterday.
kevin.kernan@nypost.com