Ike's Offensive Plummet Drops Him To 7th In The Batting Order, Murph Leads Off For 3rd Straight Game: Mets Lineup V. Reds - May 21, 2013

Publicly the Mets are in support of Ike Davis, their lost first baseman. Davis is hitting a putrid .152 with only 9 RBI through 40 games this season. So, what's the matter?

Sitting at home watching Fearless, it drives me crazy to see him jackknife on almost every pitch he attempts to hit, which causes each pitch to be farther away. He looks defeated, and his woes are carrying over into the field. Is it physical? I don't think so. I think it's all in Ike's coconut.

I am never in favor of sending players down just due to a slump, but with Davis, you can't consider this a slump; it's an exact reflection of last year. Ike was horrible until the All Star Break, when he came into the second half like a house on fire. He still only ended up hitting .226, which made his season look like a success. Last season could easily be dismissed if he had gotten off to a good start this year, but he hasn't; he looks like he doesn't know the strike zone anymore, and he goes to the plate not looking to get a hit, but looking not to make an out. Might seem like the same thing, but it isn't. Ike needs to get straightened out, and  Flushing isn't the place for that.

Understandably Davis doesn't want to be demoted, as he said in the Wall Street Journal:

"I don't think it's going to happen down there I've got to be able to get it done up here."

Thing is, the last thing this team needs is an automatic out. They have too many of them on the team already (see Tejada, Duda, at times Byrd, and Buck lately, etc.). 

The Mets in the press have Davis' back, but do they  really, or is it just because there isn't a better option? Even the Mets skipper didn't sound too supportive:

"He's still here. We still need to play him. Maybe this is the series he gets it going."

Yeah, and when he doesn't do well this series, when will he finally start hitting? I would love to see Fearless do well, but what is wrong with him is beyond physical at this point.

Daniel Murphy will bat lead-off for the third straight game. Murphy is hitting a solid .293 and is starting to get on base with more frequency. He will try and  ignite this dormant Mets offense.

Tonight's Mets line up V. Reds:


Daniel Murphy - 2B
Mike Baxter - RF
David Wright - 3B
Lucas Duda - LF
Rick Ankiel - CF
John Buck - C
Ike Davis - 1B
Ruben Tejada - SS
Jon Niese - LSP

Source: Ike Photo - ESPN