No words could fully encapsulate Ike Davis’ slump as clearly as the image of him slamming his bat down in disgust upon being called out on strikes in the nightcap of the Mets doubleheader sweep yesterday at the hands of the Giants. His funk has deepened as his frustrations have risen.
Eleven men left on base, three failures with the bases loaded, a pair of defeats ... and one seething slugger.
“It was my third K on the day, and like my fourth time getting out with bases loaded, so it could’ve been a culmination of everything,’’ said Davis. And in the case of this malaise, everything is saying a mouthful.
The Mets first baseman is mired in a 1-for-17 funk with eight strikeouts, and has seen his season average shrivel to .136 with a team-high 20 strikeouts. After Davis went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts and a third-inning error in the 6-1 Game 1 loss (he stranded eight and went down twice with the bases loaded) manager Terry Collins went with Justin Turner in the nightcap.
BOX SCORE, GAME 1
BOX SCORE, GAME 2
PHOTOS: METS FALL TO GIANTS
That 7-2 defeat might have been even more galling for Davis. He pinch-hit with the bases loaded in the eighth and worked his way back from yet another 0-2 count to full, only to have umpire Dana DeMuth call him out on a low pitch that both Davis and Collins insisted was ball four.
“I didn’t think it was a strike,’’ said Collins, who between games had described Davis as “frustrated.” But after Davis’ outburst, with David Wright approaching DeMuth to back his young teammate and defuse the situation, Collins understood his ire.
“Sometimes you gotta play with some emotions, you’ve got to be driven and sometimes you’ve got to play angry,’’ said Collins.
“Here’s a guy who’s struggling, in a big situation he’s pinch-hitting to get us back in the game, and he’s got a count where [and] he takes a pitch to keep the inning going. Next thing you know, the inning’s over. If he ignored it and said, ‘It’s one of those nights,’ I might’ve been surprised by that. ... I wasn’t surprised he was emotional.’’
Davis said he hit in the cage between games and detected a flaw in his swing.
“When you’re struggling, you’re trying to find what’s wrong with your swing,’’ said Davis. “That’s the only thing that you’re constantly thinking about, what you’re doing.“But I feel like at least the last at-bat, I’m where I need to be for future games, so I’m excited. I hadn’t found a position where I felt comfortable to launch from, to let my hands go. I hit a lot [yesterday], so I feel like future games are going to be better, for sure.’’
brian.lewis@nypost.com
Terry Collins, Mets, Ike Davis, the Giants
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