Ike Davis: Going to minors won't provide fix

Another endorsement from the manager, another disappointing day for Ike Davis. The first baseman knows the deal, and whatever management may say, Davis knows he has to hit to stay with the team.

"You've got to do it up here," Davis said Monday after a 5-4 loss to the Cardinals. "If you want to be a big-league baseball player, you're going to have to hit here."

After flying out and grounding out, Davis was removed in the seventh inning for pinch hitter Scott Hairston, who hit a two-run home run to tie the score at 3. Hairston has seven homers in 97 at-bats.

The Mets have gotten out of Hairston what they largely have not gotten from Davis: power. Davis is hitting .164 with five homers in 171 plate appearances.

At his locker, a happy Hairston, surrounded by microphones, explained his productive at-bat against lefthander Marc Rzepczynski. "In that situation, I'm just trying to have a good at-bat," he said. "I was able to get a pitch I can handle."

Hairston also spoke about being a part-time player. "On a 25-man roster, everybody can contribute,'' he said. "You want to expect to succeed in that situation instead of having failure on your mind.''

Those are good thoughts for Davis to absorb. With all the injuries the team has suffered, players come and go on a regular basis, but Davis has yet to be affected. That could change with the expected return of outfielder Jason Bay, who could push rightfielder Lucas Duda to first base in place of the slump-ridden Davis. If Terry Collins decides against tinkering with Duda, who leads the team with nine home runs, that could buy more time for Davis -- but he's not established enough for this to go on interminably.

Collins said, "Jason Bay was pretty sick ; he's not coming back [Tuesday night],'' when the Mets face Washington. He added, "Yeah, Ike's going to work it out. Keep grinding it out.''

That was the second endorsement of Davis after Collins initially said there was "nothing etched in stone'' regarding a demotion to the minors.

"I don't know why I haven't gotten more hits,'' Davis said. "The last two weeks, I've hit the ball better. Today, I hit a ball hard, just right at somebody. I don't know. Honestly, if they had the answer, I probably would have known it already.''

Davis hit 19 home runs and drove in 71 runs in his rookie year of 2010, then missed all but 36 games last season with a severe sprain and bone bruise of his left ankle. Could all that time away have affected his performance?

"I wouldn't make any excuse that's the reason why,'' he said. "It's not going to help, so why make an excuse just because I missed time and that's the reason why I played bad. That's not the case.''

Davis again rejected the notion that a stint in the minors might help get his stroke back.

"It's not going to help me down there,'' he said. "If I hit .400 down there, what's it going to do up here? You can't just hit in the minor leagues. That's not going to help.''