Ike Davis not concerned about slow start
New York Mets Ike Davis strikes out looking in the eighth inning against the San Diego Padres at Citi Field. (April 4, 2013) Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
Looking to reverse his early fortunes, Mets first baseman Ike Davis took a razor to his beard, hoping that a shave might be enough to revive his slumping bat.
Davis was 2-for-3 to raise his average to .158 in the Mets' 7-3 win over the Marlins Saturday, but the solid contact he had hoped for continued to elude him. "They'll start making some mistakes and I'll start hitting some homers," said Davis, who has one in five games.
He drew a critical distinction between this year's slow start and last year's awful slump. "At least I know that I'll be all right," he said. "Last year, I didn't."
Collision goes Mets' way
John Buck emerged unscathed after colliding with the Marlins' Juan Pierre during a bizarre play in the seventh inning. Greg Dobbs lined a single to rightfield to drive in Pierre, but rightfielder Mike Baxter threw wide of home and forced Buck to catch the ball about 10 feet to the right of the plate, putting him directly in Pierre's path. Pierre touched the plate and ran into Buck as the catcher tried to throw to second to cut down Dobbs. Dobbs was called out because of Pierre's interference.
Another error for Tejada
Manager Terry Collins again backed shortstop Ruben Tejada, who committed his fourth error in five games when he bounced a throw past Davis. The error led to a run.
"It's very, very uncharacteristic, so there is a little bit of a concern about what the issues are," said Collins, who intends to remain patient with Tejada.
Make room
The Mets optioned reliever Jeurys Familia to Triple-A Las Vegas and moved Johan Santana to the 60-day disabled list to clear space on the roster for Sunday's starter, lefthander Aaron Laffey.
