Ike Davis relieved to get his first hit
Ike Davis singles in the eighth inning as Jesus Flores of the Washington Nationals looks on. (April 11, 2012) Credit: Getty Images
In his 19th at-bat of the season, Ike Davis finally got his first hit, a sixth-inning single to right in the Mets' 4-0 loss to the Nationals Wednesday.
"I have numbers on my average now," said Davis, who is batting .050 after going 1-for-4 with two strikeouts. "So that's a good thing. Obviously, I'm getting pitched to pretty well. They're hitting their spots and not really making too many mistakes. So I've got to keep being selective and hopefully they'll miss over the plate."
Davis' 0-for-18 was the longest drought to start a season by a Mets non-pitcher since Todd Pratt went 0-for-19 in 2001, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
"You don't want to be the first player in history to go 0-for the season," Davis said. "It's a good thing to get that out of the way and hopefully I can keep adding on."
Davis also contributed two stellar defensive plays to get Johan Santana out of a jam in the fifth inning. The first baseman twice reached over the railing in front of the home dugout to snare foul pops. That's something that has become a specialty of his.
"I don't let my offense ever affect my defense," Davis said. "You're not always going to hit, but you can always play defense."
Staying with Johan
Terry Collins made an interesting decision when he allowed Santana to bat with one on and one out in the fifth inning and the Mets trailing 1-0. Santana, who had thrown 93 pitches, struck out after failing to bunt.
Santana walked the first batter in the sixth and was removed for Manny Acosta, finishing his day at 99 pitches. Collins said Santana was available for about 105.
"With us being short on the bench with David [Wright] being hurt, I thought if we had someone on we could bunt them over and keep him in the game," Collins said.
Acosta worked out of trouble, but Mets relievers allowed single runs in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings.The bullpen, which had a 0.68 ERA during the Mets' season-opening four game winning streak, gave up five runs in 7 2/3 innings over the last two games.
