Ike running out of time; could be sent down
Ike Davis of the New York Mets makes a play during the fifth inning against the Blue Jays. (May 20, 2012) Credit: Getty Images
TORONTO -- Could Pittsburgh be the last stand for Ike Davis? It's looking that way after Terry Collins suggested Sunday that Davis might only have until the end of this road trip to prove he deserves to stay in the majors.
Throughout Davis' prolonged struggles, Collins had maintained that a demotion to Triple-A Buffalo was not being considered as a solution. But when asked Sunday if that was still the case, the Mets manager hedged for really the first time. "There's nothing etched in stone," Collins said. "We will never say something's not going to happen."
Davis is leaving them no choice.
Despite an eighth-inning double in Sunday's 6-5 win, Davis is still at .163, the second-worst batting average among qualifiers in the majors. Only the Brewers' Rickie Weeks is lower at .154. After his double, Davis later was thrown out at the plate trying to score on a wild pitch.
In his other three at-bats, Davis grounded back to the pitcher, lined out to shortstop -- with the Jays in a shift -- and luckily avoided hitting into a double play because second baseman Kelly Johnson bobbled the grounder and could only get one out. With Johnson's help, Davis earned an RBI on that play. In the ninth inning, Collins pulled Davis for pinch hitter Scott Hairston.
Collins sat Davis for Friday's series opener against lefthander Ricky Romero, but expects to start him Monday night against Pirates lefty Erik Bedard.
"What we're trying to do is make sure that we wring the rag dry," Collins said. "That's why coming into this road trip, we said, look, here's some pretty good opportunities. [Rogers Centre] is a pretty good hitting park. Pittsburgh is a pretty good hitting park. We've got righthanders coming up. Let's just see if we can get him going."
If not, Davis will not be the first high-profile player to recently be demoted. The Blue Jays sent Adam Lind down last week, and Saturday, the Marlins dropped Gaby Sanchez to Triple-A. Sanchez, an All-Star last season, was batting .197, with only Davis worse among NL first basemen.
"I haven't been sent down yet, so I don't know what to tell you," Davis said.
When asked if he has thought about the possibility, he replied: "I mean, yeah, if you don't play well. Unless you have a huge [contract], you're not going to be up here. But until it happens, I can't really say anything."
