Even the 195-strikeout pace Davis is on wouldn’t be as excruciating if the 26-year-old would demonstrate a hint of humility after getting punched out time after time.

But that’s the issue. He hasn’t. Through his four MLB campaigns, Davis seems to believe he’s entitled to borderline calls at the plate, which—for better or worse—are not given to players in their early 20s all that often. Although there is a way to eradicate that unwritten rule: to get on the umpiring crew’s good side. MLB Etiquette 101.

Either Ike isn’t aware of that, or believes he can complain his way to the benefit of the doubt. Four seasons, 364 games, and nearly 1,500 plate appearances into his Major League career, and Davis still can’t grasp the very simple concept of taking his lumps and sitting down quietly. This, unfortunately, is what deserves an entire post.

Davis has been prone to strikeouts over his career—that cat was let out the bag years ago. But it’s never been more apparent than in 2013. His strikeout percentage is up around 30 percent (chart via Fangraphs), which is more than five percent higher than in any prior season.

Through April 28, eight of Of Davis’ 26 Ks in 2013 have been punchouts. That equates to 31 percent of his strikeouts coming with the bat on his shoulder, which is a five percent increase from 2012 and seven percent higher than the league average.

I broke down the tape of those eight backwards-Ks, and found that Ike did his very best to show up the home plate ump on six of the eight strike-three calls. That comes out to a 75 percent Ike-Davis-Being-Immature rating—yeah, you can call me a sabermagician.

Note: One GIF from 4/10 vs. PHI was lost in the heat of battle . Davis has also struck out looking twice since 4/28 that I haven’t been able to retrieve video from. With or without the missing clips, the point still stands. Ike won’t be getting the close ones any time soon.

Included are strikezone plots for corresponding at-bats from Brooks Baseball.

Example 1: April 4, Inning 1

Example 2: April 4, Inning 8

Example 3: April 7, Inning 8

Example 4: April 16, Inning 1

Example 5: April 20, Inning 2

I hate to exert this much energy ranting against Ike, because I’ve been on his side of the Keep-Davis-or-Keep-Duda argument all along. His second-half numbers from 2012 are downright scary, and I didn’t think it was outrageous to expect the ball to continue rolling in that direction in 2013. Perhaps I was wrong.

The point here is that sometimes Davis has a legit gripe with the home plate ump. But acting out like a spoiled child leaving the toy store empty handed isn’t exactly the way to present an argument to an umpire (a grown man).

It’s an issue that Davis was approached about as early as 2010 as a rookie. Nearly three years later, it’s still an issue.

Ike’s struggles during his ABs are one issue—and don’t be mistaken, they’re plentiful—but its the lack of judgement after them that are especially concerning as he transitions from a precocious neophyte to a whiny veteran.

Follow me on Twitter at @JSDorn6.

Stats and graphics obtained from Baseball-Reference, FanGraphs, and Brooks Baseball.

After a solid debut last season that saw Ike finish second on the Mets in both home runs and RBI’s the sky’s the limit for Ike Davis. Put away any fears about a sophomore slump for this slugger, Ike’s already primed for a big season and leads the Mets in homers this spring with 13 RBI in 19 games played!

IKE, IKE, BABY!

You can also find them on our Flickr stream or Facebook.

It’s that time of the year again where we shed the remnants of the previous season, and look forward to the hope and promise of another Amazin’ Mets season!

Feel free to share or use these emblems of you Mets Pride on your social sites, web pages, etc.

Let everyone know you believe in this team and lets throw all of our support behind the players who go out there and give it their best whenever they take the field.

Lets Go Mets!!!!

In this new series of graphics, I want to highlight some of the players that I believe will have more prominent roles in 2011 and could help pave the way to a better future.

Jon Niese, Josh Thole, Bobby Parnell, Lucas Duda, Dillon Gee, Ruben Tejada, Angel Pagan and even R.A. Dickey all figure to be back next season and take on added responsibility.

Will Dickey become the defacto ace until Johan Santana returns, and will Dillon Gee win the number five spot?

Does Tejada take over at second base, while Thole takes over behind the dish?

Can Duda give the Mets a potent bat off the bench while Pagan builds on another solid season?

These are just a few questions that will be answered in the coming months. Until then, lets give these players some MetsMerized love!

Click the  thumbnail to enlarge individual graphic in a new window.

And for the few positive Met fans like myself, here’s hoping…

UPDATED: And for the in between….

We have high hopes for you my friend…

We’ve been waiting for you for a long time. First base is back in good hands!

Rod Barajas is new to the Mets and to me for that matter. So far he as many ribbies as Wright and two homers, not a bad start to his first and probably last Mets season. Does he remind anyone else a little bit of Paul Lo Duca?

Jason Bay, our new star left fielder has yet to impress in New York. But as baseball goes he will get hot, its just a matter of time. Maybe this graphic could be the good luck charm he needs to get things rolling. That and a day off tonight…

Jeff Francoeur, oh oh Jeff Francoeur. You are stealing our hearts and making all the naysayers eat their words. Knock another one out of the park, we always love to see The French Connection!

Ryota Igarashi has come straight out of Japan and into our own field of dreams. He started out the season hoping to become the regular setup man in a field of many, and it looks like he may have convinced Jerry that he’s the man for the job. You have us wanting more, Iggy!

Enjoy and Lets Go Mets!!!

Santana + CitiField = Mets Fan Bliss

Find this graphic here. It’s yours for the taking – save it, upload it, show it off!

Its finally time for baseball season kids!

LGM

We now have custom designed Mets backgrounds for your pleasure. Check out our newest selections and we will be adding to them frequently so keep checking back often.

Without further ado here are some of the designs we’ve created:

For the full collection of our newest backgrounds, simply navigate to our graphics section and select “backgrounds” or you can click here.

There are many new faces and some familiar as well. Unfortunately a couple of my personal favorite players were missing from the photo shoot. Hopefully they will report soon and get into the swing of things.

As baseball goes some of these players may not even make it past Spring Training.

Nevertheless, you can check out the 25 new current player graphics here.

Coming soon: Backgrounds – for your desktop wallpaper, twitter page, myspace layout, etc.