A year ago Davis was coming off the valley fever scare and ankle injury. His .156/.212/.290 slash line could be intellectualized. Similar numbers (.149/.229/.248) this year are reason for concern. There are many players that are slow starters, but are the Mets’ doomed to Davis not showing up the first ten weeks of the season? Has reality set in that he might be a 4-A hitter with flawed mechanics at the plate?

Davis and Jacobs are not exactly apples to apples comparison. Ike was a highly touted first round pick in 2008. His struggles in Brooklyn during his rookie year in pro ball were well documented. Jacobs was a 38th round pick that nobody talked about when he had a breakout 2005 season in Binghamton. He was supposed to be an injury replacement at the big league level, but If not for Pedro Martinez‘s lobbying after a Sunday afternoon home run, we never would have been treated to Jacobs’ September to remember. It’s also possible that Carlos Delgado would never have been acquired that offseason.

As a full-time first baseman from 2006-2008, Mike Jacobs averaged 23 homers, 75 RBI and a .258 batting average. In his two full seasons of work (2010, 2012) Davis has produced 25 homers and 75 RBI with a similar average. Both produce about the same level of strikeouts, although Davis has the penchant to walk a bit more- although probably not enough for the organization’s liking. Both struggle against left handers. Defensively, there is no comparison. Even when he’s struggled Davis has gold glove potential. Jacobs was only plugged-in at first after failing behind the plate. Still, a first baseman needs to hit at an elite level to be considered valuable. If Jacobs is the best that Davis has to offer, then it’s probably time to question if the Mets have a cornerstone at first base for years to come. Should they package Davis if and when he heats up again? Will a trip to the minors help? Is Lucas Duda the answer? Can they afford to pay for a first baseman on the free agent market?

Many scouts have expressed concern over Davis’ mechanics at the plate. It’s complicated, awkward looking and appears difficult to replicate. The more “noise” a player has in the box the harder it will be to hit a baseball, an already difficult task. Can this be fixed? That is hard to predict, but Davis wouldn’t be the first hot-shot hitting prospect to fizzle at the big league level. At the very least a trip to Triple-A Las Vegas should be on the table.

The Mets got lucky when both Jose Reyes and David Wright developed best case scenarios upon their call-up a decade ago. Prospects are an inexact science and, to date, none of the current group of homegrown players has shown to be consistent everyday big leaguers, much less stars.

WFAN callers rarely provide for intelligent or even interesting commentary. Comedy is more how I would describe my experience. Ironically, a caller to the midday show just might have uncovered a hard reality: Ike Davis is no better than a former flash in the pan prospect. I doubt even a productive final four months of 2013 will net a player any close to Delgado’s capabilities. Remember, lightening doesn’t strike twice.

The Cincinnati Reds (25-18) shutout the New York Mets (17-25) by the score of 4-0 tonight at a sparsely crowded Citi Field.

Left-hander Jon Niese started for the Mets and and after getting the first two outs in the first inning he allowed a hit and a pair of walks to load the bases. Niese had a chance to come out of the inning unscathed and induced a hard grounder to third for what should have been the third out. However, David Wright committed his fourth error of the season as the ball went under his glove and through his legs allowing two runs to score. Niese was rattled after that and allowed another run to score before finally getting the third out to put the Reds up 3-0. All of the runs were unearned.

Niese threw 48 pitches in that wild first inning and it appeared he was heading for an early shower. But to his credit he gutted out five scoreless innings after that and wound up giving the Mets a very solid effort allowing just five hits and three walks in six innings while striking out seven. Niese took the loss, but saw his ERA improve to 4.80 for the season.

The Reds score their fourth and final run in the ninth when Reds catcher Devin Mesoraco greeted Collin McHugh with a home run to leadoff the inning.

Offensively, the Mets had nothing but blanks… Nothing but the same sorry, pitiful offense that has plagued the team all season. Reds starter Mike Leake hurled seven scoreless innings and allowed the Mets’ only three hits of the game – one each by Lucas Duda, John Buck and Daniel Murphy.

It’s getting pretty hard to watch this team and I thought Sandy Alderson would address that while he visited the with gary Cohen and Ron Darling in the third inning, but he was at a loss for words. He said he was going to continue to hang in there with Ike Davis a little longer, which is the last thing anyone of us wanted to hear. Davis batted seventh and went 0-for-three tonight and saw his batting average fall to .149 for the season. Pathetic.

The Mets will wrap up the series tomorrow afternoon at 1:10 PM when right-hander Matt Harvey (5-0, 1.55 ERA) takes on Mat Latos (4-0, 2.91 ERA) and tries to avoid the sweep.

With the way Ike Davis has been hitting lately, there has been a ton of talk has about sending the slumping lefty down to Triple-A to try and figure things out. With good reason, some are questioning whether or not Davis is the first baseman of the future anymore.

Everyone is chiming in on how to fix the situation. The fixes range from have Lucas Duda playing first base, to moving Daniel Murphy over to first base and calling Wilmer Flores up to play second base. That last option isn’t too bad of an idea, but I would have Jordany Valdespin play second base if I were to go that route — Flores isn’t ready for big league action yet.

The Ike Davis situation doesn’t seem like an easy fix, and the team may do a number of things to try solidify that first base position. If I have to give the Mets credit for anything, it’s that they definitely know how to get creative when positioning players defensively.

But what if Ike Davis isn’t the first baseman of the future? What if he gets sent down and still can’t figure it out? Who do we have on the farm that can potentially fill that void in the coming years? Here is a list of options the Mets have within the organization that could fill that void at first base:

2013 Options

Andrew Brown: Brown has been tearing the cover off the ball with Las Vegas this season. He has primarily been used in the outfield this season, but logged his first game at first base this past Friday night. He was called up for a couple of weeks already this season and played in six games, hitting .200 with one home run for the Mets.

Zach Lutz: Lutz is another option the Mets have, although he has played the majority of his games at third base this season for Las Vegas. Through 35 games this season, Lutz is hitting .260 with four home runs. Lutz is currently on the Mets’ 40-man roster.

Josh Satin: The starting first baseman for Las Vegas is having a very solid 2013 season. He’s batting .303 with six home runs in 38 games with Vegas. Satin would be equivalent offensively to having Daniel Murphy play first base, with slightly more pop.

A less likely option than the three listed above would be Travis d’Arnaud/John Buck. The fractured toe will delay this from happening, but one of the early plans that Terry Collins flirted with was having John Buck play some first base when d’Arnaud got called up to the show. I would love to see both of those guys playing first base to keep them both in the Mets lineup, and it would lessen the rigors of being an everyday major league catcher with them platooning at both positions. With all the injuries d’Arnaud has already suffered before even stepping foot onto a major league field, the Mets would be wise to consider a move like this.

2014 Options

Allan Dykstra: A former first round of the San Diego Padres, Dykstra is having a solid season with Double-A Binghamton this year. He’s a very patient hitter, and while he walks a lot, he also strikes out a bit due to getting into deep counts. This season he has 34 strikeouts in 33 games, but has also walked 26 times. His OBP has been over .400 the past two seasons, but the power numbers have been lacking during those same seasons. This is really his third look at Binghamton (2011, 2012, 2013), and his numbers have been pretty flat across the board except for power, where he has dipped.

Jayce Boyd: Boyd is a really polished college hitter that was drafted by the Mets in the sixth round of the 2012 draft out of Florida State University. Getting this guy in the sixth round was a steal. His approach to hitting screams major leagues. He’s not going to hit 40 home runs, but he has excellent gap-to-gap power, and he will flat out hit — Mark Grace type of player. This is my pick to be the Mets’ future first baseman. He hasn’t played above A-Ball yet, but what he’s doing is remarkable. This season for Savannah, Boyd is hitting .360, and has walked more times than he struck out (24BB/16K). I doubt Boyd will be with the Mets out of Spring Training next year, but keep your eye on him.

Daniel Murphy had four hits and Jon Niese pitched a gem as the New York Mets beat the St. Louis Cardinals 5-2 to salvage the final game of the series and avoid the four-game sweep.

The Mets got on the board in the third when Jordany Valdespin ignited a two-run rally with a perfect drag bunt in the third and then scored when the red-hot Murphy lined double to score Spin and then came around to put the Mets up 2-1 after David Wright drove him home with a single to right.

After another double by Murphy in the sixth, the Mets would score two more runs on an RBI-double by Wright and a sac-fly by Lucas Duda. Catcher John Buck broke out of slump with an RBI-single in the eighth for the Mets’ fifth run.

Meanwhile on the mound, the Niese we used to know was back and he was dealing. After allowing 15 runs in his last two starts, Niese worked on his mechanics and rediscovered his fastball and curve, using both pitches to great effect to silence the Cardinals offense. The southpaw tossed 7.1 innings, allowing just two runs on six hits while walking two and striking out three. It was great to see him bounce back and hopefully this is the beginning of something good for Niese.

Niese gave way with two on and one out in the eighth inning, but in came Brandon Lyon, who induced an inning-ending double play to escape any damage. Bobby Parnell closed it out in the ninth to earn his fourth save of the season.

Ike Davis continues to struggle and went 0-for-5 with four strikeouts to earn the golden sombrero. Davis is hitless in his last 22 at-bats and his batting average is at a four-week low of .157 for the season. Terry Collins says he’s sticking with him.

The Mets now head to Chicago for a weekend series with the Cubs. Matt Harvey will oppose Edwin Jackson in a 2:20 PM matinee. Lets Go Mets!

Last night’s 4-2 loss to the Cardinals was particularly reflective of the team’s struggles as they lost their sixth straight game for the second time in this very young season. They looked futile and if anything could go wrong for them, it did.

“The game is very cruel sometimes, and right now we’re experiencing kind of the cruelness of it,” said David Wright after the game. “You get a quality start from your starter and there’s just so little room for error that a ball bounces one way, you don’t catch a break here, you don’t catch a break there, you end up losing the game because you have to play near-perfect when the offense is struggling the way it is right now.”

There’s no shame in losing to the best team in baseball, but it’s not just the losing, it’s how they lose that make it all so maddening. When they get a well-pitched game, they can’t score enough runs, and when the do score runs they can’t hold the lead.

David Wright is on the money when he says this game can be cruel sometimes, and it was a good choice of words because only yesterday I said it would be unwise of the Mets to bring Zack Wheeler and Travis d’Arnaud into such a cruel environment. There’s nothing to be gained by not waiting until September callups. They’ll both get a month of major league baseball in, and we get to keep them for an extra year which may become very important once we become relevant again.

The decision to not bring in a bona fide bat for the outfield since trading Carlos Beltran two years ago is especially painful during this Cardinals series. Some said that Beltran was done, that he has bad knees, was not a leader, or that he was too soft. Wrong on all counts. Not one day on the DL since he was shuffled off to Frisco and his lethal bat, powerful arm, and gold glove defense have all been on full display in this four-game series which wraps up this afternoon.

There is no quick fix for this team, but therein lies the problem. After three offseasons we should have been able to address at least one need at the major league level, but instead we’ve more than tripled our plight going from four areas of concern to 14 now.

From hearing Terry Collins speak last week, it already sounds like he’s moved on 2014 – a season which will most likely not be here for. The other day he said he has to keep playing Lucas Duda and Ike Davis to know what we have for 2014. After three years, shouldn’t you know what you have in those two and that they certainly are not core players?

Next year was when we were supposed to be seeing the transformation. It will be interesting to see what online bookmakers have to say about it when that time comes. Until then, we’ll just bide our time and wait. Apparently something magical and different will take place this offseason as for years we’ve been told they’d have a fistfull of dollars. In six months we’ll all find out if we were just being sold a bill of goods or if the front office is really going to pull a rabbit out of it’s hat.

The newest Met, Rick Ankiel, couldn’t hold onto Ty Wigginton’s sinking line drive for a double. Wigginton then scored from second on an infield hit off pitcher Scott Rice. Matt Holliday followed with a two-run homer, and just like that it was over and the Mets had their fourth straight loss, 6-3, at St. Louis to fall seven games below .500.

ON THE MOUND: Jeremy Hefner had his third straight quality start, giving up three runs in six innings. Hefner retired the last ten hitters he faced. Even so, the Mets are now 0-7 when he starts. … Rice and Scott Atchison combined to give up three runs on five hits.

AT THE PLATE: The Mets had four hits, three from Daniel Murphy. … Ten more strikeouts by Mets hitters, surprisingly, none by Ike Davis or Lucas Duda.

METS MATTERS: Reliever Frank Francisco has a mild strain of the flexor pronator in his right elbow. He will be shut down for 72 hours before he resumes throwing. … Outfielder Andrew Brown was optioned to Triple-A Las Vegas to make room for Ankiel.

THEY SAID IT:  “We aren’t scoring. I told him he got us to where we needed to be.’’ – Manager Terry Collins on Hefner’s performance.

BY THE NUMBERS: 12: Number of times in their last 16 games the Mets scored three runs or less.

ON DECK: Dillon Gee (2-4), Shaun Marcum (0-3) and Jonathan Niese (2-4) will be the Mets’ next three starters in this series against John Gast (0-0), Shelby Miller (5-2) and Adam Wainwright (5-2) for the Cardinals.

Starting Lineup

1. Mike Baxter – RF
2. Daniel Murphy – 2B
3. David Wright – 3B
4. Ike Davis – 1B
5. Lucas Duda – LF
6. John Buck – C
7. Rick Ankiel – CF
8. Ruben Tejada – SS
9. Jeremy Hefner – RHP

Game Notes

The Mets signed Rick Ankiel and is in the lineup starting in centerfield tonight and batting seventh. Ankiel, 33, was released by the Astros last week after hitting .194 with a .231 OBP in 25 games. Ankiel hit five home runs and drove in 11, but struck out 35 times in 65 plate appearances and walked only three times. Andrew Brown was optioned to Triple-A Vegas to make room for him on the roster.

The Mets are 5-8 on the road this year, including winning two of their last three road contests. The Mets are 1-3 in one-run games on the road this year and are 3-2 in the first game of a series on the road.

New York dropped a 3-2 decision to the Pirates yesterday. The loss snapped the Mets three-game winning streak in one-run games. The Mets are 4-7 in one-run decisions this year after going 20-22 in 2012.

The Mets have scored three or fewer runs in six straight games and in 11 of their last 15 games. Overall, the Mets are averaging 4.44 runs per game, the fifth-most in the NL and the 13th-most in the majors. They are hitting .175 (7-40) with RISP over their last six games and are fifth in the NL and 13th in the majors with a .259 (68-263) batting average with RISP.

Over their last ten games, Mets starting pitchers are 1-5 with 5.81 ERA. Overall, New York starters are 8-15 with a 4.35 ERA, which ranks 21st in the majors.

Lucas Duda hit his eighth home run of the season yesterday It was Duda’s 33rd game in 2013. The outfielder didn’t reach eight home runs until his 50th game last season. Duda is tied for sixth in
the National League with 21 walks.

David Wright is hitting .313 (10-32) with three home runs this month. The Mets third baseman is tied for seventh in the NL with a .340 batting average vs. righthanders. He is third in the NL with a .417 on-base percentage and tied for second with 25 walks.

Game Preview

It would be best to imagine the last several days didn’t happen. Really.

After winning the opener on Thursday night, the Mets then dropped three straight to Bucs thanks to a variety of reasons, but mainly the offense. Because the baseball gods by nature are cruel, the Mets will now take their anemic bats to some of the best pitching in the National League. If you have been watching the broadcasts this past weekend, then you already know the Mets will be paired up against righties for the vast majority of the upcoming week, therefore yesterday’s line up is probably what we can expect. Tonight Jeremy Hefner gets the start against Lance Lynn.

Hefner hasn’t been as bad as you might assume. On the season he is 0-4 (ouch) but has a 4.63 ERA over 35.0 innings. In his last three starts, he has a 3.00 ERA over 21.0 innings, mostly due to allowing 4 ER over 6 last time out. Recently it has just been bad luck Jeremy as things slightly break against him out there. Hefner has never faced the Cardinals and the only batter he has seen on the team is Ty Wigginton who is 2-4 with a homer against him.

The Mets draw Lance Lynn who is 5-1 over 7 games with a 2.72 ERA over 43.o innings. The season started out rough for him but in his last 4 games he has pitched 28.0 innings with a 1.29 ERA. Last season he was 0-1 over 5.1 innings against the Mets where he allowed 5 hits, 3 runs, 2 earned. The Mets have the following numbers against him:

Murphy 1-5
Duda 0-3
Wright 1-3, 2B
Byrd 0-3
Davis 1-2

Let’s Go Mets!

Ankiel is expected to be in uniform on Monday night for the Mets and Andrew Brown already has been told he is being dispatched to Triple-A Las Vegas according to Adam Rubin.

Ankiel, 33, was released by the Astros last week after hitting .194 with a .231 OBP in 25 games for the Astros. He also hit five home runs and drove in 11, but had 35 strikeouts and three walks in 65 plate appearances.

Thoughts from Matt Balasis

You may remember Ankiel from Game 2 of  the NLCS against the New York Mets, Ankiel was removed in the first inning after throwing 20 pitches, five of which went to the backstop. Ankiel appeared again in the seventh inning of Game 5 facing four hitters, walking two, and throwing two more wild pitches. The Cardinals lost the series four games to one to the Mets.

Since then Ankiel has more or less reinvented himself as an outfielder with his best season probably coming in 2009 when he hit .264 with 25 home runs and 71 rbi. Since then he’s been primarily a 4^th outfielder used primarily for pop off the bench. Ankiel is of course known for his rifle arm and has often been used late inning defensive replacement in right field with a runner on first.

I’ve always thought it a shame that this guy never figured out how to get back to pitching off a mound. Perhaps letting him pitch from center field might have helped him since his control from there appears to be deadly accurate.

Ankiel is also remembered for having purchased a 12 month supply of HGH with perccriptions signed by Florida physician William Gogan, who provided them through a Palm Beach Gardens clinic called The Health and Rejuvenation Center as reported by the Daily News in 2004. Ankiel was never suspended as HGH wasn’t banned by MLB until 2005.

Ankiel was hitting .194 but had five home runs in 25 games before the Astros released him. Ankiel, 33, could provide some interesting options for a Met team in dire need of outfield help.

The Mets with less than stellar performances from Lucas Duda, Jordany Valdespin, Malon Byrd, Colin Cowgil and Mike Baxter, the Mets could be a fit for the veteran Ankiel. The Met offense has been struggling mightily of late  with a 691 OPS (24th best in baseball. The Mets scored just 14 runs on their recent six-game homestand. It doesn’t get much worse than that.

PRETTY IN PINK?

The Mets were beaten by the Pittsburgh Pirates by the score of 3-2 this afternoon in front of a nicely packed Mother’s Day crowd at Citi Field.

Matt Harvey started and while he pitched good enough to win, he wasn’t at his best and he seemed to rely mostly on a variety of breaking balls and off-speed stuff rather than his usual 95-98 mph fastball. He tossed seven innings and allowed two earned runs on five hits, two walks and an uncharacteristically low four strikeouts. He is now winless in his last four starts. Despite Harvey not having his A-Game, a couple of clutch hits could have made the young right-hander 5-0.

Terry Collins unveiled his revamped lineup which was an epic failure today. In fact, the Mets offense has piled up 28 strikeouts in the last two games. After the game, Collins said that was “because his guys are trying to hit homers.”

Collins is committed the following four at the top of the lineup going forward and emphasized that “Ike Davis is our cleanup hitter, end of story.”

Ruben Tejada: 0-for-3

Daniel Murphy: 1-for-4

David Wright: 0-for-3

Ike Davis: 0-for-4

The math is ugly as they combined to go 1-for-14. Hope they do better tomorrow…

Mets were outscored 21-7 during the last three losses to the Pirates. Today they only mustered four hits including a home run from Lucas Duda, his eighth longball of the season. But get this… Eight home runs and only 12 RBI in 102 at-bats this season. Still, that’s better than Ike davis who has just 9 RBI in 110 at-bats with 39 strikeouts. When he struck out in his final at-bat, you could hear the boos as far away as Staten Island.

This team is not hitting and the Mets ranks 13th in the NL with a .234 batting average and last in the league with 264 hits. If Gary Cohen tells me one more time about how they rank 5th in On-Base Percentage and walks, I think I’m going to chuck my remote through the TV.

Daniel Murphy and John Buck have returned back to planet earth after orbiting around the planet for four week in April.

The bullpen was ineffective and Scott Rice took the loss. Bobby Parnell struggled through 1 1/3 innings allowing three baserunners. He might be unavailable tomorrow after throwing 30 pitches.

Defensively, Juan Lagares made this incredibly sick, sick, sick, catch in centerfield that had to be seen to be believed. It was the highlight of the game for the Mets. He dives forward with his outstretched glove, the ball bounces off the tip of it, and he refocuses and catches it again before it hit the ground. Wow…

This was a disastrous homestand for more reasons than one, and the Mets now find themselves at 14-20 and buried in fourth place in the NL East. They set sail for St. Louis to face the hottest and winningest team in baseball on Monday. The Cardinals have won nine of their last nine led by Carlos Beltran who leads the team with nine home runs and 23 RBI while posting a .308/.341/.558 batting line. Jeremy Hefner (0-4. 4.63 ERA) will oppose Lance Lynn (5-1, 2.72) and try to stop the bleeding.

UH OH, HERE COME THE MIGHTY METS…

I gave Davis a pass during last season’s first half, what with the Valley Fever and that whole ankle debacle, but what’s his excuse this time?

How long can we afford to continue to trot him out there, especially with a left-hander on the mound?

Three weeks ago I called him a platoon player at best. Some of you said it was too early to make such a judgement – small sample size and all.

Is anybody ready to join my bandwagon now or are you still seeing Ike as the power-hitting first baseman of the future even with every mighty whiff at those down and outside baseballs pitchers love to feed him?

Well guess what? I’ve got another shocker for you.

But maybe you should sit yourselves down for this one…

Given the incredible season by catcher Kevin Plawecki – by the way I told you to expect great things this season – I’m thinking some crazy thoughts. It will be sacrilege to most of you actually…

Amid all the hoopla of acquiring Travis d’Arnaud in the R.A. Dickey trade, it seemed the catcher who nobody could stop talking about a year ago, was suddenly rendered mute and was no longer in the team photo.

Meanwhile as D’Arnaud logs more and more time on the disabled list, a hobby he’s become quite adept at, all Plawecki keeps doing is fulfilling those high expectations that caused the Mets to select him in the first round out of Purdue in the first place.

Scouts see a solid defensive catcher with a .280 bat and a few .300 seasons in his future. They project his bat to be in the 15-20 home run range, but with the additional benefit of 30-40 doubles due to his gap power and ability to drive the ball to all fields. That would explain his league leading doubles totals. He’s an old-school backstop behind the dish and regarding those plays at the plate, he’s not afraid to take a hit and keep on ticking. Tough as steel.

What this organization needs more than anything is an outfielder. My solution? Send D’Arnaud to his fourth organization in three years to get one, sign John Buck on for another season until Plawecki can take over, and put Duda at first base until Jayce Boyd resumes his rightful place as the real first baseman of the Mets future. A first baseman cut right out of the same fabric as Keith Hernandez.

I don’t get into these fanboy attachments with players and prospects like so many Mets fans do. I want to win and do what’s right for the team more than any attachment to a singular player – even one as touted as D’Arnaud. He is suddenly looking more and more like a player who is too brittle to handle the rigors of being an everyday catcher in the majors. There were already some concerns about his ability to stick at catcher anyway, and that was before the Mets traded for him.

His apparent propensity for spending more time off the field than on it, already have the Mets contemplating a permanent ban to keep TDA from blocking the plate moving forward. A catcher not blocking the plate? Sorry, but give me the tough-as-nails Boilermaker Kevin Plawecki if that’s going to be the case, and let’s use TDA to get that power outfield bat we so desperately need right now.

Among the highs and lows to already come out of the first month of this season, the continued improvement of Daniel Murphy has certainly been one of the brighter spots to this point so far.

Playing out of his natural position, Murphy has slowly made the proper adjustments on both sides of the diamond. After being jostled all over both the infield and outfield, Murphy has finally found himself a home at second base with the Mets while also improving significantly with the bat. I caught up with Murphy at Citi Field yesterday and he spoke with me about his strides so far this season.

“I didn’t get a whole lot of work in Spring Training since I was injured” said Murphy regarding his defense. “But I think that having more time there has made me become more consistent, more comfortable, and has given me a better understanding of how to position myself and how much time I have.”

Another Met playing out of his original position is Lucas Duda. What has lacked with his .239 batting average he has made up for in his power and improved ability to get on base. After being sent to Buffalo following an extremely poor first half of 2012, Duda came back showing more plate discipline and emerging as an overall better hitter. Murphy says he has been impressed with how Duda has performed this year.

“He’s been awesome.” said Murphy. “I think Justin Turner said yesterday that ‘Duda really knows how to grind out an AB’ and I have not seen him give many at-bats away this year. That’s kind of a goal we have as an offense personally to not give at-bats away, and he’s been locked in and done a great job of getting on base.”

All the while, Duda has not only had to learn to adjust with the bat, but also with the glove as he learns on the job patrolling left field at Citi. As he has done, Murphy sees the similarities in both of their defensive improvements.

“The same thing as I have at second.” said Murphy. “He’s become more comfortable, he’s starting to understand how to position himself and to read swings. What he’s doing is not easy. It’s very difficult to go from the infield to the outfield and I think he’s done a great job.”

Murphy can relate to attempting to make the transition from the infield to the outfield, although he knows that their results have varied significantly.

“He’s doing better than I did.”

Although the situations are similar, Murphy understands why Duda wouldn’t ask him for advice about making such a transition after his failed outfield experiment.

“No, I don’t know if I’d have anything good to give him.” said Murphy, when asked if Duda has come to him about the transition from infield to outfield. “Try to be as relaxed as you can. Tom Goodwin has done an awesome job with him and a great job with positioning him. I think he does a good job of picking the brain of Marlon Byrd.”

Although the outfield did not work out for Murph, it seems to be suiting Duda in 2013. Murphy in turn has found his niche at second. Both came up with the Mets as talented bats that needed a position other than the corner infield and through several trials and tribulations have both found where they belong for the New York Mets.

I want to thank Daniel Murphy for taking some time during batting practice to speak with me. He’s a terrific guy who really adds a lot to the clubhouse and chemistry of the team. You can see how his teammates respect him as a leader as well as a productive player and integral part of the everyday lineup.

Terry Collins says a lot of things that will raise eyebrows whenever we go to these pre and post game press conferences. Many times he’ll say one thing on Monday and then do the exact opposite on Wednesday.

Just to cite two recent examples remember when he proclaimed Collin Cowgill the everyday center fielder on Opening Day? Cowgill then proceeds to start in just 6 of the next 15 games.

Or how about two weeks ago when Collins said that he didn’t want to move Lucas Duda up in the order because he was a sensitive guy and in a good groove, and didn’t want to upset the apple cart. The next day however, there was Lucas Duda batting cleanup.

You gotta love it.

On more than a few occasions, Terry said he’s toying with the idea of using Justin Turner in the outfield. Yes, that Justin Turner, how many Justin Turners do you know?

In last night’s loss to the White Sox, Turner came in to pinch-hit for LaTroy Hawkins in the eighth inning and delivered a run-scoring single for the Mets’ second run of the night. How clutch has Turner been this season? He’s as automatic as Jordany Valdespin off the bench.

Anyway, to the surprise of many, out goes Justin Turner in the top of the ninth taking over in left field for Lucas Duda who started the game there.

“When you have a guy like Justin Turner, you want to get his bat in the lineup,” Collins said. “We have some guys who are struggling. We can get him in there, but we’ve already experienced enough guys playing out of position up here and its hurt us in the long run.”

Getting Turner’s bat in the lineup on a more regular basis makes a lot of sense despite what our friends at Amazin Avenue think about that. He ended up getting another hit in the game and finished 2-for-2 on the night.

He’s batting .372/.391/.442 in 43 at-bats and the next best hitter on the team is David Wright who is batting 74 points lower with a .298 average.

“I haven’t played outfield much in a ballgame either, so I won’t really know too much until I get that first ball out of the way and then we can go on,” Turner said after the game.

“We had talked about it last homestand, on a double switch all the outfielders had been used already, so I knew it was a possibility it would happen. That’s why I’ve been trying to get out there every day and get some work out there.”

No word yet on if Turner is expected to get a start in the outfield as the Mets begin a four-game series with the Pittsburgh Pirates today, but don’t be shocked if it happens.

That shot of Lucas Duda entering the dugout after a solo homerun in the second inning of the game was tonight’s highlight as the Mets were defeated by the Chicago White Sox by the score of 6-3.

What a difference between the energy in last nights game compared to this one which had all the excitement of a wake.

Jeremy Hefner started and to be honest, he pitched better than what you’ll see in his pitching line. Even terry Collins said after the game that he left him in as long as he did because they weren’t really hitting him hard and he was just very unlucky tonight. Hefner allowed four earned runs on eight hits and a walk while striking out five. One of those runs came on a leadoff home run by Alejandro De Aza.

Meanwhile, Chicago White Sox starter Jake Peavy was unstoppable and the Mets couldn’t touch him aside from the Duda homerun. He pitched into the seventh and held the Mets to just two hits after that.

The Mets almost made a game out of it in the eighth when they got the tying run to the plate, Andrew Brown and Lucas Duda struck out with two men on base. They scored a run in the ninth and again got the tying run to the plate, but this time Juan Lagares struck out to strand two runners to end the game.

The Mets begin a four-game series with the Pittsburgh Pirates on Thursday night at 7:10 PM. Dillon Gee (2-4, 6.16) will be on the mound for the Mets, opposed by lefty Jeff Locke (3-1, 3.21).

The truth is that love him. I was crazy about him as a player, and I’ve felt as though we became buddies, through the magic of TV, when he joined Gary and Ron in the booth.

But lately he’s been kind of cranky and he seems to pick on some of our players a little too much at times.

The other day, MMO staff writer Drew Staley wrote about his exchange with Ron and Gary about Lucas Duda. He’s completely frustrated with him. He doesn’t like this “approach” we keep hearing about and he went a little overboard when Duda didn’t swing at a first pitch strike during the Braves series with Wright at second.

I remember something he said last season the day after Duda came back from his banishment to the minors. “No improvement. It’s the same old Duda. It’s the same old hacker.”

At the time he said that he was actually right. Duda looked just as bad as he did before he went down.

But fast-forward to 2013 and we see a completely new Duda. Someone who is being more selective which is something he didn’t do much of last season. So far it’s given him a great OBP and OPS, but the raw numbers could probably be a lot better and he needs to get those up. Baseball is still a game that is based on the law of averages and I do think the RBI’s and run production will come as long as he sticks to his new approach.

The point is that Hernandez complained about Duda being a hacker last season, and now he’s complaining that he’s not a hacker this season. Pick a side and stick to it.

Okay, enough on that. There were a few interesting comments on Hernandez on out threads yesterday and while there’s no way for me to affirm their veracity, it thought it merited a debate and closer examination.

Phil Phil – May 7, 2013 at 2:04 pm

According to Mets reporter Bob Klapisch, Keith told reporter around the country not to vote for Darryl Strawberry for MVP in 1988 when Darryl had a huge year.

Keith was a real good player, but a lot of times he has an agenda. Beware of listening too closely to what he says. He knows baseball, but he also holds grudges and uses the media to go after guys.

I don’t think he likes the hitting coach, Sandy A., or some of the players. He didn’t like Jose Reyes. He almost got into a fight on the team plane.

Lisa – May 7, 2013 at 4:15 pm

My friend works for SNY and told me the reason Keith doesn’t like the taking pitches and high OBP strategy is it makes the games longer and he wants quick games so he can go home and have a nice glass of vino.

Keith also hates extra innings. My friend said to listen for sighs when the game is tied thru 9 innings.

Metsie – May 7, 2013 at 4:20 pm

LOL Lisa yes there is a LOT of truth in what your saying about Keith and the notion of getting out of there as quickly as possible….

But when he was a hitter he also practiced what he preached… He always said that in a Hitter’s count or with a man on base he wanted to look for that GOOD PITCH he was more likely to get and get what he calls a Rib Eye Steak!

And no one was a better hitter than him when he had the Pitcher on the ropes. So it’s not like he just came to this opinion he has exhibited it his entire playing career.

Lisa – May 7, 2013 at 4:40 pm

Ha, ha! Keith’s dream is a nice, crisp 1-0 game that finishes in 1 hour and 45 minutes so he can make it to the steakhouse to have a nice rib-eye steak and a bottle of high end wine. Ideally, Rusty Staub and Tom Seaver would be in town to join him!

Metsie – May 7, 2013 at 4:53 pm

LOL you can probably name about 10,000 Things Keith would rather be doing than being in that booth if you just listen to him during a game!

I actually understand it since when I work Baseball games about the worst thing that can happen is when it rains, Extra Innings or gets postponed and rescheduled as a Double-Header on getaway day.

Most techs who work on the game get paid per day and don’t get any overtime until after 12-16 Hours. And we have to be there about 4-5 Hours before game time even starts.

But he shouldn’t really let that get out when he’s on the air especially as obvious as he makes it sound.

It’s almost become common dialog for Gary and Ron to joke about Keith’s frequent tardiness, his propensity for leaving early, and the many days off he takes throughout the baseball season.

He certainly has shown that he can hold a grudge and led the parade when Jose Reyes came out of the game on the last day of the 2011 season to preserve and win his NL Batting Title.

Again, let me reiterate that I love Keith Hernandez the player and for the longest time Keith Hernandez the color commentator for SNY. But lately I get the perception that he would rather be anywhere else but in the SNY booth. Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe I’m just reading too much into things. But when I saw those comments on last night’s game thread I realized I was not alone in this thinking.

Another thing…

For the longest time I have enjoyed the combination of GKR, they are no doubt the best broadcast team in the game. But I gotta tell you that I was incredibly impressed and entertained during the game that Kevin Burkhardt called on FOX two Saturday’s ago.

Burkhardt was so refreshing on my ears and he was a joy to listen to. I couldn’t believe it… Here I was listening to a Fox Mets broadcast and throughout the entire time I never once felt as though I was missing GKR.

Tom Verducci and Burkhardt teamed up and formed a great tandem, and their insights and analysis was beyond reproach.

I’m thinking it may be time to stick to with GKR, but maybe we should consider swapping out Keith for Kevin.

Sorry if you disagree, but that’s how I feel.

All valid in the early Duda critique.

Now, unbelievably, he’s become too selective, too patient at the plate. No matter how hard I try, I don’t get this one.

Even Keith Hernandez, who has forgotten more about hitting than most of us will ever know, has been after Duda on his patience. Hernandez believes Duda should be more aggressive with runners in scoring position. Yesterday in that position, Duda worked deep into the count. And, as the at-bat continued and the talk was for him to be more aggressive, Duda lashed a 3-and-1 pitch through the right side of the infield for a RBI single in a perfect piece of hitting.

Until that swing, the conversation was about Duda’s growing patience, as if it was a fatal, fundamental flaw  instead of a strength.

Duda has a .417 on-base percentage, in large part to 21 walks. While the season is still young, his on-base percentage and OPS are the best of his career. For much of the spring he had more walks than strikeouts, but that has reversed.

However, what people are noting most are his six homers with only 11 RBI. Surely, with that much power, he should have more RBI. It it is a plausible argument, but not an all inclusive one.

Pitchers, wary of Duda’s power, have been exceedingly cautious and try to get him to chase. However, when he might have swung earlier in his career, he’s now waiting them out. Instead of giving away at-bats, he’s learned to take the walk, but that’s not a flaw.

Do you really want to see Duda be another Ike Davis, who gives away countless at-bats by flailing a pitches he has no chance of hitting?

The best thing for Duda would be to continue being patient and taking his walks. If somebody – are you listening Davis? – provided more protection behind him, then Duda might see more pitches, fastballs to be exact, in the zone.

Trust me on this one, the last thing you want is for Duda reverting to bad habits and chasing junk. The more walks he takes, the better he’ll become at recognizing pitches. He’ll waste fewer at-bats and eventually get his pitch to drive.

The expectations for Duda to walk less and swing more have been brought on by the Mets’ overall woeful offense.  The problem isn’t in Duda is taking too many pitches, but others in the batting order are not.

By now we are all aware of the tantalizing conga line of pitching prospects dancing their way up the ladder to Flushing. The litany of names is familiar: Zack Wheeler, Noah Syndergaard, Rafael Montero, Luis Mateo, Steven Matz, Michael Fulmer, Hansel Robles, Jacob deGrom, Jack Leathersich, Domingo Tapia, et al. It is only natural to consider how some of this apparent surplus of talent might be spun off in exchange for pieces needed to shore up the more glaring weaknesses of the Mets. Accordingly, I have engaged in a common baseball reverie and imagined a trade or two or three that could help speed the team toward post-season relevance.

I set some standards for the kind of talent I would want the team to target. Older players are acceptable, just not too old. In other words, free-agent-to-be Shin-Soo Choo is a viable option at 31, but 34-year-old Josh Willingham is best left to teams looking to add some frosting to the cake. We’re looking for young players with real potential or players in the prime age range for performance (27-32).

Some assumptions have been made in an effort to keep things realistic. Although every team targets young pitching, much of the Met talent involved is at the AA and A level so possible trade partners have been narrowed a bit to organizations with a longer timeline to contention (i.e. rebuilding), teams with a clear surplus at a position which they would be willing to swap for organizational depth, and teams that have a potential match but would require some major league ready players to complete a deal.  In the latter case, I can foresee the inclusion of players such as Wilmer Flores, Daniel Murphy, Lucas Duda, or Ike Davis as they represent areas of overlap for the Mets. With these criteria in mind I have imagined a few trades that just might help speed the Mets that much faster toward post-season relevance.

Giancarlo Stanton:

Well, this is the obvious one. The Marlins have stated that they will not trade him, but what else would you say if you wanted a decent return? You would expect that given a rich enough package, some team will pry him away. For the Mets, I imagine that this would involve at least four or five players including Zack Wheeler and/or Travis D’Arnaud. Before you go nuts, remember that you have to trade prime talent to get prime talent and that Stanton has pretty much proven himself at the major league level, something that can’t be said of Wheeler or D’Arnaud.

Ben Zobrist:

The Rays are a cost-conscious organization that always looks to get younger. At 31, Zobrist should still have several good years ahead, and his defensive versatility paired with his switch-hitting ability makes him a valuable component in a lineup. He’s a good talent but not an elite player so the package to obtain him might include pitching plus a young player with similar skills (Valdespin?).

Nick Markakis:

The most expensive outfielder on the Orioles’ roster, his production has tailed off in the past two seasons and Baltimore might be willing to part with him to gain salary relief. Close to shedding the albatross of Jason Bay’s contract, management may not be enthused about picking up a similar expense with the tab for Markakis but with a career slash line of .295/.363/.453 and in his prime at age 29, it seems a gamble worth taking. He’s signed through 2014 (with a 2015 team option) and would likely try to pick things up a bit in his walk year.

David Price:

What? A pitcher? Yes. Dominant lefties in the prime of their career do not become available all that often. Price is arbitration eligible in 2014 and is likely to command a pretty penny indeed. It’s almost a universal assumption at this point that the Rays will deal him rather than shell out for a massive contract. Could this be Johan Santana all over again? Possibly, but there are also the examples of C.C. Sabathia and Cliff Lee to consider when looking at pitchers in their late twenties.  Perhaps a blockbuster including Zobrist could be engineered.

Ian Kinsler:

This is a case of one team’s surplus filling another team’s need. The Rangers will need to find a spot for wunderkind Jurickson Profar now that Elvis Andrus has been locked up and second base would look to be the spot. Kinsler is only 30 and has produced big-time out of the leadoff spot for most of his career.  His combination of speed and power would add a dynamic force to a Met lineup that could sorely use more consistency.  Naturally this move would turn Daniel Murphy into trade fodder, but his ability to play third makes him a valuable commodity in today’s market.

J.D. Martinez:

This is the type of young player that teams in the position of the woeful Astros generally hang onto, but they obviously need so much that you would have to think that they would listen to reasonable offers. He is still largely potential at this point, but at age 25 is likely to start putting things together soon. His minor league numbers show him to be a high OBP guy like the Mets brass prefer with midline power from the right side. At the very least he would expand outfield options for the Mets without costing too much.

Ultimately, we will likely need to wait for the off-season to see any major moves made by which time trade targets and expectations may well have changed considerably.  Regardless, the Mets’ glut of quality arms in the organization should be considered a potential trigger for what could be some significant changes to the lineup.

The left fielder’s .417 on-base percentage was 11th in the majors entering play Saturday and his .538 slugging percentage ranked in the top 30.

But his remarkable selectivity could also be detrimental on a team that relies on the slugger to drive in runs from the middle of the order.

In 24 plate appearances with runners in scoring position this season, Lucas Duda has walked 33.3 percent of the time, tied for the highest rate in the league. But he has just two hits, both singles, and two runs batted in. He has struck out twice. His slugging percentage in those circumstances is just .133, the 12th-worst in the majors with runners in scoring position.

“You don’t want to change a guy’s approach too much, but there’s certain times — his swing percentage on first pitch is like seven percent or something — I’d like to see him swing,” Mets hitting coach Dave Hudgens said this week.

During one of the games in the Marlins series, SNY analyst Keith Hernandez sounded frustrated with Duda during one at-bat where he took a first pitch strike down the middle, and then a second fastball for another strike. “What the heck is he doing up there? What’s he waiting for? There’s a runner on second and he should be looking fastball and swinging – I don’t understand any of this.” Duda popped up on a changeup leaving Wright stranded at second.

Then in Wednesday’s win against the Marlins and right after a John Buck two-run double, Duda took a couple of fat ones before working out a walk when Ron Darling sarcastically said, “big walk.” The Mets barely hung on to win the game 7-6, but an extra insurance run would have been nice to have after a six-game losing streak going into the game.

Duda did hit a solo home run on Friday night when the Mets beat the Braves 7-5., but he has been very passive as a middle of the order hitter and the Mets have him batting 4th or 5th in the past week.

Manager Terry Collins hinted at that after the game. ”He’s trying to be more selective, which is going to ultimately get him better pitches to hit,” Collins said. “Now, do damage.”

Starting Lineup

1. Ruben Tejada, SS
2. Daniel Murphy, 2B
3. David Wright, 3B
4. Lucas Duda, LF
5. John Buck, C
6. Ike Davis, 1B
7. Marlon Byrd, RF
8. Jordany Valdespin, CF
9. Jonathon Niese, LHP

Game Notes

The Mets earned their first win in Atlanta when trailing in the ninth inning since September 18, 1993. Friday night David Wright tied the game with a solo home run in the ninth before New York plated two runs in the 10th. In 1993, the Mets won 3-2 in 10 innings when the club scored twice in the ninth and once in the 10th.

The Mets hit four home runs on Friday (John Buck, Lucas Duda, Marlon Byrd and David Wright). It was the second time this year New York hit four home runs in a game, also on April 19 vs. Washington (Ike Davis-2, Duda-2). The Mets hit four home runs in a game once last season (June 27 at Chicago-NL). The last time the Mets had four separate players hit a home run in the same game was September 30, 2006 at Washington when five players went deep (Wright, Endy Chavez, Shawn Green, Julio Franco and Ramon Castro).

New York optioned struggling outfielder Collin Cowgill to Triple-A Las Vegas on Friday and promoted Andrew Brown. After hitting a grand slam on Opening Day, Cowgill hit just .130 in 18 games. He had not recorded an extra-base hit since April 6 and made a game-changing mistake on defense that led to an extra-innings loss Monday in Miami. Brown has been heating up with Las Vegas, hitting .367 with two home runs in 25 games, with an .882 OPS against left-handed pitchers. He went 0-for-3 in Friday’s game with a strikeout.

In his third appearance and second start since being activated from the disabled list, Shaun Marcum again failed to log five innings. He was charged with three runs on six hits and three walks in an 87-pitch no-decision. His ERA stands at 7.20.

The Mets and Major League Baseball announced Friday that they will host private screenings of the movie “42″ for New York City teenagers involved in YMCA programs. Screenings will take place May 6 at UA Kaufman Astoria Cinemas in Queens and May 13 at BAM Rose Cinemas in Brooklyn, with each showing accommodating 300 teens.

Game Preview

The Mets made it two in a row on Friday night as they beat the Braves in the series opener. Then, the rain came from the sky and washed out last night, which knocked Harvey out of today’s spot. For the Mets it was a night of homers and back and forth action as Marcum faltered as did parts of the bullpen.

However the captain, David Wright, tied the game on a solo shot (after the Braves took the lead from the Mets and Wright did it against one of the nastiest closers in the game) and that was followed by a great 10th inning. The Mets try to take the series today behind Jon Niese as he goes up against Tim Hudson.

Jon Niese is 2-2 on the season over 6 games  with a 3.31 ERA and 32.2 innings of work. In his last 9 innings he’s allowed 3 ER. Last year he faced the Braves 4 times with a 3-1 with a 2.00 ERA over 27.0 innings. The Braves have the following numbers against Jon Niese:

Uggla 8-29, 3 2B
Freeman 6-19, 2B, 2 HR
R Johnson 6-16
Justin Upton 5-11, 2B
Schafer 0-8
C Johnson 2-6, 2B

The Mets bats have scored 7 runs two games in a row and look to keep it going against Tim Hudson. Hudson is 3-1 over 6 games with a 3.86 ERA over 35 innings of work and he is coming off of one of his strongest starts of the season allowing only one earned run over 7 innings. Against the Mets last year he allowed 7 ER over 11.0 innings of work. The Mets have the following numbers against him:

Wright 15-68, 2 2B, 2 HR
Duda 6-20, 2B, HR
Davis 3-13, 2B
Tejada 8-17, 2B
Murphy 4-16, 2B
Buck 2-13

Let’s Go Mets!

Over in left field, Lucas Duda is getting on base and hitting with some serious power. He’s moving up in the order and Davis is moving down.

Assuming Sandy Alderson fulfills his promise and nabs a decent outfielder before the deadline and during the offseason, it’s a safe bet that the front office is going to have to make a decision as to which player is the first baseman of the future.

I think it’s reasonable to say that Ike isn’t going to finish the season with a sub-200 batting average. On the other hand, Duda’s going to come down to Earth at some point. These are two very streaky hitters we’re talking about here, and Ike is having his slump in April for the second season in a row.

But who’s the better player? Who’s the best fit at first if we get a legit outfield bat?

Small sample sizes tend to lead to knee-jerk reactions, and Lucas and Ike haven’t had equal seasons in terms of at-bats and playing time. I went over to Baseball Reference and grouped both Davis and Duda’s plate appearances in batches of 500, spaced out over intervals of 100. In other words, I looked at the stats from plate appearances 1-500, 101-600, 201-700, and down the line for each players career to date. I took four key stats – K%, BB%, HR% and BABIP (batting average on balls in play) – and graphed them to see if there were any trends.

Lets look at Ike’s chart:

The most alarming thing is that Ike’s BABIP has been plummeting. He’s making weak contact and popping up more and more each month. Basically, he’s becoming Adam Dunn without the walks. If his BABIP keeps trending down then we’re going to be seeing a lot of .220 seasons in the future. Lots of home runs are nice, but out of all the players who hit 30 or more homers in 2012, Ike had the second-worst OPS behind Josh Reddick.

Looking over at Duda’s chart, we see that he’s a little more consistent:

His strikeouts and walks are going up, and home run power has remained pretty consistent since he was called up in 2010. For all the talk about his explosive power potential, it doesn’t seem like he’ll ever hit more than 20-25 in a season.

All of these revelations shine a light on the fact that the Mets are stuck between a rock and a hard place at first base. You don’t even need charts or stats to see the Ike is lost at the plate. Every time he faces the pitcher he blinks his eyes like he’s been driving cross-country for thirty-six hours and the Red Bull is wearing off. If I had to choose one, I’d probably pick Duda just to be able to put someone with some range out in left field. At least Duda has a chance to get on base at a respectable pace.

In the meantime, Sandy should add “first base” to his shopping list.

* * * * * * * *

This Fan Shot was contributed by MMO reader Eli Brazell. Have something you want to say about the Mets? Share your opinions with over 16,000 Mets fans who read this site daily. Send your Fan Shot to GetMetsmerized@aol.com. Or ask us about becoming a regular contributor.

As it often has been with the Mets over the years, what was once good quickly and dramatically turned sour as 5-2 fell to 10-15.

The Mets rode Matt Harvey’s blistering start – they won five of his six starts – but have to be alarmed he was responsible for half their victories. Once again, the Mets fell victim to the same old vices that have crippled them for years.

The bullpen collapsed, the team went cold hitting with runners in scoring position, and they couldn’t overcome the gaping hole in the backend of their rotation. They ended the month with a six-game losing streak and finished at 10-14.

PITCHER OF THE MONTH: Harvey was everything as advertised and yesterday was named the National League’s Pitcher of the Month, going 4-0 with a 1.56 ERA. In 40.1 innings, Harvey struck out 46 while walking just 12.

PLAYER OF THE MONTH: The Mets’ biggest bat belonged to John Buck, who hit nine homers with 25 RBI. The Mets insist he wasn’t a throw-in in the R.A. Dickey trade, but with Travis d’Arnaud out for two months with a fractured foot, Buck will not be dangled soon. The pitchers swear by him.

DISAPPOINTMENT OF THE MONTH: It can’t be anybody else but Ike Davis, who is on pace to strike out 196 times. Last year the Mets did not option Davis and let him work his way back to where he hit 32 homers. If this year’s start continues much longer, will they make the same decision?

BEST SERIES OF THE MONTH: Playing in unbearable conditions, the Mets outscored the Twins in Minnesota by a combined 20-7 in winning two of three games. Harvey flirted with a no-hitter in the second game and the third was snowed out.

WORST SERIES OF THE MONTH: It would be easy to say their three losses in snowy and freezing Colorado, but that would be too easy. And, they deserve a break because of the weather. So, let’s make it the three games they were swept in Citi Field by the Phillies, April 26-28. The losses to Philadelphia comprised half their six-game losing streak. From there, the Mets lost consecutive one-run games in Miami, coughing up the lead in the ninth inning both times.

BEST GAME OF THE MONTH: April 24, at Citi Field. The Mets couldn’t win a Harvey start, but sent the game into extra innings on David Wright’s two-out single in the ninth and Jordany Valdespin’s grand slam homer in the tenth.

WORST GAME OF THE MONTH: There were several to choose from, but let’s take Monday’s heartbreaker in Miami. Not only did they waste a Harvey start, but went 1-for-18 with runners in scoring position and blew two save opportunities in losing 4-3 in 15 innings.

APRIL BY THE NUMBERS: Buck’s nine homers and 25 RBI. … Davis’ .159 average with 29 strikeouts, which outnumbered his walks and hits combined. … Lucas Duda is second in the NL with 20 walks. … Daniel Murphy hit .350 (7-for-20) with RISP. … Wright hit .462 (12-for-26) with RISP. … The bullpen blew three save opportunities and has a 5.09 ERA. The Mets are 3-13 when the pen gives up a run. … Seven times the pen worked at least five innings, a direct reflection on the back end of the rotation. … Longest winning streak was three games and the longest losing streak was six games. … The Mets were 1-6 in one-run games. … Longest hitting streak: Eight games by Murphy. … The Mets used 22 different batting orders in 25 games for the month. … The Mets have used six different leadoff hitters. … Seven different pitchers started games, including Aaron Laffey, who started two and is no longer with the team. … The Mets hit three grand slams for the month.

QUESTIONS COMING OUT OF THE MONTH

Q: Is Matt Harvey for real?

A: Who really knows, but all indications are he is. Harvey’s numbers are impressive, but not as much as is composure and tenacity on the mound.

Q: How long will the Mets stay with Ike Davis?

A: Working in Davis’ favor is the Mets’ reluctance to move Lucas Duda to first base. Davis’ struggling also indicates how thin the Mets are in the minor leagues.

Q: Will they quit fooling around with Jordany Valdespin?

A: The Mets have used six different leadoff hitters. Also, Valdespin won two games with homers, but still languishes in a non-starting role.

Q: Is bullpen and outfield help on the way?

A: There has been some juggling and movement on the Vegas shuttle, but nothing of any substance.

Q: Zack Wheeler, how soon?

A: Wheeler is coming off his best start, but that’s not enough for the Mets to promote him. Should he have two or three like the last one, perhaps the end of the month?

THE MONTH AHEAD: The Mets snapped their losing streak May 1 with Valdespin’s homer Wednesday. The Mets are in Atlanta this weekend, a place where they have not fared well. There are few easy putts this month, as their schedule includes four games in St. Louis, three against Cincinnati and three more with the Braves at Citi Field, and four interleague games with the Yankees.

METS vs ATLANTA PROBABLES

Friday: RHP Shaun Marcum (0-2, 7.94) vs. LHP Mike Minor (3-2, 3.13), 7:30 p.m. ET.

Saturday: LHP Jonathan Niese (2-2, 3.31) vs. RHP Julio Teheran (1-0, 5.08), 7:10 p.m. ET.

Sunday: RHP Matt Harvey (4-0, 1.56) vs. RHP Tim Hudson (3-1, 3.86), 1:35 p.m. ET.