Geez, What the heck is up with Ike Davis? Spare me the “It’s only April diatribes”  I’m not in the mood for cliches and simplistic excuses this morning.

Ike Davis stranded the bases loaded three times in Monday’s doubleheader sweep by the Giants, although the first baseman cautiously noted that the final instance — a called third strike in the nightcap as a pinch hitter — was not entirely his fault. Davis and Terry Collins clearly said the final pitch was low. Davis flinged his bat after the at-bat. He left 11 runners on base in two games.

Low my ass… It was too close to take… You’re down a half dozen runs and have two strikes on you, protect the damn plate.

Instead of Collins making excuses for him, maybe he should set his head straight and tell Davis to stop lunging at everything.

Last week in this post, our own Drew (72MetsFan) referred to Ike Davis’ tirades at the plate.

Another thing that concerns me is Ike’s demeanor at the plate and how he reacts on close pitches that don’t go his way or his emotional displays after every strikeout. When a a Cy-Young type pitcher like Cliff Lee barely misses the outside part of the plate, he’s gonna get that call every time. There’s no use jawing about it to the ump and Davis’ reputation in that regard is growing quickly and will only serve against him. If not Hudgens, than Collins or somebody else needs to have him tone it down up there.

And there he was, taking a called third strike in the eighth inning with the bases loaded, popping off and slamming his bat and helmet to the ground as he turned from home plate in protest. Keep up that routine and see how many close pitches will go your way, Ike.

Collins was finally asked about Davis’ antagonistic protests aimed at the the men behind the plate and whether it plays against him in the long run as I mentioned last week:

“I don’t necessarily agree with that,” Collins said. “In our league, you have to be professional. … Years ago umpires could hold a grudge. Because there are so many TV cameras today, and with all the stuff being aired today, they really can’t. I don’t think they do that stuff anymore. They’re human beings. Once in a while they miss a call. We make mistakes. But I don’t think they really screw guys like they once did.”

Is he kidding me?

He thinks umpiring has improved instead of gotten worse? Really Terry?

That may be the most asinine baseball quote I’ve heard all year.

In the last week, Ike has gotten worse, not better. I loved hearing about how great he felt after batting practice yesterday, it really touched my heart, but I’m more concerned with results.

Is his head in the game? Of course it is, it’s one of the things I love about Ike – his focus and determination. In Spring Training Davis referred to himself as “pure chaos” at the plate when comparing himself to teammate Daniel Murphy. I thought it was cool at the time and a perfect nickname for him, but what was I thinking? He admitted he was a hacker which is okay when you’re hacking at a .295 clip and hitting home runs in bunches, but this… This slump is intolerable and he’s clogged up the middle of the order while batting cleanup. We’re getting tons of people on base… Haven’t you heard how awesome the Mets’ OBP is? How about getting some players in the middle of the order to drive in some runs… You know those things that leads to wins…

Time for Plan B… Time to get him a few days off, not one… You have Valdespin here, perfect timing, put him at second base for the Marlins series and let Daniel Murphy cover first base.

The goal here is two fold.

One, Ike would be served better to disengage, recharge and come back with a new approach and attitude. Let him huddle with Hudgens or anyone else who could help. Show him some tape from 2010 so he could see how pitchers have adjusted to to him and that he now needs to do the same. Hey, whatever it takes…

Two, the bottom line here is to win some baseball games. Batting Ike Davis cleanup while he’s a complete mess is a terrible idea. We’ve lost five of our last six games and we can’t afford a dead out deflating the middle of our lineup. Ike’s a flat tire right now and it needs some Fix-A-Flat.

Yesterday I told Andy Martino of the Daily News that Davis could be in the throws of a sophomore slump that is in late bloom. We all love to believe our young stars are immune to such things, but that’s what happens when the league adjusts to you and all you do is flail at the plate like nothing is different. Lucas Duda be forewarned as well.