After a three week exile to Triple-A Las Vegas, Mets first baseman Ike Davis returned with a vengeance last night, piecing together a 3-for-5 performance with a walk, two runs scored and two RBIs.
Davis was penciled into the cleanup spot and for all intents and purposes did his job and did it well. It was just one small step, but it was certainly a step in the right direction. All three hits were singles, but two of them were really ripped hard. It was his first three-hit game since September 15 of last season.
With his confidence somewhat restored, Davis acknowledged that the demotion that he was so resistant to, was actually the perfect medicine for an ailing swing that needed plenty of work.
“Obviously I wish I could have done it here,” Davis said. “But it’s hard to really work on stuff here because you need to win right away. You kind of couldn’t do anything.”
“My first six games down there, when I was working on stuff, I was terrible. But it was easier to work on that because I wasn’t blowing the Mets’ season.”
Terry Collins liked what he saw and could spot the improvement. “I just thought he took better swings,” Collins said. “He’s not overswinging, you can just see he’s calmed everything down and all his actions are calmed down, even the bat speed. There’s a couple of major things that he’s obviously made adjustments on and he looks good.”
Interestingly enough, SNY analyst Keith Hernandez disagreed and all night long was still very critical of Davis’ swing and the hitch, but Davis explained that the hitch was not his problem.
“The hitch is not my problem,” Davis said. “It’s just calming everything down, being relaxed and not having so much movement with everything. And when you have movement, having it be the right kind of movement. I’m trying to step toward the pitcher now instead of toward the plate, which is allowing my hands to work a little better.”
During his stay at Sin City, Davis hit .293 with seven homers and 13 RBIs in 21 games and even copped a Pacific Coast League player of the week award for his effort.
So is Ike Davis cured? Will we continue to see more hits and more driving the ball? Only time will tell… But last night was an encouraging sign for the big lefthanded slugger. Lets hope he can build on that.
