There is more needed from Ike Davis and Lucas Duda than what they have delivered for the Mets so far this season. A lot more.
Davis has suffered through a season of regression — or at least a quarter of a season so far. The first baseman is hitting in the .100s, he just learned two days ago he wasn’t being demoted to the minors and he now faces questions about what his long-term ability is.
Meanwhile, Duda had gone through the entire month of May without hitting a home run. And consider that last night he admitted: “I think for me to be a productive big leaguer, I have to hit home runs.”
Last night, though, Davis and Duda both delivered for the Mets, providing two extremely welcome performances in the Mets’ 6-1 win over the Padres. Duda slammed his first homer since April 28, a span of 77 at-bats, and Davis smacked his second two-run single in as many nights.
“That’s huge for our team,” manager Terry Collins said.
No argument there. Davis is 25 years old, and Duda is 26, so they’re key lineup pieces for 2012 and beyond. This Met lineup is not all that deep. And, as Collins said last night, at times opposing teams are going to force Mets players not named David Wright to produce.
“That’s the important part of getting Lucas going,” Collins said. “Same with Ike. Same with Dan Murphy.”
And for most of this season, when Wright didn’t help the Mets offensively, they ended up with a loss. They went into last night 15-3 when Wright had an RBI and 9-18 when he didn’t. Lats night, Wright went 0-for-3 with a walk, driving in nobody and even leaving two runners on.
Yet the Mets still won.
“David’s not going to do it every single night,” Davis said. “That’s what this team is about.”
Dillon Gee pitched superbly for the Mets, firing seven innings of one-run ball while striking out a career-high nine. The right-hander also held the Padres to just 2-for-11 when runners were on base and 0-for-6 when they were in scoring position.
Now, to be fair, Gee did get help to end the first inning. With one out, Will Venable on third and Yonder Alonso on first, Jesus Guzman blasted a shot to deep left. But Mike Baxter made a leaping catch and banged into the wall, and while Venable scored from third on the sac fly, Baxter doubled Alonso off first base to end the inning.
“I think it changed [the momentum] quite a bit,” Collins said.
Duda changed the score in the second inning, blasting a change-up off the Subway sign on the second deck facing in right field, tying things at 1-1. Gee said, “That was the turning point there,” and in the third the Mets brought home two more runs on Baxter’s RBI double and Kirk Nieuwenhuis’ RBI single for a 3-1 edge.
Then in the fifth, Murphy — breaking an 0-for-15 skid — doubled in a run and Davis swatted his two-run single to push it to 6-1.
“My swing feels a lot better,” Davis said. “I’m a lot better player than I’ve showed. It’s just what I’m supposed to do.”
Davis has barely done it this season. But he did it on Thursday and again last night. Same with Duda.
“They’re the big boppers,” Gee said of the duo.
They are. And were.
