Ike getting on hot roll in Las Vegas
ATLANTA — Ike Davis may be gone, but he’s not forgotten. The struggling first baseman, who was demoted to Triple-A earlier this month to reconstruct his swing, went 3-for-5 with two home runs and two RBI on Thursday night after his 2-for-2 performance with an RBI and three walks Wednesday for the Las Vegas 51s.
A promising report was on Terry Collins’ desk Thursday morning.
“He’s listening, he’s trying everything that they are asking him. They thought he’s made big strides,” the Mets manager said of Davis. “He’s just seeing the ball better. He’s really cut down the strike zone; he’s trying to shrink it down a little bit, to get better pitches to hit.
“That was a good night for him (Wednesday) night.”
While Collins joked he would like Davis back with the Mets tomorrow, it is likely to be at least a couple weeks before that could happen. The list of things that Davis is working on with Triple-A hitting coach George Greer is long.
“They are trying to calm the hitch down, not have it so big. They are trying to keep his upper body back, behind the baseball a little more, keep his head in a little bit better,” Collins said. “His stride has got him to where he is kind of lunging, so they’ve got him on the plate a little bit better. Keeping his front hip in, instead of having it fly, which sometimes can cause his shoulders to come off the ball. The grip of the bat has helped him free up his hands a little bit.”
WRIGHT SPOT
David Wright hit his 31st and 32nd career home runs against the Braves Thursday night, his most against any opponent. They were also his 10th and 11th of the season, giving him double-digit homers in each his first 10 major-league seasons.
He laughed when asked about hitting his the third of the game.
“I’ve never done that,” said Wright, who has 20 multi-home run games in his career, “so I don’t even know what that would feel like.
“But I felt good at the plate tonight. It was fun. It’s always more fun when you win than lose, and we’ve had plenty of struggles here, so it’s nice to win the series here.”
RAPID REACTION TEAM
With starter Jon Niese forced out of the game with a shoulder injury in the fourth inning, the Mets bullpen saved the night. with five scoreless frames. David Aardsma got the final two outs in the fourth, LaTroy Hawkins went two innings, Brandon Lyon went 1 2/ 3, Josh Edgin came in and got Jason Heyward out in the eighth and Bobby Parnell closed it for his 11th save.
“They stepped up tremendously tonight,” Collins said. “They were great.”
Over the last nine games, the Mets’ bullpen has a 1.55 ERA, a win and two saves.
Parnell was particularly proud of the way the relievers, who wear “Rapid Reaction Team,” T-shirts proudly in the clubhouse.
“We knew we had a long night of work ahead of us with (Niese) going down when he did, but we’re there to pick up the guys, pick up the team,” Parnell said.