Coleman's Corner: Mets Need To Get Offensive

By Ed Coleman
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All in a day's rain delay for the Mets. As the skies in Denver continued to empty onto Coors Field, the team lost its most productive player - 1B Ike Davis - to the disabled list with a left ankle sprain and bone bruise suffered Tuesday night in a collision with David Wright.

How integral is Davis to an anemic Mets offense? Well currently, Ike is one of only 8 players in the major leagues to have a .300 batting average and at least 7 HR and 25 RBI. He also had an OPS of .925. How much will he be missed? Plenty, says manager Terry Collins.

Needless to say, it would obviously help if Wright and Jason Bay began pulling their weight instead of hitting it. But how do you replace Davis' production, Collins was asked?

When Bay started his season on April 21, he promptly ripped off a 6-game hitting streak (.391). Since that time, he's batting .105 (4-38) with 2 RBI, and is currently riding an 0-14 skid entering Thursday's game. Collins believes Bay simply needs to relax.

The oft-injured Fernando Martinez has been called up to take Ike's spot on the roster. The manager says his role will be off the bench, at least for right now.

When Martinez has been called up previously, he has slotted right into the lineup for an injured outfielder. This time it will be different, Can he adjust to coming in as a pinch-hitter? 1010-1. In between frequent trips to the D.L. virtually every season of his Mets' career, Martinez appeared in 7 games in the majors last year, and 36 all told in his career. He's hit just .174 with one homer and 10 RBI, but he's still only 22 years old.

Daniel Murphy will take over at 1B in Davis' absence. Murphy played first in the Dominican Republic last winter, he played the position frequently during spring training, and takes ground balls over there regularly. Justin Turner is expected to get the majority of playing time replacing Murphy at 2B, and Willie Harris will see some time there as well. The Mets also signed 37-year-old journeyman utility infielder Luis Figueroa - released by Milwaukee earlier this month - as insurance.

More bad news, though not totally unexpected - pitcher Chris Young will undergo shoulder surgery for a torn anterior capsule on Monday in New York. Young was debating the choice of rehab or surgery and chose the latter. He was arguably the Mets' best starter to date - in just 4 starts covering 24 innings, he was 1-0 with a 1.88 ERA, striking out 22, walking 11, while holding the league to a .146 batting average. But as fellow starter and surgical veteran Chris Capuano noted, Young's sphere of influence extended well beyond the playing field and will be missed.

Speaking of torn capsules, Johan Santana actually threw off a mound for the first time in Port St. Lucie. Santana had been throwing repetitions up to 150 feet off flat ground, but graduated to 15 throws off the mound earlier this week. The Mets are still sticking to a late July possible return for Santana this season.

C U soon
Eddie C.

Who needs to step up in Ike's absence? Sound off below...