The more things change, the more they stay the same. Anyone looking for proof of this cliché needs to look no further than Ike Davis’ approach when he gets to two strikes. Last August I wrote that the Mets should give Davis the take sign when he gets to 0-2 and only allow him to swing at fastballs when the count was 1-2 because all he was doing in those counts was chasing breaking pitches out of the strike zone.

Here are Davis’ breakdowns this year when the at-bat ends with the pitch from the following count:

0-2: 0-3, 3 Ks

1-2: 0-13, 12 Ks

2-2: 0-9, 5 Ks

Admittedly, these are the worst hitters’ counts there are, but 0-25 with 20 strikeouts is a special kind of inept and it goes a long way towards explaining the frustration that the fan base feels with Davis.

At the end of March, Terry Collins announced that Collin Cowgill was going to be an everyday player for the Mets. This lasted around 10 days before we saw less Cowgill. But Davis is some kind of sacred cow. Last year the Mets refused to send him to the minors, even though he might have been the worst hitter in baseball the first nine weeks or so of the season.

Cowgill gets a seat on the bench after opening the year with a .565 OPS after seven games. In his last nine games, Davis has a .133/.250/.267 line for a .517 OPS. And let’s not pretend it was super before then, either. In his first 14 games Davis had a .617 OPS. For the season he has a .580 OPS after 95 PA.

Collins has dropped Davis lower in the order, so that’s something, I guess. But how long do we have to watch futile at-bat after futile at-bat? In his last nine games, Davis has a 38.9 K% which is Nieuwenhuisian in its awfulness. That’s 10 percentage points above what Matt den Dekker posted last year in Triple-A which left people convinced he couldn’t hit in the majors.

In a way, it’s understandable why Collins writes Davis’ name in the lineup every game. On a team starved for offense, he has the ability to take any pitcher deep, which makes everyone want to believe that the breakthrough or regression or whatever you want to call it – is coming today. But there’s nothing right now that gives me any confidence that this is true.

Last year management told us that Davis was not sent to the minors because the Mets were winning when he was struggling, which allowed them to carry his anemic bat in April and May. But if you look at the standings now, the Mets aren’t winning. What’s the rationale for playing him everyday in the majors now? We don’t want to hurt his feelings?

It is my belief that Davis needs to be sent to the minors. Let him work out his problems there and bring him up when he starts hitting and his K% remains under 20 percent. But don’t send him to Las Vegas, where he might enjoy himself. Send him to Binghamton. Publicly say that it’s so he can get to the Mets quickly when he gets recalled, like they did with Josh Edgin. But privately, tell Davis that sending him to Binghamton is a punishment for how lousy he’s been at the plate.

Getting Davis to work out his problems in the minors allows the Mets to move Lucas Duda to first base. Earlier, Collins said he didn’t want to move Duda to first base when Davis gets a day off because he got too excited previously when he got to play his preferred position. Heaven forbid that we make the guy with the .950 OPS happy. It’s much better that we kowtow to Davis, the guy doing a Jason Bay imitation at the plate.

The Mets need a productive Davis if they are going to play competitive baseball in 2013. In his awful stretch the past nine games, the Mets are 2-7. At the very least, Davis needs an extended seat on the bench. But my belief is that Davis and his “too cool for school” attitude needs a reality check and that a fortnight in Binghamton with detailed instructions about pitch recognition would do wonders.

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