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Ike Davis, Congenital Liar

John Cougar Lunchbucket Feb 23 2014 09:12 PM

The Puma pounces... Davis kept Amazin’s in dark over injury during 2013 struggles PORT ST. LUCIE — Ike Davis concealed an oblique injury from Mets officials for most of last season because of bad timing and the fact he was struggling and didn’t want to surrender his spot in the lineup, the beleaguered first baseman told The Post on Sunday. Ultimately, his season concluded on Aug. 31 in Washington when the oblique “popped,” but Davis’ issues with the muscle began in mid-May and got to the point he was ready to ask for a disabled-list stint. But around that time, according to Davis, he was on the verge of getting demoted to Triple-A Las Vegas — that transaction occurred on June 10 — and didn’t want team officials to think he was using the oblique as an excuse or inventing an injury. “I thought about saying, ‘Hey, I would like to take a couple of weeks off, because I’m not feeling great,’ ” Davis said. “But then the timing was bad and it was when I was getting sent down. It would have been a great time, but it looks bad and I just can’t say that.” Davis was reluctant in admitting to The Post his oblique was an issue for most of last season, beyond the “pop” in Washington, because he doesn’t want to be viewed as an Alibi Ike. Last year he batted only .205 with nine homers and 33 RBIs in 103 games for the Mets. “It makes me look like a baby,” Davis said. “It looks like I’m whining about how I [stunk]. I was terrible, now it’s over.” The Post first learned the extent of Davis’ oblique issues through an industry source who has contact with the player. Neither general manager Sandy Alderson nor manager Terry Collins seemed aware of the situation until asked about it Sunday by The Post. “I would have to go back and check with [trainer] Ray [Ramirez] and refresh my memory,” Alderson said. Collins was more direct. “[Davis] didn’t say anything to me or he wouldn’t have played,” Collins said. Davis was hitting .161 with five homers and 16 RBIs when he was demoted to Las Vegas. He said the oblique soreness began weeks earlier when he started taking extra batting practice in an attempt to break his early-season slump. “I probably should have said something earlier, but what are you going to do?” Davis said. “I wanted to play better, I didn’t want to come out. If I was hitting .380, I probably would have been like, ‘Maybe I should let this cool down so I don’t miss [extensive] time,’ but when you’re hitting .200, you can’t take weeks off.” Davis spent 3 ¹/? weeks at Las Vegas and returned to the Mets on July 5 with the oblique still barking. Over his final two months with the Mets, he batted .267 with a .433 on-base percentage, but hit only four homers. “It wasn’t to the point I couldn’t swing,” Davis said. “It would hurt the first couple of swings pretty bad in practice, but if I just got it loose it was better. But, yeah, it was just bad timing.” Davis is competing with Lucas Duda for the first-base job this spring and said the oblique has healed. The Mets had Davis on the trade block for most of the winter, but were unhappy with the offers they received and ultimately kept him. Perhaps a completely healthy Davis still has the potential to revert to the form he showed in the second half of 2012, when he rebounded from a horrible start to finish with 32 homers. Last season, the Mets waited for Davis’ breakout, but it never arrived. But now they might have new information to consider. “I had an oblique injury for the whole season, basically,” Davis said.

Edgy MD Feb 23 2014 09:25 PM Re: Ike Davis, Congenital Liar

However you look at that, you have to take it along with 2012, when he insisted that he wasn't bothered by the valley fever, until he showed up in camp in 2013, and it was, "Oh, yeah, the valley fever had me wiped out."

John Cougar Lunchbucket Feb 23 2014 09:32 PM Re: Ike Davis, Congenital Liar

Not to mention the whole bullshit over the minor ankle injury the year before.

batmagadanleadoff Feb 23 2014 09:34 PM Re: Ike Davis, Congenital Liar

But on the bright side, maybe there's a medical reason for his underwhelming past performance, rather than that he just isn't up to the expectations cast upon him.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Feb 23 2014 10:30 PM Re: Ike Davis, Congenital Liar

But on the potential-negative side, maybe he's suffered a head injury during the offseason, and has literally forgotten how to hit, and just won't say. We'll never know the truth.

Lefty Specialist Feb 24 2014 06:37 AM Re: Ike Davis, Congenital Liar

Unfortunately, every time he's in a slump we'll never know if he's hiding an injury or just sucks.

TransMonk Feb 24 2014 06:44 AM Re: Ike Davis, Congenital Liar

No matter what, if Davis is projected to have a prominent role with the 2014 team, I'm hoping Sandy and Terry know the length of leash they are going to give to him if he gets off to his third horrific seasonal start in a row. Injury excuses or not, I don't think that Ike is going to be getting the benefit of anyone's doubt this April/May.

Ceetar Feb 24 2014 07:19 AM Re: Ike Davis, Congenital Liar

Lefty Specialist wrote: Unfortunately, every time he's in a slump we'll never know if he's hiding an injury or just sucks. true of pretty much every player ever. This is really just a twist on "best shape of my life" Just in the "Oh, I was hurt/sick last year. But I feel great now!"

Benjamin Grimm Feb 24 2014 07:45 AM Re: Ike Davis, Congenital Liar

batmagadanleadoff wrote: But on the bright side, maybe there's a medical reason for his underwhelming past performance, rather than that he just isn't up to the expectations cast upon him. I certainly hope this is true, and that Ike once again becomes the player we've seen flashes of, but at this point I'm not going to believe it, or count on it, until it happens. I suspect he's more likely to muddle and suck like he has the past two years.

Ceetar Feb 24 2014 07:51 AM Re: Ike Davis, Congenital Liar

Benjamin Grimm wrote: batmagadanleadoff wrote: But on the bright side, maybe there's a medical reason for his underwhelming past performance, rather than that he just isn't up to the expectations cast upon him. I certainly hope this is true, and that Ike once again becomes the player we've seen flashes of, but at this point I'm not going to believe it, or count on it, until it happens. I suspect he's more likely to muddle and suck like he has the past two years. Except he had approximately equal very good periods as very bad ones each of the last two years.

MFS62 Feb 24 2014 08:11 AM Re: Ike Davis, Congenital Liar

I'm hoping that this spring, Ike will come out as an openly good player. Later

Benjamin Grimm Feb 24 2014 08:19 AM Re: Ike Davis, Congenital Liar

I don't recall any "very good" periods in 2013. Unless "very good" is a euphemism for "not completely horrible."

John Cougar Lunchbucket Feb 24 2014 08:20 AM Re: Ike Davis, Congenital Liar

Whoa. Ike is mad at the Puma now. Response Q&A with mlb.com Were you hurt for all of last year? “The bottom line where it says I played all year hurt is not right, because I told you [addressing Post reporter Mike Puma directly] for the first two months it didn’t hurt. Actually you knew that because I said that. There you go. So that’s a lie.” But you said you were hurt. “I said not all year. That’s exactly what I said was ‘Not all year,’ because we had talked about it for 20 minutes. I said it’s basically a pointless story to talk about because it doesn’t matter. “If you hurt something, your oblique, and it pops, there’s a time in between. It doesn’t automatically go, ‘Oh, I’m healthy and then I pop.’ There’s a time where it hurts. But you can’t be like, ‘Oh, I feel a little something here. It’s a little tight. It hurts a little bit.’ I can’t pull myself out of the game. But you made it look like it’s an excuse. It shouldn’t have been a story anyway, because that’s what we talked about before you wrote this, was we shouldn’t write about it because it doesn’t matter. But that was nowhere in the article. It’s just an overblown thing. Everyone has injuries and they get hurt, so it was pointless to write an article. “I sucked last year because I sucked. It’s not because I had an injury. You always have injuries, and now it just looks bad. I didn’t want the article to come out and it did, so whatever.” It wasn’t a reason for why you didn’t play well? “No, not at all. Not at all. Nope. I never once made an excuse that my oblique hurt.” You never told Sandy Alderson or Terry Collins? “You can’t tell people stuff because you won’t play. You always hurt. We always hurt. You play 162 games in how many days? You hurt all the time. Unless you can’t physically actually go out and play, you can’t say anything. So that’s what we do, and we have injuries that last a little longer and they don’t. Sometimes they never pop. I wish it didn’t but it did. I even told you guys when we had a meeting last year, ‘It finally went out. I’ve been feeling it for a little bit and it finally popped.’ What am I going to do, not play? And so it doesn’t make sense.” Looking back, did it affect you at all? “No. I already said that, it didn’t have an affect. So now I’m going to be very sharp. I’m not going to say anything. We’re not going to have one-on-one [interviews]. We’re going to have group meetings so it’s not blown out of proportion.” Did you address is with Terry or Sandy today? “No. It wasn’t even supposed to be an article. I told [Puma] as soon as he came up, I go, ‘No, we’re not talking about that, it’s pointless.’ That’s exactly what I said. Then it’s back page of the Post, whatever. All right, thanks guys.”

metirish Feb 24 2014 08:26 AM Re: Ike Davis, Congenital Liar

Ike is a dick, I have litle time for him, unless of course he doesn't suck this coming season , then I'll love him.

Benjamin Grimm Feb 24 2014 08:27 AM Re: Ike Davis, Congenital Liar

Ike Davis wrote: I sucked last year because I sucked. That rings true to me.

Ceetar Feb 24 2014 08:27 AM Re: Ike Davis, Congenital Liar

Benjamin Grimm wrote: I don't recall any "very good" periods in 2013. Unless "very good" is a euphemism for "not completely horrible." .267/.429/.443 in 170 PA after he returned. 35 Ks in 38 starts. 15 XBH. I'll take that all year long.

Edgy MD Feb 24 2014 08:35 AM Re: Ike Davis, Congenital Liar

It's all good. This could make for some good spring training duh-rama. [fimg=400]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/3c/Mike-and-Ike-Box-Small.jpg[/fimg] [fimg=150]http://thenypost.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/mike-puma.png[/fimg][fimg=200]https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRFExgegklbbnyi5LNBz9YtFzxa_q8AVA-XbhdfGnV6G2Pws9i2[/fimg] I like this in the context of Alec Baldwin's I'm-Done-with-the-Media article in New York Magazine. As if they turned him into a raving lunatic.

Lefty Specialist Feb 24 2014 08:45 AM Re: Ike Davis, Congenital Liar

Maybe they could install a combination whirlpool/polygraph in the training room.

Vic Sage Feb 24 2014 09:29 AM Re: Ike Davis, Congenital Liar

The problem with correlating Ike's injury to his production is that it doesn't... at all. Ike's worst hitting last year happened early in the season, before he was hurt, and he hit best after coming back from AAA still having the strained oblique, until it "popped." The previous season, he had a similar bad 1st half/better 2nd half, and there was no particular injury i can recall that distinguished those periods either. Ike's problem is simple: his swing is too long and has huge holes in it, plus he's not great at hitting lefties or breaking balls (or great high fastballs, but few hitters are). And when things go wrong, he expands his zone and chases even more bad pitches. He hits well during those random periods when he faces some mediocre righties with sinkers, and the timing on that long swing falls into a good groove and, after building some CAHNfidence, he becomes more patient, increasing the success... until he faces some quality arms with good curves (or power fastballs), or a Lefty, and then his timing goes off again and he starts hacking to compensate, and da ship be sinkin. Yes, Ike has good power, and for stretches he can look like a very good hitter, and I think he is a better glove than he showed last year. But he is what he is... a streaky, boom/bust player who can feast on mistakes but has too many holes in his swing to be useful over a full season, or against good pitching. That may be why nobody wants him despite the Mets trying to move him, and why the Mets are trying to move him in the first place. At least Duda's mediocrity comes with a consistent OB%, which rarely slumps. Over the course of a full season, he won't ever be as good as Good Ike, but won't be as bad as Bad Ike, and that may help us more in the long run. At least until Dom Smith gets here.

Edgy MD Feb 24 2014 09:33 AM Re: Ike Davis, Congenital Liar

I didn't see it as a bad swing leading to bad judgment, but vice-versa. But I guess when you fall as low as he fell, it all feeds off of itself.

metirish Feb 24 2014 12:12 PM Re: Ike Davis, Congenital Liar

Mother of God Retweeted by SportsNet New York Michelle Yu ?@michelleyutv 8m Can Ike Davis handle NY media after his outburst? Plus, Jason Collins talk. Join me, Beningo, @nydnraiss & @MarcMalusis @5 on @DailyNewsLive

John Cougar Lunchbucket Feb 24 2014 01:15 PM Re: Ike Davis, Congenital Liar

Well, acting like subject and editor at the same time and denying one-on-ones from now on as he seems to have done isn't going to win him a lot of support with the Fourth Estate. I can see how he'd be taken aback by the attention his remarks garnered but getting all mad and telling us we shouldn't know because it doesn't matter to him is kinda weird. I'm warming up the Memories of Ike thread now.

Centerfield Feb 25 2014 07:21 AM Re: Ike Davis, Congenital Liar

Wait, so if I'm following this right, Ike Davis says he didn't want to mention the injury last year because of fear he'd get taken out of the lineup. So at the point you get sent down to AAA, doesn't it make sense to say, "Um, Wally, my oblique has been hurting for a while. Maybe I could take a week or two off before I find myself again?" And he didn't mention it after the season because he didn't want to make excuses. But he is mentioning it now. To a reporter. But he's not making excuses. Then when the reporter reports what he has said to him, in a one-on-one interview, Ike gets upset. Because now it seems like he's making excuses. But he's not. He had no idea that the stuff he said to a reporter was going to end up getting published. The nerve of that reporter. How Mike Puma isn't fired is beyond me.

Ceetar Feb 25 2014 07:26 AM Re: Ike Davis, Congenital Liar

Centerfield wrote: Wait, so if I'm following this right, Ike Davis says he didn't want to mention the injury last year because of fear he'd get taken out of the lineup. So at the point you get sent down to AAA, doesn't it make sense to say, "Um, Wally, my oblique has been hurting for a while. Maybe I could take a week or two off before I find myself again?" And he didn't mention it after the season because he didn't want to make excuses. But he is mentioning it now. To a reporter. But he's not making excuses. Then when the reporter reports what he has said to him, in a one-on-one interview, Ike gets upset. Because now it seems like he's making excuses. But he's not. He had no idea that the stuff he said to a reporter was going to end up getting published. The nerve of that reporter. How Mike Puma isn't fired is beyond me. Not quite. Someone else (Ron?) told the post he had the oblique injury, and when Puma asked him about it he said "We're not going to talk about that, it's not important" Puma I guess, continued to push for quotes and Ike obliged. Guess he could've stuck to his "let's not talk about that" bit, but of course then Puma would've wrote he was hurt last year and refuses to talk about it.

Edgy MD Feb 25 2014 07:29 AM Re: Ike Davis, Congenital Liar

The thing is, when you talk for a while, you circle around a point and end up underscoring it more than you should when you think you've settled on a thesis that works. Ike may have started out talking about how the strain was hurting him much of the year, and may have felt like Pumarama was lapping it up. He may not have started out saying it was the whole year, and in retrospect, 2/3 of the year can seem like the whole season, so, OOPS!, he must've said the whole season at some point. Because I really think Puma wouldn't have put “I had an oblique injury for the whole season, basically,” in quotes unless he had Davis recorded.

Edgy MD Mar 03 2014 07:26 AM Re: Ike Davis, Congenital Liar

“I had an oblique injury for the whole season, basically,” Davis said. It would seem the disagreement lies in the ambiguity of this statement, or more specifically, the ambiguity in the word "basically". One could understand the statement as Davis saying he was hurt the whole season or, alternatively, as Davis saying he was hurt much of the season. I daresay Davis was hoping to float in that ambiguity. And Puma didn't exactly hang the guy out to dry, letting that quote speak for itself and buried at the bottom of his article. Anyhow, perhaps Davis has learned a lesson in being forthcoming and he's been scratched from the road trip due to a strained calf. Or perhaps he's been strained from the road trip due to a scratched calf.