The Ike Davis Era Begins
By Jeff Freier on April 20th, 2010 10:20 AM |

Ike Davis made his major league debut last night in the Mets’ 6-1 victory over the Cubs. He singled in his first at-bat, and in the seventh inning he drove in his first run, and he did it against a lefty after seeing a few tough curveballs. He finished 2 for 4, with one RBI. He singlehandedly turned the Mets around in one game – ok, that’s a bit much. But the Mets did actually win, so that’s news and a good sign. And he’s already out-produced Mike Jacobs and Fernando Tatis combined.
The rookie was compared to John Olerud a few times in last night’s broadcast, and he does resemble the sweet-swinging former Met at the plate. Davis comes from a major league pedigree and went to Arizona State, so it wasn’t really a surprise that he seemed right at home on a big league field and didn’t look overmatched, but of course that was only one game. The Mets also used youngsters Jon Niese (whose newfound cutter seems to be making him a more effective pitcher) and Jenrry Mejia in the game. There’s just something about rooting for fresh-faced, homegrown kids. They don’t have the stink of failure on them yet, and you picture nothing but happy days ahead for them. Let’s just hope that Davis is more David Wright and Darryl Strawberry than Alex Ochoa and Mike Vail.
Here are a number of other major league debuts of Met players throughout franchise history:
Fernando Martinez (5/26/09): 0-3, one BB, in a 6-1 win over Washington
Lastings Milledge (5/30/06): 1-4, 2B, in a 7-2 loss to Arizona
David Wright (7/21/04): 0-4, in a 5-4 win over Montreal
Jose Reyes (6/10/03): 2-4, 2 runs, in a 9-7 loss to Texas
Alex Ochoa (9/18/95): 1-2, one run, in a 7-1 loss to Atlanta
Gregg Jefferies (9/9/87): 0-1, in a 3-2 loss to LA
Dwight Gooden (4/7/84): 5 IP, 1 run, 3 hits, 5 K’s, 2 BB’s, picked up the win in 3-2 victory over Houston
Darryl Strawberry (5/6/83): 0-4, run, 2 BB’s, in 13-inning 7-4 win over Cincinnati
Lee Mazzilli (9/7/76): 0-1, in an 11-0 win over Chicago
Mike Vail (8/18/75): 1-1, in a 4-0 loss to Houston
Jerry Koosman (4/14/67): 2.2 IP in relief, no hits, 2 K’s, 2 BB’s, in a 5-1 loss to Philadelphia
Tom Seaver: (4/13/67): 5.1 IP, 2 runs, 6 hits, 8 K’s, 2 BB’s, got a no-decision in a 3-2 win over Pittsburgh
Ed Kranepool (9/22/62): 0-1, in a 9-2 loss to Chicago (he was 17 years old)