29 Ike Davis, 1B

Mets first baseman Ike Davis has been dropped to sixth in the order Monday against Reds right-hander Johnny Cueto.

Davis has been in a season-long slump and is hitting .156/.238/.259 in 135 at-bats. Davis had been hitting high in the order against righties but was demoted to seventh against lefties. Cueto is a tough matchup for good left-handed hitters, so it will be challenging for Davis to break out of his slump. 

Mets first baseman Ike Davis received a day off Sunday against the Cubs with left-handed pitcher Travis Wood starting. Davis entered play Sunday in a 1-for-30 slump (.033) over his last eight games.

Manager Terry Collins said Davis will be back in the lineup Monday against the Reds, when the team kicks off an eight-game homestand.

"With Cincinnati coming in and with three right-handers again it’s another chance where he can get home and get comfortable," Collins told the New York Daily News. "He feels good in Citi Field. It’s so important, he is such a big part of our lineup, we gotta get him going."

The Mets have had discussions about the possibility of demoting first baseman Ike Davis, but general manager Sandy Alderson told the New York Daily News Saturday the team has been pleased with Davis' play recently and thinks he can turn it around.

"Well, we haven’t seen a lot of improvement. He has started to hit the ball a little harder the last four or five days," Alderson said. "It wasn’t until late May last year that we even addressed the topic with him. But it's important for him to just have good at-bats. I told him don’t worry about results right now."

Despite publicly acknowledging that the organization has discussed demoting Davis to Las Vegas, Alderson said that the team will not be forced into making a decision if Davis has not turned things around by a certain date.

“There is no timetable on Ike,” Alderson said.

The Mets continue to talk of demoting first baseman Ike Davis, despite his snapping an 0-for-24 skid at the plate Friday against the Cubs, ESPN reports.

One sign that the Mets could be close to dropping Davis to the minors is Triple-A Las Vegas outfielder Andrew Brown seeing time at first for the 51s.

Davis is batting .160 this season with four home runs and nine RBI over 131 at-bats.

Mets first baseman Ike Davis snapped an 0-for-24 slide Friday against the Cubs with a two-out single in the sixth inning. He went 1 for 4 in the game and rose his batting average to .160 in a 3-2 win.