Ike Davis was asked if he might play again this season before yesterday’s game against the Cardinals.

“I’m not gonna tell you I’m gonna play this season because I’ve told you like 16 times this year [that I will] and it hasn’t happened,” said Davis, out since May 10. “Give it three weeks and we’ll see, either ‘yes’ or ‘no.'”

Terry Collins of course would like to see a healthy Ike on the field this year, to erase any doubts and speculation about his health going into next season.

“I would say the majority odds are I probably wouldn’t play this year. …,” Davis said, according to the NY Post and ESPN “Obviously there’s a possibility that I don’t need surgery. We just need it to heal. And if it doesn’t heal, we have to do something to make it heal.”

Oh no, here’s the kicker:

“But next year I will be back and healthy. I promise.”

Does anyone realistically expect Ike to be back this year?

Sorry for not posting something today; my writing time was spent filling in at the ESPN SweetSpot, which has a vacancy since Rob Neyer departed for SB Nation.

There’s an article on protecting pitchers with pitch counts, one on baseball nicknames, and hopefully another one coming on baseball movies.

Will be back in the saddle soon.

After over four years, 2511 posts, and over 9000 comments, MetsToday finally made the big time: it is now the official Mets blog of the ESPN SweetSpot, headed by Rob Neyer.

Ah, so that explains the ESPN bar at the top of the page …

Within an hour of the announcement, (1) dozens of loyal visitors, friends, and family sent their congratulations; (2) my web host shut down the site temporarily for traffic overload; and, (3) I received “constructive criticism” from a prolific TV / movie actor who admitted to being “underwhelmed” by MetsToday and suggested I put a little more passion and opinion into my writing. Huh, that’s a new one … usually people are bashing me for being TOO opinionated … guess I still have work to do.

So what will change now that MetsToday has “sold out” to “the man”? Nothing, other than that bar up there and an occasional server meltdown. The truth is, the site has not been “sold”, and this remains a non-paying gig. Once in a while, there may be an “assignment” from Rob Neyer, and we may have the chance to include some ESPN material down the road (video?), but for the most part, MetsToday will continue to be the same blog it’s always been. Rob (I think I can call him “Rob”?) handpicked the blogs for the SweetSpot Network because he believed each did a strong job of covering our favorite teams — so why fix what ain’t broke?

Speaking of those great blogs, you can jump to any of them via the drop-down selector in the bar above. A few you may already be familiar with, and all are worth checking out.

I cannot go any further without thanking the loyal readers and commenters of MetsToday, who keep the conversation going on a daily basis and who, as Yogi Berra might say, make this blog necessary. Really, that’s what this blog is all about — a place where Mets fans can convene and kvetch.

To new readers, thanks for taking the time to check out MetsToday and please consider joining the conversation. We only ask that you respect others and refrain from personal attacks — stay on topic and keep the argument directed toward positions rather than other commenters. Also, this is a family-friendly (and pet-friendly) site so no profanity.

More good news: the Mets remain undefeated and in first place in the NL East!

David Lennon reports that Vin Scully hilariously compared last night’s loss to the 1962 Mets.

The Mets Police has a nicely worded rant against ESPN’s Sunday night baseball. Rather than focus entirely on the Beltran/Phillips debate (remember these guys?), Mets Police basically lays out a case that ESPN is to baseball what ESPN is to sports in general (a disaster).

According to the NY Post, Jose Reyes is getting antsy while Mets management is claiming to be confused by his slow progress… Does anyone else remember Reyes’ history of leg problems? Does anyone else remember how the Mets mishandled Ryan Church’s concussion? Too soon? Too scary?

And finally, a few words from former Mets 2B Wally Backman. This is unedited audio from a locker room speech that Backman gave to his minor league team in 2007, following the team’s first loss of the season. Backman is able to use profanity to rip his team in one sentence and then use it to build his players back up with the next sentence. He’s an artist working in the medium of F-bombs… Enjoy:

(Caution: Explicit Language):