The Phillies came to Citi Field last night and spent the first three innings making the Mets feel like Ike Davis has felt this entire season — utterly humiliated.
Falling into an 11-0 hole before eventually falling 13-8, the Mets looked like a 98-pound weakling getting pummeled while in the fetal position. They were a team of pinatas unexpectedly running into a gang of bats.
The crowd's sarcastic cheers seemed to come as often as at-bats, but this season's most abused victim of Citi Field derision finally, even if temporarily, turned the crowd around, and possibly even turned his season as well.
Davis, who entered the game batting .165, took the first steps toward emulating last season's second-half surge by going 2-for-4 with a run in last night's loss, after accumulating only two hits in his previous 21 at-bats.
It was Davis' first multi-hit game since his first game back from his minor league stint on July 5.
"Ike's going to hit, so there's no worries about that," said outfielder Marlon Byrd, who hit his team-leading 16th home run. "In the second half, he's going to turn it on. I guarantee it."
While Davis continues to try and prove any value to the team beyond this season, Byrd continued demonstrating his value to contending teams with his three-run shot into the second deck of left field in the fourth inning.
Before the game, manager Terry Collins hinted that if Byrd were to be traded, Davis would need to provide something resembling his 20-home run second-half last season, which also followed an awful first-half.
"If there's moves made before the end of the season, whenever that might be, I certainly think [if] you're taking one of your better bats out of the lineup, someone really has to step up, and again, you point your fingers only in a couple of directions," Collins said. "We're not going to ask Juan Lagares all of a sudden to be the run-producer that Marlon Byrd is, or even [look at] Kirk Nieuwenhuis. We're going to look at those that have had major-league experience before, those guys that when we started March 1, there were expectations for them to be run-producers.
"It's important that they become that guy. So, hopefully Marlon is still here, but if he's not, then someone else has got to pick it up. Because it is going to make a difference because he's done such a good job."
After striking out against Kyle Kendrick in the second inning, Davis singled in the fourth, then followed it up with another single to start a two-run sixth inning. The first baseman improved his average to .171 this season.
It may be nothing more than an aberration in an embarrassing season. But maybe, just maybe, Davis could be in for another solid second-half.
howard.kussoy@nypost.com
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