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Mets Demote Davis, Baxter, Carson To Triple-A Las Vegas

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) — Enough is enough, Terry Collins and Sandy Alderson have demoted first baseman Ike Davis, outfielder Mike Baxter and reliever Rob Carson to Triple-A Las Vegas.

One day after watching the New York Mets lose to Miami in 20 innings, they saw them fall in 10 to the worst team in the major leagues.

"I do believe there's an honor to play here, there's a privilege to play here. It's not just, put the uniform on and be here," Collins said. "You've earned the right to be here, but you have to earn the right to stay here."

The team will call up infielder Josh Satin, outfielder Collin Cowgill and left-handed reliever Josh Edgin before Tuesday night's series opener against St. Louis.

David Wright's two-run double in the third helped build a 4-1 lead, but the Mets frittered it away.

Collins called a team meeting after the game, called it "pretty close" to the low point of his 2½-season tenure as manager and said he spoke to his players "about what it takes to play here."

"This is when you reach down inside and you find out who belongs here and who doesn't, for me. There's some learning things that had to take place today," he said.

The first inning ended when Jordany Valdespin was caught stealing third base. Collins could be seen talking to him in the dugout in the middle of the second inning.

"Got to learn from that," he said.

Since sweeping four games from the Yankees, the Mets have lost six of seven.

Four of New York's six hits didn't leave the infield. The Mets had just one hit after Wright's double, an infield single by Daniel Murphy in the sixth.

Davis was 0 for 3, leaving him with a .161 average, five homers, 16 RBIs and 66 strikeouts. A starter since 2010, Davis was removed for a pinch hitter for the second straight day. He didn't speak with reporters after the game.

"I think that first and foremost, Ike needs to get his confidence back," said Alderson, in his fourth season as general manager. "He's had a lot of people in his ear talking about his swing and talking about what he needs to get to do to get back to where he was."

Baxter was 0 for 4 in his first start since May 29 and is hitting .212 with no homers and four RBIs. After Murphy's leadoff walk in the ninth, Baxter couldn't get a bunt down and struck out.

With a runner on second in the 10th and the Marlins ahead by two, Carson gave up a two-run homer to Miguel Olivo.

"They're young guys who make mistakes," Collins said. "And part of the whole process here is to make them understand what it takes to be able to participate up here and succeed."

The Mets batted .255 during a 10-9 start; since then they are 13-26 and have hit .212. They have lost 15 of their last 20 home games, hitting .156 with runners in scoring position during that span.

"It's tough to sit through 30 innings and score not even a handful of runs," Alderson said. "So it's been frustrating for everybody. I'm sure it was frustrating for our fans, too."

After setting a club record by going 0 for 19 with runners in scoring position during Saturday's 2-1 loss, the Mets were 2 for 8 in the finale of the rain-shortened series.

"We have to have a perfect game, start to finish, from the starters, the bullpen the defense, the offense to win games, and that's not going to win us many games when we need perfection from start to finish," Wright said.

Derek Dietrich hit a tying home run in the eighth off Scott Rice, and Murphy allowed Adeiny Hechavarria's 10th-inning grounder to second to bounce off his glove into right field for an error that allowed Logan Morrison to score the go-ahead run .

"It wasn't a bad bounce," Murphy said. "I missed it."

Carson replaced Bobby Parnell (4-3), pinch-hitter Greg Dobbs followed with a sacrifice fly, and Olivo's homer dispersed what was left of the crowd of 21,747.

"We're scrapping just trying to get things going our way," Parnell said. "We're doing everything we can, everything we can think of to get it going, but it's not happening for us right now."

The Mets are averaging 26,310 fans at home and are on track for their fifth straight season with declining attendance.

"These people pay to see us win," Collins said. "Not just coming here to take a look at (Matt) Harvey or (Juan) Lagares or when Zack Wheeler gets here."

Chad Qualls (1-0) struck out Justin Turner and Anthony Recker with the potential winning run on base in the ninth. Jonathon Niese, pitching for the first time since May 27 after skipping a turn due to a sore left shoulder, allowed three runs — two earned — and eight hits in 6 2-3 innings with one walk and four strikeouts.

Miami is 8-3 against New York this year and 10-41 against the rest of the major leagues.

"It just seems that the Marlins are just that team that just gives us fits," Niese said. "If it's not one thing, it's the other."

NOTES: Mets OF Kirk Nieuwenhuis, recalled from Triple-A Las Vegas after Saturday's game, took a red-eye flight from the Seattle area to get to Citi Field.

(TM and Copyright 2012 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2011 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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