I LIKE IKE (SO DOES THE PSYCHIC)

I need some thunder in my lineup.

Having traded Carlos Pena away in a package for Justin Morneau, which will help my batting average but hurt my power a bit, I am a bit concerned about my HR's.

I dropped Gordon Beckham (I know I should be more patient, but it's a shallow league), and snagged Ryan Ludwick, who is hitting over .300, got his first jack last night, and makes his living in the best batting order spot in the major leagues: Just ahead of El Hombre, the best hitter on the planet.

But I still need more power.

I've been streaming various castoffs in my second utility spot, from Big Papi (0 for 3 today) to Todd Helton (0 for 4 yesterday). Cameron Maybin is available, and so is Juan Pierre, but I don't need speed as I already have Andrew McCutchen. What I need is POWAH. Where am I going to find it?

This is what I was asking myself today as I pretended to work on a slow Monday morning (I did do some actual work this morning as well, but had a moment between appointments, and for once had no voicemails or emails to respond to). I decided to take a little breather from pretending to work and checked the ESPN baseball site. And there, I thought, may just be the answer to my prayers for power.

Ike Davis, the heralded Mets first base prospect, was called up today, along with his 20+ homer potential. Finally, that waiver claim I've been saving which wasn't good enough to get The Cracken (Jason Heyward), or the Halos' new closer, Fernando Rodney (who keeps the job after Fuentes comes back, by the way), may finally come in handy.

But of course, before I put in the claim, I had to ask The Psychic.

I was watching the Dbacks duke it out with the Cardinals as she puttered in the kitchen, and called out, "Hey Psychic!"

"Yes?"

"Whaddya think of Ike Davis?"

The accustomed pause was followed by, "Does he have big ears?"

This made me laugh out loud, for obvious reasons, all the moreso because he DOES have big ears.

"Yes, he does," I guffawed, trying not to snarf my tea.

"Big tall guy, kind of goofy looking?"

Still snickering, I managed to say, "Yes," as I Googled him and saw that Ike is, in fact, 6'4" and 215.

"I feel like he wants to be a pitcher, but he can't pitch."

I have no idea what Ike Davis' childhood aspirations were, but I know he doesn't pitch now, and told her so.

"Outfield?" Like she even knows what that means.

"Close, he did play some outfield in the Pan-Am games," I said confidently, like I was Ike's biographer, when really, I had just learned this ten minutes ago from Tim Kurkjian when I channel-surfed over to Baseball Tonight. Then I said, "Will he hit 20 homers this year?"

"I don't know," the Psychic said indignantly. "Is that good?"

I've been married to the Psychic for nearly six years, and she still doesn't know the answer to this question.

But yes, it is good, and with further probing, she revealed that she doesn't see many injuries with Ike. I asked if he would be overmatched, and once I explained what I meant by this, she said, "He's not a very intense person, so there's not going to be a crisis of confidence. He's very even. He's a good work ethic guy."

In short, she feels good about him, and I do too, so we are predicting 20-25 homers with decent average and no speed. The upside is always there for more, a la Ryan Howard as a rookie a few years back, so I'm putting in my waiver claim and crossing my fingers.

By the way, the Psychic also opined that Tony LaRussa should get a haircut. She caught a glimpse of him during the Cards - Dbacks game and said, "He's kind of going for that 'Jim on the Office' look. It's not really workin' out."

And one other random piece of comedy:

Adam LaRoche at bat.

The Psychic: "Who's that guy? He's interesting."

Me: "Adam LaRoche. Yeah, he can be good."

Her: "Did he ever play in Japan?"

Me: "No."

Her: "You're SURE he never played in Japan?"

Me: "No. Pittsburgh. I guess that's pretty close."

Her: Laughing.

Hope you are too.

Til next time,

The Champ