Clanregeln » Many in the crowd of about 1,000 chanted Jose! Jose!

NEW YORK -- Not a bad way to bust out of a slump. Ike Davis finally snapped his prolonged funk at the plate with a tiebreaking single in the eighth inning, and the New York Mets rallied past the Atlanta Braves 4-2 on Sunday night to end an eight-game losing streak at home. Before the game, Davis had a meeting with manager Terry Collins and GM Sandy Alderson, who also spoke to reporters and addressed weeks of speculation about whether the first baseman should be demoted to the minors. Alderson said there was no deadline for such a decision, and hours later Davis delivered his biggest hit of an agonizing season. "They wanted me to have fun again. Smile more, laugh on the field. I know that the fans may hate that, but I wont perform any better by being miserable," Davis said. "And I am now 1 for 1 with the new approach. The meeting today helped." Shaun Marcum struck out a career-high 12 and Lucas Duda homered for the Mets, who stopped Atlantas eight-game winning streak and avoided a three-game sweep. The Braves had won 15 of 18 against New York and five in a row at Citi Field. Pinch-hitter Justin Turner led off the eighth with a single against Cory Gearrin (1-1). David Wright struck out but Duda punched a ground-rule double to left for his third hit, and John Bucks run-scoring single tied it at 2. Pinch-hitter Mike Baxter was hit by a pitch to load the bases for Davis. "The first thing I thought of was, get a hit," Collins said. "I said to the baseball gods that this kid needs a base hit." He got one, pulling a two-run single through the right side for a 4-2 Mets lead. "I went up wanting a sacrifice fly and not to ground into a double play," Davis said. "Hes a nasty pitcher with sinking movement and I wanted to stay through and hit right through the sinker." After the game, the affable Davis cracked a smile when he found a crowd of reporters waiting at his locker. "Im popular," he said, with more than a touch of New York sarcasm. "Greeaaaat." Davis began the night batting .148 with nine RBIs. He finished 2 for 3 with a walk after entering in a 2-for-44 slide that included 19 strikeouts. It was his first hit in his last 27 at-bats with runners in scoring position. "Just a sinker. He got under it enough and got it out there," Gearrin said. "Youve got to tip your hat a little bit to those guys. They put the bat on the ball and made something happen." LaTroy Hawkins (1-0) worked a scoreless inning and Bobby Parnell struck out two in the ninth for his seventh save. It was a spirited and heartening win for the Mets heading into their Subway Series against the crosstown-rival New York Yankees beginning Monday night. Marcum, still winless with the Mets, went seven innings for his longest outing in six starts with New York. His only costly mistake came on Dan Ugglas two-run homer in the seventh that put Atlanta ahead 2-1. Duda hit a leadoff shot to right off Julio Teheran in the fourth, giving him nine home runs and 16 RBIs this season. It also extended his career-best hitting streak to 10 games. Marcum allowed a leadoff single in the first to Andrelton Simmons, quickly erased on a hard-hit double play, and didnt permit another hit until the sixth. The only baserunner the Braves managed during that stretch came when Uggla was hit by a pitch in the second. After that, Marcum retired 13 straight batters before Simmons reached down and floated a flare over shortstop with two outs in the sixth. Hustling all the way out of the box, Simmons legged it out for a double. He was stranded when Jason Heyward took a called third strike. Relying on an effective slider and changeup to go with his 85 mph fastball, Marcum cooled off the Atlanta bats with finesse. He struck out slumping B.J. Upton looking to end the seventh, surpassing his previous career high of 11 strikeouts set on June 16, 2007, with Toronto against Washington. It was the right-handers fourth career double-digit strikeout game and first since July 20, 2010, with Toronto against Cleveland. "You dont have to light up the radar gun to be successful," Uggla said. "Marcum really knows how to pitch -- every aspect of the word pitching. Hes very patient. He knows his strengths, knows his weaknesses, and he had just unbelievable command. Not just his fastball, but of everything. He knows what he wants to do with every pitch. So he was good tonight, man. He really kept us off balance." Freddie Freeman fanned all four times up for the Braves, who lead the NL by a wide margin with 448 strikeouts. Upton and Heyward each whiffed three times. NOTES: Braves RHP Jordan Walden (shoulder inflammation) threw a bullpen before the game and was expected to start a rehab assignment Monday with Triple-A Gwinnett. ... Mets reliever Scott Atchison (right elbow inflammation) could be ready to come off the disabled list after one more minor league rehab outing, Collins said. Atchison is eligible to return Wednesday. ... The Mets play the AL East-leading Yankees four straight times beginning Monday night, with the first two games at Citi Field and the next two in the Bronx. LHP Jonathon Niese (3-5, 4.80) starts the opener for the Mets against RHP Phil Hughes (2-3, 5.51). ... The Mets donated more than 5,000 tickets to the USO for Military Appreciation Night. Representatives from each branch of the military threw out a first pitch. Ultra Boost 4.0 Canada . Ashley Youngs cross was inadvertently headed by Chester into his own net in the 66th minute, allowing United to claim a third straight league win. "We had to dig deep with our fighting spirit and weve done that," United striker Wayne Rooney said. Ultra Boost 4.0 Sale Canada . Zvonareva, who won the tournament in 2009 and 10, couldnt handle her opponents big groundstrokes in only her third event back after 17 months out with a shoulder injury. Zvonareva made her comeback in January in Shenzhen and played in the Australian Open but lost her first matches at both tournaments. http://www.yeezyshoescanada.com/ . Vokoun departed practice on Saturday morning after discovering swelling in his thigh. He was taken to a local hospital where the clot was revealed. The club announced the surgery following a 5-3 exhibition loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets. Ultra Boost Canada Restock . Now that hes hitting streaking teammates with pin-point passes for easy layups, Love is asserting himself as one of the true superstars in the league. Ultra Boost Canada . -- Vincent Lecavalier got everything but the desired result in his return to Tampa Bay. FRISCO, Texas -- Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo will undergo more tests this week on his back before the team decides whether to keep him on the active roster or place him on injured reserve, according to coach Jason Garrett.On Sunday, a source told ESPN.com the Cowboys would keep Romo on the active roster.Romo suffered a compression fracture in his back on Aug. 25 against the Seattle Seahawks and is expected to need 6 to 10 weeks to recover. Sunday marked the first day the Cowboys could have placed Romo on injured reserve and had him return at some point during the regular season.We can take the next couple of days, and the reason why we want to take the next couple of days is we want to make sure its enough time out from the original injury, Garrett said. And thats where were going to get the most information.The Cowboys have until Friday to place Romo on injured reserve and have him be eligible to return to game action Nov. 6 against the Cleveland Browns. If they wait a week, then the timetable to return to game action would be pushed back to Nov. 13 against the Pittsburgh Steelers.The Cowboys chose to keep Romo on the active roster on Sunday when they added Mark Sanchez to the roster. Jameill Showers was let go to make room for Sanchez.With rookie Dak Prescott set to start in Romos absence, the Cowboys wanted to add a veteran presence. Sanchez has a 37-35 career record with 86 touchdown passes and 84 interceptions. He lost out on the Deenver Broncos starting quarterback competition to Trevor Siemian and was cut on Saturday.ddddddddddddThe Cowboys and Broncos had some trade discussions before the move, but the Cowboys did not want to give up any trade compensation.Marks been a good player in this league, Garrett said. Hes been a starting quarterback. Hes been to the playoffs as a starting quarterback. Hes started a lot of games. He was a very successful college quarterback. We played against him in our division, so weve seen him up close. Hes an experienced guy who has a lot of ability. He can move around. He can throw the football. Hes had success in the league.We thought it was a good opportunity to add to the depth of our quarterback position. When he was available, certainly it was a good opportunity for us to bring him here.Sanchez will have to be active Sunday against the Giants.I think the biggest thing for him right now is to learn the offense, and he has to learn it quickly, Garrett said. Hes worked very hard in the last 24-36 hours trying to get comfortable with what were doing. So I think thats where his focus needs to be.Hell pick it up. Hes seen a lot of different offenses in his life, so a lot of the concepts will be familiar to him. The biggest thing will be learning the language. Hes got to learn quickly, and thats where his focus is. ' ' '