If a baseball team creates a stench and nobody shows up to smell it, is an odor emitted?
The Mets were the buzz of baseball for a week to begin this season, but they haven’t experienced many great moments lately. Add to the list of lowlights yesterday’s doubleheader loss to the Giants at Citi Field, which couldn’t have attracted more than 15,000 fans for the two games combined.
Miguel Batista was flat as a spot starter in the opener and Dillon Gee a mess in the nightcap as the Mets lost 6-1 and 7-2 and fell to .500 for the first time this season, after opening with four straight victories.
Following a rainout on Sunday, the Mets didn’t have more than 1,000 fans in the ballpark for the start of a makeup at 4:10 p.m. Then came a sparsely attended nightcap with an announced crowd of 23,866 that was perhaps half that total.
Ike Davis stranded 11 runners over the two games and three times left the bases loaded. That included a pinch-hitting appearance in the eighth inning of the nightcap, when he was caught looking at strike three against reliever Clay Hensley.
“We’ve got a good offensive club that’s not hitting and that’s hurt us,” manager Terry Collins said.
Asked if he has reached the boiling point and needs to address the team, Collins responded: “Not yet.”
Gee (1-2) allowed a two-run home run to Pablo Sandoval as part of a three-run first inning for the Giants in the nightcap, then watched Madison Bumgarner limit the Mets to one run on three hits over seven innings.
The Mets (8-8) lost for the fifth time in six games, a stretch in which they have been outscored 44-20. That comes as the Mets prepare for Jose Reyes’ return to Citi Field with the Marlins for three games beginning tonight.
Gee allowed 12 hits and one walk over 6 2/3 innings. His night completely unraveled in the seventh on Hector Sanchez’s two-run homer that extended the Giants’ lead to 7-1.
“I came out in the first inning and set a real bad tone for the game,” Gee said. “I continued to live up in the zone all night long and they hurt me.”
Batista’s start in Game 1 served the intended purpose of giving Johan Santana extra rest and a matchup tonight against the Marlins, but the 41-year-old right-hander didn’t bring much to the party.
The Giants had 10 base runners in 3 2/3 innings against Batista, who allowed six runs, three of which were unearned because of a Davis fielding error.
The argument could be made Collins started the wrong pitcher, because rookie Jeremy Hefner fired three innings of shutout relief in his major league debut after Batista was yanked. Hefner’s reward was a demotion back to Triple-A Buffalo so the team could activate Jordany Valdespin for bench depth.
The Mets had their best chance of the day in the fifth in Game 1, loading the bases with one out against Tim Lincecum (1-2). Davis hit a grounder that appeared destined for center field, but second baseman Emmanuel Burriss made a glove flip to Brandon Crawford to started a 4-6-3 double play and kept the Giants’ lead at 6-1.
Davis had another shot with the bases loaded in the seventh, but this time grounded out against lefty Jeremy Affeldt to end the inning.
“It was just a miserable day,” said Jason Bay, who left the nightcap with bruised left ribs. “There’s a big difference between winning two and losing two, even splitting it, and it’s very disappointing.”