The road to Super Tuesday for the Mets is littered with potholes named Saturday, Sunday and Monday.
Not that Friday was such a smashing success either for this beleaguered bunch, as the Cubs bludgeoned Shaun Marcum early last night and sent the Mets to a second straight defeat, a 6-3 loss at Citi Field.
With top pitching prospect Zack Wheeler set to make his major league debut Tuesday in the nightcap of a doubleheader in Atlanta — the Mets made their plans official yesterday, notifying the right-hander he will be called up from Triple-A Las Vegas for the start — and Matt Harvey scheduled for the day’s first game, there is certainly a buzz surrounding the team.
Too bad for the Mets buzz doesn’t win games.
The Mets (24-38) lost for the ninth time in 11 games and fell 14 games below .500 for the first time this season. This one had no redeeming qualities to it.
Marcum (0-8) became the first Mets pitcher since John Franco in 1998 to go winless in his first eight decisions of a season.
“Wins and losses are part of it, but it’s more important for the team to win,” Marcum said. “I couldn’t care less about my personal wins, it’s more about the team.”
Marcum’s final line included 5 2/3 innings in which he surrendered six earned runs on seven hits with four strikeouts and one walk.
Though Marcum got on a roll in the middle innings, retiring 12 straight batters, the Cubs delivered the knockout in the sixth on Luis Valbuena’s RBI single after Anthony Rizzo had doubled. It marked the first time in five starts Marcum failed to complete six innings.
The Mets will turn to Jon Niese today and have Jeremy Hefner scheduled for tomorrow’s series finale against the Cubs. Dillon Gee would get the Monday start in Atlanta, leading into Super Tuesday. After Wheeler pitches, manager Terry Collins intends to use a six-man rotation at least through next weekend.
Manager Terry Collins was asked if Marcum’s $4 million salary would preclude the veteran right-hander from being considered for the bullpen once the rotation returns to five.
“When it comes time to make the decision, I’m not sure salary is going to have anything to do with it,” Collins said. “I think we’ll take the five guys we need to make sure are the best five to go out there.”
After going with the same one-through-eight batting order for three straight games — the first time the Mets had kept that kind of lineup consistency since April 2011 — Collins made changes that included moving Daniel Murphy from cleanup to second and Omar Quintanilla into the seventh spot. Juan Lagares was in center field, replacing Kirk Nieuwenhuis.
Lucas Duda’s RBI single in the seventh inning cut the Mets’ deficit to 6-3, but David Wright was thrown out by Alfonso Soriano attempting to go from first to third on the play, killing a rally.
“If that play happened again tomorrow I’m going to try the same thing,” Wright said. “We’ve got to be aggressive on the base paths because we don’t have much going offensively right now. That’s one of the things we’ve got to do to win games, put pressure on the defense, and if they make plays, they make plays.”
David DeJesus’ three-run triple was the highlight of a second inning in which Marcum surrendered four runs on four hits and a walk.
Darwin Barney’s RBI single gave the Cubs a 2-0 lead before DeJesus cleared the bases. Rizzo and Dioner Navarro had singled in succession to start the rally before Valbuena walked to load the bases.
Nate Schierholtz homered with two outs in the first to give the Cubs their first run. The homer was only the fourth allowed by Marcum in 50 innings this season.
Murphy’s RBI single against Edwin Jackson (3-8) in the third inning accounted for the Mets’ first run. Lagares tripled leading off the inning. DeJesus crashed into the center field fence on the play, sprained his right shoulder and was helped from the field.