For the Mets, the road to Super Tuesday 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 that 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. It hasn’t been all Marcum’s fault — as evidenced by the eight strong innings he pitched in relief last Saturday against the Marlins, only to get the loss in the 20th when he finally allowed a run — but last night certainly rated as a clunker.
The right-hander’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.
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 — manager Terry Collins made changes that included moving Murphy from cleanup to second and Omar Quintanilla into the seventh spot. Juan Lagares 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 attempting to go from first to third on the play, effectively killing a rally. Murphy’s second RBI single of the game had given the Mets a run earlier in the inning.
David DeJesus’ three-run triple was the highlight of a second inning for Chicago, 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. Anthony 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, injured his right shoulder and was helped from the field.
mpuma@nypost.com