PANIC ROOM
Lifeless bats, miscues lead to 2nd straight ‘L’
Welcome back to Panic City.
Mets general manager Sandy Alderson can joke all he wants about the hysteria surrounding his team’s lack of offensive production, but the zeroes are real, and they count.
The Mets stretched the agony to 11 innings on Wednesday before losing their second straight, 20 to the Cubs at Citi Field.
All told, the Mets (4039) have gone 20 innings without scoring, turning their recent fourgame winning streak — that prompted Alderson to refer to reporters covering the team as “the citizens of Panic City” — into a distant memory.
Wednesday’s loss was the Mets’ 20th this season in which they scored one run or less. The Mets lead the major leagues in that category.
Manager Terry Collins later said he intends to shake up the lineup for Thursday’s series finale. One possibility is the manager will move Curtis Granderson into the middle of the order from leadoff and give Darrell Ceciliani a crack at that spot.
“We’ve tried a lot of things and we will continue to search and look for a remedy,” Collins said. “We’ve got to flipflop some guys somehow and shake it up a little bit.”
Lucas Duda, who finished 0for5 with four strikeouts, after hitting .187 in June, blamed himself for the team’s offensive struggles.
“Essentially it is centered around me. I am not getting the job done,” Duda said. “I am not moving guys over. I am not getting guys in. I had a pretty tough month, actually.”
Carlos Torres (24) allowed two runs on three hits and a walk in the 11th as the Mets bullpen finally reached a breaking point after pitching three shutout innings behind Bartolo Colon.
Starlin Castro and Miguel Montero each delivered an RBI single in the 11th, helping the Cubs win their eighth straight against the Mets dating to last season.
Many of the Mets’ shortcomings were on display in the eighth, when a failed squeeze play helped keep the game scoreless. Ceciliani missed the bunt attempt, and Ruben Tejada was caught off third base on the play. After Tejada was tagged out, Ceciliani struck out to end the inning. Tejada had reached on Castro’s throwing error and went to third on Daniel Murphy’s double with one out.
“We didn’t have anything to lose [on the squeeze] except trying to score a run,” Collins said. “We didn’t execute it.
“We figured we’ve got to do something that is outside the box, because we’ve been staying inside the box and it isn’t working. We gave it a shot, it didn’t work, and we will continue to press forward and come up with some answers.”
Bobby Parnell made a highlight reel play in the eighth to help keep the game scoreless, lunging to snare Jonathan Herrera’s popped up bunt, turning it into a double play.
Colon gave the Mets a chance with seven shutout innings in which he allowed three hits and one walk with eight strikeouts. It was a rebound performance for Colon, who went 02 with an 8.71 ERA in two starts on the Mets’ last road trip. The nodecision Wednesday was Colon’s first in 28 starts dating to last season.
Jon Lester was every bit as good for the Cubs, firing seven shutout innings in which he allowed five hits and one walk and struck out seven.
Juan Lagares doubled leading off the fifth and would get as far as third base on a wild pitch with two outs, but neither Granderson nor Tejada could deliver the hit to put the Mets ahead.
The Mets loaded the bases in the second when Lagares was hit by a pitch, but Lester retired Colon and Granderson in succession to escape the jam.