Hits Are Few and Boos Are Many as Mets Lose Again The Citi Field crowd made its presence felt at precisely two moments Tuesday during the Mets" 4-0 loss to the Cincinnati Reds. The first time was to boo Ike Davis, the first baseman descending deeper into a long, vexing slump, after he grounded out softly to kill a fourth-inning rally. The second occurred before the start of the sixth inning, when Mets staff members bounded onto the field to launch T-shirts from hand-held cannons into the stands; their appearance sent a jolt of energy through the stadium. Increasingly, this has become the Mets" stark reality, a consequence of consistent losing: plenty to boo, not much to cheer, besides the occasional free shirt, perhaps. "Right now, we're not playing very good baseball," said third baseman David Wright, who committed a costly error during the first inning. The Mets fell to 7-11 in May and 17-26 over all. They entered the game batting .223 as a team during May, the third-worst team average in the majors. Mets hitters on Tuesday managed only three hits against the Reds" starter, Mike Leake, who did not allow a run in his seven innings. Their futility at the plate put to waste a gutsy start from Jon Niese, who bounced back from early, ugly trouble to pitch six solid innings. Niese needed only seven pitches to induce the first two outs of the first inning, but it took him 41 more to get the third. Walks were the problem. He issued two of them around a single, and that set the stage for two runs to score when Wright allowed a grounder to skip through his legs. "When things aren't going so great, one play like that can cost you the game," Wright said. And it did for us today. After giving up another single, Niese walked catcher Devin Mesoraco, the No. 8 hitter, forcing home another run. He ended the inning when he got Leake to swing and miss on a curveball in the dirt. It was an inauspicious beginning for Niese, and yet he seemed able to put it behind him. He needed only 58 pitches to get from the second through the sixth innings. Niese allowed no more runs, no more walks and just three more hits during his last five innings. He finished with seven strikeouts in a 106-pitch effort. The Reds got their other run when Mesoraco homered off Collin McHugh in the ninth inning. It was a quality start and an encouraging sign for Niese. After two unsightly outings at the start of this month, he has put together two solid starts in a row. "I felt good, and my mechanics felt good," said Niese, who was struggling before to find his arm slot. I'll take that as a positive. Ultimately, it did not matter, as the Mets left chances scattered here and there. Davis became the target of Mets fans" ire during the fourth inning, when he came up with runners on second and third and rolled a soft grounder toward first base to end the inning. Davis, who batted seventh, finished 0 for 3. He has one hit in his last 36 at-bats and has driven in only one run this month. Asked whether he heard the booing, Davis said, "Of course, but what are you going to do?" Asked if it bothered him, he added: "Not really. I just need to do better. Davis was probably spared more boos in the ninth. He waited on deck as John Buck grounded out to end the game. And although Davis was singled out Tuesday, all of the Mets struggled. They did not get a hit after the sixth. Sounding hardly a whisper, the Mets fell to 2-10 through their last dozen games at Citi Field. For the crowd, announced to be 23,183, there was not much to cheer, save for some flying T-shirts. Zack Wheeler, who missed a start and received a cortisone shot last week after having inflammation around his right acromioclavicular joint, the intersection of the shoulder blade and collarbone, was scheduled to return to the rotation Wednesday for the Mets" Class AAA team. "I'm very hopeful he can pitch well two to three more times and be strongly considered for a promotion," General Manager Sandy Alderson said Tuesday during an interview on SNY.