NEW YORK — The New York Mets are the only team in the major leagues that doesn’t own a home run advantage over the Giants.

But the events that transpired in the Giants’ 3-0 loss Friday night didn’t amount to a power outage. More like a system-wide blackout.
The Giants started their longest and most vital trip of the season with one of their emptiest losses. Worse, they were overpowered by Bobby Parnell, a rookie reliever who couldn’t complete three innings against the San Diego Padres in his only other major league start.
In the Giants’ first visit to Citi Field, they swung the champagne bottle and couldn’t break the glass. Their offensive production consisted of four singles, a walk and a sole runner in scoring position — and they had to wait until the eighth inning for that titillating bit.
With their offense continuing to fail and 10 more games to play before they return home, it seems almost trivial that the Giants are just 1› games out in the National League wild-card standings.
“All you can do is hit it hard,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. “We hit two or three balls hard all night.”
So what happens on Saturday, when they stare back at two-time Cy Young Award winner Johan Santana?
Bochy and general manager Brian Sabean have bandied about lineup ideas for months. At this stage, there’s no light bulb moment waiting to happen. The choices are what they are.
Management did make one change, though, sitting outfielder Randy Winn in order to play Nate Schierholtz and Eugenio Velez. Bochy expected to sit Winn again Saturday and start him Sunday.
But what to do with center fielder Aaron Rowand, who looks to be entering another steep second-half slide?
Rowand might have played his worst game in two seasons as a Giant. He struck out in all three at-bats — seeing 10 pitches in all — and also got a bad read that took away any chance of catching Jeff Francoeur’s run-scoring double in the fourth inning.
“I can only speak for myself, but I just didn’t swing the bat really well tonight,” said Rowand, who has a .172 average since the All-Star break. “I was just in between pitches.”
Rowand last homered July 2 and hasn’t drawn a walk since July 6. He has gone 84 plate appearances since his last base on balls, and has struck out 17 times over that span.
“I’m sure he’s not happy with a tough game like that,” Bochy said. “But it wasn’t like anybody was squaring it up on their guy.”
It was the eighth time in Barry Zito’s 24 starts that the Giants failed to score a run.
Put another way, Zito (8-11) has had zero chance to win one-third of his starts. Given those figures, it’s remarkable that his record doesn’t look a whole lot worse.
Zito gave up a leadoff homer to Angel Pagan — the 70th for the Mets this season, six fewer than the Giants’ total — but made pitches out of the stretch while keeping the game close over five innings.
He created trouble in the sixth, though, issuing a leadoff walk and allowing a double to David Wright. Zito clenched his jaw as Bochy walked to the mound.
“I just left an 0-2 pitch over the middle to Wright,” Zito said. “I don’t object to the decision.”
Justin Miller made the best of a bad situation, allowing one inherited runner to score on a sacrifice fly.
So Bochy’s move paid off. The Giants faced a 3-0 deficit, which was technically surmountable. After all, they’ve rallied from three runs down exactly once all season.