The Mets are refusing to hit the panic button after another offensively challenged performance yesterday in their 3-1 loss to the Reds at Shea.

Against emergency starter Jim Brower (1-0), who was just called up from AAA Louisville, the Mets struggled to get runs for the third straight game against the Reds.

Most glaring was the performance of Edgardo Alfonzo, who yesterday stranded six runners and was 0-for-four with a strikeout and three pop-ups.

Brower went 52/3 innings against the Mets, allowing six hits and one earned run. After joining the team Saturday, Brower also collected his first career major league hit on a bunt single in the fourth inning.

The hit was one more than the ice-cold Alfonzo had, hitting fifth in the order, with Todd Zeile batting second in a tinkered lineup. Zeile went two-for-five with a single, double and a run scored, hitting second in the lineup for the first time since he did it while with the Dodgers on June 25, 1997.

Fonzie has been super-cold, batting .109 in 46 at-bats with six strikeouts. Alfonzo’s struggles have lingered since last year’s World Series, in which the Met second baseman hit .143 with one RBI.

Yet, Alfonzo’s numbers are not scaring his teammates. Lenny Harris and Todd Pratt both agree that Fonzie will come out of this slump in time.

“It’s just baseball,” Harris said. “Every good team’s going to struggle. You just have to battle it.”

“He’s a professional hitter,” Harris said of Alfonzo, who did not speak to the media following yesterday’s loss. “He’s a professional. He’s gonna get his in due time.”

In his first plate appearance of the day, Alfonzo came up with the bases loaded with Zeile, Robin Ventura and Mike Piazza on. Alfonzo worked the count to 3-0, but struck out swinging for the second out of the inning. Mark Johnson grounded out to end the inning one batter later.

In Alfonzo’s next three trips, he popped up to left and twice to center.

“Even though he was a guy from triple-A,” Pratt said of Brower, “he made some great pitches. Obviously, he’s one of their top talents for them to bring him up in an emergency situation.”

If ever there was an emergency situation, it may be brewing with Alfonzo. But the funny thing about slumps, according to Pratt, is they can end at any time, when you least expect it.

“It could all happen tomorrow,” Pratt said.