BRAVES WON'T GET CIVIL WELCOME AT SHEA.

Byline: Josh Dubow Associated Press 

The New York Mets sure haven't gotten to John Rocker and the Braves in the NL Championship Series. Now their fans get a chance to derail Atlanta.

After two days of partially filled stadiums and mostly polite crowds, a sold-out Shea Stadium welcoming committee will be out in full force tonight to greet Rocker - New York's Public Enemy No. 1 - when the NLCS resumes with Atlanta leading 2-0.

And expect a big New York greeting for the player who called Mets fans ``stupid'' and said ``they're a tired act.''

``I'll be surprised if they don't respond to him,'' Mets owner Fred Wilpon said Thursday. ``But we never want anyone to cross the line. We want our fans to respect our team and the opposition. They can cheer as loud as they want, or boo.''

They'll do more than that. But dealing with a postseason New York crowd is nothing new for the Braves, who played the Yankees in the 1996 World Series.

``They are professionals,'' Atlanta's John Smoltz said of the New York fans. ``They know stuff about you that I didn't think anyone knew. It only gets out of hand when it's 4- or 5-year-olds yelling at you.''

Rocker won't be the only target of Mets fans. There's Brian Jordan, who said this week the fans make it that he ``can't stand New York,'' and Chipper Jones, who on his last trip to Shea Stadium two weeks ago told Mets fans to go home and ``put their Yankees stuff on.''

Ouch!

You can be certain that the response from the Mets fans will be a little harsher than derogatory chants of ``Rock-er, Rock-er,'' or ``Chip-per, Chip-per.''

Not that the Braves are worried.

``I'm more excited on the road than at home,'' Jordan said. ``You get all the rattling from the fans and all the badmouthing and bad words thrown at you. It kind of pumps me up even more, so I enjoy it.''

It will take more than few insults to knock the Braves off their game. Atlanta has won 20 of the last 26 games against New York and held the Mets to three or fewer runs in 11 of 14 games this season.

``Let's face it, you're really reaching if you're hoping that your crowd is going to actually win a ballgame for you just because they're crazy and distracting the opposing team,'' Mets Game 3 starter Al Leiter said. ``These guys are major-leaguers. They're not going to be distracted much.''

The Mets, some of whom were reading Rocker's latest comments in the morning tabloids, had bigger worries than how the crowd would react to the Braves. They need to figure out how to beat the Braves four out of five games.

``Talk is cheap as far as I'm concerned,'' said Mets catcher Mike Piazza, who is 0 for 7 the first two games. ``The way to back it up is to go out and play. This team has played well with its backs against the wall.''

And it has had a lot of practice doing it. And each time it has come back, it's been Leiter who has been on the mound.

He snapped a losing streak at eight games in June by beating Roger Clemens and the New York Yankees. He beat Greg Maddux and the Braves on Sept. 29 to break at seven games the skid that almost cost the Mets a playoff berth.

He won the one-game playoff at Cincinnati to put the Mets in the postseason for the first time since 1988. And he helped the Mets win Game 4 last Saturday against the Diamondbacks to avoid a trip back to Arizona and a decisive fifth game against Randy Johnson.

``Al doesn't mind being put in the situation to be the guy responsible,'' manager Bobby Valentine said. ``He does a good job of it.''

Without some offensive support, it won't matter much what Leiter does. In the first two games, the Braves have held John Olerud, Piazza and Robin Ventura - who hit a combined .301 with 91 homers and 340 RBI during the year - to one hit and one RBI in 21 at-bats in this series.