“Hey, if we sweep, then maybe we’re in first place. But the season isn’t over then. We still have half the season left to go.” EDGARDO ALFONZO

“This is exciting. I’m glad I’m getting a chance to pitch in this series because I missed out in the last one. It will be good to get them at Shea in front of big crowds like we had when we were there.” AL LEITER

MIAMI – Revenge should be in the air, but it isn’t. As a team, the Mets are more veteran and professional than emotional and passionate, so the idea of paying back the Braves for last weekend just isn’t on their minds right now. “I’m not even thinking about it,” Ed-gardo Alfonzo said. “You can’t just get up for one team and then fall down when you play someone else. I get up for every game and every team.”

But maybe they should be getting up for this series. After all, the only team to take a series from the Mets over the past three weeks was the Braves.

The only team to beat them two games in a row in the same span – going into last night’s contest against the Marlins – was the Braves. The only team ahead of them in the National League East is the Braves.

After Tom Glavine’s complete game 4-1 victory over the Expos, the Mets trailed Atlanta by 3 games going into last night’s series finale against the Marlins. The Mets had no chance to pass the Braves, but there was a possibility of catching them.

“Hey, if we sweep, then maybe we’re in first place,” Alfonzo said. “But the season isn’t over then. We still have half the season left to go.”

Tonight will feature a rematch of the two starters involved in the wonderful 1-0 pitcher’s duel between Masato Yoshii (6-6) and Greg Maddux (7-5).

Yoshii said he is looking forward to the game in the wake of last Sunday’s thriller, but cannot get carried away with trying to exact revenge, or trying to outdo what Maddux did when he held the Mets to two hits and no runs in eight innings.

“It will be exciting,” he said. “But once the game starts, I will have to have the same attitude I always have.”

Tomorrow’s game features Al Leiter (7-5) vs. Kevin Millwood (9-4). Leiter never got a chance to go against the Braves in the three-game weekend series last week, but the last time he did pitch against them was certainly a memorable meeting.

Leiter beat the Braves Sept. 4, holding them to one run on five hits in the last complete game the Mets have thrown, a performance which reinforced the notion that the Braves cannot beat lefties, and a notion which continues to make the Mets intent upon getting another lefty to throw at the Braves.

“This is exciting,” Leiter said. “I’m glad I’m getting a chance to pitch in this series because I missed out in the last one. It will be good to get them at Shea in front of big crowds like we had when we were there.”

Sunday, the streaking Orel Hershiser (8-5) is scheduled to pitch against John Smoltz (8-2), but Smoltz left his last start Tuesday with a slightly stiff elbow, a recurring problem for him. If he can’t go, the Braves may bring up Bruce Chen from Triple-A, or perhaps Mike Remlinger would get the start.

Remlinger was semi-accused of doctoring the ball by Bobby Valentine, who first said he thought the righthander cheated, then backed off saying only that Remlinger always experimented when he was pitching for Valentine in Norfolk in 1994. Valentine was responding to the Braves’ insistence on checking the ball every time Dennis Cook pitches.

At the very least that should add a little “juice” to the series.

Last weekend, the Mets went to Atlanta and crushed the Braves 10-2 in the first game in front of big audiences – all three crowds exceeded 46,000. The Braves came back to win the next two behind Glavine and Maddux and the Mets – who were just two games back Saturday morning – left Atlanta four games behind.

But they were a lot closer psychologically because it was obvious after the series that the Braves will not run away from them this season.

“It’s exciting to know we have a chance to go ahead,” Leiter said before last night’s game. “But I still believe it’s early. We’ve got a lot more games to play after this series, including six more against them in September. Even if one team sweeps it doesn’t make or break the season.

“It’s not like if we sweep the series it’s easy street after that. That’s asinine. And also the idea that if we get swept the season is over is pretty absurd, too.”