Mets 5 – Rockies 2

Between the boos that greeted him when he stepped to the mound and the four runs he allowed in the first inning, Mike Hampton’s return to Shea started about as poorly as possible for him. But, it got worse when Mike Piazza’s second-inning moon shot put him on the wrong end of a highlight reel.

Piazza’s 463-foot home run that bounced off the top of the triple-tiered camera stand in centerfield was worth just one run in the Mets’ 5-2 win over Colorado, but it left the 28,510 at Shea charged in a season that has been without excitement for quite some time.

“You don’t think about that as a player. As far as all the drama with him coming back, if you need that to motivate yourself, you’re in the wrong business,” said Piazza, who received a reluctant curtain call after the home run, his 30th of the year and 300th career as a catcher.

“It was cool. I just didn’t want to celebrate too much early on. But the fans have been awesome with their support. It was a little embarrassing. I’m just glad we won the game.”

It was their third straight, a rare feat. Piazza said the matchup with Hampton (12-10) – who helped the Mets into the World Series last year before leaving for Colorado – lacked drama because both teams were out of contention, but the big catcher supplied his own drama.

He matched Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa and Rafael Palmeiro as the only active players with seven straight 30-homer seasons; and he moved past Lance Parrish for fourth on the all-time list for catchers.

“Hopefully, he can get hot and we can jump on his back,” Bobby Valentine said. “I don’t think there’s anybody in baseball that people would rather see hit.”

Hampton surely wasn’t happy to see him, or watch the Mets bat around in the first. He gave up six hits and five runs – just two earned – in six innings, continuing both his recent slide and feast-or-famine nature in emotionally-charged games.

After smothering St. Louis to win NLCS MVP honors, Hampton bolted town for the Rockies’ eight-year, $121 million contract, citing Colorado’s superior school systems as a reason. The Flushing faithful remembered.

“I pretty much knew what I was gonna get,” Hampton said. “That’s up to them. I pitched the best I could for them last year.”

After shutting out the Mets May 9 at Coors Field, he was 5-0 with a 2.38 ERA. But since then he’s 7-10 with a 7.40 ERA, and 2-3 with a bloated 9.59 ERA in his last five. He was thoroughly outpitched by Al Leiter (7-10), who was his closest buddy on the Mets last year.

Leiter has won five straight at home since June 15, and is 6-2 with a 2.14 ERA in Flushing. Last night he pitched seven strong innings, allowing just one run, walking none and fanning five against a Colorado team that had just swept Florida and came in leading the NL in hitting.

Colorado got lone runs in the fifth and eighth, but Armando Benitez pitched a perfect ninth for his 30th save.

“It’s not so much throwing better inside, but I’ve started outside more and worked my way back in,” Leiter said. “When you have an early lead like that, it helps to know not every pitch is the game.”