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FLUSHING, New York (Ticker) -- Thanks to a wrong turn, the New York Mets' postseason hopes may have reached a dead end. Converted infielder Shawon Dunston misplayed Brian Jordan's fly ball into a triple to start the 11th inning and Ozzie Guillen lofted a sacrifice fly as the Atlanta Braves leveled another blow to the playoff hopes of the Mets with a 4-3 victory. Dunston got back to the warning track on Jordan's fly in the right-center field gap but turned the wrong way. The ball took one hop and bounced off the fence as Dunston fell down, allowing Jordan to pull into third without a play. "I just looked up and the ball was behind me," Dunston said. "I just didn't have it. I feel fine. Trust me. I'm a man. I'll deal with it." Following an intentional walk to Andruw Jones, Guillen hit a shallow fly to left-center field. Jordan slid across the plate just ahead of Darryl Hamilton's throw to give the Braves the lead. Terry Mulholland (10-8) issued a two-out walk to Mike Piazza in the bottom of the inning before getting Robin Ventura to fly out for the final out. The Mets' frustration boiled over in the bottom half. Manager Bobby Valentine was ejected by plate umpire Phil Cuzzi for arguing balls and strikes after Edgardo Alfonzo was called out to start the inning. Atlanta won for the ninth time in 12 meetings with New York this season and clinched home-field advantage throughout the National League playoffs. It was another bitter defeat for the Mets, whose season-ending collapse continued as they lost for the eighth time in their last nine games. Five of those losses have come to the Braves. The Mets fell two games behind the Houston Astros and Cincinnati Reds, who are tied atop the National League Central with three games remaining. New York closes its season at home over the weekend against Pittsburgh. "It wasn't an elimination game, but it was a game that we really wanted to win," Valentine said. "It's going to be tough. We need some help and we need to take care of our business." Octavio Dotel (8-3) started the 11th and suffered the loss after two dominant innings by Armando Benitez. Leading 2-1 in the seventh, the Braves squandered a golden opportunity to extend the lead. Andruw Jones led off with a double off Masato Yoshii and Guillen sacrificed. Following an intentional walk to Eddie Perez, Yoshii struck out pitcher Kevin Millwood for the second out. Turk Wendell relieved and got Gerald Williams to ground out to get out of the inning. Yoshii had another solid start, allowing two runs and four hits in 6 2/3 innings with three walks and three strikeouts. The Japanese righthander has allowed two runs or less in each of his last eight starts, going 5-0 in those outings. Escaping that jam in the top the inning gave the Mets a spark in the bottom of the frame. Piazza led off with a walk and went to second on a groundout by Ventura. Hamilton followed by grounding a single up the middle to plate the tying run. It also was another impressive outing by Millwood, who left after the seventh. He gave up two runs and five hits, walking one and striking out five. Millwood is 6-0 in his last 10 starts, not allowing more than two runs in any of those outings. "If you had asked me yesterday, I probably would have said honestly that I was just trying to get my work in," Millwood said. "But some of the things that they did last night (after scoring seven runs) just didn't rub me the right way. They waited five games before showing off." The duo of Wendell and John Franco gave back the lead in the eighth. Keith Lockhart opened with a single and was lifted for pinch-runner Otis Nixon. Franco entered and Nixon stole second before coming home on a single by Chipper Jones. Asked if he minded beating the Mets at Shea Stadium, Jones said, "Not in the least. I told (the fans) when I went to the dugout, 'You can all go home now and put your Yankee stuff on.'" Following Jones' hit, Brian Hunter singled and Jordan walked to load the bases with no outs. Franco left to a chorus of boos from the crowd of 48,364 in favor of Pat Mahomes. Mahomes did a heroic job of getting out of the inning without any further damage. He got Andruw Jones to bounce to third baseman Ventura, who stepped on third and threw home to complete a double play. Guillen flied out to end the inning. With the crowd in a frenzy, Mike Remlinger retired the first two batters in the bottom of the inning before Alfonzo belted a 2-1 pitch over the left-field wall to bring the Mets even again. "It was amazing. We got out of a bases-loaded jam," Alfonzo said. "What can I say? We did everything we could." Benitez pitched two perfect innings, striking out three. Atlanta went to closer John Rocker in the ninth and he struck out the side to ensure extra innings. Andruw Jones delivered an RBI single in the fourth and Williams smacked his 17th homer in the next inning to stake the Braves to a 2-0 lead. The Mets got back a run in the bottom of the frame when Roger Cedeno bounced into a double play. New York's Rey Ordonez set a major league record tonight for consecutive errorless games at shortstop. He played his 96th straight errorless game, breaking Cal Ripken's record.
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