With thousands of fans brandishing giveaway foam fingers yesterday at Shea Stadium, Carlos Delgado essentially gave everyone The Finger.
At least you could have made that argument after watching the scorned first baseman refuse to leave the dugout for a curtain call in the seventh inning, having just circled the bases for his second home run of the afternoon.
“The way I look at it, I hit a solo home run in the seventh inning,” Delgado said after the Mets beat the Braves 6-3. “I’ve got a great deal of respect for the game, and I don’t think that’s the place for a curtain call.”
Delgado, who entered with a .186 average and one home run, was booed heavily during the announcement of starting lineups and before each of his first two plate appearances. But the fans’ tenor began changing after he slammed a John Smoltz changeup over the left-field fence in the third inning, a solo homer that gave the Mets a 4-0 lead.
Facing Will Ohman in the seventh, Delgado pounded a slider off the right-field scoreboard that gave the Mets their final margin of victory. But when the fans attempted to salute him, Delgado wanted no part of it. Though it appeared David Wright may have said something to Delgado in the dugout that influenced Delgado’s decision, the third baseman denied having any role in the snub.
“He makes his own decisions,” Wright said. “He said his answer, so whatever he says I’m behind 100 percent. I was talking to him because it’s good to see him hit a couple of home runs and bat in a couple of runs.”
Delgado said it wasn’t a special enough occasion to make a curtain call.
“I’ve been playing for quite a few years, and I think I’ve come out for two curtain calls,” Delgado said. “I hit four home runs in a game and I hit my 400th home run.”
Then he added: “We didn’t win the game. I didn’t hit a grand slam. I didn’t hit the tie-breaker to go ahead in the ninth inning. We appreciate the support of the fans, but we’re here to play a game.”
Delgado’s breakout wasn’t the only thing worth celebrating. Raul Casanova hit a two-run homer against Smoltz in the second, Ryan Church made a circus catch against the right-field fence in the seventh and Nelson Figueroa (2-1) gave the Mets a fourth straight respectable start, allowing three earned runs over 5 innings.
Not a bad weekend for the Mets considering they beat two of the NL’s top guns, Tim Hudson and Smoltz, in succession.
A day after Hudson lasted only three innings, Smoltz (3-2) only got through the fourth, allowing four earned runs on seven hits and two walks in the process.
The Mets grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first when Jose Reyes scored on a Smoltz wild pitch and then watched their lead swell on the Casanova and Delgado homers. Wright’s RBI single in the sixth accounted for the Mets’ other run.
“We know that Smoltz wasn’t throwing as hard as he usually throws,” Carlos Beltran said. “So we were guessing something was wrong with him.”
Before anyone could ask Beltran about Delgado’s decision to remain in the dugout, Beltran, who needed a push from teammate Julio Franco to take a curtain call two years ago, absolved himself.
“About him not going out,” Beltran said, “I didn’t advise him.”
mpuma@nypost.com –