MLB

Mets vow best effort down stretch, start with win over Braves

ATLANTA — This will have to pass for meaningful September baseball for the Mets.

“If you’re not in it, you want to be the blocker,” catcher Josh Thole said before the Mets threw a huge block at the Braves with a 12-2 victory last night at Turner Field. “I wasn’t here [in 2007 and ’08], but I know guys that were here when it happened to them, when they missed out on a playoff chance because they got knocked out by other teams.”

David Wright’s two home runs and five RBIs were plenty, helping the Mets snap a six-game losing streak, while the Braves’ lead on the Cardinals in the NL wild-card race was sliced to 3½ games.

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Not lost on the Mets is the fact they can drop a giant stink bomb on Atlanta and have the playoff race looking drastically different by the time they arrive at Busch Stadium on Tuesday to begin a three-game series against the Cardinals.

Of course, the Mets’ goal in St. Louis would then be to undo all the goodwill they had sent the Cardinals over the weekend. So it’s possible even a sizzling road trip for the Mets won’t have the effect of spoiling somebody’s September.

“It’s important for us to go out there and play the game the way we normally would,” Wright said after the Mets matched a season high with 20 hits. “But we can’t go out with the mindset of trying to keep one team in or one team out. We just have to go out and play games and hopefully win.”

Manager Terry Collins is more concerned with finishing the season strong. He ripped into his team after completing a 1-8 homestand on Thursday, but had calmed by the time the Mets arrived at the ballpark yesterday.

The biggest issue was a lineup that had produced five runs combined over its previous four games. Collins insisted his frustration wasn’t with the Mets’ effort — just the results.

“These guys have gone out here on a nightly basis for five months and played their hearts out and I’ll certainly support that,” Collins said. “I’ll say that every day. That certainly hasn’t been the issue, but any time you don’t hit, the games can look slow. It can look like there is no energy.”

Collins has picked his spots in giving fiery post-game speeches this season. He said Thursday’s outburst — following a 10-1 loss to the Nationals for a sixth straight loss — wasn’t planned.

“These guys have to know that I care,” Collins said. “They better know that I care the way game is played. The people that pay to go in that ballpark, they deserve an effort. They deserve all these guys have, and I’m not saying they didn’t try, but we’ve got to execute better.”

The Braves appeared to have the NL wild card wrapped up as September arrived, but a 2-7 stretch left the door open a crack for the Cardinals, who last night began a four-game series in Philadelphia with a 4-2 victory in 11 innings.

Wright expects this stretch of games to serve as a wake-up call for the Mets.

“It’s good, sometimes just a little bit of a change of scenery,” Wright said. “You have a rough homestand, sometimes it just feels good to walk into a visiting clubhouse and go out there and have fun playing the game. This environment, you get the adrenaline pumping with the fans and a playoff-caliber team.”

mpuma@nypost.com