ATLANTA -- Had the Braves prevented the Mets from completing their three-game series sweep at Turner Field on Sunday afternoon, they still might not have enough time to overcome the setbacks they've incurred over the past few weeks.

But it's safe to say they'd feel a lot better about their postseason hopes, which were seemingly crushed when Tom Glavine and the Mets swept their way out of Atlanta with Sunday's 3-2 win.

"If you wanted any chance, any glimmer of hope, you had to win today, and we didn't," said John Smoltz, whose first loss in five career matchups against Glavine came courtesy of the decisive two-out, two-run homer he surrendered to David Wright in the fifth inning.

There was a time when Glavine couldn't beat the Braves and the Mets simply didn't win at Turner Field in September. Of course, there was also a time when the city of Atlanta could plan to celebrate a division championship with the same certainty that one would plan to view fireworks on the Fourth of July.

But after seeing the mighty Braves offense account for just one extra-base hit and four runs during this crucial three-game series, the only thing Atlanta can now anticipate is a September that will only prove exciting with the execution of a run that would certainly be remembered as one of the greatest in baseball history.

"I believe the baseball gods have shined on us for quite a while," said Chipper Jones, referring to the record streak of 14 consecutive division titles, which the Mets snapped last year. "Now they are letting us see how the other half lived for quite some time."

Having just been swept out of Philadelphia and facing the prospect of coming to Turner Field, where they'd won just five times in 26 previous September games, the Mets had reason to feel the pressure of having to face both Tim Hudson and Smoltz this weekend.

But all that stress was alleviated by their own pitching staff, which limited the Braves to four runs and 16 hits during the three games. This, combined with the fact that their offense tallied six homers, allowed the Mets to leave Atlanta feeling quite secure about the 7 1/2 games that separate them from the third-place Braves in the National League East standings.

"Any time you get swept, it's the low point of the season," said Matt Diaz, whose series-ending groundout left the Braves 1-for-13 with runners in scoring position for the weekend. "But to get swept by the division leader at home, it's pretty low."

The eight wins they'd tallied in 12 previous games against the Mets this year now seem to be of little consequence to the Braves, who have lost 12 of their past 17 and are in the back of the pack in the crowded NL Wild Card race.

Friday night's series-opening loss came courtesy of two rare homers surrendered by Hudson and an increasingly familiar instance in which the Braves didn't take advantage of a bases-loaded, nobody-out situation. Saturday's frustrations came courtesy of a dominant Mike Pelfrey, who looked more like Tom Seaver than a rookie pitcher who'd never won at the Major League level.

As for Sunday, when Smoltz lost for the fifth time this year in a game where he surrendered three earned runs or fewer, the Braves managed just one run after loading the bases with one out against Glavine in the first inning.

Then, in the fifth, shortstop Yunel Escobar lost Jose Reyes' routine pop fly in the sun. Two batters later, Wright -- who had just three hits in his previous 28 at-bats against Smoltz -- smacked a flat slider over the left-field wall.

"That's as angry as I've been in a long time in a baseball game, because I realized how important the game was," said Smoltz, who was charged with three earned runs on nine hits in seven innings.

As for Glavine, who was pitching in Atlanta for the first time since becoming the game's latest 300-game winner, he had no trouble righting himself after allowing four of the first six hitters he faced to reach safely. Before issuing a two-out, fifth-inning walk to Escobar, the ever-steady lefty had retired 12 straight batters.

It wasn't until Brian McCann began the ninth inning with a leadoff double off Billy Wagner that the Braves had their first extra-base hit of the series. McCann scored on Kelly Johnson's RBI single, but Wagner retired the next three batters.

"You give up three runs or less, you've got to win," Smoltz said. "But we didn't today, and we didn't win [during] the entire series. We've got to find something. We're pretty much going to have to go on an incredible streak."

Feeling the frustration that this weekend brought, many of the Braves were asked what it would take to find a way into the postseason. Smoltz suggested that winning 19 of the final 25 games might do the trick.

Jones, who combined with Mark Teixeira to go 3-for-21 this weekend, knows that he and his teammates might not be able to afford to lose more than five games the rest of the way.

"I'm not saying we're not capable, because we are," Jones said. "But it's something we haven't done in two years. To run off eight or nine wins in a row, I'm optimistic that it will happen. But I think if it were to happen, we'd all raise our eyebrow and say, 'Wow, where has this been the past two years?' "