Philadelphia ? The New York Mets didn’t give the Atlanta Braves a chance to celebrate another division title on the field.

The Braves clinched their 11th straight division championship when the Mets beat the Philadelphia Phillies 6-4 Monday night behind Mike Piazza’s grand slam.

Philadelphia’s loss wrapped up the NL East for the Braves, who didn’t play Monday. The second-place Phillies are a staggering 21 games behind Atlanta.

The Braves became the first team this season to secure a postseason berth, and they did it earlier than any team in Atlanta history. The 1975 Cincinnati Reds have the earliest clinching since divisional play began in ’69, wrapping up the NL West on Sept. 7.

The Mets, who begin a three-game series at Turner Field tonight, avoided possibly having to watch the Braves win the division.

“We didn’t want to be around when they celebrate,” Mets first baseman Mo Vaughn said. “They’ve been a great team time and time again and they deserve it. They’ll be the team until someone knocks them off. We knew they would clinch sooner or later, but we didn’t want to see it.”

Piazza went deep in a six-run seventh inning as the Mets set a season high with their seventh consecutive victory.

The Mets, swept by the Phillies at Shea Stadium last weekend, completed their second four-game sweep at Veterans Stadium. The other came in 1972. They haven’t lost since setting an NL record with 15 consecutive home losses.

“It’s as good a roll as we’ve been on,” manager Bobby Valentine said. “Hopefully, we can keep it going.”

The Phillies have lost seven of eight since reaching a season-high three games over .500.

Cubs 3, Expos 2

Chicago Alex Gonzalez homered in the bottom of the ninth inning Monday night his third game-winning shot at Wrigley Field this season.

Gonzalez hit a 2-2 pitch from Jim Brower (3-2) far over the fence in left-center for his 17th homer of the season and 100th of his career. Earlier this season, Gonzalez hit game-winning homers against St. Louis and Texas.

Joe Borowski (4-4) earned the victory with 1 1/3 innings of relief.

Sammy Sosa, who said before the game the Cubs needed to clean house before next season, went 0-for-4 and is in a 5-for-30 skid.

Cardinals 3, Brewers 0

Milwaukee Woody Williams and four relievers combined on a five-hitter .

Albert Pujols doubled home a run for the NL Central-leading Cardinals, and Williams (8-4) gave up three hits and a walk in five innings against a makeshift Brewers lineup.

The right-hander has been on the disabled list twice this season with a strained left oblique muscle, but he lowered his ERA to 2.55 in his third start since returning from the injury.

Milwaukee was shut out for the 14th time this season.

In his second major league start, Ben Diggins (0-2) gave up three runs on six hits and two walks while striking out seven in seven innings.

Reds 9, Pirates 8

Cincinnati Jose Guillen hit a grand slam and drove in career high-tying five runs against his former team.

Guillen’s shot gave the Reds a team-record eight grand slams this season.

Guillen, who played three years for the Pirates, was with the Arizona and Colorado systems this year before joining the Reds on Aug. 27. His fourth career slam made it 9-3 in the sixth.

Guillen hit his sixth homer of the year and second in two days, connecting off reliever Al Reyes.

Astros 6, Rockies 5 (10)

Houston Mark Loretta’s 10th-inning single drove in Craig Biggio with the winning run. Brad Lidge (1-0) earned the win, pitching one inning. Randy Flores (0-1) took the loss.

D-dbacks 5, Padres 2

Phoenix On the eve of his 39th birthday, Randy Johnson reached 300 strikeouts for the fifth consecutive season and earned his 21st victory.

Johnson already held the major league record of four consecutive 300-strikeout seasons. His fourth 300-strikeout season in a row with Arizona set a record for NL pitchers. Johnson has six 300-strikeout seasons overall, tying the major league mark held by Nolan Ryan. Johnson (21-5) scattered eight hits and struck out seven.

Giants 6, Dodgers 5

San Francisco Barry Bonds hit the longest home run ever at Pacific Bell Park and San Francisco pulled even with Los Angeles in the NL wild-card race. Bonds launched a 491-foot drive off Odalis Perez (13-9) for his 610th career homer. David Bell hit a two-run, tiebreaking shot in the sixth inning. Bell finished 3-for-3, driving in three runs and scoring twice as the Giants won their fourth in a row and 12th in 15 games.