Chipper hopes to make Shea finale

New York — On Saturday, Chipper Jones’ son Shea finally saw the stadium he was named after. But will he get to see his dad play in it one more time?

Back spasms kept Jones out of the lineup for the opener of Saturday’s doubleheader with the Mets, and the Braves’ third baseman doubted he would play in the second game.

“Hopefully tomorrow,” Jones said of Sunday’s series finale, the Braves’ last scheduled game at Shea, which is to be torn down after the season.

“[The pain] is right in the middle of my back. I’m still having trouble bending over. I’m taking short breaths.”

Jones, 36, came into the series with a .308 average, 19 homers, 54 RBIs and a .957 on-base-plus-slugging percentage (OPS) in 87 games at Shea, his highest home run and RBI totals at any ballpark outside Atlanta.

But since 2005, he has played in only 16 of the Braves’ 36 games at the ballpark he likes so much he named his third son after it.

“The beds in [the team’s New York] hotel kill me,” said Jones, who led the majors with a .362 batting average before Saturday. “I don’t know why. Every time I’ve played here lately, I have some kind of back pain.”

Shea, 4, got his long-awaited tour of Shea Stadium, along with two of Jones’ three other sons, Larry Wayne III (Trey), 8, and Tristan, 5.

Jones said as he was driving toward the stadium Saturday with his wife, Sharon, and the boys, young Shea became transfixed by old Shea — or by his name on the side of the behemoth.

“We were driving up the interstate and he could see it, and he just couldn’t take his eyes off it,” Jones said, smiling. “We stopped to take a picture.”

The boys got a tour of the stadium from dad, who showed them the spot where his first major-league home-run landed, above the right-field corner. The three boys ran around the bases.

Camera crews captured it all, assuring Jones of at least one more keepsake from the stadium he likes a lot more than most other visiting players do.

“Any baseball player will tell you, if they have success in a stadium, they don’t want to see it go,” Jones said. “I always like the hitting background here. I see the ball well here. I go to St. Louis, and I don’t see it well.”

Jones called Shea a “beautiful place” to play. Then he reconsidered, mindful of the cramped clubhouse and dank hallways. “When you’re actually on the field, I see it as beautiful,” he said. “Underneath, not so much.”

Soon after the season, Jones is expecting delivery of two orange Shea Stadium seats he purchased. He paid $869 for the pair, just like anybody else who’s buying them. The Mets are selling everything, including the foul poles.

“They’re not giving anything away,” Jones said. “I’m sure a bunch of people who sat in these seats called me a bunch of names over the years. That’s all right. Soon, they’ll be in my house. In my basement.”

Cox likes Johnson’s approach

Braves manager Bobby Cox made an interesting observation Saturday morning about Kelly Johnson’s recent hitting binge.

“I think he’s just said ‘… swing the bat,’ ” Cox said of the second baseman, who has run into difficulties in the past when he has been too selective at the plate, taking too many close pitches.

Johnson had two hits in each game of Saturday’s doubleheader to give him a .460 average and 12 RBIs during a 12-game hitting streak.

“I’m trying not to think about it,” Johnson said of his surge, which includes eight multihit games and 12 extra-base hits in his past 11 games. “You just hope you keep getting pitches to hit and that they keep falling for hits.”

Johnson’s .329 average in his past 41 games lifted his season average to .282 with a .348 on-base percentage, and he’s third among NL second basemen with 54 extra-base hits.

Etc.

Jones’ .383 average with runners on base was 14 points ahead of the league’s next-highest before Saturday, Pittsburgh’s Ryan Doumit (.369)…. The Mets and Yankees both played home doubleheaders Saturday. According to Elias, it was only the third time both teams played two home games on the same day.