In an historic report, the human rights organization Amnesty International has cited the Atlanta Braves baseball club for a ?systematic pattern of abuse and torture? against the New York Mets and their fans, extending as far back as 1998. The sweeping 5,643 page report, released yesterday, cites the Braves for ?deliberate, repeated obstruction? to the Mets? attempts to reach the post-season. The report covers the ten years since the National League realigned into three divisions, causing the Braves to be moved from the NL West to the NL East, a division which they?ve never lost. The report cites numerous past and present Braves players, including Larry (Chipper) Jones, Andruw Jones, John Smoltz, Greg Maddux, Brian Jordan, and Tom Glavine, for perpetrating ?unspeakable horrors? against the Mets and their fans, ?usually in the month of September.? The report came on the heels of the latest incident, a three-game sweep by the Braves at their home park, Turner Field, which the report likened to ?a ?house of horrors? where Mets players were ?subject to beatings, press interrogations, and incalculable losses of self-esteem?. The latest defeats left the Mets, losers of six of their last seven, five games off the wild-card pace, and teetering on the brink of playoff elimination. Most galling, the commission found, was the third game of the series, in which Mets closer Braden Looper blew two one-run leads in the 9th and 10th innings. The Braves, the commission found, ?brutalized Looper? by not even permitting him to retire a batter in the 10th inning after the Mets had seized a 3-2 lead, only to watch in dismay as the Braves loaded the bases with nobody out. After Looper was taken out of the game, reliever Shingo Takatsu got two outs before the Braves, ?as usual cruelly toying with the Mets? emotions?, according to the report, won the game on a two-run single by Ryan Longerhans. The report extends back to 1998, when the Braves swept the last three games of the season in Atlanta to eliminate Bobby Valentine?s club from the wild-card race. ?The Braves, who had already clinched the division, played those last three games as if it were the World Series?, the report finds, noting manager Bobby Cox?s (and just about everyone else?s) ?severe dislike for Valentine.? In late September 1999, the Mets dropped 5 of 6 games to the Braves in the span of a week, though they recovered on the last day of the season to force a one-game playoff with the Reds, which they won to sneak into the playoffs. But more torture was in store in October, when the Braves rallied twice in the late innings to defeat the Mets in Game 6 of the NLCS, on a bases loaded walk by Kenny (?Put That Camera Down!?) Rogers. The report is particularly unforgiving when recalling the events of September 2001, when the Mets, cheered on by a groundswell of post 9/11 empathy, pulled to within three games of the Braves after a dramatic Friday night victory, only to be undone by a Brian Jordan grand slam off Armando Benitez that effectively ended their season. The report also found fault with the Braves decision not to re-sign pitcher Tom Glavine and let him be signed as a free agent by the Mets. Once considered a future Hall of Famer, Glavine hasn?t been the same since he left Atlanta, a development the report finds entirely uncoincidental. ?The Braves knew Glavine was damaged goods, and they deliberately encouraged him to sign with the Mets,? says the report. ?It?s obvious that their appetite for sadism and torture knows no limit.? While the report was harsh on the Braves, it had some choice words for the Mets as well. ?They are defeated before they even step onto the field,? the report says. ?Change cannot be implemented until the victim learns to stand up to his tormentor.? For now, Amnesty has proposed one solution to Commissioner Bud Selig: a proposal to create a fourth division, the South, that would be composed of Atlanta and Miami. I heartily endorse the proposal.