The buxom Benson feels she was "misled" by management — which insists she's not why Kris was shipped south.

"If he was traded because of any potential talks with . . . Playboy or anything like this, that's a dirty, nasty, rotten trick — and I think that's really freedom-of-speech infringement," she charged.

She arrived at a press conference, dutiful husband in tow, following an FHM magazine photo shoot in which she'd donned a Baltimore Oriole shirt — and a baseball-stitched brassiere.

"I'm not happy about it," she fumed. "I'm not going to lie: I'm not thrilled. I kind of feel like we were misled as a family about what their intents and purposes were about keeping us here."

The Bensons fielded questions about the deal, in which the Mets get pitchers Jorge Julio and John Maine, and why they thought General Manager Omar Manaya and team owner Fred Wilpon had kicked Kris to the curb.

There was speculation that Anna's Playboy magazine negotiations on a photo spread played a role.

Later she went on Sporting News Radio and said: "I'm more pissed that people are centering on me as one of the reasons; I don't feel that's fair.

"I wish if they were going to trade my old man that they would've got a sweet deal for it. I don't think they got that much out of it.

"If you're going to be free enough to allow one of your players . . . to turn their back and walk off the field during 'God Bless America,' " Anna said, a reference to new first baseman Carlos Delgado's protest while playing in 2004 for the Toronto Blue Jays, "then, by God, you'd better be free enough to let me pose for Playboy.

"You're either liberal or you're not," she said angrily. "Which is it?"

At the press conference, she accused the media of overexposing some of her actions after Kris joined the Mets in a trade with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2004 — by showing her wearing a Mrs. Santa Claus outfit complete with plunging neckline and short skirt to a team-related event last Christmas.

"If somebody has a problem with the dress that I wore to the Christmas party, then say it to my face," she blasted. "I mean, did these kids' moms not have breasts?"

But, at the end, the Bensons said they were treated well here. "The Mets have been good to us," Anna admitted.

erin.calabrese@...