BASEBALL PLAYOFFS : Braves, Fans Chop Pirates Down to Size : NL Game 3: Home runs by Olson, Gant and Bream, accompanied by war cry, batter Pittsburgh, 10-3.

The moment occurred in the seventh inning, with afternoon shadows covering the field and desperation engulfing the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Ron Gant had hit a home run to give the Atlanta Braves a four-run lead in their eventual 10-3 victory over the Pirates on Saturday in Game 3 of the National League Championship Series.

An eerie silence descended upon Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. A lone drum beat began thumping over the loudspeakers.

Slowly, the 50,095 fans rose, rhythmically chopping their forearms at the Pirates. Softly at first, they began to sing the wordless war cry that is their theme.

The drum beat harder, the fans grew louder. For nearly 10 minutes, nothing could be heard but the thumping and the wailing.

And the Pirates froze.

Bobby Bonilla, in right field, looked over at Andy Van Slyke in center field. Van Slyke looked at Barry Bonds in left field.

Bonds slightly shook his head, as if all three were thinking what became obvious. They may not get out with their baseball lives.

In a game that was little more than 3 1/2 hours of bullying, the Braves and their fans stunned the Pirates with three home runs, four doubles, remarkable relief pitching and enough tomahawk chops to fill a bad Western.

The Braves lead this best of seven series, 2-1. Pittsburgh’s bruises make it look worse.

“They hit us with upper cuts, and left hooks and right hooks, then punches to the nose,” the Pirates’ Andy Van Slyke said, shaking his head. “We got clobbered.”

In the other clubhouse, there was the same sort of disbelief.

Sure, the Braves were 6-0 against the Pirates here during the season, outscoring them, 46-21. But aren’t the playoffs supposed to be different?

“I don’t think it has hit us yet that we are in the playoffs,” the Braves’ Mark Lemke said. “We are still acting like it’s the end of the season.”

And their fans are acting as if it is the end of the world.

“There is nothing more awesome than to hear all those fans chanting that way for 15 minutes straight at one point. It puts chills up your spine,” said Brave catcher Greg Olson, who hit a two-run home run and got the third stolen base of his career.

Although the Pirates denied being affected by the crowd, the Braves wondered.

“Maybe it doesn’t hurt them, but they have to be looking around and seeing what’s going on,” Tom Glavine said. “All I know is, every time our fans are doing the chop, if we need a big hit or an out, we get one.”

The Pirates can attempt to shut everyone up again today when Randy Tomlin faces the Braves’ most inconsistent starter, Charlie Leibrandt, in Game 4.

But after enduring such humiliation as a pitcher stealing a base for the first time in National League playoff history (John Smoltz) and a weary catcher hitting his first home run since Aug. 10 (Olson), the Pirates understand it will not be easy.

In playoffs that have been tied, 1-1, since the National League championship series went to a seven-game format in 1985, the team that won Game 3 has won the series four of five times.

“We’re deep now, and if we lose (today), we’re definitely going to have to put on our boots,” Van Slyke said.

They needed those boots just to get off the field Saturday. After Orlando Merced led off the first inning for the Pirates by becoming the sixth player in league history to hit a home run in his first playoff at-bat, they set a standard for carelessness.

--John Smiley, Pittsburgh’s starting pitcher, gave up five runs in the first two innings, all after two were out and most with two strikes.

Olson’s first playoff homer, a two-run shot in the first inning, came with two strikes. He had followed consecutive doubles by Gant, David Justice and Brian Hunter.

“It’s hard for me to even sit here and talk about it,” Smiley said afterward.

The Braves completed their scoring with Sid Bream’s three-run home run in the eighth inning against reliever Rosario Rodriguez.

--The Pirates stranded 11 runners against Smoltz and three relievers.

Van Slyke said the most important blown scoring opportunity was in the first inning, when Jay Bell walked after Merced’s homer but was stranded when the middle of the order went down on popouts.

But judging from the way Alejandro Pena danced off the mound after getting Bell on a called third strike with bases loaded in the eighth inning when the Pirates trailed, 7-3, that was the big play.

“Sometimes, I feel like Superman,” said Pena, a former Dodger who has converted all 13 of his save opportunities since joining the Braves from the New York Mets on Aug. 29.

The Pirates’ supermen are tripping over their regular-season accolades.

Bonds, batting .182 in the series, has one run batted in in 29 postseason at-bats. Bonilla, with one run batted in in this series, has two RBIs in 33 postseason at-bats.

Could this series be a repeat of last year’s playoffs, when the Pirates won the first game but lost the next three to the eventual World Series champion Cincinnati Reds?

“I hope not,” Smiley said softly. “I don’t even want to think about that.”