WORLD SERIES / ATLANTA BRAVES vs. MINNESOTA TWINS : Braves Go Deep in the South : Game 5: Atlanta sweeps at home with a 14-5 victory and heads for the Metrodome with Avery and Smoltz ready to go.

What was once confined to the Atlanta Braves’ imaginations has almost become a reality after 14 knockdowns Thursday night sent their opponents staggering home.

Believe it, because even the Minnesota Twins will tell you it is no longer safe not to believe it.

The Braves soon could be World Series champions.

With a 14-5 victory in Game 5 of the World Series, Atlanta’s third consecutive triumph, the Braves took a three-games-to-two lead with two games remaining in Minneapolis this weekend.

“To be honest with you, it’s been hard to imagine that this is really happening,” said Atlanta catcher Greg Olson, shaking his head. “But it is happening.”

In setting a Series record for runs scored by a National League team in one game, the Braves racked five pitchers for two doubles, three triples and three home runs.

In one inning they hit for the cycle. In another inning, they sent 10 men to the plate.

David Justice had five runs batted in.

Mark Lemke had two triples. That gives him three for the Series, equaling his career regular-season total.

Kent Hrbek had a headache.

“I’ve had enough of Atlanta, the whole team has had enough,” said Hrbek, who had one hit in 13 at-bats here.

Historians will remind that this scenario was played out in 1987, when the Twins defeated the Cardinals in the first two games in the Metrodome before losing three consecutive games in St. Louis. The Twins rebounded to win the final two games in the Metrodome.

The Braves remember. After whipping just about everyone else in baseball this year, they will take on those historians, especially since their two postseason pitching aces, Steve Avery and John Smoltz, will go this weekend.

“This is ours for the taking,” Brave reliever Mike Stanton said. “We came home, down two games. We swept them. We did what we had to do.

“Now they have to sweep us. And I really don’t think they can do it.”

Twin Manager Tom Kelly admitted wearily: “1987 was a long time ago.”

Back then, the Twins had destiny. Now, they have a relief pitcher, David West, whose Series earned-run average is infinity. He has faced six batters. He has walked four, given up a home run to one and a single to another.

West’s problems, which started when he gave up Lonnie Smith’s third home run in three games, led to the Braves’ six-run seventh inning, which broke open a 5-3 game.

“West has really not contributed much,” said Kelly, a master of understatement.

The Twins also have Shane Mack, who was benched Thursday after going hitless in 15 Series at-bats with seven strikeouts and three balls hit out of the infield.

He was replaced by Chili Davis, who, playing in the outfield for the first time in more than a year, watched Lemke’s fly ball nick off his glove for a run-scoring triple in a four-run fourth inning. That led to the Braves’ 5-0 lead.

“We had to play three National League games. Now they got to play us in two American League games,” the Twins’ Chuck Knoblauch said.

The Twins also are looking at a .167 average from Kirby Puckett and a .190 average from Dan Gladden.

“This is different from 1987, because I think the Braves have better pitching than the Cardinals in 1987,” the Twins’ Al Newman said.

The Braves have gained the sort of confidence that made rookie Brian Hunter actually strut around the bases in the eighth inning after his first World Series home run.

“Now they know we can score a lot of runs, and it puts some pressure on them,” the Braves’ Ron Gant said.

More than anything Thursday, the Braves used their bats to make their championship destination finally seem real.

Some examples:

--Justice’s fly ball bouncing off the top of the left-field fence for a two-run homer against loser Kevin Tapani in the fourth inning.

--Rafael Belliard’s RBI double that finished the scoring in the fourth inning and an RBI single that finished the scoring in the seventh.

--Lemke’s second triple, a two-run drive that gave him three RBIs and elicited an unfamiliar chant from the crowd when he batted in the eighth: “M-V-P, M-V-P.”

Lemke, the first player to have two triples in one Series game since the Dodgers’ Tommy Davis did it in 1963, is batting .438 with one double, three triples and four RBIs. Lemke also has a game-winning hit and a game-winning run.

Lemke even stopped the Twins’ only rally.

Just when the Braves thought it would be a walk in the park, Tom Glavine walked the park. Beginning with a one-out walk to Knoblauch in the sixth inning, Glavine threw 16 balls in a span of 20 pitches, walking in two runs to put the Twins back in the game.

Lemke ended the three-run rally with a good stop of a grounder by Greg Gagne with runners on second and third.

Finally, the Braves’ title dream is as real as those dozens of policemen who lined the Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium field when the three-hour beating finally ended. This former burial ground for baseball dreams is now the hottest spot in the country.

Even movie stars are coming around.

“I don’t know who Mark Lemke is,” said actress Jane Fonda, who has spent the Series at the side of her fiance, Brave owner Ted Turner. “But maybe he should run for president.”

* ROSS NEWHAN: The Minnesota Twins are hoping to revive their dormant offense in the Metrodome, where they have won their last six World Series games. C6

* THE RIGHT STUFF: Atlanta left-hander Tom Glavine has much to be grateful for--a 20-win season and a chance to win the Cy Young Award--after making his final start of the season. C6

* BASEBALL REPORT: C6