Last to First to . . . : After Miracle Comebacks of 1991 Season, Status Quo Now Appeals to Twins, Braves : Atlanta Hopes to Overcome Distractions Glory Brings

When we last left the Atlanta Braves, they had gone from last place to within 90 feet of winning one of the most exciting World Series ever.

Two months later, catcher Greg Olson of the Braves is standing in a bush in southeast Texas during the taping of an outdoors show for ESPN.

There is rustling in the distance. Suddenly the only thing between him and a charging, 200-pound boar is one arrow.

He shoots the arrow. He misses.

The boar aims for hunting mate Steve Bartkowski. It comes within six feet before Bartkowski shoots an arrow into its back.

“That’s the good thing about making the World Series,” Olson said. “You get these perks.”

As the weary Braves have learned, performing miracles last season was the easy part.

“Don’t get me wrong, I love the attention,” pitcher John Smoltz said. “But people just won’t let last season end.”

Smoltz was one of the Braves’ many heroes last season, with a 12-2 record after the All-Star break. Then he went 2-0 with a 1.52 earned-run average during the postseason.

This winter, he discovered something equally difficult: Bowling.

“My wife and I went out near our house in Atlanta, just an innocent night of bowling,” Smoltz said. “But every time I turned around after rolling a ball, somebody would be waiting for my autograph or (to take my) picture.”

So much for that 700 series. Smoltz bowled one game and returned home.

He realized it would be a long winter when, during a post-Series parade, 750,000 fans swarmed the streets. The

crowds were so tight around the Braves’ motorcade that Smoltz’s wife, Diane, was treated for dizziness.

What would have happened if the Braves had won the World Series?

“That parade was wonderful,” outfielder Lonnie Smith said. “Then it was dangerous.”

The players arrived at their Florida clubhouse for spring training like adventurers returning from the jungle, each with his own tale of this strange new life.

Tom Glavine, last year’s National League Cy Young Award winner, discovered his popularity while visiting a convenience store next to his house late one night in search of a gallon of milk. He didn’t return home for 30 minutes.

Mark Lemke, the second baseman who batted .417 during the Series, was so swamped with attention, two people named Lemke were driven crazy.

A woman in Atlanta who is listed in the phone book as “M. Lemke” received so many calls, the baseball-playing Lemke sent her an answering machine containing his recorded message.

And it’s not as though pitcher Steve Avery was complaining. He was last seen hawking autographed baseballs on a shopping network for an estimated $80,000, more than three-fourths of last year’s salary.

“Then we come to spring training, getting away from everything . . . and it’s as crazy here as anywhere else,” Olson said recently. “It’s important that we remember how we did it last year. We didn’t think or worry about anything. We just went out and played.”

Taking the field should be the easy part, because they could win the NL West.

Even the Dodgers’ Darryl Strawberry, who became a public enemy in Atlanta last fall, agreed.

“They are the only team in this division, besides us, who you can look at and say, ‘They are going to be tough.’ ” Strawberry said. “You can’t look at Cincinnati and be sure of saying that because they have good pitching, but what else?”

The Braves, according to Strawberry, are without obvious weakness.

“They have the great pitching, the hitting, the speed, the leaders,” he said. “They weren’t just good last year. They are going to be good for a long time.”

That is why the Braves signed their two big-name free agents, reliever Alejandro Pena and outfielder Otis Nixon, and made no other moves during the off-season.

The starting rotation of Avery, Charlie Leibrandt, Glavine and Smoltz is back. The powerful middle batting order of Terry Pendleton, David Justice and Ron Gant is back.

The speed of Nixon is back. The fielding of shortstop Rafael Belliard and second baseman Lemke is back.

“Opening night at home, you watch, it will be like fall all over again,” Jeff Treadway said.

Said veteran Sid Bream: “We didn’t change anything, because we didn’t need to change anything. We’re talking about a young team that hasn’t even reached maturity yet. I sincerely don’t believe we’ve had our best year.”

Bream looked around the clubhouse on a recent morning, with players loudly joking, and shook his head.

“The only thing that can hurt us is health--and attitude,” he said. “We’re going to have to buckle down. Now is the time that we have to focus on what we’re going to do.”

Many agree with that assessment. It will be difficult for the Braves not only to stay sound, but also to remain mentally sharp.

The strength of the Braves’ top four starting pitchers came into question last fall, immediately after they completed more than 200 innings each. Only 18 other National League pitchers worked at least 200 innings.

Already this spring, Glavine has been scratched from a start because of bursitis.

Then there are injuries that were ignored during the euphoria of last year’s championship race.

Treadway, who batted .320 last season despite a sore right hand, recently had surgery and will be sidelined at least until the All-Star break.

This means Lemke, who has a lifetime .225 batting average, will be the full-time second baseman for the first time in his big league career.

“I went with my hand for as long as I could,” Treadway said.

The Braves’ penchant for distraction is also strong.

Not only will it be harder to play as the favorites--”Last year we had nothing to lose, we could be reckless,” Smoltz said, “but this year is different”--they also have found it impossible to keep their personal lives off the front page.

Nixon, their center fielder who stole 72 bases, will sit out the first 16 days of the season while completing a 60-day suspension for drug use.

Most of that suspension was served during last year’s pennant race, and his absence nearly cost the Braves the division title. But he believes he already has been welcomed back.

His teammates lined up this winter to phone and encourage him to re-sign. And everywhere he has gone in Atlanta, he has been besieged for autographs or cheered.

“I was serious about going to the California Angels, but in the end, I felt good staying in Atlanta,” Nixon said. “I felt like I still belong.”

And he said he has a point to make.

“When I watched the World Series last year from the rehab center, it was terrible,” he said. “A lot of hurt. A lot of pain. I made a terrible mistake, and I’ve got to live with it every day for the rest of my life.

“But now I’ve got to put it behind me and show everybody I can be consistent. In everything.”

Brian Hunter, their platoon first baseman, spent two days in jail this winter for his second drunk driving offense in two months.

“I always thought I could go through life without making a big mistake,” Hunter said. “Now I know. You really can slip up. I’ve learned to settle down. I’m more mellow.”

Not that his fellow inmates thought any less of him. He said he spent much of his time behind bars signing autographs.

Justice, the talented outfielder who hit 50 home runs in his first two major league seasons, recently caused two stirs in the clubhouse.

Because he did not have a contract, he did not participate in the club photo day on March 2. John Schuerholz, the Braves’ sensible general manager, was outraged.

“What can I do if he wants to act like that,” Schuerholz told the Gwinnett Daily News. “You can’t demand maturity. You can’t demand common sense. I’m sure his teammates don’t like him to set himself apart.”

The next day, Schuerholz and Justice settled their differences.

In a later interview, printed by the same newspaper, Justice caused more controversy when he was quoted as saying: “There are a lot of good guys on this team. But a few I know use the ‘n’ word when I’m not around.”

These sorts of distractions will not help the Braves achieve what Schuerholz has mandated for his newly successful team.

“We are in a different position this year, with different expectations,” Schuerholz said. “We have to be ready to play at a higher level for a longer period of time.”

And the Braves must remember, as Lonnie Smith does, that they did not win the World Series.

Smith could have scored the winning run late in the seventh game of the World Series. But while running from first base on Terry Pendleton’s double, Smith lost track of the ball and had to stop at third base.

The Braves lost in 10 innings, 1-0.

“I could have taken a look in while I was running, to see the ball off the bat, but I didn’t,” Smith said. “Then when he hit it, I see (Twin second baseman) Chuck Knoblauch move funny, and that slowed me down a second.

“No, he didn’t fake me out. I knew the ball was hit in the outfield. I just didn’t know where. So I had to hold up.”

He said his teammates will not forget how close they came.

“A lot of guys were talking about it when we got here for spring training,” Smith said. “Inside, we are still missing that one little bit. That’s what this year is all about. Getting that one little bit.”