WORLD SERIES : Toronto Blue Jays vs. Atlanta Braves : One Bad Pitch Is the Difference : Game 1: Jack Morris makes it and catcher Damon Berryhill hits it to give the Braves a 3-1 victory over Blue Jays.

Three days after Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium was rocked by a little-known catcher from the Dominican Republic, it was shaken again Saturday by an even more unusual hero.

Would you believe a surfer from Southern California?

Damon Berryhill rode the wave of his life around the bases after his three-run homer in the sixth inning gave the Atlanta Braves a 3-1 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 1 of the World Series.

“I didn’t really feel myself hit the ground until I reached third base,” Berryhill said. “When you see that ball leave the park--for that one moment, you are on top of the world.”

The feeling has lasted much longer than a moment for the Braves, whose Tom Glavine ended his postseason blues with a four-hitter while they handed Jack Morris his first World Series loss.

They felt magical after their ninth-inning rally stole the National League championship Wednesday against the Pittsburgh Pirates, but now they feel plain unbeatable.

“You need to take advantage of a Game 7 like that, and today we did,” said Atlanta’s John Smoltz, who will face David Cone in Game 2 today.

Smoltz added: “I would have bet my house that Tommy would pitch this type of game. And with (Berryhill), you can see that this team is unlike any other team we’ve had. You never know who is going to do it for us.”

On Wednesday Francisco Cabrera, who spent most of his season at triple-A Richmond, supplied the winning hit.

On Saturday, it came from a man who spends much of his off-season on a surfboard near Laguna Niguel.

While struggling the past two seasons to overcome a shoulder injury that doctors said might end his career, Berryhill got stronger by surfing.

“Have you ever seen the muscle tone on surfers?” he said. “Just paddling out is great for you.”

It paid off Saturday in the sixth inning, when he came to the plate facing long odds.

Morris, although struggling with his control, had pitched 18 consecutive scoreless World Series innings against the Braves. He had given up only two hits and had a 1-0 lead, thanks to Joe Carter’s fourth-inning homer.

And even though there were two runners on base after a walk and a single, there were two outs and Berryhill had not hit a home run since Sept. 12.

It seemed only the Braves fans, who are quickly getting used to such dramatics, knew something was going to happen.

Just before Morris’ 1-and-2 pitch, the crowd of 51,763 rose from their seats and began cheering. It was one of the first times a player has received a standing ovation before he hit a World Series home run.

“It was hard not to notice,” Berryhill said.

Moments later it was impossible not to notice Berryhill, shaking his fist as he rounded first base, after the ball landed in the right-field seats.

The three runs were the most Morris has given up on one pitch this season. The forkball he threw was his worst of the night.

“Obviously, I want one pitch back,’ Morris said calmly. “One bad pitch, and the guy didn’t miss it.”

Berryhill said he didn’t miss it because he had missed the previous pitch.

“I tried to hit a home run on strike two and missed it badly,” he said. “So I stepped out of the batters’ box and told myself, ‘Don’t try for a home run.’ ”

The next thing Berryhill knew, “he hung me a forkball and the ball jumped off the bat.”

The only person in the Braves’ dugout who couldn’t jump out of his seat was Greg Olson, whose broken ankle allowed Berryhill to become the regular catcher on Sept. 19.

After witnessing Berryhill bat only .167 in the playoffs with one run batted in, Olson offered him some pregame advice.

“I told him the best thing he could do was just have fun,” Olson said. “The most important thing for a catcher on this team, the thing that is always pounded into us, is getting the pitcher through the game. Anything else Damon does is just gravy.”

Olson said he is not surprised that his two backups have been the two most important players recently.

“This shows you what happens when you have 25 guys who can play,” Olson said. “Today it’s Berryhill, tomorrow it’s . . . .how about Deion Sanders?”

The surprised Blue Jays would believe nearly anything at this moment.

“You just can’t give these guys any room,” Carter said. “We make the one bad pitch, and we get hurt.”

It didn’t help the Blue Jays that Glavine also made only one bad pitch.

Besides Carter’s home run over the left-field fence on a drifting fastball, Glavine yielded only two singles by Pat Borders and an infield single by Dave Winfield.

He faced 30 hitters, three over the minimum, and only eight hit the ball out of the infield.

Using all of his off-speed weapons with such control that he did not give up a walk, Glavine was tough for the hot hitters and brutal for the cold ones.

Roberto Alomar, who had hit safely in his 12 previous postseason games, was hitless in four at-bats. Kelly Gruber, who was hitless in his previous 15 postseason at-bats, is now hitless in 18.

“Obviously, his last outing was not indicative of what he really does,” Winfield said of Glavine. “I can’t recall a game (in which) I only came to the plate three times, and I was hitting cleanup.”

It was Glavine’s first victory since Sept. 9 and only his second in 10 starts. That includes the playoffs, during which he went 0-2, highlighted by that record-setting Game 6, in which he gave up eight runs in one inning.

“My performance last game and reading about it in the papers made me look forward to this start,” said Glavine, who has been stung by criticism of his big-game performances since giving up a record five runs in 1 2/3 innings in the All-Star game.

The eight hits the two teams combined for were the fewest in a World Series game in 20 years, although the two pitchers departed in different directions.

Bobby Cox, the Brave manager, said Glavine had probably earned a start in Game 4.

Morris, much to his dismay, was watching television when he learned that Jimmy Key would start Game 4, allowing Morris only two World Series starts.

“Jack was really struggling for his last three innings, but he’s done that before and bounced back,” said Cito Gaston, Blue Jays’ manager. “I really thought he would get through it.”

Perhaps the fact that Morris has pitched 259 innings and has a 5.89 earned-run average in this postseason has affected Gaston’s decision to pitch Key.

The Blue Jays just hope they aren’t fighting to avert a sweep by the time Key takes the mound. The Braves hope otherwise.

“I’m telling you, you get ahead two-games-to-none, that is big,” Smoltz said.

Countered Carter: “You can’t get down about one game. It’s not the end of the world. We’re going to come out fighting tomorrow.”

If only they could figure out which of the Braves they will be fighting against.

TONIGHT’S GAME

* PITCHERS

Toronto’s David Cone vs.

Atlanta’s John Smoltz

* TV: Channel 2

* RADIO: KNX (1070), KFMB (760), KTNQ (1020, Spanish)

* TOM GLAVINE: The Brave left-hander answers his critics in convincing fashion. C10

* JACK MORRIS: The Blue Jay right-hander loses some of his mystique--and Game 1--on Damon Berryhill’s home run. C10

* NOTEBOOK: Jimmy Key is scheduled to rejoin the Toronto rotation as the starter in Game 4. C11