BASEBALL / DAILY REPORT : NATIONAL LEAGUE : What Happened to Tomahawk Chop?

Remember when the Braves were rotten?

Now that Atlanta is in the playoffs for the fourth time in the ‘90s, the thrill is gone.

Says first baseman Fred McGriff, “When I used to be with the San Diego Padres and we would come into Atlanta, and the Braves had just started winning, man, it was tough. From the first inning on, you had 50,000 people doing that tomahawk chop and everybody was into it.

“But the last couple of years, people seem like they have mellowed out. You know, like they’re used to winning now.”

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Good to see the Reds rolling with those punches.

“Losing twice in extra innings, that must hurt,” a TV interviewer said to Cincinnati first baseman Hal Morris.

“Oh, I’ll sleep fine,” Morris said. “No reason to sulk about it.”

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Tweaking the TV coverage was ABC’s Al Michaels, who, in noting Ted Turner’s absence from Game 2, quipped that the Braves’ owner “could conceivably be in a city that is not showing this game.”

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Dale Murphy, who starred for the Braves in their lean years, will fly in from his Utah home to throw out tonight’s ceremonial first pitch.

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Tonight: Chance of rain, 70%. Saturday: 60%.