Braves in Rout to N.Y.

The Atlanta Braves knew this was supposed to be the climactic ending to this dramatic National League championship series, but by the end of the first inning Thursday, their most suspenseful moment was trying to decide what to pack for their trip to New York.

The Braves thoroughly and painstakingly humiliated the St. Louis Cardinals, 15-0, sending them home in utter disgrace by winning Game 7 in front of a delirious sellout crowd of 52,0672 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.

The Braves, with the most lopsided victory in baseball’s 92-year postseason history, will now face the New York Yankees in the World Series. They became the first team in a National League championship series to come back from a three-games-to-one deficit, and only the ninth team in any postseason to accomplish the feat.

Now, the Braves will be bidding to become the first National League team since the 1975-76 Cincinnati Reds to win successive World Series championships.

“This was a huge victory for us ,” said Atlanta’s John Smoltz, who won Game 5 and will start Game 1 of the World Series on Saturday, “but at the same time we thought this is what we were going to do. We were very confident. There was always that sense that we would get this done.

“When you get to the seventh game, you never know what pressure can make you do, and what it can do to a team that’s never been there before.”

The Cardinals certainly resurrected memories of their nightmare of 1985, when they blew a 3-1 lead to the Kansas City Royals in the World Series, losing the final game, 11-0. The only difference this time was that John Tudor wasn’t around to hit an electric fan, and Joaquin Andujar wasn’t on the field to be ejected.

“The loss stings a lot because of the type of game,” Cardinal Manager Tony La Russa said. “It really stings.”

This game was over just a few moments after Francisco Cabrera, the hero in Game 7 of the 1992 NLCS over the Pittsburgh Pirates, threw out the ceremonial first pitch. The suspense lasted one inning. The next eight innings consisted of little more than curtain calls.

The Braves had a 6-0 lead by the first inning, triggered by starter Tom Glavine’s two-out, three-run triple, knocking Cardinal starter Donovan Osborne out of the game after only 22 pitches. The crowd started singing by the second inning. It was 10-0 by the fourth. The Cardinal owners fled the stadium in the sixth when it became 13-0. Atlanta Manager Bobby Cox started clearing his bench when it was 15-0 in the seventh. The crowd started singing “New York, New York,” in the eighth.

And the champagne corks started popping in the ninth.

“What a beautiful, beautiful night,” said Atlanta catcher Javier Lopez, selected the most valuable player with his .542 batting average and 1.000 slugging percentage. “It was unbelievable. This team never died. Hopefully, we can do this one more time.”

Certainly, if the Yankees have been watching during their extended vacation this past week, they have learned that it’s wise to keep your mouth shut and ego checked at the door when facing the Braves.

The Braves, infuriated by the Cardinals after losing Game 4 in St. Louis, came back with merciless vengeance. They thrashed the Cardinals the last three games.

“We went out there trying to prove something,” said third baseman Chipper Jones, who batted .440 in the series. “We just didn’t know how they’d react.”

Just what kind of humility lesson was taught these last three games?

The Braves outscored the Cardinals, 32-1.

The Cardinals did not produce an extra-base hit in 96 at-bats.

The Cardinals were out-hit, 46-17.

But perhaps the most incredible feat of all is that the Cardinals reached second base only four times in the final 26 innings.

Considering this dominance, who can blame Atlanta pitching coach Leo Mazzone for declaring the Braves’ starting rotation the greatest of all time?

“You’re seeing history being done,” Mazzone said. “I think it’s the best rotation in the history of baseball with this six-year run.

“Remember, this is an era of the long ball, the juiced ball and small ballparks, and no one can touch it.”

The Atlanta pitching staff is yielding a 1.93 earned-run average since the start of the 1995 postseason, going 15-5. In the last three games when faced with elimination, they yielded an 0.33 ERA. The lone run scored on Mark Wohlers’ wild pitch in Game 6.

“This is incredible,” Smoltz said. “No one expects this at this time of year. And I don’t think the Cardinals expected it. But it’s a situation that snowballed on them.”

And, of course, there is Glavine, Mr. October. He was the guy on the mound a year ago when the Braves won the World Series against the Cleveland Indians in Game 6, yielding one hit in eight innings. This night, he permitted three hits in seven innings, and broke the game open himself in the first with a two-out, bases-loaded triple.

“This team has got that killer instinct, and there’s no bigger example of that than Glavine,” Jones said. “When he got those runs, we knew it was over. Now, we just need to carry that over to the Yankees.

“Everybody knows all about those great Yankee teams, the Big Red Machine, and the Oakland A’s in the ‘70s. We want to go down as one of the greatest teams of all time too.

“When you’ve got the pitching like we do, I wouldn’t bet against us.”

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ATLANTA vs. NEW YORK

Saturday--Atlanta (Smoltz, 24-8) at New York (Cone, 7-2, or Pettitte, 21-8), 5 p.m.

Sunday--Atlanta (Neagle, 16-9) at New York (Pettitte, 21-8, or Cone, 7-2), 4:30 p.m.

Tuesday--New York (Key, 12-11) at Atlanta (Maddux, 15-11), 5:15 p.m.

Wednesday--at Atlanta, 5:15 p.m.

*Thursday--at Atlanta, 5:15 p.m.

*Oct. 26--at New York, 5 p.m.

*Oct. 27--at New York, 5:30 p.m.

All games on Channel 11

*--If necessary

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Down, Not Out

Teams that have come back from 3-1 deficits to win postseason baseball series:

American League Championship Series

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Year Teams 1985 Kansas City defeated Toronto 1986 Boston defeated Angels

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World Series

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Year Teams 1903 Boston (AL) d. Pittsburgh (NL)* 1925 Pittsburgh (NL) d. Washington (AL) 1958 New York (AL) d. Milwaukee (NL) 1968 Detroit (AL) d. St. Louis (NL) 1979 Pittsburgh (NL) d. Baltimore (AL) 1985 Kansas City (AL) d. St. Louis (NL)

*--*

National League Championship Series: Never

*--Nine-game series.

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How It Turned Around

The batting and pitching statistics for Atlanta and St. Louis in the last three games of the National League championship series won by the Braves with a 15-0 victory Thursday night:

ATLANTA BATTING

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AB R H RBI 2B 3B HR AVG 117 32 46 31 7 3 5 .393

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ATLANTA PITCHING

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IP H ER BB SO ERA 27 17 1 2 23 0.33

*--*

ST. LOUIS BATTING

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AB R H RBI 2B 3B HR AVG 94 1 17 1 0 0 0 .181

*--*

ST. LOUIS PITCHING

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IP H ER BB SO ERA 25 46 32 13 19 11.52

*--*