Braves Get In the Last Words : NL West: Victory over Astros, 5-2, brings a division championship. Some players cite disparaging remarks by Strawberry as inspiration.

ATLANTA —  In the end, with the war whoops echoing up Capitol Avenue and down Peachtree Street, with the improbability of the Atlanta Braves having won the National League West championship still sinking in, Ron Gant acknowledged that he remembered the demeaning remarks of Darryl Strawberry.

It wasn’t that long ago, with the Braves biting into what had been a 9 1/2-game Dodger lead at the All-Star break, that Strawberry said:

“We aren’t worried about the Braves. Why should we worry about the Braves?

“We’ve done well against them head-to-head, and that’s the main thing.”

Gant smiled in a rocking clubhouse. Only the Pittsburgh Pirates have to worry about the Braves now. They beat the Houston Astros, 5-2, Saturday to win the West.

A 4-0 loss in San Francisco left the Dodgers two games back with one regular-season game left. The Braves, following the example of the Minnesota Twins, became only the second team to finish last one season and first the next. Atlanta will open the NL playoffs at Pittsburgh on Wednesday.

“A thousand to one,” catcher Greg Olson said of the odds he would have put on this happening in spring training. “I mean, I was thinking--hoping--that we might be .500. That would have been a nice improvement.”

At the door of the trainer’s room, center fielder Gant waved both index fingers to reflect the Braves’ status and shouted: “We shook up the world, baby, we shook up the world.”

Gant then thought about Strawberry’s remarks and said:

“We all remember what he said, but we made up our minds at the time that we weren’t going to worry about anything the Dodgers said or the media wrote.

“We were just going to stay focused, and that’s why we won. We believed in ourselves when no one else did, and if I was in the Dodgers shoes I’d feel that I had let it slip through my fingers.

“They were picked to win. They had the lead, and they played well for a time down the stretch.

“But when we won those six in a row on the road, I think that was a shock to them. I think they even got scared. I think they may have realized then they weren’t going to win it.”

How ironic. As the Dodgers were losing their third in a row Saturday, the supposedly inexperienced Braves, the team that was supposed to capitulate amid the heat of the race, made it eight consecutive victories for a 55-27 record since the All-Star break.

“We earned this. No one can say we backed in,” said John Smoltz, who scattered seven hits in pitching the clincher Saturday. It was the Braves’ revenge, Smoltz added, for all the disparaging things written and said about the club’s chances.

“Now it’ll be fun,” he said. “Now all those people get to watch us in the National League playoffs.”

A tomahawk-toting crowd of 44,994, ecstatically following progress of the Dodger loss via transistor radios and televisions and the message board, watched Smoltz, 24, apply the finishing touch to what General Manager John Schuerholz said has been a “dream season.”

Smoltz’s turnaround has been as impressive as that of his team. He went 12-2 in the second half after a 2-11 first half sent him to a sports psychologist to begin consultation on his negative outlook and lack of confidence.

“I’d climb the ladder and then fall off,” Smoltz said. “Now I think I’m on it to stay.”

Said Olson: “Instead of worrying about how he’s going to lose, John is now going out there knowing he’ll win. He responded to our need. He carried us in the second half.”

The Braves responded Saturday by providing Smoltz with a 4-0 lead after five innings. Houston starter Mark Portugal was gone in the third, betrayed again by shortstop Andujar Cedeno, who made two more errors, giving him five in the two games here.

Gant hit a solo homer and Lonnie Smith doubled and singled as the Braves built their lead, assisted by Cedeno’s charity.

Smoltz gave up only one hit over the final four innings, and when he got the final out, the Braves jubilantly piled on him, even though the Giants needed two more outs to make their title official.

Said Olson: “I think we felt that a 4-0 lead in Candlestick Park was pretty secure, and there was so much emotion we had to let it out.”

The Braves stood in the middle of the infield and watched the Giants wrap it up on the center field screen. They then raced toward the dugout, tossing their caps into the stands as a thank you to the fans, Gant said, for their support.

A year ago, the same fans probably would have tossed them back. The Braves, entering the ’91 season, had finished fifth or sixth in the West every season since 1985 and had lost 300 games in the last three years, including 97 in 1990.

Schuerholz came from Kansas City and built on the pitching Manager Bobby Cox had produced through trades and drafts while serving as general manager.

Schuerholz restructured the infield and restored the confidence of the pitchers by signing Sid Bream, Rafael Belliard and Terry Pendleton as free agents.

“Bobby had accumulated some great young pitchers, and we brought in some people to support them,” Schuerholz said, soggy from a champagne shower.

“My hope was that we could be competitive, that we could raise our self-esteem and gain credibility with the league and our fans, but no one could have expected this.

“These guys never quit. My emotions are indescribable.”

The Braves overcame the Dodgers, overcame midseason injuries to Bream and David Justice and overcame the recent loss of catalytic Otis Nixon.

As he called pitches in the ninth inning Saturday, Olson said he was overcome with emotion and glad he had a mask on so no one could see him cry.

Now, the Pirates.

“They’re supposed to be the best team in baseball, but that doesn’t mean anything to us,” Olson said. “We beat them nine times (in 12 games) this year. We know we can beat anyone. We didn’t buckle under the pressure of the Dodgers, and you won’t see it happen now.”