WORLD SERIES: ATLANTA BRAVES vs. CLEVELAND INDIANS : They Turned Boos to Bravos : Game 6: Glavine pitches a one-hitter for eight innings and Justice homers for the only run as the Braves finally win it all, 1-0.

ATLANTA — The Atlanta Braves have been rehearsing this scene for the last five years, and when the ball dropped into center fielder Marquis Grissom’s glove for the final out Saturday night, they unleashed a celebration that could be heard all over the deep South.

The Braves, ridiculed by the media, labeled chokers by their own fans and taunted by their opponents, finally are World Series champions.

The Braves, behind the brilliant pitching of starter Tom Glavine and David Justice’s home run in the sixth inning, defeated the Cleveland Indians, 1-0, winning the World Series, four games to two, in front of a frenzied crowd of 51,875 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.

The Braves, who have had baseball’s best record the last five years, but lost in the 1991 and 1992 World Series and the playoffs in 1993, are World Series champions for the first time since moving to Atlanta in 1966.

“This is a big relief for the whole city,” pitcher John Smoltz said. “There has been a lot of frustration. We should have won this a long time ago.

“Nobody ever gave us the credit we deserved, but now, this will be remembered as one of the greatest teams of all time.”

Said Atlanta Manager Bobby Cox: “I was just happy to get my hands on that World Series trophy. We were wearing that National League trophy out.”

It was only appropriate that Glavine and Justice, the two players who have had a strange love-hate relationship with Brave fans, would emerge as the heroes in Atlanta’s greatest moment.

Glavine, booed on opening day for his outspokenness during the players’ strike, pitched a magnificent one-hitter through eight innings, and closer Mark Wohlers pitched a perfect ninth inning. It was the first one-hitter in a deciding game in World Series history.

“From Day 1 we were on a mission,” said Glavine, who was too tired to pitch the ninth. “We knew the only thing that would make our season a success would be a World Series title.

“We’ve accomplished a lot since 1991, but we didn’t win a championship. None of us wanted our organization to go through the winter with another close defeat hanging over our heads.

“I can tell you the wait was worth it.”

And it was Justice, the man who 24 hours earlier chastised Brave fans for their passive behavior and was more nervous than at any time in his life, who led off the sixth inning with a home run off Jim Poole into the right-field seats. It was only the fifth time in World Series history that a home run produced the only run.

“I never felt more pressure in my life,” said Justice, who had only nine singles in 42 postseason at-bats. “I had to go lay down in the trainers’ room before the game. My stomach hurt so bad before the game. I thought 50,000 people would boo me in my own stadium in the World Series.

“Up until game time, I felt it was me against the world.”

Now, nearly four years to the day after the Braves lost Game 7 of the 1991 World Series to the Minnesota Twins, 1-0 in 10 innings, they have captured this city’s first major sports championship in 95 seasons.

“I can admit it now,” Justice said, “there was a whole lot of pressure to win this World Series. I could not imagine losing it and putting myself and putting our organization and our fans through another crushing defeat.”

The worst part of this pressure they have felt since opening day, the Braves say, was everyone reminding them of it. They won 90 games during the regular season, defeated the Colorado Rockies in the first round of the playoffs, and then listened to the Cincinnati Reds popping off in the National League playoffs and the Indians in the World Series.

“That stuff drove us all year,” Atlanta third baseman Chipper Jones said. “We beat Cincinnati, and people are asking what’s wrong with the Reds? We beat Cleveland, and people are asking what’s wrong with Cleveland.

“Maybe they played the best team in the whole damn world.

“But what really got us was when those guys [the Indians] said we couldn’t win. They tried to play all of these mind games with us. They tried everything.

“Well, it didn’t work.

“Have a nice flight home, boys.”

It was the latest comments by Cleveland shortstop Omar Vizquel and pitcher Orel Hershiser that particularly riled the Braves. Vizquel claimed that the Braves would choke. Hershiser said that all of the pressure is on the Braves.

The Braves, angry at the perceived lack of respect, called for a team meeting. The Braves, calling the Indians “a bunch of unprofessional, rude, arrogant, obnoxious asses,” decided they were going to shut them up.

“We didn’t understand where all that talk was coming from,” Smoltz said. “They were a very confident and cocky team, and we weren’t getting any respect. I mean, what have they ever won?

“Now it’s over.

“Let them talk all they want.

“We’ve got the trophy.”

Does Vizquel have any regrets?

“I figured it would work one of two ways,” Vizquel said. “Some people get fired up by that. Some people get scared.

“I don’t know how anyone can say they were fired up. They just got lucky. We made a mistake on one pitch and they win.

“If they were fired up, they would have scored six runs.”

Vizquel paused, glanced around the clubhouse, and said: “Well, maybe Glavine was fired up.”

The Indians, who came into this Series boasting about having the finest offensive team since the 1961 Yankees, batted only .179--the lowest average in a six-game World Series since the New York Giants in 1911.

“Their pitching was unbelievable,” Vizquel said. “We heard it was good, and we heard all of the reports, but I don’t think any of us believed it could be that good.”

The Indians, in fact, had not lost a 1-0 game since May 20, 1992--spanning 556 games. Yet, this night, they never had a chance.

Glavine opened the game by pitching five hitless innings. It was the longest hitless stretch in a World Series game since Charlie Leibrandt in 1985 for the Kansas City Royals.

Catcher Tony Pena, the No. 8 hitter, ended the drought with a bloop single to right-center leading off the sixth. It posed a decision for Cleveland Manager Mike Hargrove: Leave in reliever Jim Poole--who just struck out Fred McGriff with the bases loaded in the fifth--to bunt. Or summon a pinch-hitter.

Just like everything else for Hargrove in this series, the decision backfired. Poole failed in three bunt attempts, fouling out. Kenny Lofton then hit a bouncer back to Glavine for the force at second. Lofton stole second, but was left stranded when Vizquel fouled out.

In a matter of moments, the decision would torment Hargrove, who watched Justice lead off the sixth by hitting a 1-and-1 fastball into the seats. Justice pumped his right fist, then his left fist, and shook his fists at the crowd in exhilaration when he crossed home plate.

“That was the greatest moment of my life,” Justice said. “I’ll never, ever, forget this night. I know the heartache in losing the World Series the last two times.

“I wasn’t about to let it happen again.”

“I think everyone in Atlanta will be proud when they wake up to say they’re from Atlanta.”

Said John Schuerholz, the Braves’ general manager and executive vice president: “It was poetic justice.”

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Series at a Glance

* Game 1: Atlanta 3, Cleveland 2

* Game 2: Atlanta 4, Cleveland 3

* Game 3: Cleveland 7, Atlanta 6 (11)

* Game 4: Atlanta 5, Cleveland 2

* Game 5: Cleveland 5, Atlanta 4

* Game 6: Atlanta 1, Cleveland 0