WORLD SERIES / ATLANTA BRAVES vs. MINNESOTA TWINS : BASEBALL / ROSS NEWHAN : Twins Go Home in Search of Lost Offense

ATLANTA â€”  Some of the credit belongs to Tom Glavine, John Smoltz and Steve Avery, but dome or doom lives primarily because the bats of the Minnesota Twins have died.

As in the 1987 World Series, when they won all four games from the St. Louis Cardinals at the Metrodome and lost all three at Busch Stadium, the Twins stumbled out of the chop shop known as Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium Thursday night having gone winless in three games after winning two at the Metrodome.

Facing the end of their season in Game 6 Saturday night, there is no certainty that their dormant offense automatically will be revived by the return to their Teflon-coated oxygen tent.

They must beat Avery Saturday night and Smoltz Sunday, and they confront that task with a World Series batting average of .218, compared to a regular- season mark of .280, best in the major leagues.

“These guys can be beaten,� the Twins’ Chili Davis said of Atlanta’s young guns late Thursday night, “but the key is that you can’t swing at their pitch. You’ve got to be patient, and we’re not doing it.

“The World Series is supposed to be fun, but with all the media attention you can lose sight of that. Everything is a hundred times more magnified. We have to relax and go about it the way we did all year.�

Davis and the Twins expect that to happen in the Metrodome, as it did in ’87 and as it did in the regular season, when they batted .302 at home compared to .259 on the road.

“Playing at home makes a world of difference to us the way our lineup is built with the designated hitter in it,� said Kent Hrbek. “We’re looking forward to it a lot. I’ve had enough of Atlanta. The whole team has had enough of Atlanta.�

A crowd of 50,878 chanted “sweep� as the Twins were buried in Game 5, 14-5. A pitching collapse was responsible, but even that is deceiving.

Four walks by Tom Glavine helped the Twins close from 5-0 to 5-3 in the sixth inning. They had the bases loaded with one out but failed to capitalize as Kent Mercker came in to retire Hrbek and Greg Gagne on groundouts.

Of the Twins’ seven hits, three came in the last two innings when it was a blowout and Manager Tom Kelly lifted both Hrbek and Kirby Puckett for pinch-hitters to give his reserves a taste of Series action.

“We had several opportunities to put them away here and didn’t do it,� Puckett said. “We had several opportunities to score runs with the right kind of an out and didn’t do it.

“Execution is the key. They did it and we didn’t, but some of us in this room remember ’87 and that crowd in St. Louis chanting ‘sweep’ and how we then went home and turned it around. I have to think we can do it again.�

Puckett, MVP of the AL playoffs, said he had no explanation for his three-for-18 in the Series. Hrbek is three for 19, Dan Gladden four for 21, Greg Gagne three for 18 and Shane Mack has no hits in 15 at-bats.

Kelly, frustrated by the lack of productivity, benched Mack in Game 5 and took a gamble by playing designated hitter Davis, a defensive liability, in right. Davis singled, walked, scored two runs and got out of right field alive. He will again be the DH Saturday night, with Mack returning to his position.

“Atlanta got good pitching, there’s no doubt about it, but we’re not swinging the bat like we can,� Hrbek said. “It can weigh on you, especially when you’ve had chances to drive in runs like I have, but you can’t dwell on it or it’ll bury you.

“You have to pick yourself up and keep trying to make it happen.�

Kelly suspects that the threatening calls Hrbek and his family received from Atlanta zealots in the wake of that controversial play involving Ron Gant in Game 2 weighed on his first baseman, who heard chants of “cheater� in all three games here.

“I felt like Bill Laimbeer when he goes into Chicago,� a smiling Hrbek said of the widely disliked Detroit Piston center. “I’ve been concerned for my family, but once the game started I was able to focus on playing my game. I just didn’t play it well.�

Hrbek meant he didn’t hit well, but he wasn’t--and isn’t--alone. The Twins, who averaged 4.7 runs during the regular season, are averaging 3.8 in the Series. Puckett shook his head in the wake of Thursday’s rout and said: “It’s a great feeling to be going home. I mean, after tonight I feel like I’ve been at a track meet.�

The Twins headed home hoping that a repeat of ’87 becomes reality, but carrying heavy baggage. The franchise--first in Washington, D.C., and now Minnesota--has not won a World Series road game since Walter Johnson defeated Pittsburgh in Game 1 in 1925. That is 14 consecutive road losses--three in 1925, two in ‘33, three in ’65 and the six of ’87 and ‘91, when it has strictly been dome or doom.