HAVING won so much this decade, the Braves needed to begin losing to gain a wider appreciation. No, not losing games. Losing players.

Atlanta is still winning plenty of games. More than any major-league team as this weekend began. The Braves are replacing their reputation from a country club to a rugged club. In 1999, hardly a sentence involving the Braves would elapse without the word “vulnerable” appearing. But their GM, John Schuerholz, had a pretty good point when he said, “What evidence is there that we are vulnerable? We have the best record in baseball. If we are vulnerable, what does that mean for everyone else?”

What it means is, Atlanta again is an October factor.

Weaker in starting pitching, the Braves are stronger in resourcefulness. The way the Braves have played with hurt bodies has only earned them a healthier respect around the game. Atlanta has met the challenge in the NL East and, so far, demonstrated it is not yet ready to forgo its seeming 1990s birthright, a division title.

“John Schuerholz and I have looked at each other since April and we have been surprised we keep winning more than the other guys,” said Brave President Stan Kasten. “Maybe we should stop being surprised.”

Kasten, Schuerholz and the rest of the Brave command actually thought they had assembled their best team this decade with the additions of Brian Jordan and Bret Boone in the offseason. But in spring training, the Braves’ No. 1 RBI man, Andres Galarraga, was lost for the season with cancer of the lower back. Their closer, Kerry Ligtenberg, soon followed with a torn elbow ligament. Mark Wohlers was given one more chance to see if he could revive his career in place of Ligtenberg, but he remained unable to find the strike zone and was traded.

The team’s Great Wall of China, its starting pitching, struggled in the first half; Tom Glavine and Greg Maddux apparently due to a revised strike zone and John Smoltz with his injured elbow. At midseason, Javier Lopez, the team’s starting catcher and one of its best clutch hitters, tore a knee ligament and was lost for the season, as was No. 5 starter Odalis Perez (elbow) and key set-up man Rudy Seanez (elbow).

Yet, the Braves began last week by taking three games from upstart Cincinnati to improve their record against the next four best NL teams (Cincinnati, Arizona, Houston and the Mets) to 20-5. Longtime Brave public-relations man Jim Schultz joked, “We just need Chipper Jones to get hurt and we will be really good.”

More seriously, Met GM Steve Phillips said, “They are made up of a team full of winners.”

That dispels the notion the Braves have gone soft with all their winning (seven straight division titles), a perception that had flourished because they won just one World Series in this run. Their major-league-high 23 triumphs in their last at-bat speaks to their fortitude.

But perhaps nothing speaks to it like Smoltz, who has been on the DL twice this season and probably should be there now. Instead, with an elbow that likely needs surgery, Smoltz changed his delivery to three-quarters to ease some pain, scrapped his best pitch (slider) and devised a slurve. He has been mostly effective – and a total inspiration.

The Braves also have benefited from Gerald Williams giving them some life in the leadoff spot, John Rocker closing to head a deep bullpen, Schuerholz reinforcing with the acquisitions of Jose Hernandez, Terry Muholland and Greg Myers and Kevin Millwood pitching like a front-of-the-rotation fixture.

If the Mets beat out these guys, they should be proud. The likelihood remains that the NL East will be decided in six head-to-head games in late September. And there should be an added urgency for the Mets to fulfill their promise. Galarraga, Ligtenberg, Lopez and Perez are all expected back at full strength next season, plus Atlanta is not scheduled to lose a major player to free agency and is expected to be in the midst of any Alex Rodriguez hunt.

“This run,” Kasten said, “has a way to go yet.”