KISSIMMEE, FLA. ? John Smoltz finally accepts his fate: Yes, he’ll probably be a closer for the rest of his career.

“After saving 55 games, I really don’t have much choice,” he said glumly.

Typical Smoltz. He always sounds a bit anguished, even in the best of times.

Actually, Smoltz should be downright giddy after his remarkable 2002 season, when he set an NL record with 55 saves in his first full season as a closer.

He set the bar so high that, of course, he sees no prospect of ever clearing it again.

“No way,” Smoltz said, shaking his head. “You can always dream of doing it again, but that’s not going to happen. I may not get 40 this year. You can’t control the numbers.”

No matter. The 35-year-old Smoltz already is part of an exclusive club, joining Dennis Eckersley as the only pitchers to have both 20-win and 50-save seasons.

“It’s hard to imagine that I hold the team record for wins and the team record for saves in a season,” Smoltz said. “That’s pretty amazing.”

Smoltz spent most of his career as a starter, the highlight coming in 1996 when he went 24-8 — an Atlanta record for wins — and captured the NL Cy Young Award. He also is the winningest pitcher in postseason history, going 14-4 during Atlanta’s run of 11 straight division titles.

“You’ll never hear me say anything cocky or outlandish, but I always thought if I was starting Game 1 in the playoffs, then we were going to be ahead in that series 1-0,” Smoltz said. “That’s how strongly I felt. I don’t have that kind of impact anymore.”

Smoltz sticks to the belief that a closer can’t affect a playoff series the way a starter does.

Atlanta pitcher John Smoltz saved 55 games in his first full season as a closer in 2002.

He points to the last two seasons. Both times, he was the last guy to pitch for Atlanta in the playoffs. Both times, it didn’t matter because his team already was behind. There was nothing he could do as the Braves lost to Arizona in the 2001 NL championship series, then to San Francisco in the opening round last year. He didn’t even get a save in either series — the opportunity never came up.

Nevertheless, the Braves have no plans to change course. Smoltz was plagued by elbow problems throughout his career, so the belief is that fewer innings will mean a longer career.

“He’s in exactly the proper role,” general manager John Schuerholz said. “If we could make him a starter and a reliever at the same time, that’s about the only thing that would be even better.”

Smoltz got off to a shaky start in his new role last year. In the first week of the season, he surrendered eight runs in two-thirds of an inning to the New York Mets. Not surprisingly, the local newspaper had a derogatory headline on the front of its sports section the next morning.

While Smoltz claims he doesn’t pay attention to the media, he spent the rest of the year pitching with a healthy dose of motivation.

“I’d be a liar if I told you it wasn’t a factor,” Smoltz said.