By JOSEPH WHITE
AP Sports Writer

WASHINGTON(AP) -- The Atlanta Braves have forced their way into
the playoff picture unburdened by the usual late-season nerves
and anxieties. They threw all that stuff out long ago, back when
they were so far behind they thought they were pretty much out
of it.

Playing confident and free with nothing to lose - and with the
breaks falling their way - the Braves completed a three-game
sweep of the Washington Nationals with a 6-3 victory in 10
innings Sunday, their sixth win in a row and 14th in 16 games.

"It's got to the point now where we've got so much faith in the
team that no one wants to be that last out, or no one wants to
be the guy that is responsible for the loss," said reliever
Peter Moylan, who worked out of huge jam in the seventh. "It's a
lot of fun, and we're just going to keep hoping things fall our
way."

A couple of weak choppers that bounced into no man's land
between the pitcher's mound and first base helped spur a
three-run rally in the 10th for the Braves, who remained 2 1/2
games behind Colorado in the race for the NL wild card. Atlanta
now gets to finish the season at home with three against the
Florida Marlins and four more against the Nationals, who on
Sunday lost for the 103rd time this season.

"You're just riding that wave of momentum we created for
ourselves over the two weeks," said Chipper Jones, who had two
infield hits and scored after both of them. "It's big to be at
home. We feel good about our chances. The Marlins coming in a
little down, obviously, and the Nationals are not playing their
best baseball, so it's right in front of us.

"We know that our margin of error is very small and if we lose a
game or two, we're more than likely done, but right now it seems
like we do whatever we have to on a daily basis to get a win."

With one out in the 10th, Mike MacDougal (1-1) walked Nate
McLouth and hit Martin Prado with a 96-mph fastball. Jones and
Brian McCann then hit the back-to-back choppers. Jones beat his
out to load the bases, and McCann's turned into an RBI
groundout.

"A little soft spot in the defense," Jones said with a smile.
"Just trying to exploit it."

Omar Infante followed with a two-run single to center to score
Prado and Jones, giving the Braves their 10th straight road win,
their longest such streak in more than 15 years. Mike Gonzalez
(5-4) picked up the win, and Rafael Soriano pitched the 10th for
his 27th save.

"Winning is all about confidence, I don't care what people say,"
said starter Derek Lowe, who allowed three runs in six innings.
"We believe we're going to win. We believe we're going to find
ways to win and that's ultimately a huge reason why we are where
we are."

Lowe said one danger for the Braves is that they'll tighten up
now that they're in striking distance.

"What you don't want to have happen is: 'Now we're getting
closer, let's try to play differently,"' Lowe said.

The loss guaranteed the Nationals a worse record than last
year's 59-102 team - and they still have to face the Braves
again.

"It was a 3-2 ballgame almost the whole game," interim manager
Jim Riggleman said. "I'm not stupid; you can play a lot of close
games and be a bad ballclub. But the difference between us and
the other clubs is not that wide a gap. ... We just made some
mistakes."

What the Nationals did was hit three solo homers and go 0 for 8
with runners in scoring position. Elijah Dukes popped out with
two outs and the bases loaded in the third. Willie Harris
singled to lead off the fifth and tripled to lead off the
seventh; he didn't score either time. A pinch-hit single to open
the ninth was wasted, in part because of a lousy bunt attempt.
Josh Willingham's decision to throw to the wrong base - third
instead of second - after a flyout in the fourth wiped out a
potential double play and essentially allowed the Braves to
score two runs to tie the game.

It was Moylan who stranded Harris after the leadoff triple in
the seventh. Moylan, making his franchise record-tying 84th
appearance of the season, got Ian Desmond to ground out to first
with the infield in. He then intentionally walked Ryan Zimmerman
before striking out Willingham and Dukes - both looking.

"I don't want to sound like a cliche guy, but I just said to
myself, 'This is our season; this is what it's going to come
down to.' We've been good for so long, the last couple of
months, and let's not get overanxious and just make the
pitches," Moylan said. "I was able to do it."

NOTES: Zimmerman and Willingham homered on back-to-back pitches
in the first. ... The Nationals' other home run was hit by Mike
Morse, his second of the season and second in two days. ...
Moylan tied the Braves appearance record set by Chris Reitsma in
2004. ... The Braves' road winning streak is their longest since
April 4-17, 1994. ... Atlanta also completed a perfect road trip
of six or more games for the first time since June 2001.