Braves' season of hope ends in six-game skid

ATLANTA -- The Washington Nationals completed a dismal season with a glimmer of hope. The Atlanta Braves finished a promising year with a brutal final week. Alberto Gonzalez came through with two-out, run-scoring single in the 15th inning and Washington closed its 103-loss season with a seven-game winning streak, beating the Braves 2-1 on Sunday.

Atlanta, which got within two games of the wild-card lead with six remaining, finished with a season-high six-game losing streak.

"It was a crazy game," Chipper Jones said. "We gave the fans a little extra baseball to remember us by."

If only the Braves could forget the last six days.

Atlanta revived its playoff hopes by winning 15 of 17, but two disheartening losses to the Florida Marlins ended the Braves' hopes. They were swept in a four-game series by hapless Washington to finish an 86-76 season - still a 14-win improvement on 2008, but third in the NL East behind Philadelphia and Florida.

"We just didn't play well the last four games of the year," Jones said. "We expended a lot of energy getting to that point. Once we had a letdown, it was pretty evident."

Jones led off the eighth with a pinch-hit single to break an 0-for-19 slump. He finished the worst season of his career with a .264 average - 100 points below his NL-leading figure from a year ago - and remained stuck on 18 homers, snapping a streak of 14 consecutive 20-plus homer seasons.

Starting pitcher Tim Hudson went seven innings, allowing one run in what could be his final game for the Braves. He has a $12 million mutual option for next season, but it's hard to see the Braves picking it up.

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