Friday's 7-3 win over the Atlanta Braves gave the Nationals their fourth victory in a row and sixth in eight games. During that span, Washington is hitting .277 as a team with nine homers, 12 doubles and two triples -- the kind of production that has eluded the National League's worst offense most of the year.

Manager Manny Acta, while tempering his enthusiasm for the short spurt like he usually does, said the offensive increase is because of a combination of things: players getting back to full strength after injuries (Elijah Dukes, Ryan Zimmerman), young hitters developing (Lastings Milledge) or skilled players getting hot (Cristian Guzman).

Whatever the reason, the Nationals hope they can build on it for next year.

"You can get all the timely hits you want. If we don't win, those timely hits don't mean anything," left fielder Willie Harris said. "Everybody's playing well; everybody's having fun. We're just going to try to finish up strong and leave a mark going into next year."

NATIONALS 7, BRAVES 3: Washington scored five runs in the first four innings, taking a 5-0 lead before Odalis Perez gave up a homer to Greg Norton as part of a three-run Braves fifth.

But Washington added two more runs off Elmer Dessens in the sixth, off a Ryan Zimmerman sacrifice fly and a Lastings Milledge double.

Joel Hanrahan recorded the last two outs of the ninth inning after Steven Shell put runners on first and third. Hanrahan earned his seventh save of the season.