"This is great," catcher Wil Nieves said. "It's always nice to come in here and listen to that loud music that we play after the games... It's been a tough year. Right now it just feels good that the season's coming to an end and we're playing good baseball."

The difference for the Nationals has been the infusion of some young and energetic blood in the last month. Veteran players say they've noticed how players like Elijah Dukes, Emilio Bonifacio and Anderson Hernandez have re-energized the rest of the clubhouse to turn things around down the stretch of the season.

"Even when we've lost, I feel like there's a lot of good people (fitting into) the team," infielder Aaron Boone said. "You definitely see progress. You see guys coming to play and coming to work, and it's refreshing. As disappointing as this year has been at times, I feel like it's starting to turn. There's a lot of good people in this room right now that are playing for something. It's important to us, and that's pretty cool."

NATIONALS 8, BRAVES 4: Aaron Boone's three-run homer highlighted a five-run eighth inning Sunday and sent Washington to a sweep over Atlanta and a season-high six game-winning streak. Trailing 4-3 when the eighth began, the Nationals stormed back against reliever Elmer Dessens, with Ryan Zimmerman singling and Elijah Dukes drawing a walk in advance of Boone, who hit his first homer since May 27 at San Diego. Rookie Garrett Mock earned his first career win in relief.