ATLANTA -- The Washington Nationals bounced up and down in unison near second base, not bothered at all by a smattering of boos from the crowd at Turner Field. They were saving the real celebration for the clubhouse. The Nationals wrapped up their second NL East title in three years against the team that knocked them out of the top spot last season, beating the Atlanta Braves 3-0 on Tuesday night. Tanner Roark pitched five-hit ball over seven innings and Ian Desmonds two-run homer broke a scoreless tie in the sixth, sending Washington back to the playoffs with nearly two weeks to spare. "Nice to have it done," said Washington first baseman Adam LaRoche, who began his career with the Braves. "The sooner, the better." In the clubhouse, the Nationals drenched each other -- and pretty much anything that moved -- with seemingly endless streams of beer. Lil Jons party anthem "Turn Down For What" boomed from the speakers. Bryce Harper, wearing goggles and a fire helmet with "34" across the front, posed for selfies with his teammates. "We want to keep going, keep winning ballgames," Harper said. The clinching victory was especially sweet coming against the Braves, who finished 10 games ahead of the Nationals in 2013. The roles were reversed this season as Washington steadily pulled away down the stretch. The teams were tied for the lead as late as July 20. It was no contest the rest of the way. The Nationals stretched the lead to a season-high 12 1/2 games with the victory. "Its just one step. Theres a long, hard road ahead of us," Nationals outfielder Jayson Werth said. "But were going to enjoy the moment for now." Atlanta lost for the 11th time in 14 games, further damaging its hopes of making a third straight playoff appearance, this time as a wild card. The Braves dropped to 75-76 with their fifth straight loss, the first time they have been under .500 since losing on opening day. "You never want anybody to celebrate on your field," manager Fredi Gonzalez said. "But they did it professionally, I thought. I didnt expect anything less from that organization." The Braves fell 5 1/2 games behind Pittsburgh for the second NL wild card with 11 games left in the regular season. "Weve still got a chance," Gonzalez insisted. "Now weve got to set our sights on a winning streak and maybe we can come in with a second wild card." Roark (14-10) pitched around four leadoff singles by Atlanta, which never got a runner past second base. He struck out four and walked none, lifted after throwing 89 pitches. Tyler Clippard worked a scoreless eighth, and Drew Storen finished up for his seventh save. The Nationals finally broke through in the sixth against Aaron Harang (11-11). After Werth led off with a walk, LaRoche took a called third strike before Harang worked the count to 2-2 on Desmond. The next pitch was a breaking ball that stayed up in the zone. Desmond got all of it, sending a drive deep into the left-field seats for his 23rd homer. Left fielder Justin Upton barely moved, while Harang pumped his fist angrily on the mound. "A curveball down the middle," Desmond said. "It ended up going out of the ballpark." He scored Washingtons other run in the ninth, trotting home on David Carpenters wild pitch. The Nationals will be making just the third playoff appearance in the franchises 46-year history. The club reached the post-season only once as the Montreal Expos (in 1981) before moving to Washington for the 2005 season. Two years ago, the Nationals had a major league-leading 98 wins but were stunned by the St. Louis Cardinals in the deciding game of the NL division series. Washington jumped ahead 6-0 after three innings and still led 7-5 going to the ninth, only to give up four runs with two outs. "We have a chance for redemption," LaRoche said. TRAINERS ROOM Nationals: Harper was back in the lineup after leaving Mondays game in the third inning when he felt light-headed. Manager Matt Williams said Harper had a "little bit of the gunk" that seemed to be going around in the Washington clubhouse. Braves: C Evan Gattis missed his eighth straight game since coming down with strep throat. Gonzalez said he doesnt know when Gattis will be healthy enough to return. UP NEXT Nationals: LHP Gio Gonzalez (8-10) has won two of his three starts in September after going nearly two months without a win. Braves: LHP Alex Wood (10-10) has lasted at least seven innings and allowed two runs or fewer in 12 of his 22 starts. Atlanta is 5-7 in those games. A TRADITION LIKE NO OTHER It was the 10th time the Braves have watched a visiting team celebrate a playoff victory or post-season-clinching win since moving to Turner Field in 1997. Off-White x Nike VAPORMAX Black White . Ontario Superior Court Case Management Master Ronald Dash released the decision on Monday, saying John McCaw Jr. must testify in front of a jury by live video conference. Moores lawyer, Tim Danson, asked the court to compel McCaw - who is based in Seattle - to testify in the case back on February 27. Nike Air VaporMax 2019 White-Metallic Gold . Bjoerndalen, who had failed to win any major race for two years before Sochi, writes in a Facebook entry that he is "full of energy and inspiration" after winning the 10-kilometre sprint and mixed relay at last months Olympics. http://www.clearancevapormax.com/cheap-v...-clearance.html. The 24-year-old right winger has one assist in nine games this season with the Sabres. In his career, he has three goals and six assists in 43 NHL games. Vapormax 3 Clearance . Messis father, Jorge Horacio Messi, is apparently still under investigation for an alleged 4 million euros ($5.3 million) in unpaid taxes from Messis image rights from 2007-09. Messis public relations firm confirmed Spanish media reports that the state prosecutor has asked for Messi to be dropped from the investigation that began in June 2013. Vapormax 2020 Clearance . Striker Dario Mandzukic scored the opener in the 22nd minute but was given a red card nine minutes later for a reckless tackle and left Croatia with 10 men for the remainder of the match.COLLINGWOOD, Ont. a€“ All signs point to the Maple Leafs having their top offseason acquisition in the lineup on opening night. Stephane Robidas, who broke his right leg for the second time in a matter of months in April, told TSN.ca that he expects to be ready when Toronto hosts Montreal a week from now in the season opener. The 37-year-old will participate in his first exhibition game on Friday. Yeah, I think so, he said of playing against the team that drafted him on Oct. 8th. I feel great on the ice. The plan is to play the game Friday against Detroit and after that weve got a few more practices with the team. I expect to be ready for that first game. Robidas has spent nine of the past 10 months rehabbing his right leg, which he broke twice in two separate places for two different teams in two separate games last season. It was an unbelievably wretched set of luck for a player with 885 games of NHL experience. The first injury occurred at the end of November in a home game against Chicago. Defending Jonathan Toews as he hovered dangerously on a Blackhawks power-play, Robidass right leg gave out from under him as he slid helplessly into the end boards on what proved to be his final shift with the Stars, with whom he had spent 11 seasons. Robidas was wheeled off the American Airlines Center ice for what would be the first of two times that season. Dealt to Anaheim on Mar. 4th, Robidas made his Ducks debut exactly two weeks later. On the 10th shift of his 17th game with the club - a playoff game against his former team no less - Robidas went for a loose puck just outside the Anaheim crease and was undercut by former teammate, Ryan Garbutt. It was the same right knee a€“ albeit just above the last fracture a€“ hed broken more than three months earlier. When it happened I didnt really know what to say, Robidas said from the Leafs team-building experience in Colllingwood, which is located about two hours north of Toronto. Theres things you control and theres other things that you dont control and thats one of those that I had no control over that. I did the proper rehab, I did everything I had to do and it was just an aaccident.dddddddddddd. Inked to a three-year deal with Toronto on July 1st, Robidas spent the offseason months working through a familiar recovery process. However frustrating, painful and bothersome, the first rehab experience left him better prepared for the months of work that lied ahead this past summer. And unlike that first injury, Robidas wasnt on any hurried clock for return this time around. After the first break at the outset of winter, he was racing back for a hopeful Stars playoff berth - which eventually became a union with the wests top team in Anaheim. I think mentally knowing exactly what I was going to go through it was a lot easier, he said of the process, which took more than five months, considerably longer than the first go of it. Though confident in his ability to play this season, the Leafs werent sure, previously, that Robidas would be ready when the year opened against Montreal. Dave Nonis, the teams general manager, said he was hopeful when training camp opening in mid-September. It still remains to be seen how rusty hell be upon his return, but Robidas will at least have the benefit of a weeks worth of practice and that final exhibition game on Friday. Thats a big deal for a player who was markedly behind the furious pace of a playoff chase when he returned in mid-March last season. At least you get a game, he said. Whenever I came back [last time] that first game was really fast. We played Washington in Anaheim and it was like whoa. Everything was so fast. Everything was so fast. By the second game I was already more [comfortable]. It took me a good five or six games before I could say I started feeling really good. But just by the second game I felt like a big difference. Robidass availability for the opener is also a big deal for the Leafs, who lost Cody Franson to a bruised left knee over the weekend. Franson suffered no structural damage on a scary play that saw Torrey Mitchell shove him into the end-boards, but the team has no timeline yet for his return and he was walking with a notable limp on Wednesday. Robidas is likely to play alongside Dion Phaneuf on the teams top pair. ' ' '