PITTSBURGH -- Fredi Gonzalez didnt really expect the Atlanta Braves to catch the Washington Nationals. Not after trailing the front-running and rarely faltering Nationals all summer and into the fall. Still, the Braves manager took pride in the way his team stubbornly hung in there. And while Atlantas chase for the National League East title officially ended with a 2-1 loss to Pittsburgh on Monday night, Gonzalez was hardly disappointed. A year after a stunning September collapse kept them out of the post-season, the Braves will host the wild card game on Friday. Last time Gonzalez checked, you didnt need to clinch a division title to win a World Series. "Its something we shoot for, the division," Gonzalez said. "We didnt get it, but weve got the wild card game and you know theres been many, many teams that go through the wild card to win the World Series." Like say, St. Louis a year ago, a spot the Cardinals grabbed when Atlanta dropped its last five games. Its a memory that stung during a long off-season, one the Braves can put to rest now. Still, the Braves will have to survive the one-game playoff to make sure their second playoff appearance in eight years isnt just a cameo. Atlanta couldnt get much going against the Pirates, who rode youngsters Jeff Locke and Starling Marte to one of their more satisfying wins in the last six weeks. Locke (1-3) scattered two hits over six innings to pick up his first major league win and Starling Marte tripled, homered and scored both runs as Pittsburgh relished the role of mild spoiler. Jared Hughes worked the ninth to earn his second save. "It just feels good to win, after everything this team has been through this year, especially this last little while," Locke said. This series looked like an important one a month ago when the Pirates were one of baseballs biggest surprises. A 7-21 September dropped Pittsburgh from playoff contender to a record 20th straight losing season. Instead, the Pirates are pointing toward next year while the Braves are pointing toward the end of the week, even if their post-season will start a little earlier than hoped. "Its a little disappointing were going to finish second," said Atlanta third baseman Chipper Jones. "But we live on past Wednesday." Paul Maholm (13-11) gave up two runs on five hits in seven innings while losing to his former team for the first time, striking out eight and walking three. "For the most part I did mostly what I wanted," Maholm said. "Obviously Id rather not give up the two runs, but you go seven and give up two, most of the time youre going to come out pretty good." Just not this time. Locke has spent the last month auditioning for a spot in Pittsburghs rotation next spring, his miserable results falling in lock-step with the teams freefall through the standings. The 24-year-old left-hander came in winless in his previous five starts and -- even worse -- the Pirates had lost every game this season in which he made an appearance. Though he struggled at times with his command, issuing five walks, Locke managed to keep the hottest team in the National League in check. Atlantas only run came on Jason Heywards RBI single in the third but the Braves left the bases loaded when Freddie Freeman grounded out to third to end the inning. Getting out of the jam largely unscathed was a major step for Locke, who had been prone to allowing one bad inning undo an otherwise decent outing. "I think there was a couple things out there tonight that really helped his growth," said Pittsburgh manager Clint Hurdle. "Getting through the third and only giving up one run was one of them." Atlantas lead didnt last long. Marte tripled to lead off the third and scored Chase dArnauds grounder to second. Marte, part of a young core the Pirates plan to build around, led off the fifth with a drive over the 399-foot sign in centre field to give Pittsburgh the lead. The bullpen, even with closer Joel Hanrahan unavailable after a rare blown save on Sunday, made it stand up. The Braves went quietly until the ninth, when Freeman reached on an error with one out. Reed Johnson lined to left and Brian McCann grounded out to Hughes that led to cheers in two cities about 250 miles apart. "It is what it is now," Jones said. "We play Friday and all our concentration should be on getting ourselves ready for Friday." NOTES: The Braves scratched 2B Dan Uggla about an hour before the game as a precautionary measure due to swelling in the knuckle on his right index finger. Uggla injured the hand when the Braves celebrated clinching a playoff spot last week. Martin Prado started in Ugglas place, with Johnson replacing Prado in the outfield ... Gonzalez said there are no plans to change the pitching rotation through the final two games of the season even with Atlanta locked into the wild card ... The series continues on Tuesday, with Atlantas Tommy Hanson (13-9, 4.38) facing Pittsburghs Kevin Correia (11-11, 4.33) ... The Pirates honoured Jones before the game by giving him a specially branded base that will be used during the series and donating $5,000 to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. cheap jerseys from china . Louis Cardinals after Houston entered the ninth inning ahead by five. After St. Louis put up two quick runs on a triple off David Carpenter, Myers had to quickly warm up. cheap nfl jerseys . It turned out to be that and much more. After a monster three-hour final set, Tsonga finally delivered the knockout blow by breaking Raonics serve to secure a 6-3, 3-6, 25-23 victory and a spot in the third round. http://www.wholesalenfljerseys... . The Padres designated the 37-year-old Suppan for assignment on Friday. Suppan was 2-3 with a 5. [url=http://www.wholesalenfljerseysusaonline.com/]nfl jerseys wholesale . -- The Memphis Grizzlies ramped up defensive pressure has led to some impressive wins. nfl jerseys china . -- Clint Bowyer was in a strange predicament a couple months ago.PHOENIX -- Arizona defensive tackle Darnell Dockett has received a "six-figure" fine from the Cardinals for his behaviour in the waning seconds in a 7-6 loss to the New York Jets on Sunday, a person with knowledge of the situation confirmed Friday. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the punishment had not been made public. The exact size of the fine was not known and it was uncertain whether the punishment would impact Docketts participation Sunday in Seattle. Dockett refused to go along with a coachs directive to allow the Jets to score late in the game so the Cardinals could get the ball back and go for the tying touchdown. He indicated in a tweet Friday night that he was appealing through the players union. "Thank God for the (at)nflpa," Dockett wrote, "thats all I got to say... I aint got no worries." The fine first was reported by XTRA-AM 910 sports talk show host and Cardinals reporter Mike Jurecki. The punishment stems from a directive from the coaching staff to allow the Jets to score when they had the ball deep in Arizona territory in the final minutes. Dockett refused and got into a heated on-field argument with safety Kerry Rhodes about it. The issue became moot when the Jets Shonn Greene purposely downed the ball at the Arizona 1 and ran out the clock. Defensive co-ordinator Ray Horton told reporters Friday that he was the one who suggested to coach Ken Whisenhunt that the Jets be allowed to score. Whisenhunnt has declined to discuss the situation, calling it an internal matter.dddddddddddd The emotional confrontation between Dockett and Rhodes came as the team headed toward its eighth consecutive loss. The prospects that the team would score in the final seconds with no timeouts were obviously dim, because it was one of the Cardinals worst offensive performances in franchise history. With Ryan Lindley making his second start, the Cardinals tied a franchise low with five first downs and were 0 for 15 on third-down conversions. Whisenhunt refused to replace Lindley with John Skelton, who was benched three games earlier. But Skelton will return as starter against the Seahawks. Dockett said earlier this week he had apologized to Rhodes and the two had agreed to move on. But Dockett emphatically said he had never quit in a game and never would. "Its something that I dont believe in, something that I didnt understand," Dockett said then. "It was frustrating at the time. At the end of the day, I am never, never going to lay down and quit. Ive been playing football for over 20 years. Ive given this organization, Ive given Florida State, Ive given my high school everything Ive got. I love the game. I play with passion and Ill never quit." The emotional, 6-foot-4, 290-pound, 31-year-old lineman is in his ninth NFL season, all with Arizona. He made the Pro Bowl in 2007 and 2009. He earns $3.4 million this year on a contract that runs through 2015. ' ' '