WASHINGTON -- After Bryce Harper provided Washington with a first-inning lead, the Nationals spent the rest of the game holding off the worst team in the National League. Kyle Anderson Jersey . Harper hit a three-run homer to back an effective pitching performance by Gio Gonzalez, and the Nationals beat the Miami Marlins 3-2 on Thursday night to keep alive their slim hope of reaching the playoffs. Despite winning 11 of 13 in a belated run, the Nationals trail Cincinnati by five games for the final NL wild-card slot with nine games remaining. Washington needed every bit of mettle it could muster to win this one. Gonzalez (11-7) worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the third and spied a runner trying to steal third in the sixth. Drew Storen and Tyler Clippard each worked a harrowing scoreless inning before Rafael Soriano got three outs, stranding two runners in earning his 42nd save. "I mean, everybody was out there. Gave me a heart attack. Check my pulse," Nationals manager Davey Johnson said. "Gio took it right to the edge, Storen to the edge, Clip and Sori topped it off. But its nice to come out on top." Denard Span went 0 for 4 for Washington, ending his hitting streak at 29 games -- one short of the Nationals record. He was bidding to become the 27th player to have a 30-game hitting streak since Joe DiMaggio had his 56-game run in 1941. Span received a standing ovation from many in the crowd of 25,945 after he struck out in the seventh, his final at-bat. Although the streak is done, Span expressed no regret. "It was unbelievable," he said. "It was like a roller-coaster, especially these last 10 days or so. It was a lot of fun. It gave me added motivation, to come to the field to try to extend it." Gonzalez allowed two runs and seven hits over six innings to improve to 3-0 against Miami this season. He struck out three, lifting his team-high total to 186. "The good news is we got the win," Gonzalez said. "Its a very important win." Harpers 20th homer of the season came off Henderson Alvarez (4-5) and turned out to be all the offence the Nationals needed to improve to 12-4 against Miami, including 7-0 at home. "I like being in those pressure situations, crucial situations of playing for the wild card," Harper said. "All year long you try to play for the playoffs and try to go to the next round. Now its getting to that point where were turning it on and playing the game how we should have played it all year." Ed Lucas had three hits for the Marlins, who must go 7-2 in their last nine games to avoid 100 losses. Miami went 2 for 9 with runners in scoring position and stranded 10. "I think thats good were getting guys in scoring position, but at the same time weve got to do a better job of driving those guys in," manager Mike Redmond said. "We seem to have two or three, four opportunities a night and cant capitalize on them and really that ends up being the difference." Miami went up 1-0 when Donovan Solano opened the game with a double and Lucas followed with an RBI single. In the bottom half, Ryan Zimmerman hit the first of his three singles and Jayson Werth walked before Harper drove a hanging curveball over the wall in centre field. It was his first home run since Aug. 29. The Marlins loaded the bases with two outs in the third before Placido Polanco flied out. Successive doubles by Giancarlo Stanton and Justin Ruggiano got Miami within 3-2 in the sixth, but Gonzalez nabbed Ruggiano trying to steal third, short-circuiting the uprising. "I say jokingly, I set him up," Gonzalez said. "Im glad I got out of that inning." NOTES: Jordan Zimmermann seeks his 19th win for Washington on Friday night. Miami starter Jacob Turner (3-7) will attempt to break a six-game losing streak. ... The Nationals acquired minor league pitcher Matthew Spann as the player to be named in the Aug. 23 trade that sent OF David DeJesus to Tampa Bay. Spann is 14-10 with a 3.03 ERA in four pro seasons. ... Johnson expects RHP Stephen Strasburg to start Saturday. Strasburg felt forearm tightness while throwing Wednesday and was scratched from his scheduled start Thursday. ... Both teams received a warning from home plate umpire Bill Welke after Alvarez hit Ian Desmond with a 3-0 pitch in the first inning. Johnson said Alvarez should have been ejected. ... The Nationals are 28-11 since Aug. 8. Shareef Abdur-Rahim Jersey . A quick first step to get to the hoop for a layup. A rousing dunk on the break off a high outlet pass saved by teammate Ramon Sessions. Jarell Martin Jersey . The Yankees made the moves before Tuesdays game against Baltimore. Robertson was listed retroactive to Monday. Robertson posted two saves in three games as the replacement for retired Yankees closer Mariano Rivera before getting hurt. http://www.grizzliesbasketballpro.info/Shelvin-Mack-Grizzlies-Jersey/ . At quarterback, all agree that Andy Dalton has been a wonderful surprise, but to truly progress he has to play his best in the playoffs. The two losses in the wildcard rounds keep the evaluation on Dalton open -- just like it did for Peyton Manning many years ago and Matt Ryan until last year. TORONTO -- One team on the ice had nothing to lose and nothing to play for. The other team had its playoff hopes on the line and was trying to save its season. By the time the lights went out at Air Canada Centre and on the Toronto Maple Leafs season following a 4-2 loss to the Winnipeg Jets, it was difficult to tell which was which. The Leafs are all but done and would now need a miracle to make the playoffs. Losing the game was one thing, built on ill-timed mistakes and mental lapses. But why the lacklustre Leafs couldnt match the intensity of a team outside the playoff race left goaltender James Reimer and others grasping for answers. "I dont know if I can really give you an explanation for that, for how it appeared," said Reimer, who gave up four goals on 41 shots in losing his sixth straight start. "I know in our heads we wanted it, but maybe it didnt show it there." When it didnt show, fans booed the Leafs off the ice in their final home game of the season. A few threw beer cups. Players could at least understand the frustration after this defeat left them stuck on 84 points, one back in the Eastern Conference wild-card race of the Columbus Blue Jackets, who have five games to play to the Leafs three. By winning Saturday night, the New Jersey Devils also reached 84 points and passed Toronto (38-33-8) because they have four more games left to play. Phil Kessel, who scored his 37th goal of the season 2:45 into the first period to match a career high, didnt want to concede anything about realizing the playoff dream was essentially gone. "You never know," Kessel said. "We still have three games left and were going to play hard. You know, whatever happens, happens here." The Leafs finish their season with three games on the road: Tuesday at the Tampa Bay Lightning, Thursday at the Florida Panthers and Saturday at the Ottawa Senators. But the Jets (35-34-10), who were officially eliminated Thursday with a loss to Pittsburgh, managed to beat Toronto with goals by Bryan Little, Jacob Trouba, Tobias Enstrom and Olli Jokinen. "I thought it was a great effort start to finish," Jets captain Andrew Ladd said. "Offensively we were able to sustain pressure throughout the whole game. Thats just through hard work, being in the right place. ... We can be proud of the effort we put forth tonight." The Jets won despite winger Evander Kane being a healthy scratch. Paul Maurice offered no explanation other to call it a "coachs decision." When asked if he enjoyed playing spoiler against the team that fired him in 2008 after two seasons without a playoff appearance, Maurice offered up a wry smile and the politically correct answer. "No," Maurice said. "You know what, its a lousy job. You dont ever want to play spoiler. Weve talked a lot about being where you are and thats where we were tonight and we gave our best effort." A "solid effort" was something that Leafs centre Tyler Bozak noted was lacking at times Saturday night. At times, he thought the Jets were the harder-working team but didnt understand why. Mario Chalmers Jersey. "We shouldve been (the harder working team) the whole game seeing the situation we were in," Bozak said. The situation was already bleak, following a streak of eight straight regulation losses in March. The Leafs figured to need to run the table to give them a realistic shot at the playoffs. Despite Kessels goal, and then Nazem Kadris on the power play at 13:45 of the first when Jets goaltender Ondrej Pavelec mishandled the puck behind the net, Toronto couldnt do much after giving up a goal to Trouba with 3.2 seconds left in the first period. Coach Randy Carlyle couldnt figure out what went wrong in the games final 40 minutes. "We just seemed like we were a flat hockey club from that point," Carlyle said. "We chased the game. And we didnt seem to have any energy as a group. Thats the way I saw it. It seemed like we were chasing the game, the pace of the game. They won more one-on-one battles than we did, thats for sure." Centre Dave Bolland, who played just nine minutes 15 seconds on a sore ankle that Carlyle said got rolled on occasionally, said bluntly that the Leafs "got outworked." Captain Dion Phaneuf didnt want to go that far, pointing instead to "costly mistakes" as the reason for the loss. No matter the explanation, the Leafs showed yet another example of maddening inconsistency in game 79 of a season that started with such promise and took such an inexplicable turn toward disaster last month. "We seem to find ways to always wonder, What the heck is going on? Why? Whats going on there? Why are we reacting in that manner?" Carlyle said. "Thats the frustrating part for us is that when we are able to execute and our work ethic is strong, that were a hockey club that can give teams difficulty and play to a high level. "But our consistency level, it goes from game-to-game and sometimes period to period." Finding a solution to that problem will now more than likely have to wait until next season. To make the playoffs, the Leafs would undoubtedly need to sweep their final three games and hope for the Blue Jackets and Devils to fall apart. They can be eliminated as early as Tuesday. Still, Carlyle and his players have no choice but to get ready to go on the road to face the Lightning. "Weve got to get ourselves ready," he said. "Weve got to re-energize our group because we were a flat group tonight. We were a flat hockey club and we just didnt seem to have any jump that was required." NOTES -- Leafs winger Joffrey Lupul started the game despite being bothered by what the team is calling a lower-body injury. He left in the third when he aggravated it, according to Carlyle. ... Winnipegs Dustin Byfuglien left the game in the second period with an upper-body injury and did not return. ... Legendary Leafs goaltender Johnny Bower was interviewed on the video board and said that a woman who was proposed to minutes earlier wearing his No. 1 jersey was actually his granddaughter. Bower then got a standing ovation following a video tribute. 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