Atlanta ? The long wait is over. Barry Bonds is finally a postseason winner.

One of the greatest players in baseball history seized the playoff stage Monday night, homering and scoring the first two San Francisco runs as the Giants held off the Atlanta Braves 3-1 in the decisive Game 5 of the NL division series.

“I feel pretty good right now, you know?” Bonds said. “It’s not over yet, I want to win a World Series.”

Bonds homered three times in the series. His last one meant the most as San Francisco won the final two games to oust the Braves.

Bonds and the Giants barely hung on. The Braves, no strangers to postseason misery, put runners on first and third with no outs in the ninth.

But Robb Nen struck out Gary Sheffield and then got Chipper Jones to ground into a double play to end it.

Russ Ortiz earned his second win, sending the wild-card Giants to a matchup against St. Louis in the NL championship series. Game 1 is Wednesday at Busch Stadium.

At 38 and in his 17th major league season, Bonds will be trying to reach his first World Series but he’s already exorcised one of his demons.

In five previous trips to the postseason, the last two with San Francisco, his teams were 0-for-5. The four-time NL MVP and home-run king hit just .196 with one homer and six RBIs in those games.

Two of those losses were to the Braves, including a gut-wrenching loss in Game 7 of the 1992 NLCS at old Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, now the site of a parking lot just across the street from Turner Field. The Braves scored the winning run in that game when Sid Bream beat Bonds’ throw from left field in the ninth.

San Francisco's Barry Bonds is congratulated at home plate by teammate David Bell. Bonds scored on a hit by Reggie Sanders in the second inning Monday night at Atlanta. The Giants defeated the Braves, 3-1, to win their National League Division Series.

“The Braves have been my nemesis for years,” Bonds said.

Because of those failures, Bonds became known as a player who couldn’t come through in the biggest games. But in less than a week, he did his best to purge all those unpleasant memories.

Bonds’ first two homers of the series didn’t have much impact in blowout games, but the third gave San Francisco a crucial insurance run in the tightest matchup of the series.

Leading off the fourth against Kevin Millwood, Bonds worked the count full, then sent a fastball soaring into the crisp Georgia night. Outfielders Andruw Jones and Chipper Jones barely had time to move before the 417-foot drive settled midway up in the left-center seats.

“We feel really good because Millwood, the first time he pitched against us, he was so perfect,” Bonds said.

“I was just a little bit more aggressive. I was like ‘I’m not going to let him get us in a hole again.’ They say they come at me more than anyone else. I’m glad they motivated me on this one today.”

Bonds also scored San Francisco’s first run, starting the second with a single to left. He moved to second on an infield grounder and came home when Reggie Sanders singled up the middle with two outs.

Bonds also drew a walk in the eighth, but was thrown out trying to steal.

The Braves, who scored 25 runs in the first four games, were held hitless by Ortiz through the first three innings.

From the fourth on, they squandered all sorts of chances, leaving the bases loaded once and two runners on in three other innings.

In all, Atlanta stranded 12.

The Braves loaded the bases in the fifth on third baseman David Bell’s throwing error and two walks. Ortiz fell behind 2-0 in the count to Chipper Jones, but bounced back to get the cleanup hitter on a grounder to shortstop for the third out.

Ortiz, the Game 1 winner, was replaced in the sixth after giving up two hits and throwing his 95th pitch. Aaron Fultz surrendered a run-scoring single to pinch-hitter Mark DeRosa, then Felix Rodriguez escaped yet another jam by retiring Matt Franco and Rafael Furcal.

The Giants quickly reclaimed their two-run lead in the seventh, loading the bases with no outs to set up Kenny Lofton’s sacrifice fly. Darren Holmes kept it from getting out of hand by striking out Tom Goodwin and Rich Aurilia.

With Atlanta’s departure, the three winningest teams during the regular season the Braves, New York Yankees and Oakland Athletics all were sent packing in the first round of the postseason.

For the Braves, this has become the norm. Despite winning 11 straight division titles, they have managed only one World Series championship. For the second time in three years, they couldn’t even get out of the opening round.

Now, Atlanta faces an uncertain future. Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine, the anchors of the pitching staff, are both at the end of their contracts. With declining attendance, heavy financial losses and belt-tightening ownership, the Braves could be forced to take a sizable chunk out of payroll for the first time in their amazing streak.

The Braves didn’t get much help from their key acquisition during the last offseason. Sheffield was supposed to bolster to shaky Atlanta offense especially in the playoffs but he went 1-for-16 against the Giants.

Instead, the spotlight belonged to his close friend Bonds, who was running out postseason chances.

Millwood, the winner in Game 2, pitched on three days’ rest for the first time all season. Other than his struggles against Bonds, the right-hander didn’t seem bothered by the shortened time between starts, striking out seven in five innings.