>> rob: albert pujols. he's on fire. five grand slams in one year. >> bob: another one last night. they got shutout today 9-0 in new york. 1-2 to willingham. vandenhurk got that ball a little bit out over the plate and josh was able to fight it off. we are arriving at the 8:00 hour here on a warm, summer night at nationals park in washington, dc. 85 degrees at gametime. back-to-back homers. zimmerman, dunn, bottom of the first. uggla, top of the second. guzman an rbi here with a double rand the nats lead 3-1, bottom of the third. that's not an ease pitch to take on a two strike strike count. big diewjs elijah dukes next -- elijah dukes next hit the ball hard right at the center fielder first time. willingham, 40 rbi's in his last 678 games. he'll chop it. he's got a chance for a rare infield hit and the bases are loaded! i'm sure nyjer morgan will have something to say about that and dukes will bat with the bases jacked and two outs now. >> rob: right here, this is a full swing. the third baseman is back. almost no chance from the onset right there for cantu who normally plays first base or outfield. bonifacio not playing third base. he's over there now. >> bob: a big spot for dukes who really hit the ball hard first time. >> bob: teams like to throw him breaking balls away. that one was high and missed. there's the pitch that's his nemesis. >> rob: he's got to step into it. we've talked about ryan zimmerman. when struggled, he was pulling off breaking balls. tough dive and charge that ball and start hitting it to the right side. >> bob: first time for everything. dukes hasn't hit a grand slam at this level. hard sinker. 2-1. a bunch of them on the base. guzman, the double. dunn walked intentionally. willingham, the infield hit. that looked like a front door slider. maybe a cutter. >> rob: i think it was a slider. that was a good pitch. >> bob: 87 on the slider. >> rob: yeah, i think he thought where it was there was another sinker and he was going to let it go. >> bob: not a fastball, but dukes hits it right at dan uggla. nats leefd leave three. the first three they've stranded and they left only two last night. because every coors light can is cold-activated. when the mountains turn blue, your beer is as cold as the rockies. the coors light cold-activated can. enjoy refreshment at its peak. aaaaaahhh! frost-brewed coors light. the world's most refreshing beer. >> bob: nats, plenty to wav about and cheer about early. three runs on four hits. we've talked a lot about the offense. let's talk about john lannan. obviously tonight not everything going his way. what does he do here to gather himself after three rather long innings? >> rob: he is getting it done. he's battling. this is one of the nights where you know you don't have why are best stuff. you're not able to locate, but you have to keep attacking. this is a difficult team to get out. they can score a orest runs. he's got to try to get ground balls. if he makes a mistake, don't walk people and compound t you want to try to minimize the damage. right now, trying to sieve six or seven strong which is what wha he's capable of doing. we've never seen him give in and that's best part about john lannan. he is our ace. he'll battle no matter what kind of stuff he has. >> bob: ronny paulino bounced out to second first time up and leads off the fourth. way outside, 2-0. >> bob: 56 pitches, 31 strike for lannan through a long three innings. gets the corner there. ronny paulino last winter was traded actually in the spring traded twice in one day. ouch. pirates traded him to the giants toward end of spring training and there's lannan and his performance so far. march 27 to the giants for left- hander jack taschner and then on the same day to the marlins for right-hander hector korea. after four years -- corea. he was a .278 hitter in those four years. he's now with the marlins and sharing the duties with john baker. 2-2. lannan gets the strikeout on a changeup away. let's listen to nyjer morgan on that great play by ryan zimmerman. >> look at that, defense. oh. come on, make a play, kid. make a play! there we go! see, calling it. johnny manning, that a boy. >> bob: oh, boy. team flush doing play-by-play. i'm shaking in my boots right now. >> rob: t-plush is coming for you, carpenter. >> bob: he is. i wish him a long and prosperous playing career. i've got two kids in college, rob. i need this job for a while. 0-2 out of play to the right side by emilio bonifacio who walked his first time up. what a personality nyjer morgan is. i'm not sure we knew what we were getting on wired wednesday. more than we bargained for so far. 2-2. lannan tried to bury the off-speed pitch. bonifacio wasn't biting. the pitcher is next. you can save yourself a lot of aggravation by retiring the number eight man here. he's high with it. the only home run bonifacio has this year is an inside the park homer against the nats. no reason not to challenge him. >> bob: sometimes a guy hits it hard right at one of your fielders. adam dunn has it. two outs. pitcher coming up. let's pay off our trivia. >> aflac. >> bob: talk about players who have hit two home runs in the same inning twice. three of them have done it. anybody have a tie to this game? >> rob: dawson, king, mccovey. >> bob: andre dawson, former expo. >> rob: there's a question. really had nothing to do with the series between our team and the marlins. >> bob: lannan suddenly putting a quick inning to the top of the fourth inning. the kind of inning john needed. he'll bad third. days. how come? well if you're hurt and can't work it pays you cash... yeah to help with everyday bills like gas, the mortgage... ...and groceries. it's like insurance for daily living. so...what's it called? uhhhhh aflaaac!!!! oh yeah! that's it! aflac. we've got you under our wing. a-a-a-aflaaac! >> bob: geico president's r teddy the early lead, but you can see what's happening. his only chance was to put abe into the wall and he passed on that opportunity. abe looks like a super hero came flying as he tickles the tape. belliard, nieves and lannan and on wired wednesday, more from the very shy nyjer morgan. >> the umpire just asked me who can shoot the [beep], and best believe nats town i told him t- plush on the ice can definitely shoot that burned biscuit a lot harder than 100 miles per hour. [beep], a lot of force comes out this have little body. >> bob: i think he's lost his mind down there. he's unbelievable. bottom of the fourth. let's go mr. ovechkin back in town and then t-plus can see how hard he hits the puck. ronnie belliard! see you later! number three for belliard. three for the nats tonight. a 4-1 lead over the marlins. >> rob: ronnie belliard, boy, do i really swing hard. >> bob: ronnie belliard, his 106th home run. >> rob: last night, he hit as you said, a breaking ball as hard as we've seen him hit a ball this year. maybe that got him a start tonight. maybe not. i'll tell you. this guy, he's a veteran player. i've been watching him run the cage the last few weeks hitting the ball and hits the ball as well as anybody on this team. >> bob: here is wil nieves. the nats, three homers tonight. one last night. they hit 103 this year. that's only three fewer than the power-laden marlins have hit now. >> rob: it's not easy to play sparingly especially at this level. the guy has talent still. >> bob: ronnie appears to be on some sort of second half drive here to prove himself offensively. got his batting average over .200 over the weekend. .205 coming in. he's 2-5 tonight. nieves takes a big swing and strikes out. vandenhurk, his third k on the night and john lannan coming off his best inning of the evening will be the hitter here with one out in the fourth. nats park having a hard time holding long fly balls tonight in this hot, muggy weather. kind of a high-scoring day the national league. as i mentioned, mets at home shutout st. louis 9-0. giants put 10 on the board winning 10- 6 in houston. atlanta from the east got a win in san diego today 6-2. all the other games are tonight. marlins started night five back of the phillies who lost three straight. a swing and a tip into the goverment will catcher. and two outs here in the fourth. top of the order. here comes old what's his name. tonight's copyrighted telecast presented by authority of the washington nationals may not be reproduce order retransmitted in any form and the accounts and descriptions of this game may not be disseminated without the express, written consent of the washington nationals. rob, maybe for our fans whoweren't with us over the weeblgweekend, can you refresh our memory on just who tony plush is. >> rob: tony plush is the at early ego of nyjer morgan and his friends. they think they're the new rat pack that he grew up with. >> bob: nick johnson came charging in. uggla wasn't at the bag yet. that's kind of interesting that nick johnson was charging on a ball that was bunted to the third base side of the pitcher mound and nyjer morgan has another leg hit. >> rob: nyjer morgan picked a great spot. a lost home runs. i'll lay one down. i'll see how good cantu is. right there vandenhurk picks it up because nick johnson was charging, nobody home at first. >> bob: maybe you could hear the bouncing of the microphone on his 90-foot journey. he could be running with two outs. hey, why not? you're up by three. then barracks hit by guzman could get the nats another run and a four-run lead. he's been an rbi machine lately. long look. maybe a steb stepoff coming. >> rob: so, what was it? joey bishop, frank senate a, dean martin and sammy davis, jr. >> bob: the original rat back. >> rob: so, it's tony plush. we'll have to get nyjer to tell us his friends imaginary rat pack. it would be nice to hang around with those four guys. >> bob: there's talent there. >> rob: yeah. dean martin, by the way, some of the most famous ever. >> buck: i had lench lunch the prior's club last year when we were up there. he gave me the dvd. you talk about funny stuff. late-night viewing though because of -- >> rob: yeah, kind of harsh language. >> bob: but very frank. 2-0. >> rob: a lot of fun poked at each other, thoat though. >> bob: that's what's fun about it. >> rob: a lot of comedians not only were funny but they aimed it at each other. i love the fact that with all the sensorship now today, they're smoking cigarettes, flat out drinking whatever and having a heck of a time. my favorite is louisle ball. >> bob: look at him going to the ball. they've got to send nyjer morgan. he will score! guzman a triple. nationals lead 5-1. this offense is cooking right now. >> bob: a homer by belliard leadoff the inning and another starting after two quick outs. >> rob: that's what speed will do for you. cody ross knows not only is nyjer morgan fast, so is guzman. he rushes to pick it up. he misses it completely. guzman goes from second to third and nyjer morgan easily scores. >> bob: there's the guzman rbi streak that he's on. his sixth triple of the year. the nationals have five runs and seven hits. do you know that the only single they have tonight is morgan's bunt. willingham's infield hit. so, two small ball, one base hits. everything else double, triple, home runs. and zimmerman is coming up. >> bob: five extra-base hits out of the nats tonight seven overall. zimmerman has an opposite field homer. >> bob: cristian guzman is creeping up on miguel tejada has 44 multihit games. and zimmerman gets under one into the twilight to bonifacio having a hard time finding the ball. now he does. the umpire, jim wolf, was almost out there with him a big inning for the nats. two more runs in a 5-1 lead. we bring fiber optic all the way to the home. um... which gives you more bandwidth than cable. so you can upload faster. so it's like comparing a horse and buggy to a sports car. am i the, uh, horse? (announcer) it's a whole new internet. makes uploading as easy as downloading. because your internet's not fast unless it's two-way fast. >> bob: foul poles cowering fear the way the ball is flying around nationals park in our nation's capital tonight. get your red on. watch the nats take on the d'backs saturday. 7:05. come out early. we've got bobbleheads for the first 15,000 fans through the gaits gates. it's an done dunn bobblehead night presented by pnc bank. 888-632-nats. visit nationals.com. this will be one of the most popular events of the year. come and join us at the ballpark for the nats and d'backs saturday night. just like that big billboard says along the highway, not actual size. >> rob: the head or the rest of the body? the head on his real body is like that. kidding. >> bob: if it was truly an adam dunn bobblehead, you could pull a string and it would bust your chops. he's a funny guy with a great sense of humor. lannan working ahead. coghlan ducking out of the way got his bat on the ball somehow. >> rob: this is a great example of pitching at the major league level by john lannan tonight. doesn't have much. doesn't have a good breaking ball. doesn't have a good fastball. isn't able to locate yet. he's getting everybody out and he's got 55 -- a 5-1 lead going into the fifth inning. durcht doesn't matter how you get it done. just get it done. just win. >> bob: lannan, hang breaking ball, base hit. coarks debbi taylor, nick johnson and john lannanment they know each other very well. they face each other here. >> debbi: that's true. so far, john lannan has retired nick johnson twice. overall, who has the edge in the lefty-lefty matchup? i asked both of them. >> i think i have the edge. i think -- i've seen him for a while. it's up in the air. i think it's pretty even right now. we'll see when we come down -- when it comes down to it. >> i've been playing behind him and i know how he works. he throws strikes. he's a very good pitcher so he tried to get pavin over the middle of the plate and get a good swing ton. >> debbi: john did mention too he almost misses nick as a teammate. guys? >> bob: i think all of us miss nick in that respect. he's bounced out twice. once to dunn. once to the shortstop. he fouls it away. no balls, two strikes. on base eight times for the marlins already. he was one of the few times in major league history a player has gone to a new team in his first game he was on base five times. he jams him there. johnson got a piece of it. nick, of course, will be a free agent at the end of the year. where will he be? whose uniform will he be wearing in 2010? another bouncing ball. dunn can't get it. belliard does and then kicks it. that allows the runner, coghlan, to get over to third base. nick johnson will get a base hit. he's 1-3 against john lannan. now they've got their big guns coming up and the four-run lead is in quick jeopardy here. >> rob: this is about a 15 hopper through the infield. gets by dunn. gets by belliard e kicks it a little bit. jumps on it. coghlan with speed goes all the way to third. fish have something working here. >> bob: nobody out. 3 three, four, five, ramirez, cantu, uggla coming up. >> bob: that's a double play ball. you'll give up the run to get those two outs and the bases are empty now in a 5-2 game. well played by belliard and guzman. >> rob: nice ground ball pitch by john lannan. two-hopper tore t.o. belliard. over to guzman over to dunn. no problem giving up a run to get a double play. >> bob: nats turn their third double play in this series. cantu now, two outs, bases empty. john lannan has done things to save himself lots of pitches in these last two innings. the 1-2-3 fourth, the double play and one-pitch count to cantu halfway through the game. 5-2, nationals. cold refreshment is an unstoppable force. because every coors light can is cold-activated. when the mountains turn blue, your beer is as cold as the rockies. the coors light cold-activated can. enjoy refreshment at its peak. aaaaaahhh! frost-brewed coors light. the world's most refreshing beer. >> bob: let's have a look at our at&t rapid rewind and get a look at ryan zimmerman going opposite field bottom of the first inning. next pitch, boom. adam dunn. zimmerman's 22nd. dunn's 29th. nats led early. ronnie belliard has gone yard. his third of the year. the nats dialing long distance with at&t tonight, the nation's fastest 3g network, your world delivered. look at that the one through four guys, five hits, four runs, driving in four, two home runs. dan uggla, his 20th in the second for the fish and ronnie belliard his 106th career home run. the nats now into the marlins bullpen. this is former national brian sanches. he will take over for rick vandenhurk who threw 77 pitches, 47 strikes and the nats hit him hard in four innings up five run. to this point on seven hits. >> rob: i think if you're the nationals, you go right back to work. you've got to start scoring more runs. three is never enough against a team like the marlins. >> bob: adam dunn leads off against sanches who pitched in bd#m#ay 23. the nats latyear he was 2-0 with a high e.r.a. walked into a couple of wins out of the bullpen and he was 2- 1 with 13 saves at the nationals then triple-a in columbus. the indians are in columbus now with their triple-a. they have a brand new ballpark there which is really fantastic. thanks nats are happy to be affiliated with longtime triple -- triple-a city syracuse. adam dunn, a hor,ntenonal walk. 2-1. phillies have stretched the lead over to colorado 7-0 now. jimmy rollins, jayson werth, pedro feliz all hitting homers tonight. the ball is carrying well on the eastern seaboard this evening. it's interesting because at this time last night with josh johnson mowing down the nats, the marlins looked like a lock tog to be four games out of first -- looked like a lock to be four games out of first place. nats came back to beat them. if these results hold up, they'll be six out. long way to go in this ballgame, bottom of the fifth. 3-2 to dunn. target in. adam pops it up out of play left side. >> bob: it's interesting wh the marlins do. fredi gonzalez leaves hanley ramirez at short and takes his third baseman jorge cantu and overlaps him to that position out there right by the umpire. that's where the third baseman is playing. either ramirez doesn't like moving around or freddie would just rather -- fredi would just rather leave him there. >> bob: adam dunn gets under one and flies to left for chris coghlan. in front of him, ramirez, the shortstop will take it for the first out here in the fifth. friday night is miller lite in nats town. d'backs are coming friday. $20 or $22 for a premium game gets you a scoreboard pavilion seat, soda, beer or wine. 888-632-nats or nationals.com. one out, bottom of the fifth. here is willingham. josh with an infield hit first time. willingham was drafted by the marlins in the 17th round i 2000 out of the college of north alabama. nick johnson over by the barrier. not reachable. josh willingham is a player who paid his dues. he was in the minor leagues in the florida organization for 5 1/2 years. during that time, he hilt .278. averaged just under 20 home runs a year. then, he finally got the call for 12 games in 2004, 16 games the year after that and he broke through in 2006 with 26 homers and 74 rbi's and josh is one of those guys who got rookie of the year votes. >> rob: they projected him as a catcher and for a lot of years he was catching down in the minor leagues. they thought he would be a viable catcher at the major league level. then, they took him from there and put him on the outfield and josh's own admission he didn't think he was a very good outfielder. he had made himself into a pretty decent corner outfielder. >> bob: yes, he has. did he go? home plate umpire says no. >> rob: vandenhurk, he hasn't been pitching all that long. if it wasn't for the international scout saying we think you should be a pitcher, he would be a 6'5" catcher and look like matt wieters out there. mark parent was a big, tall catcher. would last that long. >> bob: 3-2 to josh. right into the glove of brian sanches. right to the glove side and leather waiting for a screamer, two outs. >> rob: that's why it's important to finish off, come back and be ready to field your position. you're 50 feet from the hitter and this is just a smash and thankful it wasn't hit right at his body. hit to the side. he's able to pick it. >> bob: sanches has a birthday coming up this week. he'll be 31 years of age. some of those years might have passed before his eyes there a second or two. here is dukes. hit way outside to elijah. one ball, one strike. rob, i'm sure you've had an experience or two like that. >> rob: yeah, when he thought it was time to get out of the game. i threw a pitch to eddy murray in spring training one time. it was caught in the upper 90s. yoon how -- i don't know how i caught it, but it was right at my face. i didn't finish up the way maddux does field his position. my back was up. it was thigh high. i don't know. i just caught it. >> bob: dukes has lined out twice. once to center. once to second. elijah staying on the ball here. that's a good trend that will serve him well. there are times when he's a dead pull hitter and he's very susceptible to those breaking balls away. >> rob: i wouldn't say this about anybody else, but he can get the bat through the zone so quickly. you can't throw a fastball by him. i almost would like to see him move up on the plate. so, they try to come on in -- in on him a little more. >> bob: 3-1. he takes it. elijah doesn't walk a whole lot. that's 21 times the entire year. he's aboard with two outs and the nats have shown an ability to restart rallies with two outs lately. ronnie belliard homered his last time up. a lot of hitting room on the right side. >> rob: if jesus were healt to have him at the bottom -- bottom of the order with his power. >> bob: his rbi bat. >> rob: i think they wosh scoring well over four runs a game. >> bob: right now the nats have the third highest batting average in the league at .265. they're eighth in runs. they put five more on the board and have 484 and they've hit 103 home runs. they're not that far behind the marlins who have hit 106. >> rob: yeah, but the nationals are still the worst in major league baseball in pitching. they've got to get older quick. you can't run four rookies out there next year. this offense is too good. it's just wasting a good offense. >> bob: with all the runs the nats have scored, rob, they've given up 103 more than they've scored. that's a really bad differential. dukes is off and running. he got a great jump. throw beats him there and he's out. so, dukes nailed stealing. belliard will lead off the sixth. nats lead it 5-2. pa announcer: final boarding call... all passengers... each with an average speed of 590 mph... almost as fast as you. nothing's gonna 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( ding ) book now at southwest.com. boss: come on in, i had some other things you can tell people about geico - great claims service and a 97% customer satisfaction rate. show people really trust us. gecko: yeah right, that makes sense. boss: trust is key when talking about geico. you gotta feel it. why don't you and i practice that with a little exercise where i fall backwards and you catch me. gecko: uh no sir, honestly... uh...i don't think...uh... boss: no, no. we can do this. gecko: oh dear. vo: geico. fifteen minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance. >> all right. people in the truck, i need confirmation on this. doesn't the second base umpire kind of look like john seen iten. you can't see me. other way, john sena. >> rob: john sena who is the w. w. e. wrestler and movie star. >> bob: would jim wolf be considering that a compliment? >> rob: no, because -- well, yeah, john sena is massive, huge guy. saw him a lot. interviewed him a lot at my old job. he was in a couple of movies. i think "the marines" and "12 blocks." >> bob: elijah dukes rung a route towards the line. grabs the fly ball of uggla. that's how the top of the sixth starts. john lannan battling. he's in the mid-80s on his pitch count and has a chance to get seven tonight. everybody smiling having a good time at the ballpark. a lot of people, and i heard this on the radio today, some chatter, consider last night's game to maybe be the best home game of the year. certainly didn't rook that way for seven innings. there's nothing like late excitement at the ballpark to send everybody home with a hop and a little extra skip to their step. in fact, one of the marlins broadcasters remarked to me how impressed he was with how the crowd stayed right till the end of the game last night. there are a lost places people would have been clearing out after the seventh inning. they stait stayed and they were reward -- stayed and they were rewarded. >> rob: i don't think these fans ever leave early. >> bob: a pop-up to the right side out of play. >> bob: a treat in one hand a deflected ball in another. a souvenir. >> rob: i don't know if you saw the replay with a guy with a catch the other night. he had a baby in one hand and a beer in the other hand and caught the foul ball and didn't drop either one. >> tom: all hat. turning around is willingham. the ball had overspin on it and he dove on him. off the bat, that ball looked like it was going to the wall and willingham took off and then it dove on him off the bat of cody ross. >> rob: a national killer. right here, josh overruns the ball you see with the x-who. >> bob: they'll give him an error on the play. >> rob: that's a tough error. that ball was smoked. as you said, tomahawked. >> bob: that ball had such severe overspin on it, it dove straight down. willingham charged with his fifth error of the year. i think you might have two ball clubs who would like to see that one changed. 99th error of the year by the nats. tyler clippard getting ready as john lannan has thrown 90 pitches while getting 16 outs. he faces ronny paulino who goes on a play right side. one thing i'm noticing though. we are in the sixth inning. john had a long night, but a lot of fastballs guys are still getting around late. >> bob: 2-1. lannan throws a strike. zimmerman can't get it. cody ross to third. two men on, one out. that ball hit hard. >> rob: we know hit this hard off the dirt in front of home plate. takes an extra skip and gets by zim. >> bob: here is the pesky emilio bonifacio. he's walked and hit the ball hard right at adam dunn. same situation -- >> rob: here comes steve mccatty. >> bob: first and third, there was nobody out then. one out here. the double play ball was huge and john lannan in hot water one inning later. >> rob: i think this is to get more time for tyler clippard. >> bob: i had a chance to chat with mark wiley in the marlins clubhouse today. he has a great deal of respect for steve mccatty and the job he's done over here and wiley has helped develop young guns of his own with fredi gonzalez in that florida organization. two outstanding pitching coaches who have been around a long, long time. >> bob: that man has left a positive impact wherever he's been. bonifacio, pitcher's spot next. and a pinch-hitter and ross gload standing on deck. >> rob: a very slow runner in paulino at first and a very fast runner. whatever you do, you just try to get an out. >> bob: bonifacio not good at all in these situations. lanlt lannan nibbling. emilio doesn't like the call. with one out, cody ross reached second on the error by josh willingham. could have been ruled a hit. then, paulino with a base hit. corner situation. one out. >> rob: oh, look out. >> bob: 1-2 count here. >> bob: breaking ball and a strikeout. bonifacio gone for the second out. we talked about this last night. marlins are a little short on their bench. they'll use a left-handed pinch- hitter here. not wes helms, ross gload. that's a big out on the bonifacio strikeout. >> rob: well, adam dunn is come coming in to say i'm playing in behind paulino. don't try to pick him off because i won't be there. >> bob: evidently, fredi gonzalez is going to save wes helms for a later situation even though the tying run is in the batter's box here. >> rob: oh, yeah, and you want to have nief nine guys in your bullpen because -- nine guys in your wp because you don't get a lot of complete games out of your starting rotation. that's the drawback. less guys on the bench. >> bob: gload is a very good pinch 30 year in terms of hits. 13 hits a-homer, 11 rbi's as a pinch-hitter he's 13-45 which is .289. >> bob: lannan ahead. now he gets another strike on the foul ball. >> rob: two off-speed breaking balls right there i think confused gload. he was even late on a 79-mile- per-hour pitch. >> bob: sean burnett joining clippard here. you have the feeling one of them will be pitching the seventh inning if john lannan gets out of this. the 0-2. fastball up and in. top of the sixth inning, 5-2, nats. hits even at 7-7. gets him looking! strikeouts number five and six at very opportune times for john lannan and the nats still lead by three. >> bob: nationals baseball masn brought to you by southwest airlines. book your next trip at southwest.com. and by pnc bank. pnc leading the way. john lannan wiggling out of some big time trouble tonight. he's kept the marlins through six to two runs. that's huge. the nats lead by three. ronnie belliard was at the plate with elijah dukes was caught stealing in the fifth and ronnie take that go big swing of his, rob dibble, and connecting big time. >> rob: well, if it's in his wheelhouse and he connects, it will go a long way. last couple of years, 11 home runs. year before 11 home runs. so, he can hit them. i just think he's playing sparingly so he doesn't get an opportunity to get a lot of at- bats in consecutive days. >> bob: luis ayala started the season with minnesota. he was 1-2 with a 4.18 e.r.a. in 28 games. they led let him go. marlins picked him up at a minor league free agent. he signed that contract on july 4th. three games in new orleans and right back to the big leagues for the former nats chad cordero setup man who has not been the same since he insisted in pitching in the wbc back in 2006. and for florida, ayala, seven games and a 5.06 e.r.a. >> yeah. [ indiscernible ] >> bob: he's got a good slider. when luis keeps the ball down and works the sides of the plate, he's pretty effective. when he has to throw a strike, niece trouble. he's ahead here, 0-2. belliard flies to center for emilio bonifacio. one outth -- sixth. wil nieves coupling. with a young organization like ours, debbi taylor, we're keeping our eyes on the minor leagues. >> debbi: especially this name a reasoned starter they acquired from florida. he had a rough go around in his nationals organization debut. he gave up three runs on four hits with two strikeouts in the first. did he settle down after that and retire the next seven. he finished the night with five innings pitched, five k's and three walks a member of the marlins organization told me that jeffrey luria the owner of the team made a push for this trade to half. the player development did not want to give thompson up. he was highly thought of in that organization. bob? >> bob: thank you, debbi taylor. well, that's good news for the nats in terms that have youngpitcher. here is the major league debut after 11 1/2 years in the minor leagues for jorge padilla. the nats called him up today after signing him to a minor league free agent contract november 27th of 2007. he hit . 330 at double-a harrisburg and .338 last year. he was leading the national league at syracuse when he got khat called up today. he was batting .367 there with a .424 on-base percentage and made the international league all-star game. >> rob: i did see the thing on austin kearns' thyme thumb when we were in pittsburgh. it's a lot worse than a contusion. it's more like a blister, callous growth in his thumb that i would think they're going to have to either cut out or shave it do you or do -- down or do something. >> bob: jim riggleman used the word lance. if any of you have had any kind of sift, you know that's a -- cyst, you know that's a painful procedure. >> rob: it's as hard as a rock on the inside of his thumb. i guess he's had it quite a while. a lot of that extra work that you do, do you hit until your hands bleed literally. it's worked itself into something so bad he can't play. >> bob: jorge padilla is from puerto rico. when to -- went to high school in florida 23 miles from the nats spring training ballpark in viera. he lines one to right. it will hab hang up and be caught by cody ross. nationals go in order in the bottom of the sixth inning. john lannan is out of the game. it's up to the bullpen now with a three-run lead. i've never h. but now that i'm making more, it's time to be a little smarter about how i manage it.. with the calendar, i can schedule all my payments. and when funds are low, danger days help me stay out of the red. i can also transfer money with just a click and a drag. so maybe i'm better with money than i thought. introducing the virtual wallet from pnc, a high-definition, online view of your money. pnc. leading the way. i just gave you some at the restaurant. yea i know. i threw them out. they were old so... old! they are rollover minutes. they are as good as new. ya know not everyone gets to keep their unused minutes. and these days we can't afford to be wasteful. saving minutes... ...saves money. yea. (announcer) only at&t's family talk with rollover saves your family's unused minutes. and saving minutes saves money. for back to school, get the lg neon for $29.99 after mail-in rebate. >> bob: on monday tonight, na are trying to win again as they lead 5-2 as we go to the top of the seventh inning. >> rob: coors light freeze cam brought to you by frost brewed coors light the world's most refreshing beer. base loaded earlier. ryan zimmerman knocks it down, leaves his feet, lays out right here. freeze it. he is airborne and hits the ground hard. already has a sore left shoulder from being drilled the other night. coors light freeze cam on our star first baseman laying out to get it done. >> bob: lace laying out to play ball right now. a big inning for sean burnett who made two situational appearances in pittsburgh andgot his one man both times. that ball over the head of belliard and this chris coghlan kid has five hits in the series now. he's 5-9. not a high on-base percentage yet, but he's serving as a pretty good table setter and jorge sosa is getting ready. >> bob: these math marlins will not stop battling you. two innings ago, it would have been a hit last inning. now a leadoff base hit here in the seventh. nick johnson coming up. how about that. 5-7 when nick wall street a nat and -- nick was a nat and burnett was a pirate. burnett pitched in 13 games for the pirates back in 2004. nick was with montreal back then. saw each other a bit at that time. it's 9:00 in our nation's capital. top of the seven it inning. -- seventh inning. nats lead 5-2 over the marlins. 18,312. i'd run away, too, if i had to show that. come on. you're better than that. 2-1. >> rob: that may screech screech the guy flashing the camera. you never know in life these days. >> bob: ball three. >> bob: nick johnson on base once tonight with an infield hit last night between the gloves of dunn and belliard. johnson has grounded into 12 double plays this year. one as a marlin. nats have turned one tonight, three in the series. >> rob: one of the things that made nick so tradeable, the .343 batting average against left-handers. >> bob: two on, nobody out. >> rob: a .452 on-base percentage. >> bob: wow. >> rob: it is. that on-base percentage goes up. >> bob: this is pacing time for the nats manager jim riggleman. if there's an outer two here, there's no doubt the left- hander faces hanley ramirez. with two men on and nobody out, he's nothing go -- he's not going to face him. looks like jorge sosa will have his second appearance with the nats being just as crucial or more so than the first over at pittsburgh. he did give up a run in one inning. nats still had the lead in that game and hope for the same in the seventh inning here tonight. >> can you see them signs? take two steps and then when he's looking in, you look in. that's how you do it. because if you see the pitcher has a the ball in his fwlorvetion you know he doesn't have that little snap. if you keep it in the hand, he has the snap so you've got to be careful. >> bob: interesting stuff with nyjer morgan and elijah dukes in terms of getting your leadoff based on where the ball is in possession of the pitcher. wired wednesday with nyjer morgan and now the plotthickness as jorge sosa makes his nationals home debut. he pitched in the seven cht inning sunday afternoon in pittsburgh. gave up a run on a home run by delwyn young, but the nats still had the lead at that time. he faces one of the most dangerous hitters in the league in hanley ramirez and snaps off a great breaking ball. these florida hitters know sosa. he was with the mets for 62 games in 2007 and 2008 and the braves around a trip twice with atlanta to st. louis in 2005- 2006. in fact, he has started 88 games in the big leagues. >> bob: fastball up. 2-1. hley ramirez, 2-3 tonight. two singles, double play ball that helped the damage be limited to one run in the fifth inning after the marlins had first and third and nobody out.@ ramiz popst up right field. long run dukes and the inders and elijah gets there d rops the ball. no error to be xgiven oñ u play. >> rob: i don't know how u can give an error on that play. it's a great great effort. >> bob: we talked about this beoe %--@@it seems to b that separates nyjer rgan wl%un up(pen "n always seems to hold on to the %ll. >> rob: yeah, and that's the toughest thingut being an outfielder or anybody running down a ball. your head is moving. you're trying to pickup the flight of the ball and you're also feeling ronnie belliard and dunn coming in on you. i watched ichiro make a pl behind the tarp in kansas city yesterday that was just able. have really been injured. slid inbetween the tarp and fence and still made the ca besides other things. >> bob: a big 3-2 pitch in the seventh inng coming. that was a breaking ballnginani. >> bob: as we thought back the sixth inning, they changed cody ross' drive to left to a double. changed the on willingham and that's the correct call. -- the error on willingham and that's the correct call. one inning later, the marlins have two on, nobody out. 3-2 pitch again. ground ball, zimmerman! he bobbles and has to settle for the force at third. he had designs on a 5-4-3 double play. kept his wits about him and got the lead runner. >> rob: well, this is a hard shot. looked like a tailor made double play. picked his head up to start the play before he got the ball. he does get the one out. you've got hanley ramirez running at full speed, he's one of the fastest guys in the league trying to get rid of the ball a little bit early. that's right. speed on their side caused that play. >> bob: here is jorge cantu. double play still in order with one out. cantu tonight a double in three trips. anyway you cut it, that was a huge out. tracy a -- there's a breaking ball for a strike. rob, i think it's pretty obvious at the age of 32, jorge sosa still has a really good arm. >> rob: without a doubt. once again, we talked about this in pittsburgh. he has great ability, great stuff. his tempo is so slow, he slows down tempo and it's tough to make defensive plays behind this guy. >> bob: no swing. one ball, one strike. >> rob: see as he breaks the plain right here. oh, yes he does. >> bob: that's unfortunate. roilt. >> rob: you made the comment on josh johnson last night. the great tempo he had. it didn't work out well for him. he's still one of the best pitchers in baseball. >> bob: jorge cantu hits a high drive center. nyjer morgan is there. nick johnson acting like he's going to tag. here is the throw to third and it's way short. both runners move up. morgan might have been better off throwing that ball into second. >> rob: absolutely. >> bob: he had no shot. because of that, marlins have two runners in scoring position. not one one -- not one. >> rob: this is stuff the nationals have been doing all season, but not of late. >> bob: cristian has his hands up. >> rob: cristian guzman is dawlg calling to hit head off. fundamental baseball stuff. you can't always make a super play. sometimes you take the smart play keep that guy at first as bob said. now you have two runners out there, base hit on a 5-4 game instead of 5-3. >> bob: and a big spot with dan uggla. he's homered and walked. sosa misses. he's got about 87-88 going on that hard slider. dan uggla is at the 20-home run mark again. fourth consecutive year, 27, 31, 32 and now 20. 2-0. >> rob: first base open. this guy can hurt you big time if you make a mistake. >> bob: ball three with cody ross waiting. >> bob: cody ross has a dou in three trips tonight. one of mike rizzo's signings while he was with the arizona diamondbacks was dan uggla for $1,000 out of the university of memphis. >> rob: that's a good sign, but wasn't he a rule five to the marlins? >> bob: yes. >> rob: pretty good rule five. good evaluators over there. how about santana, rule five from the astros to the twins. wish they had him back in houston, don't they? >> bob: yeah, that's lightning in a bottle right there. 3-1. another strike on the corner. >> rob: he drops below the three quarter right here and throws a nice, little slide feet, outside black. gets call. pitch track right there. >> bob: this pitch could decide how the rest of this night? going to go. a 3-2 with two men aboard on a pitch up and that's why you don't throw to second base on the previous play. it gets the marlins an extra run and now it's 5-4. one of those runs, in fact, both of them charged to sean burnett. 5-4 now. uggla differs his second and third rbi's of the night. >> rob: well, this pitch is too fat right here. he goes for the strike instead of the strikeout. right across the heart of the plate, 3-2. whacked right back up the middle. because nyjer didn't hit the cutoff on the previous play, hanley ramirez, who should be at second right now, scores easily. >> bob: here is cody ross. tying run is aboard. one-run game in the seventh. >> bob: the one that hurts is the walk to nick johnson who is a very selective hitter. nick has walked 68 times this year. anytime you walk anybody who scores late in a ballgame, helps make things a little tighter. the 0-1 to ross. >> rob: throwing a lot of sliertdz here. wouldn't be a bad place to throw low 90s chest high in. >> bob: cody ross is gone. seventh inning stretchtime. nationals still have the lead. it's just not what it was a little earlier. nyjer morgan will lead off in the bottom of the seventh. wired wednesday for him. he's been on base twice. he has scored two runs tonight. and only rocky mountain water. today, our beer is shipped by rail... to places like memphis, buffalo and sacramento. but one thing hasn't changed: folks still demand a banquet. coors. the banquet beer. >> bob: nationals baseball on masn brought to you by southwest airlines. book your next trip at southwest.com. jefferson memorial. beautiful on this wednesday evening in august. nyjer morgan had another active night on the field and the base pads. >> oh, two plus. he can't come in there. ahhh. >> bob: isn't that fun to wat going first to home on a cristian guzman triple. nyjer morgan giving us our money's worth and a little bit more on the wired wednesday. he will lead off in the bottom of the seventh against left- hander renyel pinto. pinto 3-1. good e.r.a. 37 strikeouts, but control has been an issue for him. 27 walks to go with those 30 hits this year in the 39 innings he's pitched. time to keep pressing the issue if you're the nats. >> rob: i said this about three innings ago. you can't stop. once you got vandenhurk out of the game, you've got to keep putting runs up there. three runs is not a big lead against the marlins. >> bob: morgan shows bunt. takes a strike. >> bob: he has his 127th hit of the night. so does zimmerman. they start the the night tied for ninth in the national league in base hits. he has stolen his 33rd and scored twice. he was able to lay off the inside fastball. 2-1. cristian guzman has had a great night. another multihit game. his 42nd. by the miguel tejada had the one hit in houston's loss today, so he still has 44 multihit games. guzman will get a chance to add another hit to his resume coming up after nyjer morgan who walks leading off the seventh. byron kerr, ray knight here at the ballpark and the nats are trying to give it back to back to the marlins after losing the first nine games this year and 10 in a row overall. it goes down as a quality start for john lannan who really battled his way through six innings on two runs at 12:30 tomorrow, craig stammen, chris volstad. will it be a rubber game or will the nats be going for a sweep? guzman this year from the right side batting .216. morgan gets a jump. he is there. and just gets beyond a very good throw by ronny paulino. he made a great throw to get dukes ending the fifth. he made up some serious ground here on nyjer morgan. >> rob: pinto has a slow move to the plate. great jump by nyjer morgan. as we said, he slides right by the bag and his foot was off the bag again. so, if uggla stays on the tag, he might have been out. >> bob: guzman looking to move the runner now. the count is 1-1. >> rob: you see right here. he tagged him. as he keeps going, feet come off the bag. i agree with you. slide feet first. at least he can pop back up and maybe go to third on bad throw. keep going by the bag. >> bob: and guzman rocks one to left field! here comes morgan! he will go back as pat listach stopped him. coghlan did hit the cutoff man. you don't want to make the first out at home, but nobody out and the nats are brewing a big inning here and cristian guzman continues to be phenomenal with the bat. >> rob: he's a homer shy of the cycle now. it's a shot that one who has coghlan. this is the proper call right here by pat listach. he's got a good bead on nyjer. already has the ball at that point when he hits the bal bag. he would have been dead at home plate. pat listach did a great job of holding him up especially with no oaths outs. >> bob: and zimmerman coming up. then dunn. the nats continue to generate offense. the marlins have 10 hits tonight. last night, they had 11. they've only scored four runs each time. the nats have been very economical. six runs, eight hits last night. five runs, eight hits tonight. ryan zimmerman went oppo in the first inning. >> rob: when ryan zimmerman is going well, he's as good an opposite field hirlt as there in -- as there is in this league. right there he proved that this ballpark the second guy ever to go out to the bullpen. >> bob: only second right- hander. of all people, wil nieves was the other. ryan looking for rbi number 72 here, maybe more. >> bob: guzman a short lead as pinto checks him and that's well inside for a ball. blinding speed at third. very good speed at first. a hot bat in the box. 2-0. >> bob: and a ground ball h hard to third. a play at second and zimmerman beats it. jorge cantu took a glance at nyjer morgan and that might have cost him the double play. he wanted to hold morgan at third. here is what adam dunn did back in the first inning against rick vandenhurk. so, nationals narrowly avoiding a critical double play. the infield in on the left side. it doesn't look like dan uggla is too eager to play in on the right side. this is one way that teams cannot shift on adam dunn if there are enough runners on base. he takes a fastball in there from pinto. >> rob: that's low. >> bob: 92 miles per hour for a strike. >> rob: pitch earlier in the night was a ball to uggla glaw. this is a 6'6" guy up there. >> bob: off-speed, 0-2. >> rob: after that low first strike, a low one. not even close. good camera work on the x-mo. >> bob: now we'll see if adam dunn can do some contact work. he's homered and walked tonight. target away. way upstairs. >> bob: bottom of the seventh inning. nats lead 5-4. marlins just scored twice. nats try to get at least one of those runs back. what happened there. two outs. he had a bad feeling after adam dunn took that first fastball that was called for a strike. it was the only one he saw. >> rob: a couple of really good breaking balls by pinto. that one was way outside. adam not even close to this one. >> bob: fredi gonzalez has been warming up brendan donnelly for two nights. he's feenl who -- finally going to get into the ballgame to face josh willingham here. two on, two out in the seventh. ♪ ♪ (tucci) more bars in more places. at&t. the best coverage worldwide. >> bob: nats fans are smiling little bit nervous. leading in the bottom of the seventh inning. we have one tomorrow at 12:30 on masn 2. you never know who might be watching. chris volstad 8-9. 3.45 e.r.a. for the fish, two starts against the nats, 3.86. craig stammen, we'll cover the bases with him as he tries to win his fourth major league game. coverage at noon with byron kerr and ray knight from right here at nationals park. well, rob, you've seen this guy a lot in the american league. brendan donnelly once making 276 appearances for the angels over five years. one of the most effective relievers in the american league. >> rob: well, he doesn't throw very hard, but he does throw a lot of balls that move and it's hushingy jamie burkey membering -- americay jerky mechanics. that's a lost his de-- herky jerky mechanics. that's a lot of it. you've got a lost arms and legs coming at you. >> bob: willingham, 1-3 with an infield hit. morgan still at third. >> rob: i think the guy was it doug bossler? >> bob: yeah, san diego. >> rob: every time he threw, my shoulder hurt. this is delivery right here, you'll see him drop. he has the hand coming up. poddy, head, everything flailing. then u-get 88. >> bob: yeah, appears to be looking at the upper deck not home plate. >> rob: anyway you can be effective. >> bob: 2-1, fieldin culbreth says it's outside. this guy began his major league career at the age of 30 in 2002. he had the white sox originally signed him 17 years ago. >> rob: i think he played 10 years in the minor leagues like ben webber and finally got his shot at the big time. >> bob: willingham on a pitch up foul tips it. he saw fastball. he was hopping on it 91. the count is 2-2. this ballgame will have to go through the top three hitters in the marlins lineup. here in the seventh inning, nationals would love to get a run to double that lead. >> rob: right here, you'll take anything. base hit right back up the middle. >> bob: willingham late. i don't think he threw a pitch below belt high and donnelly strikes out willingham. it's a one-run game into the eighth inning. @x@0@p@0@6p)@)@ >> bob: on to the eighth inning. long ballgame now. 5-4, nats. 18 hits in the contest. the home team still on top. you can follow your nats on your iphone and ipod touch with mlb.com at-bat 2009. you'll feel like you're getting your own bat ready to get in there featuring play-by-play, video highlights and live audio broadcasts. visit nationals.com on your iphone or ipod touch. get some rosin to go with it and you can purchase. >> rob: brendan donnelly signed a 1992 with the 27th round pick for $5,000. he said he got his wife an engagement ring and this chain around my neck. that was it. >> bob: there's a swing and a breaking ball. paulino fouls one. he's 1-3 tonight. all right. nats have six outs to get sosa still in the game. ron villone is warming up. >> rob: donnelly was released eight times. >> bob: sosa is pitching for his ninth organization. guzman to dunn for a very important first out here in the eighth inning. next up, emilio bonifacio, some league notes for you. albert pujols hit grand slam number five for st. louis last night in extra innings. roy oz wallet's lower back -- oswalt's lower back has been giving him problems and they need him in the wild card race. they used to call him every day eddy in texas now. 21st -- eddie in texas now. 21st pitcher to appear in 900 games. how many did you end up with it. >> rob: i don't know, 300 and something. >> bob: here is emilio bonifacio. >> bob: jeremy hermida, left- handed batter to pinch-hit in a moment. if the nats went with ron villone, they would bring in wes helms. >> rob: guy in pittsburgh kent dekohl bee appeared in games. >> bob: little chopper. zimmerman charges on the run. bonifacio gone. two outs. >> rob: he's got a really good breaking ball going. he's inducing ground balls. great job right here by zim. bob talks about how hard you have to charge the ball cut off that inbetween -- there's the x- mo. you have to cut off that inbetween hop. if it short who has him, he doesn't make the play. charging that ball hard against that speed, you see adam dunn snow coning the ball at the end. >> bob: and the pitcher needs to get down and do a pushup there so he gets out of the way. bases empty, two outs. jeremy hermida, home run power. in a ballgame earlier this year, he drove in five runs after the eighth inning to get the marlins tied then get them a win. the nats took care of him for the most part last night. 1 handwritten 5 with a single -- 1-5 with a single. sosa goes right after him. misses low and in. one ball, one strike. >> rob: gets a couple outs. working at a pretty good pace right now. >> bob: he is, isn't he. >> rob: a little jump in his step. >> bob: he's a reliever who when nobody is on base is pitching off the full windup. so many these days use the stretch no matter what. of course, sosa is a former starter as mentioned 88 major league starts. he knows all about the full wind up. >> rob: also a strike hit in the dirt. >> bob: 1-2 pitch. had him reaching and struck him out! a 1-2-3 for sosa. he retires 6-7 men he faces over two innings. bottom of the eighth coming up. nats still lead. some airlines charge your bag $15 dollars to ride in the bottom of the plane in the dark. no peanuts or nothin'. and then if your bag wants to bring one of its little bag friends for company, they charge another $25. that's just plain mean. why do they 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( ding ) >> bob: on to the bottom of eighth inning. dukes, belliard, nieves. they'll face matt lindstrom. more on him in a moment. the potomac nationals, exciting promotion. they have a thursday cheers ladies' night. freebie championship pen on friday and fireworks on ate saturday and sunday family fun days. log on to potomacnationals.com or call 70 3-590-2311. real baseball real close. it's only a half hour away. matt lindstrom was the closer for the marlins. 14-16 in saves. .224, the d. l. with the right elbow strain. actually a sprain. leo nunez from the left side and dan meyer from the right side have been splitting the closer duties. >> rob: he may not be able to go every day. closer has to be able to pitch every day. just trying to get him back to point where he can be the every day closer. >> bob: here is elijah dukes. mike macdougal starting to pile up some saves. >> rob: he's getting quality work now. he's getting save opportunities. >> bob: three in a row. >> rob: well, two 81-mile-per- hour breaking balls. this is a guy who can throw 100 miles per hour. not 100%. >> bob: yoirchg elijah dukes ever sees a fastball until the third or fourth pitch of an at- bat and it's usually just to show him. there's one. near the knees outside. two balls, one strike. elijah tonight, 0-2 with a walk. he hit two line drives and retired earlier. 3-17 in five ballgames since his return. that ball had some movement on it. 3. -- 93. lindstrom still just 28 years old. five saves for the marlins last year. kevin gregg went on to the cubs. he had the job this year, but then got hurt. and dukes hits one to center. that ball scorched and he lines out for the third time tonight. twice to bonifacio. ronnie belliard is 1-3 and a long ball back in the fourth inning. >> rob: little man with power. he hung a breaking ball. he put a charge into it. you don't need a home run right here. what you need is a couple of base runners. try to get one more run across here before the ninth inning. >> bob: marlins have the top of their order due up in the ninth. and belliard jacks one to left center. man, that ball is hit hard and coghlan over to grab it. two lasers by the nats and two outs. >> rob: two lasers. >> bob: laser. here is wil nieves. after months of working with you now, i find myself mesmerized by movies. >> rob: you're thinking austin powers. laser on a shark. >> bob: i hear things i've heard at the ballpark now when i watch television. you're turning me into a crazy man and i love it. >> rob: i'm sorry. >> bob: here is nieves, 0-3. no, it's fwun fun when you're winning ahead in a ballgame. nats try to -- trying to make it four in a row tonight. wil nieves, two ground balls and a strikeout. on deck, willie harris if the inning goes any further. bottom eight, 5-4, nats, two outs. 1-1. there's willie. there's another outfield guy in the barn now that padilla has been called up. that's a pretty good stable of talent that jim riggleman has to call on. big breaking ball to wil. looks like wil nieves has been in pull mode lately and his forta is stepping in the ball and hitting it to right field. >> rob: agreed. his forte is to dive and hit inbetween first and second not step in the bucket and try to pull those breaking balls. >> bob: craig stammen pitches this that matinee tomorrow. >> rob: much better. stepped into the 98. >> bob: phillies won their game tonight 7-0 at home. behind j.a. happ who is now 8-2. they shutout the. >> rick. final just in. >> rob: a lot of people speculating in the wrong sense saying they should put happ in the bullpen and move pedro in the rotation that. kid has been nothing but fabulous since he got in the rotation. >> bob: now that they have cliff lee, isn't pedro like the sixth man in a five-man rotation? >> rob: moyer has been getting beat up. he got beat up last night again. >> bob: so, maybe against certain ball clubs with right- handers you can pitch pedro. >> rob: happ in his last eight starts, seven innings plus. he's solid. >> bob: 2-2 to wil. he does pull the ball out to the shortstop. hanley ramirez. we're going to the top of the ninth. mike macdougal has saved three consecutive games. it's 5-4, nats. three outs to get. is . >> bob: top of the ninth inning, top of the order for the marlins. mike macdougal came in last night and saved a ballgame in a 6-4 nats win. he got hanley ramirez to strikeout after cantu doubled and uggla walked. that game-ending guzman double play ball. mike macdougal earned his ninth save of the year. trying to nail it down here for john lannan. macdougal, the only issue with him is the bases on balls. the nats will shore up their defense. we'll show that to you in a moment. ronnie belliard goes to first base replacing adam dunn. that puts hanley ramirez at second -- anderson hernandez at second. willie harris plays left field. harris batting in the nine spot. chris coghlan, 2-4 tonight. he's a first-pitch swinger. mike macdougal misses outside. macdougal gets a strike. 1-1 to coghlan who has had five hits in this series. you said the last half inning, you have to have a closer who can pitch every day. it's becoming that for mike macdougal. >> bob: and bat into the dirt fortunately and the count now 2- 2. >> rob: for a guy that needs to repeat his delivery and repeat his mechanics over and over and over, maybe it is too much to throw every day. you know, the problem is like in golf when you start thinking about your mechanics and that means throwing a ball, you think, ok, where is my release point? where were my hands? where were my shoulders? that's when you get into problems. the one thing ma mike has been able to is even though he's walked some people and got a bad walk to strikeout ratio, he's still throwing strikes when he needs them. you see his catcher shaking his head. nice job. 2-2 -- >> bob: 2-2 pitch. >> rob: i discussed macdougal a couple of times with steve mccatty. one of the toughest things to do is work with a guy who is actually been successful. he's your closer right now. the last thing you want do is put the thought that his mechanics are bad in his head. you don't want him thinking mechanics. you have to work around that. >> bob: ball three. >> rob: got a nice tuck. nice release point. it's just really how he falls off towards first base just needs to deliver it first and then fall. >> bob: 3-2 pitch. he gets the ground ball. hernandez has it for a very important first out. and next up will be nick johnson here in the ninth. if this goes according to plan, there will be one hitter that macdougal faced last night and that's the man who is walking to the on-deck circle right now. nick johnson, typical night on base twice. base hit, a walk, a run scored. >> rob: well, if he's going to continue to fire fastballs at nick, he might want to shade him a little bit towards the left line. >> bob: a check swing for a strike. >> rob: there's the defense. >> bob: pretty much straight in on the infield. >> rob: this is where nick loves to hit the ball. >> bob: on base 10 times with this new team. that's what you get when nick johnson brings a .415 on-base percentage to town. close, but ball two. >> rob: before that pitch, it's something my catch he was used to always do with me is talking about the front shoulder of the catcher who has the best view or angle of the guy throw -- of the guy throwing. he was also talking about his arm and his release point. dropped that arm down. >> bob: 97 for strike two. >> rob: i give wil nieves as much credit right here. he is almost willing macdougal to hit target. he's so fired up. bring it to me every pitch. nieves has done an excellent job since jesus flores was pretty much lost for the season. you would love to face ramirez with two outs, nobody on base. >> bob: oh, yeah. getting on base, nick johnson's specialty. 2-2 pitch. man, is that close to take in the ninth inning of a one-run game. >> rob: only nick can take this pitch. it's so close. how do you take that with two strikes? >> bob: that is a strike according to the pitch track. >> rob: inside looked a little low. >> bob: 3-2. nick johnson pulls a ground ball to hernandez. and the nats will face the league's leading hitter with the bases empty and two outs in the top of the ninth. >> rob: well, we can thank nick for going away from the way he normally hits and takes balls the other way. served that ball on the ground to hernandez. >> bob: 18,312 paid tonight. hanley ramirez, 2-4 with a pair of singles. 24 hours ago at this very minute, last night's game ended. it's 5-4 tonight after last night's 6-4 win. >> bob: had him reaching. strike two. >> rob: this is why baseball is so much fun, bob. you have the guy leading the national league in batting average against your closer. two strikes, top of the ninth inning, two outs. >> bob: >> bob: mr. gregory wants the third out of the game here in the ninth and a 1-2 coming. low and away. time to make some news. >> bob: three consecutive ful counts by mike macdougal here in the ninth. >> bob: swing and a miss! it's 10:00 in washington, and the nats have won four in a row! >> rob: well, great pitch right here. a lot of movement on it. it was a slider. he hasn't thrown many of those. gets on top of it. i think it fooled ramirez. you see him pulling it down. bye-bye. >> bob: let's have a look at our ford drive of the game, rob. cristian guzman way back in the fourth inning, the hit that would be the difference in the game. >> rob: absolutely. this would be the insurance run that would stand up. nyjer morgan, cristian guzman, ford drive of the game. >> bob: nationals beat the marlins for the second time in a row. even though they're out hit 10- 8, it's a four-game streak in nats town. @d@dúd the nationals defeat the florida marlins 5-4. "nats xtra" is coming up next. first, let's go down on the field with debbi taylor. >> thank you very much, byron. i'm here with mike macdougal. four consecutive saves. what a fantastic finish. tell bus that hanley ramirez at- bat. what were you doing there? >> yeah, fourth day in a row. i felt pretty good. came out throwing ground balls. fortunate enough hanley swung at the last pim pitch. >> how was that last out for you? >> it was good. i think it sunk pretty good, but it was down. he swung at it so that makes it good. >> are you starting to feel like you're in a good groove now is. >> yeah, i've been throwing pretty good all year. constant battle to stay on top of things. yeah, i feel pretty good. >> mike, how big was this to win another series at least? >> it's huge. this team, we have been battling all year. it's nice to get the victories. we're playing real well. our team is real good. it's expected. >> thank you very much, mike. let's go back over to bob. >> thank you, debbi taylor, for rob dibble and debbi, i'm bob carpenter. final score, nats win again 5-4 and john lannan gets his eighth win of the year, by the way, under jim riggleman, nats are 10-11. join us tomorrow 12:00, "nats xtra", first pitch 12:35. visit masnsports.com for all the latest news on the nats. this has been a presentation of moons. stay tuned. "nats xtra", byron and ray coming up and from the booth. we'll see you tomorrow. >> bob: welcome to "nats xt presented by verizon fios as the nationals win again over the florida marlins. byron kerr and ray knight. final score, nationals take it 5-4 as mike macdougal gets save number 10. home runs from ronnie belliard, cristian guzman or rather ryan zimmerman and done dunn getting it going and guzman getting bigrbi's. we're ready to go to talk post- game. that's two straight. a series against the marlins for the first time since 2007 and they do it by taking the lead early on in this game, ray. >> they did. they swung the bat well. big home runs. two in the first inning by zim and dunn. belliard another bomb. amazing how many ballgames we've won via the home run. guzman, two big base hits, one with two outs driving in the runs. he's happy hitting in that two hole, isn't he? >> let's talk about that fifth un the defining moment of the game as the nationals put together another run. >> we were able to get a base hit starting off with a bunt. it wasn't a good bunt, but the pitcher did not have the first baseman covering. second baseman was not there. guzman ripped the ball into right center. it was nice watching these two guys run the bases from first base scoring there then nyjer getting two big stolen bases again getting on anyway he can ignite this go offense. cristian guzman as hot as any hitter in the league. >> guzman qat double and triple. 3-4 performance there. dan uggla had the home run for the marlins early on against john lannan and nyjer morgan getting on base a lot. look at all those numbers for him in a 5-4 win. really stayed in the game against the florida marlins, -- a team just four games out of the wild card coming into this game and you beat them two in a row. they had beaten the dodgers. beaten the padres. played well all over the place. you slow them down for a couple of games. that's really nice. >> yeah, my opinion is you're not worried about slowing them down as much as you are just steak an attitude on your ball club. it's clear that since jim riggleman is here, this attitude has changed. there's a different step. there's a different speed this team is playing. speed it up a little bit. their actions. the way they go about it. the ball in right field that elijah ran down and they called it a no play that. ball hit his glove. he came all the way from deep right field. you had belliard throughout, dup out there. i haven't seen three guys converge on a ball this year. i really haven't. you should see that all the time. this team has a fire lit under it right now. >> they find a way tonight. because of the starting pitching, john lannan, you are watching him all night, rate. he gets around problems. he makes things happen when a bad pitch occurs. >> you're a exactly right, partner. he has the ability to pitch around people. he makes pitches. he gets first inning just gave up one hit. two quick outs. dan uggla hits a big home run right there on a fastball that got away from him. two quick outs. he gets a ground ball and then another ground ball to nick johnson. this is after -- uggla ross to third. great play by zimmerman there. that's a tougher play than any play ease mail year. coghlan then singles. johnson singles. he pitches out of trouble. he throws the breaking ball sinker there. gets a little double play. 4-6-3. cantu then hits into the ground ball to shortstop. then he gets to the sixth inning. leads off with a ross double after ross double he gets a strikeout. first and third situation, strikeouts pinch-hitter gload. that shows you what he can do. he was in trouble. typical lannan night where he goes throughout and will give up six, seven, eight hits. he's able to pitch himself out of trouble. makes quality pitches when he has to. not quite as pitch efficient as he's been in the past as it took him 27 pitches to get through the third inning. he threw 16 first-pitch strikes out of 27, but still just another great effort. >> 10 quality starts out of the last 12. you mentioned those three earned rufns or less. that's 18-21 last games in which he's pitched, ray. he's taken care of business. you give up two runs or three runs, look at all that room you give your offense to win ballgames for. >> you i think the key with him is that he just never gives in. he has that mindset that he's going to pitch well. that he's going to make a pitch. there's no doubt about it again tonight i started off the first three innings right behind home plate just to see his action. he has great action. he buried a slider to ross. ross just walked away. cantu, he did the same thing. he threw 70% fastballs tonight, and actually again he's just not going to give up more than three, 3 1/2 runs a game. >> lannan improves to 8-8, back to .500 for him. that's sweet. nationals have two straight against the marlins and now four in a row overall. let's head down to the clubhouse now and check in with interim manager jim riggleman. >> you got the three home runs and a couple of additional extra-base hits. you sealed like the offense was clicking tonight. what did you think? >> yeah, we swung the bat good. we played good. we've continued to play pretty tight defense. mane made a little mistake here and there. i thought we played very well. lannan really battled. the offense that we put out there was necessary because john as good as john is that wasn't as sharp as he could be. we were dodging bullets after all night really with a couple situations. burnett, who has been great for us. those couple lefties got on against him. sosa came in a tough situation, but i -- as i said, we were in danger there a couple times. >> what did you think they issue with john tonight, lannan? >> well, they're a good ball club. they got a lot of power from the right side and they're going to be tough for any left- handed pitcher. i mean, ramirez and uggla and ross and all those right- handers, cantu. they can all hit the ball out of the ballpark against both lefties and righties. i think they really get excited probably when a left-hander south there. it's a real tough challenge and john did a good job -- good job against them. >> is zimmerman's shoulder ok? >> zim is fine. he was -- he actually is still sore, but he swung the bat well. a lot of guys swung -- dukes swung the bat very well. didn't get anything to show for it. he's hitting the ball on the button all night. adam i've got into one. so, a lot of good baseball out there. >> it's only because there were a lot of delicate moments where they had to do all the right things to put this together? >> yeah, i think so. we weren't perfectly clean, but we played a pretty clean ballgame. it's good for them to realize we can win these close games. macdougal has gotten a little better each tithe time out. i think that's a confidence builder for the ball club also. >> guzman continues to do well ever since you put him back in the second slot for you. >> well, he's just -- he's really a good hitter. the guy can just put the bat on the ball and quite often it's the barrel of the bat. it's solid. the ball is jumping when he hits it and eeses a real good offensive player -- he's a real good offensive player. he's doing a good job at shortstop. his shortstop play has picked up recently eye know you felt all along like this team was capable of doing better than it had been. there's like a fine line. over the stretch of a couple weeks, is there any one thing that stands out that you guys have done that you didn't do earlier? >> i think a little more timely hitting. we've played better defense forsure, but for whatever reason as we said, we were third or fourth in the league in hitting, but well down in runs scored. i think recently we picked that up a little bit. we've gotten some bigger hits, some two or three-run homers. of course, willingham's the wawj walk he had. men on base getting more timely hits. [ indiscernible ] >> well, you know, what we heard from triple-a was that's what we heard right there. his first couple outings were pretty good, but just made a mistake here or there and base runners out there and we couldn't really let him finish an inning in there. he not only finished that -- finished that inning with two men on when he went out there. he went out there and gave us another real good inning. he's got really good stuff. this guy has been a good pitcher for a long time. he's been around. he's had success. i think he won 13 ballgames one year in atlanta, i believe. you know, he's got a good arm. he's a tough challenge for the hitters. he showed it tonight. >> -- belliard here putting him in there nor. what do you think the difference has been with him the last few days? >> belly, again, if you look at his track record, he's hit. his history is he's been a good offensive second baseman. he's just getting a little more playing time a little sharper. get the rust off a little bit and he does. he gives a good at-bat. >> you talk about guys both the play by nyjer to throw in the third and probably instead of second to keep hanley there. >> yeah. >> a little bit of a brain freeze on doing that. you'd much rather see him keep hanley at first. >> yeah, no question. you know, i tell you. i wasn't sure nick was going to go on that ball. nick tagged up at second. i didn't know if he would challenge morgan there. i think maybe a little piece of that was morgan was thinking maybe he wasn't going to go anyway so he'd throw it in that direction, but yeah, you know, nyjer wasn't feeling too good about that afterward. he said i can't do that. he realized his mistake and -- but that's going to happen now and then. >> that is jim riggleman of the washington nationals talking about the win over the florida marlins. we've got plenty more coming up on "nats xtra". four straight for the nats and 8-12 last i think take out the marlins with an early lead. the final, 5-4. stay right there. now at chili's -- welcome to chili's. start your three-course meals with a shared appetizer. for a second course, choose two entrees from over 15 chili's favorites, like our big mouth bites -- the mini burgers with giant layers of flavor. or a half-rack of our triple-basted baby back ribs. then save some room to share a decadent dessert. a lot of bold flavors, for a limited time only. chili's -- geico's been saving people money and who doesn't want value for their dollar? been true since the day i made my first dollar. where is that dollar? i got it out to show you... uhh... was it rather old and wrinkly? yeah, you saw it? umm fancy a crisp? geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. "nats xtra" post-game s on masn brought to you by verizon fios. over 100hd chants and -- channels ability fastest internet. this is fios, this is big. welcome back in. byron kerr and ray knight. nationals take out the florida marlins. first time they've taken a series, first -- stills a chance to get the sweep. the offense got things going with the big bats. >> big john, we have done a lot of destroying the baseball here over the last two weeks. zim starts it off with a home run on a ball up and in after they went away on him on a 3-1 pitch e took that and droaf drove the ball right inside that right field. this is just a bomb. i'm talking way back in that upper deck. adam swinging bat great. it seems like one of them hits a home run every night. in the third, it it seems we're able to get on. morgan got hit by a pitch. only on base three times, had two runs. two stolen base. gets a great jump ball. you better watch sliding late like that. he comes off the bag a lot. base hit to right field by guzman. a double, another rbi for him as he's scorching the baseball. fourth inning, ronnie belliard talking about offense. hanging breaking ball right there. he deposits it in the left field. knew it was out of there. i think rigs will give him a good look and a chance to play. hard bunt back to the pitcher. didn't get there. nyjer too quick. right behind that cristian just drills this pitch down the right-field line. riggleman talking about him hitting the ball on the barrel. it was a sight to see as you saw all the way from first base. nyjer morgan going scoring a little skippy hop right there. shirt tail out. hey, he runs so fast he can't keep that shirt tail in. >> you look at the offense setting the tone early. we've had those three comeback victories in a row, ray. this time getting things going against vandenhurk early. they liked what they saw. that's night to get ahead of somebody for once and see what you can do with your pitching. >> it's night. we -- it's nice. we scored two in the first, one in the third, two in the fourth. we made the five runs hold up. it puts a tremendous amount of pressure on their club because it takes the steal away, the hit-and-run away from when you're playing from behind. >> special guest at nationals park. we go down and visit with steve mccatty who joins us. thank you so much for taking the time. once again, mike macdougal coming through in that closer role. what is he doing right on the mound? >> well, he's throwing strikes is what he's doing. we talk quite a bit. ever since he came over here and i had him when we were in syracuse. just convinced him to trust his fastball. he does have a good slider. hasn't used it a lot, but with that fastball that's coming in so hard, he has such great movement f he can get it over the plate and trust t-he's going to be successful and he's done a great job. >> cat, ray. 74 fastballs tonight from john out of the 99 pitches. -- 102 pitches. he also last couple of nights seemed to be forcing the fastball. is that coming from you? >> no, with these guys we talked about it earlier. let lannan do what he wants to do. when he we talk about hitters, they go over their strengths and weaknesses, but tough matchup your strength and weakness as paimp. lannan i has good off-speed pitches but tries to sink the ball. he got away from it a little bit and got behind in counts. he said i'm going to go back and pitch to my strength. that's what he's got to do. i don't really force anything with the guys, but just pitch to the situation because for me as a pitcher we can talk about it's like mike tyson used to say. everybody has a game plan until you get punched in the nose. we know what their weaknesses, you but doesn't ne necessarily mean we can pitch to them. i trust him to do what they're doing. >> sean burnett got punched in the nose a little bit tonight, steve. you look at jorge sosa coming in and kind of setting the tone. what have you seen -- what have you seen from him? you watched him at the syracuse level as well. what have you seen from jorge that says he's ready to come back and pitch well. >> he has a real good fastball. down there when he was starting when i had him. he would fluctuate with speeds between 86-87, moving it around. every once in a while, he would throw one 93. i would say where is this coming from? he's worked on his slider. as long as his arm or hand stays in the right slot, he gets the tilt on the slider. every once in a while, he'll get a flat on it around the side and it will hang up there. talking to tim foley a ro. they got him to stay on top and drive the ball down. that's what he's been doing. you have the one situation where he gave up the 3-2 hit to uggla. that scored the runsz. i was hoping they would throw them another slider there. he challenged with a fastball. the guy hit it. that happens. he's thrown the ball well. >> hey, clippard and bergmann going long, takes a little pressure off the other guise, doesn't it? >> yeah t-does. it's nice to do. both a little sore today so we're really kind of juggling. it's tough when your starters haven't been giving you a lost innings. that's what they're hoping fromlannan today to get six or seven. they've been doing well. clippard can go out there. i had him as a starter. i know what he can do. i know he's been up to 115 pitches for me. next day he'll come out and throw 92 miles per hour for 60 more pitches. they both have resilient arms, they're a little -- it gets a little to you the up and downs. we've got to get our starters to give us a couple more innings. that's what we really need right now. >> thank you very much, steve. we appreciate your time tonight. congratulations on another victory. >> thank you very much. >> steve mccatty pitching coach for the washington nationals as the nats win 5-4 over the marlins. plenty more on this show to talk about this big victory. we'll talk nyjer morgan. we'll talk defense and we're going to talk another nats victory. stay right there for "nats xtra" and we'll continue after this quick time-out. we bring fiber optic all the way to the home. um... which gives you more bandwidth than cable. so you can upload faster. so it's like comparing a horse and buggy to a sports car. am i the, uh, horse? (announcer) it's a whole new internet. makes uploading as easy as downloading. because your internet's not fast unless it's two-way fast. you have high blood pressure... and you have high cholesterol. you've taken steps to try and lower both your numbers. but how close are you to your goals? there may be more you can do. only caduet combines two proven medicines... in a single pill to significantly lower... high blood pressure and high cholesterol. in a clinical study of patients... with slightly elevated blood pressure and cholesterol, caduet helped 48% reach both goals in just 4 weeks. caduet is one of many treatment options, in addition to diet and exercise... that you can discuss with your doctor. caduet is not for everyone. it's not for people with liver problems... and women who are nursing, pregnant or may become pregnant. to check for liver problems, you need simple blood tests. tell your doctor about any heart problems... and all other medications you are taking... or if you experience muscle pain or weakness, as they may be a sign of a rare but serious side effect. how close are you to where you want to be? ask your doctor if caduet can help you go... for both your goals. nationals fifth annual blood drive saturday. come out to the nationals park conference center and be a donor and receive two tickets to an upcoming game. for more information g-to myredcross.org. a little defense. that's what happens when you win games. we have some sweet x-mo defense eye love this camera. you'll see him keeping his headdown. when he's myth missed balls over there, it's when he keeps his head up. he's playing better over there. look at the arm speed throwing underhanded. it's almost like a ballet's makes a tremendous play on a ball that short hopped him. places loaded. he got the ball and knocked it down. one of the toughest plays as a third baseman to make and recover and rip that ball and make solid play. >> guzman on offense and defense. two rbi performance talks about his hot hitting. >> i saw that -- this happen when you see you hitting the spot like you like hitting seven or six. not feel comfortable in that spot. so they move to second like you say before and that's what i feel better. >> how big is this wing win knowing you've taken 2-3 at least from the marlins and playing such better baseball overall at a -- as a team? >> you know, i saw the team. i saw all the guy, the players feel more relaxed and comfortable right now. maybe that's happen happened. maybe that's the reason. >> we really make a big deal about the top of the lineup there, but guzman doing a great job there. multihits all over the place once again for the nationals tonight. upcoming schedule includes a day game tomorrow as marlins- nationals wrap it up. we're on the air 12:00 noon with "nats xtra" and then the arrival for d'backs for three friday, saturday and sudden being a bandon the road after a day off monday. they go to atlanta to take on the braves. nationals, another win over the marlins. -- marlins. this one 5-4 enjoying it tonight. ♪ ♪ (tucci) only at&t has the best selection of full keyboard phones. like the lg neon, just $29.99 after mail-in rebate. "nats xtra" post-game s on masn brought to you by verizon fios. verizon fios, over 100hd channels and the fastest internet. this is fios. this is big. big night for the nationals. also nyjer morgan setting table early on wired wednesday talking about his buddy, adam dunn and the great home run by the nationals. >> you can see it. he was staying away. he was right in that little thing right away just like on the on the film. ahhhh! nats town, we just witnessed. >> get your red on there from nats town from nyjer morgan getting the win and the nationals adam dunn back to back to back. three homers in the last three games talking about getting to rick vandenhurk today. >> yeah, you know, we got just enough runs tonight and we're fortunate enough to give john a lead and he's pretty good when he's working with the lead. >> how did you see belliard pick it up in the second half? >> we know he's a good player, man. he's got a good track record. so, you know, the more at-bats we can get him, better off he'll be. for him to come off the bench like he does and doing what he's doing, that's pretty amazing. >> little stretch of better baseball you talk about -- you talked about playing cleaner baseball. looks like you're doing it. >> yeah, that's why we're winning. offense was never the question. it was our defense. we're playing a lot better defense and getting a lot better pitching. that's pretty good formula to win. [ indiscernible ] looser environment. is nerve a better ?ood. >> yeah, winning fixes a lot of things, man. you know, kick our record out. we're having fun. so, we're playing good last couple of weeks. hopefully, we can continue that for the rest of the season. >> john didn't have his best tough isn't it -- stuff tonight, but enough to keep you -- >> that's what good pitchers do. when they don't have their best stuff, they still keep you in the ballgame. that's all he's been doing since day one. so, he's becoming a legitimate ace. >> cristian guzman had three more hits tonight. how impressive is the streak he's on -- he's on too? >> streak? >> 12-game hitting streak. >> very, very impressive. [ laughter ] >> you know, when guzman gets hot, once again that ought to go to show you look up and he gets three hits every night and i didn't even realize he had a streak. he just quietly does it day in and day out. so, it's not surprising. >> very impressive there from adam dunn getting the win for the nationals and craig stammen trying to bounce back after a couple of slow outings there, ray. trying to return to where he was a couple weeks ago. >> yeah, last two outings been pretty tough. earned run average around 12.00. prior starts 2.15. volstad is a guy that throws the ball extremely hard. his first full year in the big leagues and he can punch you out. he has got stuff. >> stammen looking for win number four on the season and the nationals looking for a sweep of the florida marlins. tonight, they get three home runs and take out the marlins 5- 4. mike macdougal gets save number 10. ray knight and i will be back tomorrow, high noon, ray. daytime baseball. bob carpenter and rob dibble also will have the call at 12:30. enjoy the night. nationals win 5-4 over the marlins. we'll see you at 12:00 noon. but just 5.1 runs per game against their opponents. batting average and slugging percentage against the red sox is dramatically better than how they perform against the of baseball. >> taking a look at the al east standings as they are right now. the red sox, two and a half gagames back of the yankees as e mentioned. that series coming up in third. the rays, 5 and a half back. bluejays and o's. they're just hanging around. waiting for the season to end. >> it's another chapter in a classic rivalry as boston and new york square off at yankee stadium. the sox have dominated the bronx bombers all season. but derek jeter and the yankees have surged back into the thick of the american league east race. yankees-red sox, sunday night baseball. sunday at 8:00 eastern on espn. >> the mets trying to rebound after a tough loss last night against the cardinals. remember, albert pujols hit that grand slam in the tenth inning. so david wright trying to lead the comeback charge. bottom of the first inning. his eighth home run of the season. august better than july. didn't hit his first home run last month until the 25th. top 5 here. albert pujols gets hit. now the machine had gone six straight ab's against the mets with a hit. so maybe a little dude, cool off there. and talk about rehe venge. brad thompson finds the pitch, nearly hitting david wright in the nog noggin. tony la russa came out to argue, it wasn't intentional. right. it's the second time this season the mets shutout the cardinals. 22-year-old rookie is out for the year after he tore his right hamstring while covering first base for the mets. injuries keep piling up so far this season. >> the cubs with a chance to get a little more breathing room atop the nl central. and sweet lou, scott rolen, bottom two, no score. first home run. went 0 for 6 in his first two games. reds lead 2-0. top 5. fukudome facing justin lair, and lair gets him to ground out to second. nice stop by brandon phillips there. this is lair going for the complete game shutout. against aramis ramirez to pop out. that's it. lehr ends upcoming aaway with the win. the first since may 18, 2006. what's he get for his efforts? a pie in the face. that was bronson arroyo. then we make it a double pie in the face. here it is, oh, justin. come on, you he deserve it. in your eye, in your eye, yeah, it stingz a little. but at least he comes away with the win, that is the porp thing here. reds end up winning 4-0. chicago blanked the first time in the last two games. for cincinnati, the win snaps the season high eight-game losing streak. now lehr is not exactly a household name. this is his second career start. both have been in the last week. hadn't pitched since the 06 season before last thursday. this is the first time reds pitcher has shutout the cubs at home since tom browning did it in 1986. the last major league pitcher to throw a shutout in his first two career starts was clay buchholz in 2007 when he threw a no-no in his second start. >> rockies caiment into the evening a half game in front of the giants. bottom two here. phillies, already up 2-0. jimmy rollins, his 13th home run of the year. it is his third straight game with the long ball. phillies on top, 4-0. bottom five to the same count. jason werth, that's just showing off. opposite field. 23rd of the year. that is one away from his career high that he set last season. this one though, j.a. hap, troy tulowitzki goes down looking. for happ it's his second career complete game shutout. both have come in his last eight starts. rockies face a shutout for the third time in eight games. runner on second, comes through with an r.b.i. base knock. giants 3, 4, 5 hitters when combined # to 1. eli, right side. let's the bat do the talking while he does the walking. how about a grand slam as his first home run with the jie ro rows. whiteside said afterwards that was frustration coming out. yeah, i'll say. he came in with a 224 batting average. giants have won 8 of 10 games and joe martinez wins his first career start. more importantly, for sab fran, they leap frog the rockies and are a half game ahead of colorado in the nl wildcard. >> to the nfl, eli manning will be one of the highest paid quarterbacks in the nfl thanks to his new contract. he agreed to a six-year, 97.5 million dollars extension with the g men. 35 million guaranteed. manning in the final year of the contract he signed in 2004. >> amidst a new report, this deal places him third in the nfl in terms of average salary. julius pepers signed a one-year franchise tender with the panthers back in 2005. plus, palmer inks the deal that pays him 16.2 million. and he rounds out the top four. espn nfl analyst marcelus weily, a little perplexed by the manning deal. >> eli manning. i don't like to take food out of anyone's mouth. do youy deserve this much money? i don't think so. last year looking at the collapse of your team at the end of the season, losing four of five games including the playoffs because of the loss of plaxico burress is a time when an elite quarterback is supposed to take his team on his back and lead them to the promised land. that didn't happen. but to your credit, you have a super bowl ring. and to your credit, you are playing well. but when you get paid like a top quarterback, elite quarterback and you're not in the top 5 at the quarterback position, that's pretty tough to say. sos eli manning, congratulation, going back to what is the tenth amendment basically saying the tenth amendment says this so that doesn't give you the right to impose this on us and i think 34 states have already passed legislation to that effect. when you get that many states along with others willing to say to washington, d.c. we don't have to take some of these programs i think that is good for being able to change things. >> thank you. >> you're welcome. >> i just can't say god bless you. i'm so glad to see you there on the stage. i know we talked about general race issues and politics, more specifically i'm with you that the republican party is focused on minorities and has written off the whole demographic of the african-american community. especially knowing based on social issues african americans stand up for democrats. the democrats have placed a new set of change on the african-american community based on exploitation, false promises, the republicans have the policies. earned income tax credit, job workfare, school choice, payroll tax cuts, but even if we have the facts if i have the ghats in chicago to go to the community and start -- community activist as well, volunteer. i don't see any volunteers in the community. it discourages me being at the university of chicago which michelle obama started and there's no conservatives and when we go in the community there's a stigma arnoldus white people going to the african and then i know that the two great gentleman who are at this congress, i'm sure you as well have faced being called on kohl tom. my friends are head of republicans, with the top republicans and for those of our brave face this discrimination so would you say when we have the facts but about in the community -- >> you got to be persistent and remember what i said earlier, save the savable. you won't get everybody ears. if your arm and courageous -- don't just go to any particular part of the city. i wouldn't even do that. [laughter] and it's not do a random occurrence or you will become a statistic. [laughter] [applause] but i am singing be consistent and remember we can save the savable. i happen to believe the latest poll, the latest statistic that shows that really in round numbers you have about one third of the people, one-third of the voters, the ones that don't vote, don't worry about them right now, one-third of the voters -- less than one-third, it is now the 20s people consider themselves liberal. the number of people that consider themselves conservative or about the mid 30% of them and then the remainder consider themselves independent. those are the people you go after but remain persistent. thank you. yes, sir. >> i'm samuel from penn state. thank you for speaking. >> before you go on i hate to do this to you but we've got one, too, three, four -- five people? how many people? i can't -- five. everybody gets a minute with either the question and or the answer because in five minutes i've got to go catch an airplane , ya'll. >> i love the fair tax but when i try to talk about it people give me this are you some kind of not look. how do you recommend telling people with a fair tax is even though it's out of the normal range. >> okey if you go to hermancain.com -- [laughter] -- i've written what i call the abc's of the fair tax. i've taken every letter of the alphabet and given an attribute of this year tax. that's an easy way to get people going. print of a copy of that -- is on my radio show page by you can get to the radio show. start with the abcs. and then you've got neil bortz's -- start them off easy with the abcs because they are all going to sit down and read the book. start them with the abcs. i did that because i got that same call one night. how do i get people to at least get started? combat to 80 seats. try that. >> thank you. >> you're welcome >> i wanted to ask a question, you mentioned at one point that a vote for the other guy or not a vote for your guy is like a vote for the other guy. i'm proud to say that i voted not for john mccain but for bob barr because i felt both parties need a message. you mentioned we needed to use our voice and vote. do you feel that it is important to use your voice and vote not just to send a message to one party that both parties? >> yes, absolutely. to send it to both parties. you know, the republicans -- some republicans are starting to say we heard you. and yes, tony perkins said the same thing. it is important to send a message to both. even if your congressman or senator is having a town hall meeting, even if you think they are conservative and you think they are republican, go anyway. because they need encouragement that you do support the conservative position because they could be talked out of it because of some wheeling and dealing that may be going on, so it is important to send a message to both parties. >> thank you. >> you're welcome. >> my name is stephanie hernandez from lone star community college in houston, texas. first let me say thank you very much for being here and for that animated speech. first let me say i do not support any of obama's health care reforms and i realize that he is using sob stories of the uninsured to bolster his policies, but as someone who has had personal experience with being on insured and the fact there are people who are uninsured in this country including the 9.5 unemployed who have no means for long-term health care, could you tell me if there could be changes in health care policy that do not involved taxing people or taking money away and also meet conservative ideals? >> the first three things i would do, you never hear about this because the mainstream media don't want you to hear what the proposals on the other side. first, level the playing field in terms of tax deductibility who owns their insurance. that has -- that has prevented new products from going to the market. in other words the employer can take a deduction but if you buy yourself -- you cannot take a deduction so as a result, they make it in respect of who bought it, a tax deduction under the current system that lowers the cost of people who would be able to go out and buy it themselves. the second thing i would do is allow what is called association or the group health plans across state lines. right now you can do it across state lines as an example what if all of the barbers in america wanted a berber's health insurance plan? they can do it because of the rules. remove the barriers, but they are called in washington association health plans. that's another thing you can do. the third thing i would do if they are so concerned about making health insurance affordable for people who currently do not have it, allow them to by a policy to participate in medicare. at least they would have something by you know why they don't offer the alternative? they would have to defend the deficiencies in medicare. here's the fourth idea, if you really want to help the people that do not have it chronically or for whatever reason, and i believe in helping people, what do we do with people who can't negative? we get the food stamps. so why not get a health insurance voucher to help people buy their insurance? but first make the tax deductibility the same for the individual as well as the and one year. those are quicksteps of the top of my head. >> thank you. >> you're welcome. >> i am valerie pratt. yesterday an article was published, and that's at the white house said republican anger towards the health care reform comedy form now, was manufactured. what else can we do besides the parties to throw out that we don't like this so that they can't even tell us any more that they are manufactured? >> that is a false claim, they want to marginalize and minimize the people upset and frustrated. the all the things i would suggest as i indicated, go to the town hall meetings, take as many of your friends that will go. you don't have to get disorderly, it doesn't have to be a shouting match. as a matter of fact the one they keep pleading is the one that turned into a shouting match. i can assure you there were probably 25 others where it didn't get into a shouting match. it was very simple. but the media stream lapdog like i said want to help marginalize what is going on. so just continue to go come state your case, go on with the facts. in fact, i wrote a commentary, guess where you can find it. [laughter] very good. you all are paying attention. i wrote a commentary entitled "seven ways to make health care in america better." and i wrote another one that said "seven questions that president obama and the democrats cannot answer." you get those when you go to the town hall meeting and i will give structure. i'm not saying that's the only stuff out there. people write a lot of good articles by making it easier for you. go and go in big numbers. last question. >> my name is eric a sybil's from houston, texas. i was ecstatic to hear that you ran for office and was wondering if you're considering doing that again. and furthermore, in 2010, houston democrats' stated they want to make a showcase and have president obama come and speak. i was wondering if you would consider speaking, too, in houston. >> yes. bring it home. [applause] contact my office. and i tell you what -- let me answer the second one first. yes, i would consider cutting for an event in houston as well as a lot of them, but keep in mind that it's all based upon availability. but if the president is going to come down and try to draw a big crowd and you guys want to put something together and when i come and speak i won't need a teleprompter. [cheering] i promise, i won't need a teleprompter. [cheers and applause] now the answer to your first question but i consider running again, this is the absolute honest truth, i'm still praying about it because. [cheers and applause] i do believe in the power of prayer. the last time i ran for office i had to pray about it, and this is the duty about the power of prayer. when you pray about it and pray about it and know in your heart it is something that you're suppose to do you never look back. you never looked back so i don't regret running but i'm still praying about when and if i am supposed to run again. i'm going to leave you all with this. you contact my office. i would love to be down there for that. let me leave you all with the s. all of you are younger than i am. that is obvious. but let me assure you that what you are doing can and will make a difference. one of the lessons i learned from dr. benjamin mays, president of morehouse college when i was a student there, he constantly reminded no matter how old you are to always keep in mind as you are on life's journey, as a manic, forced upon you can't refuse it, didn't seek it, didn't choose it, but it's up to you to use it. you must suffer if you lose it. give an account if you abuse it. just a tiny little minute, but your e eternities and it. conservatives will not surrender. [cheers and applause] several over the next several and worse for senate debate on the supreme court nomination of judge sonia sotomayor. majority leader harry reid has announced a final vote on the nomination will have then thursday afternoon at 3 p.m. eastern. wednesday speakers included samet terse mel martinez, kit bond, john cornyn, al franken and a group of women senators. >> senator of minnesota is recognized. >> thank you, mr. president. thank you, mr. chairman for those remarks on behalf of judge sonia sotomayor for a very strong nominee. s chairman of the senate judiciary committee i want to thank you and senator sessions for the way you conducted the confirmation hearing, the dignity shown to the nominee in that hearing. i think that was very important to the process. we may not have agreed with the conclusions some of the colleagues reached but no one can argue it was conducted with great dignity. today i will be speaking in support of judge sotomayor's nomination but first i am going to be joined by several of my esteemed fellow women senators including senator shaheen of new hampshire who is here already. senator stabenow of michigan, senator jalabert and from new york and senator murray of washington state. we all know that this nomination is history making for several reasons but one of them of course it is judged sotomayor will be only the third woman to ever joined the supreme court of the united states of america. we know she's incredibly well qualified and has got more federal judicial experience than any nominee for the past 100 years. that's something that's remarkable. but i do think it is worth remembering what it was like to be a nominee for this court as a balm and even just a few years ago. it's worth remembering for example when justice o'connor graduated from law school the will be offered after graduating from stanford law school were legal secretary positions. justice o'connor graduated third in her class in law school saw her accomplishments reduced to one question, can she type. justice ginsburg faced similar obstacles when she entered harvard law school she was one of only nine women in a class of more than 500. the dean of the law school demanded she justify why she deserved a seat that could have gone to a man. later she was passed over for a prestigious clerkship despite her impressive credentials. nonetheless both of these women persevered and they certainly prevailed. there on the bible merits try of those who sought to deny them opportunity. the women who came before judge sotomayor, all of those women judges helped blaze a trail and although judge sotomayor's record stands on her own, mr. president, she is also standing on those women's shoulders. i'm pleased to recognize several women senators here today to speak in support of judge sotomayor, and the first is my great colleague from new hampshire, senator shaheen. >> senator from new hampshire is recognized. >> thank you, mr. president. i'm delighted to be here to join the senior senator from minnesota, senator klobuchar, and to speak also after the senior senator from vermont, my neighbor, senator leahy, in support of sonia sotomayor. this week we have the opportunity to make history. to make history by confirming the first hispanic and only the third woman to the united states supreme court, and senator klobuchar spoke eloquently about the challenges women have faced and i'm pleased to say i have the honor as governor of appointing the first woman to the new hampshire supreme court. and i come today to the floor to speak in support of sonia sotomayor's nomination. however not because of the historic nature of the nomination but because she is more than qualified to sit on the supreme court, and i am somewhat perplexed by white vote on her nomination will not be unanimous. judge sotomayor is immensely qualified. the nonpartisan american bar association standing committee on the federal judiciary which has evaluated the professional qualifications of nominees to the federal bench since 1948 unanimously, unanimously rated sotomayor as well qualified to be a supreme court justice after carefully considering her integrity, professional competence and judicial temperament. her decisions as a member of the second circuit court of appeals are well within the judicial mainstream of the cou.
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