martis behind him 2-0. that will be on the outer half. two balls one strike. jim p.: off-speed pitches seem to speed up his bat. a lot of people think you can trick him. that s hard to do. then if you get behind him, as most young hitters, he ll look for balls he can drive. he recognized the change-up early. i think for a guy like martis, you would think because he throws so many change-ups, that as he goes through the line-up they would recognize unless he makes really good quality pitches. bob: 20 pitches in his second inning. a pitch up and in, a great inside-out swing by markakis and a base hit to left field. neither starter figures to be around very deep tonight in this game, but the recent trend for guthrie much better. bob: here s aubrey huff who walked his first time. rob: including tonight, shairon martis has walked 48 batters on the season and only struck out 31. so that s a way backward strikeout to walks ratio. bob: i did notice in the
bat, but certainly picking it. rob: pick it in the field if you re not doing it with the bat. belliard will be leading off next inning. there you see him spin, take at least the fastest guy off the base pads in felix pie. at least they reduce that number. jim p.: here s gregg zaun. ground ball towards the hole, the other way, this one gets through. gregg zaun has a three-hit game. jim p.: he s been around long enough to know, hey, that s how tony gwynn did it. two of those tonight. he tricked him early on. you re going pitch me away, that s where i ll hit it. he s had a pretty good night. jim h.: he s also able to help the orioles pitchers get out of some serious jams. rob: that veteran leadership behind the plate, doing his best to get the most out of pitchers. he s been a clinic at the plate. doesn t get a lot of playing time. you ve got the new rookie sensation wieters in there almost every day, and he contributes with three hits. jim h.: may be a coincidence,
and if you missed partúxx hi, everybody. happy sunday afternoon to you. nice to have you along with us. nats xtra pregame here on masn. as the nationals try to salvage game three of this big weekend beltway, battle of the beltway series at camden yards, after an 11-1 loss and a 6-3 loss last night. kind of an interesting news coming down last night about the situation involving craig stammen who had started seven games, now he goes to the bullpen for the nats. i m really happy for him. i thought he threw well enough to remain up here and i think it was the right decision to make. he can throw the ball over the plate. he s got the curveball, change- up, that sinking fastball, and i know that he s going to go out there and be able to throw the ball over the plate. he s our first true long guy that we ve had here since i ve been here. davey johnson used to call him the 6th starter. he was a guy in a anytime the game got out of hand early, you had somebody to come in there
bob: some of the young men manny acta was able to visit with from boystown in our nation s capital. i feel like father flanagan with these two up here, jim palmer there, rob dibble. despite a lot of glitches by both pitchers, both are still in the game. jim p.: the score is similar to what it was going in the middle innings last night, then that eight-run inning the orioles were able to come up with. rob: this kind of performance, just what the doctor ordered. shairon martis going out throwing 90-mile an hour fastballs. shairon martis has the change- up and the fastball, keeping the orioles off balance. jim p.: you know this is a game of adjustment. when martis pitched against the orioles, adam jones hit a home run in washington. he is better tonight than he was back then. i know he struggled, but that s what i think you want to see in a 22-year-old pitcher. are you better as the season progresses even though you re going to struggle. that s part of learn
there. jim h.: if you live up in the country, those kind of things are good. there s a walk. so aubrey huff is on and the orioles have two on and two down. let s head downstairs and welcome in amber. nolan reimold is back in the fifth spot. he told me it s where he feels comfortable. dave trembley said realistically he could have been bumped up to the fifth spot about a month ago but he didn t want to overload the rookie with too much too soon. he s a power hitter but he doesn t free swing. he shows discipline. he can draw walks. he can hit to the right side of the field. dave trembley said he credits his ability to listen and also his nature with why he s been able to develop so quickly here in the big leagues. jim h.: thank you very much. you see he s four out of his last eight. eight home runs on the year. he had nine in triple-a before his call up in mid may. joined the team in kansas city. moving up to number five, more responsibility. he s got a good batting eye.