everyone understand the hype around him. they think actually it is funny. >> joking bit earlier. he had to turn off his phone and not turn on tv last week. that's the only way you cannot be affected by the tension. i don't know what i would do if i were in his shoes. how many expectations, and -- just -- that's tough to do. with all -- you know, all the -- anticipation and all the people going to koumt. i think he's -- got the right mindset where he will try to forget about it and pitch. >> the magnitude of it is -- it is -- feeling that and he's trying to -- trying to be respectful of everybody who is saying anything to him. so i -- i think that -- you know, maybe too much can get said. i just basically wished him luck and -- reminded him that this is just like syracuse, you know. i think he will be fine. >> reporter: jim riggleman and company expect strasburg to go about six innings and in case something special going on. everybody here is just very excited to see what he's able to do. you have to understand that a world of pressure is on his shoulders. i'm told by teammates that have been around him all day he seems calm and ready to go. >> you know he will be relieved to get the first one over with. >> reporter: you know, no doubt. and you have to think, though the second one probably is going to be a lot of hype, too. maybe by the third one he will be getting in the groove. >> maybe by the end of the season. >> reporter: yes. >> thanks, lindsay. more from lindsay coming up. our coverage continues with craig melvin outside nationals park with more on the fans coming in for the big game. hey, craig. >> reporter: what's up, doreen? you know, so far traffic not a problem. metro seems to be running smoothly. lindsay just mentioned strasburg seems to be pretty calm. fans not so much. guys walked up and said he's already nicknamed it and start calling him the strasmanian devil. that's the crowd where this is -- folks going in for about an hour and after half now. unless you were willing to shell out a small fortune the only tickets available today were nose-bleeds or standing room only tickets. we are told hundreds showed up to snag one of those tickets and looks like a near perfect weather and the fellow named stras burk forced a lot of people to leave work early today and -- and stand in line. they stood around. some of them for an hour or two when the gates opened at 4:30. they poured in. there was a guy named curt that was at the front of the line. >> i came up this morning and i got here about 12:30 to get tickets to see the nationals play the pirates and see stephen strasburg pitch. i'm first in line so whatever -- there are nose bleed section seats. it is no big deal. it is a lot of fun. >> reporter: so far, getting here has not bench of a problem. traffic was -- as you can see here, relatively light when we shot this video an hour ago. it picked up considerably since. but it is not nightmarish yet. maybe that's because many drivers metroed to the park instead. they added trains to help fans get to the park. that helped but the trains were still pretty packed. one family met and didn't mind the crowd one bit. >> it was fun. everybody is -- we sat in the car, practicing for the playoffs already. >> no major crowds. >> crowds, yes. you about everybody is in a great mood. you know, people are wishing each other happy s -- merry strasmus. >> reporter: everybody has a nickname. now, this is something that metro is saying. it is -- easy to get folks into these games because you can sort of stagger that. when the baseball game ends, everyone pretty much leaves at the same time. larger the crowd, the more difficult it is to get into the metro. and they say that they are going to keep people at street level tonight so that it does not get too overwhelming underground. anticipate a massive crowd and when this game ends. we will have lots more coming up tonight on "news4 at 11:00." craig melvin, nats stadium. >> thank you, craig. we will hear more from the fans as our live team coverage continues a 6:30. 60 days since the rig explosion and crowd continues to pollute the gulf of mexico. there are signs of progress tonight. newly installed containment cap over the broken well is reducing the amount of oil leaking out. but as you can see from this live underwater camera the situation is still not good. jay gray is in venice, louisiana, with the latest tonight. >> reporter: officials continue to say these images from the floor of the gulf are pictures of progress. >> recover 14,842 barrels. >> reporter: news the containment cap is collecting more oil comes as at least one government scientist warns there's likely more oil to collect. >> amount of oil coming out seems to keep own creasing. >> reporter: the doctor is part of the federal team trying to determine exactly how much crude is spilling into the gulf. he believes that number has increased dramatically. and blames the failed top kill for an essence clearing the way. >> if you clean the pipes in your house, the -- plumbing flows much better and that's what is now happening. we have a much better plumbing flow of oil into the ocean. >> reporter: what's not flowing, according to the doctor, is information from bp. >> what we have seen over these six weeks is absolutely no data and no scientists, no independent and bp has made our life almost impossible. >> reporter: that lack of communication apparently stretches all the way to the top of this disaster. in an interview on the "today" show this morning, president obama acknowledged that since the rig explosion and including three visits to the region, he's never spoken to bp's ceo tony hayward. >> and we are communicating to him every single day exactly what we expect of him. >> reporter: members of the super bowl champions saints on hand hoping to raise spirits and in an area that desperately needs a win. >> i can't think of anything else that would lift this other than the oil disappearing to lift our spirits more than the saints. >> reporter: it is also a somber reminder here. the team will likely be back on the field in august before engineers find a way to stop the flow. saints quarterback drew brees announced that today's rally the team will raffle a super bowl ring with the proceeds going to those most affected by the spill. in vince, louisiana, jay gray, news4. >> president obama returns to the gulf coast on monday and tuesday for an update on the oil spill. the white house says that he will visit mississippi, alabama, and florida. doreen? >> police in frederick, maryland, say this arrested a mother who left her child alone in a car for four hours so she can get high. marian larman was arrested at a motel 6 in frederick just after 7:00 this morning. the police say they were called there after somebody saw a child strapped into a car seat and all alone in larman's car. police say they found larman asleep in a motel bathroom and under the influence of drugs. she was arrested and the child is now staying with relatives. a judge in charlottesville, virginia, decided to allow the public to cease some of the documents in the ongoing murder investigation. love was found dead in her home last month. her ex-boyfriend, george huguely, is charged with her murder. today a judge decided to unseal the reason why search warrants and other documents are being kept secret. those documents were previously sealed to prevent potential jurors from getting too many details before the trial. another picture-perfect day outside. i hope you got a chance tone joy it for a while. by this time tomorrow, we could see some stormy weather. meteorologist veronica johnson is in our weather center with details. big changes. >> big changes, indeed, doreen. stormy weather and gusty thunderstorms tomorrow. probably even a handful of warnings coming our way. like i said i hope you got a chance to enjoy today because it was straight out of mid may. 78 degrees. that's where the temperature is now. 78 degrees. but -- not only has it been cool today but humidity has been very, very low. dry air and you saw that pretty blue sky. gorgeous throughout the entire mid atlantic region today. northwesterly winds and out of the west. eventually later on we are going to see clouds moving in. and by early tomorrow morning, overcast skies, 63, 62, showers, light showers to start the day tomorrow. as we said, it is going to turn stormy tomorrow. pick up anywhere from a half to an inch of rain out of this storm system. and then we are not done, more pattern changes for us this weekend. hot and humid again. a look at the 7-day forecast in a few minutes. >> already. thanks, veronica. stocks managed to gain ground today after yesterday's big tumble. comments from fed chair ben bernanke said he didn't expect to go back into a recession. the average is still shy of the 10,000 mark. the nasdaq slipped three. the s&p gained 12. coming up on "news4 at 6:00," man once questioned in the disappearance of natalee holloway confesses to the murder of another woman in peru. >> accident involving a vintage plane closed a runway at reagan national airport today. >> voters in virginia and across the country are headed topolls tuesday primaries. another live report from nats park where fans are arriving for stephen strasburg's debut. the mexican government is forming a deadly protest over the shooting after 14-year-old boy at the u.s. border yesterday. law enforcement officials gave this account of the incident to nbc news. they say border patrol at were investigating the apparent smuggling of several illegal immigrants near el paso. one person was detained at a levee near the crossing. a second agent arrived on a bicycle and detained a second person. u.s. officials say the rest of the suspects surrounded the second agent and pelted him with rocks. he fired his gun several times and killed a teenage rock thrower. mexican authorities say the u.s. used excessive force. american officials say the area where the shooting happened is high crime and that border patrol agents are pelted with rocks there so often the practice has become known as rocking. a reported murder confession today from joran van der sloot. a police official says that the dutchman has admitted to killing peruvian business stun stephany flores. and van der sloot's motive is reportedly linked to his past. as a suspect in the disappearance of natalee holloway. brian mooar now with the latest from lima, peru. >> reporter: the top peruvian government official is confirming to nbc news that joran van der sloot did confess to the killing of stephany flores. why did he do it? according to one newspaper account, van der sloot told authorities that it had to do with a laptop he found stephany flores on his laptop in his comput computer, his hotel room, and discovered his involvement in the infamous natalee holloway case. she confided in him about it according to the newspaper account and van der sloot told police that he flew into a rage and killed her. that she had no right to be looking into his private life. authorities continue this investigation. reporters have been waiting here all day for van der sloot to show up to this homicide scene for a walk-through. recreation of the crime that's custom airy in peru. reporters continue their wait. authorities continue their investigation. in lima, peru, brian mooar, nbc news. >> news of van der sloot's confession comes on the same day as a new center is opened in natalee holloway's memory. and her mother was here in washington for the event. julie carey will have more on natalee holloway and resource center coming up at 6:55. election news. voters are going to the polls in 12 states today. including virginia. later tonight we will know just how rough it may be for incumbents in this election year. steve handelsman has our report. >> reporter: arkansas democrat senator lincoln could be the third incumbent u.s. senator denied renomination. >> problem is i'm being totally misrepresented. >> reporter: she's under attack from the left by unions and environmentalists. >> blanch lincoln has taken more oil and gas money than any other u.s. senator. >> reporter: the challenger is lieutenant governor bill halter. >> on the verge of winning a race against a 16-year incumbent. >> reporter: incumbents are in trouble. in today's "washington post" poll just 29% of voters were inclined to vote for their house member. all-time low. especially bad news for barack obama's democrats. >> there is a stronger dynamic that's out there of voters being unhappy with where the country is and right now there's only one party in charge. it is not republicans. >> reporter: republican in-fight cog help unpopular senate democratic leader reid and sharon angle lead a bruising gop race in prevote polls. she is back bid the tea party and polls shows losing support nationally. >> all right. there we go. >> reporter: in california, former hewlett-packard ceo republican carly fiorina is campaigning against barbara boxer. >> make it listen and work. grow jobs, cut spending and retire barbara boxer. >> reporter: the former boss of ebay, meg whitman, was leading prevote polls in a republican gubernatorial primary. the same for state rep vickie haley in the south carolina gop governor's primary. it is shaping up as a big day for republican women. and for women ceos moving into the world of politics. steve handelsman, news4, capitol hill. >> in virginia, one of the biggest races is between the two candidates hoping to square off against democrat jerry connelly in the district and encompasses fairfax and prince william counties. oakton businessman keith fimian is going up pat herrity for the seat. turnout so far is said to be low but there is still time to vote. polls will be open until 7:00. when we come back tonight on "news4 at 6:00," studies are under way to figure out if drivers should be able to go faster in some parts of virginia. >> a traffic stop involving a woman driving almost 100 miles an hour turned into a special delivery. veronica is back to tell us what could be a wet wednesday. we will be right back. you really couldn't ask for a better night for a baseball game. >> you could not. near perfect. what do you mean near perfect? >> demanding. >> this is gas as it gets. >> it is. humidity really low. about as low as you can get for a day in early june around here. temperatures, of course, cool. we had the 90s already. today under the 80-degree mark. whether it was jogging or biking. down by hains point. refreshing, the air. and kind of crisp and cool to start today. 60 was the low temperature at reagan national. other neighborhoods that started out in the upper 40s. high today is 79. that was right before 4:00 today. and meanwhile, you know, we could use rain around here. get into the form of severe weather. the last 30 days, reagan national, in and around 25% below to normal rainfall, go back 90 days and 25 to 50% below normal. your temperature right now is at 78 degrees. your dew point temperature is at 42 degrees with humidity at 77%. and a light north to northwesterly wind so temperatures start falling off we will get to 70 by 9:00 and then 65 degrees by 11:00 p.m. again, with clouds really increasing and moving in quickly after the midnight hour. 78 in hagerstown. pittsburgh at 71. 8 on degrees in raleigh, north carolina. and it is not just refreshing here but all the way down south and into the carolinas. dew point temperatures have been in the mid 50s today. northwesterly wind is -- you can see the clouds right behind me. coming into areas of ohio and showers, too. just west of columbus, ohio, right now. so high pressure moves out, folks, next weather system will be moving in. already rain, too, coming through detroit. bigger storms, gusty thunderstorms, have been down here. just south and east of st. louis, missouri. southern areas of i will and i will around our area tomorrow between about 2:00 and 8:00 p.m. tomorrow where we could have gusty thunderstorms of our own. now i don't think we are going to see rainfall like this. look at kirksville, missouri. 3 1/2 inches, 4 inches of rain. 74 degrees. had winds gusting up to 46 miles per hour today. over three inches of rain in carbondale, illinois. coming down here and a lot of the spots are the same locations that have, of corporation, severe weather over the weekend. with -- with the tornado from ohio all the way into illinois and iowa. so there's the low pressure system. we will still same ingredients upper-level winds from west to east. and low-level winds out of the southwest. so even around here, i think tomorrow afternoon is -- feasible that -- main threat will be that of damaging winds do i think we can have tornado warnings come out for our area. the main risk area will be just west of d.c. so spots like fauquier county, prince william county, and washington county, and maryland, berkeley, jefferson, down through rappahannock and culpeper county, those are the locations that will have to watch and as the system moves from west to east and into our area tomorrow afternoon. so -- your forecast for the evening, gorgeous as we go through the early part of the night. so mostly clear. clouds will be increasing. your temperature will drop from 75 to about 67 degrees. still out of the northwest and then by the time we get to tomorrow morning, winds will be more out of the south and southeast. cloud cover easily first thing around sunrise and the light rain showers will be starting 5:00, 6:00 a.m. then that -- rain will start to pick up in intensity for the afternoon. so cloudy conditions and rain is likely for tomorrow. you are going to need your rain gear. again, heavy at times. with the thunder, severe weather all possible between about 2:00 and 8:00 p.m. tomorrow. drop from 78 to the low 70s throughout the afternoon tomorrow as the rain cooled air comes in. and 85 is the temperature for thursday. we will be spending thursday clearing out. and beautiful weather for friday. and -- as well as low humidity, 82 degrees, the high temperature. saturday, high 83 to 85. it will be humid this weekend. and we should have temperatures getting back into the upper 80s on sunday and back to summer heat for the second half of the weekend. but stormy again. i'm sure i will have another busy afternoon right here. >> for tonight, we are going to just -- >> enjoy it. >> all right. thanks, veronica. coming up in our next half hour of "news4 at 6:00," we are just over half an hour away from the debut of nats pitcher stephen strasburg. we will head back down to the ballpark to see how fans are getting ready. >> also, some delays at reagan national airport today when a plane flying to promote a new movie flips over on the runway. >> airports changing the way it screens airline passengers. the new high-tech system they are using is controversial. >> whitman high school has announced another journalist to speak at commence many ceremonies days african selling helen thomas' appearance. coming up in sports, it feels like christmas for nats fans. we will recap stephen strasburg's route to the big leagues. also, how do his teammates feel about his debut? you will had a hear from the just over a half an hour, new era begins for the washington nationals. that's our top story at 6:30. the team's rookie pitcher, 21-year-old stephen strasburg, will make his major league debut tonight. >> nats fans have been feeling strasburg fever. some even lining up before sunrise today at a chance for a ticket to tonight's game. time's tom sherwood is the s in the middle of it all right outside the ballpark with what they hope to see tonight, tom. >> reporter: even "the wall street journal" has a story today other stephen strasburg. and this is rosie. she is the only living thing down here without a ticket. this is better than opening day. the weather is great.