>> johnny: can john lannan e the stopper or will mother nature get in the way again? how about mother nature taking a

permanent va case. let's -- vacation. let's have a nice afternoon, early evening of baseball. adam dunn is ready. he will move from left field to 1st base. give nick johnson the day off. nationals against the cincinnati reds. i'm johnny holliday for bob carpenter along with rob dibble. when you talk about pitching, this ball club over the last 7 games have been pitching pretty darned good. >> tom: yeah. the starters are starting to kick it into high gear. they have thrown really well. 3.5 runs per game. average innings over 6 which is quality starts for me and the opposition only hitting about .217. in the john lannan's last start against the new york mets where he threw his last ever complete game in a 7-1 defeat. that was a very got outing. helped his cause there with a base hit down the left field line. so, john lannan is on the hill gets to try to continue the great starting pitching that we have been getting so far, johnny and that is the key.

if they can go out there and pitch 6 strong, 7 strong and kick it over to the bullpen who has been doing a great job, there's john lannan warming up. love the blue top look we have today. that is your job. get 6 or 7 and get the bridge and get it over to the bullpen and then to the closer and you have a shot. >> johnny: during the ballgame, we will cover the bases with adam dunn all the cliches. we will be back and have the first pitch in a moment t. nats try to win -- moment. the nats try to win game three. e to chili's. something new is on the grill. try chili's new fire-grilled quesadillas, starting at just $6.99. like our bacon-ranch chicken quesadilla, flame-grilled tortillas layered with all white meat chicken, applewood smoked bacon, jack cheese, and ranch dressing. they're crispy on the outside, melted to perfection on the inside. you've never tasted quesadillas like this before. new fire-grilled quesadillas, starting at just $6.99. only at chili's.

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2.    >> johnny: a little day affair today at the nation's capital. washington is 4-12 overall in day ballgames and at home they

have won two and dropped six. so far so good. keep the rain away. looks like we will get this baby in, rob. it would be nice to get a complete game in and overwork the ground crew. >> rob: we want to see how good they can get that tarp on and off the field. >> johnny: you have got the stopwatch on them. brandon phillips and the reds, .423 average with 19 rbis. the nats take the field. the nationals 2-6 in the homestand. scored 17 runs in wins. only 7 in the losses and only two runs the last two ballgames. cristian guzman at least one hit in nine of his last ten games against the reds. so, salute to our united states navy today. >> rob: my brother was on a submarine in the navy. it is navy day. >> johnny: make sure we let the folks know about that.

>> rob: absolutely. we love our military people. >> johnny: and we will take a look at the southwest starting line-ups now for the nationals. they will go with -- we will go to the reds. hairston leading off, taveras, phillips at second for the reds, on on johnny gomes and hernandez, bruise in right, gonzalez at sort, rosales and micah owings. jay bruce, 14 homeruns against right-handed pitchers and there's john lannan coming off probably the best effort he has had against the mets this past saturday. >> rob: yes, johnny. he is going out there facing a pretty decent reds line-up. but he face add pretty good mets line-up and went a complete game in his 49th career start. let's give you the pnc scouting

report. 50th career start. 5 e.r.a. on the road. higher on the road than at home. he does very well at home. 2-0 with a 1 plus earned run average. 6 or 7 in strong, give this team an opportunity to win and you have done your job. >> johnny: let's take a look at the nationals defense. they will take the field this way. and you will find cristian guzman at swords, dunn moves from left field to first and kearns in right and nieves will be catching john lannan. and the first pitch of the ballgame is taken far called strike. the weather, 80 degrees, partly cloudy skies. first pitch in the books. 4:37 in case you want to keep that at home. lannan delivers fastball high. hairston .250 batting average, 7

homers, 4 stolen bases. not a bad lead-off batter, rob. >> rob: no. but facing a very tough opponent right here at home. 2-0 with a 1.70 e.r.a. as opposed to the road, 30 innings pitched. 1-5. >> johnny: last night 1-6 in that 12-inning affair. guzman behind the bag at second fires to first. didn't get him. hairston staf as he beats it out. >> rob: hairston with really good speed getting down the line. still a fantastic play by cristian guzman. having to do a 360-turn around behind 2nd base. check this out. first you have to catch it and then spin and throw a nice throw. good hop right there and adam dunn kicks it over at first you see hairston diving for 1st base. yes. they say if you dive it doesn't necessarily make you faster. i don't know if i believe that

or not. i think his hand got in there because he dove. if he tried to run through like a sprinter, you might not get in there. >> johnny: taveras lays down the bunt. nieves goes to second for the force. for some reason, hairston wasn't running full speed. >> rob: he saw it go up in the air and obviously he didn't know it hit the ground otherwise he would have been running earlier. this ball is hit up in the air by taveras. and he is dead to rights out at 2nd base. look at hairston caught between -- up in the air. that is why you have got to get that bunt down. when they say get it down. try not to have it pop up like that. >> johnny: taveras on first on the force out at 2nd base. we have got one down in the top of the first. johnny holliday for bob carpenter. you guys head to tampa for a weekend series tomorrow night. >> rob: we know we can't get rained out there.

they have a roof. >> johnny: a lot of ball clubs don't really like playing in that particular atmosphere down there. >> rob: yeah. it never really affected me where i played. i think it was more a question of the noise level down there at tropicana field with all those cow bells during the playoffs, world series last year, it can get a little intense if you are not used to that. >> johnny: yep. >> rob: but you have got to try to block that out. >> johnny: brandon phillips in the series is 2-9. check swing and a ball popped down behind the dugout area. >> rob: a lot of overhangs, speakers, cat walks and things. it wasn't the most well built facility that i have ever seen. but i think it is pretty cool. >> johnny: unusual situation for the foul pole. >> rob: yeah. unusual situation. and so, comes out of the roof. ball jumps out of there a little

more than i think mlb thought it would in the beginning. it wasn't a great field for the tampa rays for many, many years until last year. fist winning season -- first winning season ever. first time they won more than 70 games. >> johnny: lannan today with his 13th start for the nats. line-drive to left field and phillips has a base hit. the reds threatening here and brings up the clean-up hitter, gomes. >> rob: when he gets in trouble, he's got to see a double-play ball right here to try to get himself out of the inning. >> johnny: will nieves will call

time for a moment. johnny gomes had that rbi double last night. of course the reds went on to win it in that marathon 4-2. nny gomes had that rbi double last night. of course the reds went on to win it in that marathon 4-2. gomes .345 batting average. no balls and a strike with one away. >> rob: the reds clubhouse this morning to pay my respects. >> johnny: was the door locked? >> rob: no. actually, one of their coaches, mark berry, i go back almost 30 years with mark berry. he had a conversation or two about some old times. i talked to jonny gomes. remember i said the first night this young man was having a heart attack. so, he was telling me now every time someone hears that story about him having a heart attack, about 2 days later, they start

having a heart attack. [laughter]. >> rob: i don't feel so good. he tries not to tell too many people about it. >> johnny: mark berry, coaching at third. check of the runners. two on and two out. >> rob: mark and i -- [audio indiscernible]. >> rob: he has been with that organization 20 plus years. >> johnny: runners going. the throw to second and got him. got him at 2nd base. >> rob: nice. >> johnny: brandon phillips is out. and now, went you talk about catchers throwing out runners this year, will nieves is now is 4-23. >> rob: yeah. in the last couple of games he has thrown out a couple of base runners and he is starting the

find himself here as far as arm strength. were nice tag. a lot of catchers will fake to second and throw to third. so, that was actually a very nice play by the nationals. >> johnny: and i think nieves i'm imagining, rob, figured he had no shot at getting taveras at 3rd base. >> rob: when he went out there and talked to his defense, that is what he is doing. he is giving signs and he is telling them listen, if there's a double steal, i'm throwing through and that is how they communicate. nice job. >> johnny: two down and taveras down at 3rd base and the 2-2 to jonny gomes. fouled back in the reds dugout.

13th start for john lannan. 2-1 when facing teams outside the east when he is pitching. 11th start since opening day effort against florida, 3-4. e.r.a. of 3.04. and the 2-2. swung and high pop-up behind shortstop. guzman drifting out. willingham coming in. josh will call off, cristian makes the catch end of the top of the first. we go to the bottom of the first. - it's on. - ( music playing throughout ) - it's on. - oh, it's on, all right. - it's on. - totally on. jimmy, it's on. - it's on. - oh, yeah, it's on. affirmative, it's on. announcer: southwest airlines announces new service out of bwi airport, with three daily nonstop flights to new york laguardia for just 49 dollars one-way starting june 28th. grab your bag. it's on. - ( ding ) - book now at southwest.com.

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>> johnny: reds don't score at the top of the first. we go to the bottom of the 1st inning. cincinnati got two hits in the top of the first. starting line-ups for the nationals. cristian guzman leads off. alberto gonzales, ryan zimmerman, adam dunn, elijah dukes, josh willingham, austin kearns, will nieves and john lannan will finish it. micah owings. opponents hitting .274 against him and he is almost as good a hitter as dibble was. 2-5 in 63 games for the reds. >> rob: i hit 500 during the year. >> johnny: it was rbi in that game, too. >> rob: i know. >> johnny: two for your career? >> rob: yep. two for my career and here's the

key, i used joe oliver's bats because there's plenty of hits and jeff green was a left-handed catcher and i used his helmet. >> johnny: i think in defense of your hitting, had you had more -- you only went to the plate 25 games. right? >> rob: yes in 7 seasons. >> johnny: and you didn't strikeout that many times. >> rob: 5-25. i was a contact guy. they made a lot of amazing plays out there. >> johnny: because we know your soccer ability counts as 2-1 the fact that you are fleet-footed. you never grounded into a double-play if i recall correctly. >> rob: i did not. you do recall correctly. >> johnny: line-drive to right just foul down the right field line.

5-25 works out to .180120 batting average. >> rob: you are cold. >> johnny: cold but honest. >> rob: yeah and that is what we do here. >> johnny: we are happy you are spending thursday afternoon with us. grounded down to 1st base. nice play by rosales. he will take it unassisted and guzman retired. >> rob: let's break down mr. micah owings. silver slugger back in 2007. he can rip it. .333 batting average. 4-11. only four times out of 11 he has gown 6 innings or more, johnny. in his 11 starts this year, 4-11, the reds only have four wins in his 11 starts. good batting average. >> johnny: 11th start for owings this year. delivers. pitch outside to alberto

gonzales. 5-5 as a pinch-hitter. z. 5-5 as a pinch-hitter. the nats couldn't get the winning run across last night and lose be 2. gonzalez, .306 average, 1 homerun with nine driven in. >> rob: they have been hitting so well all year. they are being heavily scouted and they have to adjust to the pitches the pitchers make. they are getting wet pitched. stay away -- getting better pitches. i think a lot of it was their pitchers watching our hitters. >> johnny: gonzalez backs out. three balls and a strike to the nationals 2nd baseman. >> rob: i just thought they were in there blogging or twittering. >> johnny: no they are watching

videos. and the 3-1. gonzalez swings and it is three balls and two strikes. one thing about owings, had a four-game losing streak. >> rob: he is a short-armer for a big guy. you see that running fastball right there. >> johnny: you talk about a up and down season, gonzalez fouls it off back to the right. he also had a nine-game losing streak. in 14 appearances, 10 starts, he went 0-9 and pretty good e.r.a. if you like somebody with a 8.5 e.r.a. my goodness. >> rob: he had a few crashes this year. >> johnny: let's see if the nats can add to that thrashing. nice by gonzalez and draws the walk. we will take a look at that cincinnati defense this

afternoon. you find hernandez behind the plate catching, owings, hairston, gonzalez at subpoena and phillips at second. rosales at first, bruce, taveras and gomes in the reds outfield. cincinnati 31-27 coming into the ballgame today. 17-13 on the road. >> rob: play very well on the road. not playing so well at home. >> johnny: gonzalez with a lead off first and ryan zimmerman. >> rob: they should be taking advantage of great american ballpark. they are not playing so well. they are not generating the same offense. you miss one big hammer in the middle of the line-up and it gives the other teams an opportunity to pitch to you. >> johnny: zimmerman looking for his first base hit off micah owings. he has faced him six times.

ryan in the series 3-9. top of the nats order with guzman and gonzalez and zimmerman, all three batting over.300. you toss adam dunn behind that and elijah dukes, it is a pretty good five somsome to look at. >> rob: -- five some to look at. count is 1-1 to zimmerman. 75 hits and 16 doubles, 41 runs scored. chopper left field. that could be in there but a nice diving grab by jonny gomes. and there's two down. home depot covers the bases today. you can visit home

depot.com/spring more saving more doing. that is the power. we will cover the bases with adam dunn born in houston texas back in '79. 8th year in major league baseball. 5 straight 40-homerun season. could have been united states a college football player has he chosen. >> rob: he was supposed to start at texas. starting quarterback. how about this, ryan zimmerman and milledge tied for homeruns for the season. he has 17 already. >> johnny: zimmerman's got 11. >> rob: he makes everyone around him better. he is like joey bott with the reds. -- votto with the reds. >> johnny: homerun age 4 in tee

ball. i hit my first homerun at age 32 also in tee ball. >> rob: how do you hit a homerun in tee ball? over the fence? it is ante at home plate. -- it is on a tee at home plate. >> johnny: you have a lot of young kids in the outfield that can't run and can't catch the ball and thing bring the ball in. i guess. >> rob: anyway, adam's got to be good -- [audio indiscernible]. >> johnny: imposing figure at 6'6"290. but i don't think you will meet a nicer guy on this ball club than adam dunn. 2-0 fastball. gonzalez at 1st base. adam's numbers for his career.

.347, 295 homeruns and 716 driven in. in three of these years in cincinnati, over a hundred rbis in 2004 and 5 and 2007. rob, when you think about 46, 40, 40, 40, 32, his homerun years -- >> rob: in arizona it was 40 last year. so, he has five straight seasons with 40 or more homeruns and he is tied with only babe ruth for the most consecutive years. if he gets 40 this year he is all by himself. >> johnny: and he draws a lot of walks and he has one there. >> rob: lifetime on base percentage this year of .381 which is very impressive. >> johnny: last year he walked over a hundred times, splitting

his team between cincinnati and arizona. so, the nats have got two on. down at 1st base dunn -- dunn at 1st base, gonzalez at 2nd base. elijah dukes steps in. his average at .262. 1st base umpire rings up dukes with a called strike. >> rob: took a lot of heat last night for getting picked off 2nd base. but as he said he was trying to get a secondary lead. he does have 59 steals in his career. dunn has some wheels. not just a big, slow player. he can run a little bit. >> johnny: owings delivers. the flip to second to brand don phillips and the inning is over. we will talk more and debbi is going to have more on adam dunn. we go to the top of the second

scoreless in washington.

úúpp÷÷ >> we are back and scoreless we move to the 2nd inning. the nats hosting adam dunn's former team. adam's dad said he coached all three of his sons and adam, who was the middle child wasn't always easy to coach. >> coaching adam was hard as anybody could imagine because he always thought he knew