8:00 eastern time the nationals get the victory over the reds and a nice way to head into the evening. have a nice dinner and get pumped up about the tampa bay rays. byron kerr, ray knight with you on nats xtra. missed opportunities. getting the 1st inning going early on. they had chances certainly but left guys on base. >> ray: the last 10 days we have had chances but haven't been able to deliver. ground ball shortstop. fielder's choice there. first, third, single. hit-and-run to advance guzman and he strikes out, durn strike snn strike. not able to -- dunn strikes out. and there's the base hit to right.

and then flying out to right field to end that inning. 7th inning, zimmerman walks. willingham walks. still have runners on first and second. there's the walk to willingham and kearns chases. as we talked about earlier, 12 runners left on base. the only real big inning there i thought was when dunn and dukes struck out with runners on second and third after they advanced on a wild pitch. >> byron: something we noticed at the patience at the plate, making the pitchers try to get the strike. got a couple of balls in there. not going for first or second pitch like they did maybe last night. >> ray: we have been pretty patient most of the year. i didn't think micah owings had tremendous control today. threw the ball pretty well but he walked four guys early and he hit a couple of guys, that set up those innings. it wasn't that we were swinging

the bat. we had a lot of runners on base via the base on ball and hit batters. >> byron: josh willingham of the nationals had the flu, that viral bug a couple of weeks ago. yesterday talked so much about it. today very impressive performance for josh at the plate and in the field. >> ray: he is swinging the bat well. he hit the ball real hard. he ends up walking. gets a base hit. a little breaking ball off the end of his bat. that is what happens when you are going good. he gets a nice hard rocket to left field for his second base hit of the game. line-drive in the 1st inning and he had a walk in there also. >> byron: facing some american league teams coming up. adam dunn throughout dh spot and nick johnson back to first. josh will get plenty of starts the next six games. >> ray: he will. i think manny said adam dunn will be hitting in the dh spot

the whole time. maybe that will relax him. he is late on the ball. he is popping up a lot to left field. let getting started late. i don't know if he is tired. he has played a lot of ballgames. being at dh i was able to do that with the orioles back in 1987 for the first time in my career. i liked it as on as it was only for a day or two. adam, i don't think his bat is throw. i think his -- slow. i think his timing is off because he is getting a lot of balls way back in the hitting zone. he will get that bat going again. >> byron: we will take a timeout. man in acta coming up with his comments and a sweet day for the bullpen. beimel his 4th career save and the first with him and the washington nationals. as you heard rob said, lots of guys can get it done in the bullpen. we will talk about it after this. úú you don't do laundry at the beach.

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>> byron: the nats win. let's look down in the farm to see how they did. triple a international league, that game postponed. that was supposed to be a rehabilitation start for john smoltz. look at the numbers. >> ray: they ared in 3rd inning down two to winston salem. >> byron: very impressive, justin mandel. another homerun for norris, ray, >> ray: i will go back to the john smoltz. that may be the most important thing. game got rained out. he has made four starts. he has gone 17 innings, given up 3 runs. his e.r.a. is 1.56. he is real close to be ready to get back in the big leagues and help the boston red sox. i'm happy he is back healthy.

he is a very dear friend of mine. >> byron: have you scouted a lot of guys with the nationals. this is something that could be in the works. >> ray: i think there's always trades in the works. they are not going to tell you anything. but as the season goes on, the summer goes on, i think the value of these hitters will go up and the therefore you will be able to get a couple of young spros spekts and the way -- prospects and the way we are building pitchers. you can always play adam dunn at first or you trade adam dunn. i don't know what they are thinking. to be able to acquire, especially a team like the red sox who feels like with big papi struggling, they don't need a defensive player. they need a bat and we have a couple of real good left field

handed bats. >> byron: joe beimel getting the final out as we head to another timeout. beimel certainly done the job for the nationals in the last few weeks as he tries to climb back into a nice role in the bullpen. mike macdougal the night before and austin kearns making the final play there. tampa bay is coming up. man in acta coming up. we will talk more after this. now that college is a few years behind me, it seems i've got three times the bills i used to. and they're getting in the way of things i'd like to do. with the money bar, i can move my money around instantly, so when there's more bills than usual, it's no problem. and i use the wish list to put any extra money aside for anything i want. being in control of my money feels good. introducing the virtual wallet from pnc, a high-definition, online view of your money. pnc. leading the way. so, what's the problem? these are hot. we're shipping 'em everywhere. but we can't predict our shipping costs. dallas. detroit. different rates. well with us, it's the same flat rate.

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>> byron: we are at nationals park. welcome back. byron kerr and ray knight with you. manny acta and the media discussing the win. manny was asked about 11 come from behind wins for the nats. >> i thought it was key at-bats. will harris and hernandez put together there and then gonzalez.

obviously not only a big base hit but also the hard slide at 2nd base, which you know was very nice to disturb phillips a little bit. >> your bullpen continues to impress. what do you think of them? >> they continue to pitch well. they have been for a while. we have got to get our offense going again. we struggled again with runners in scoring position. we know we can do it and we are just trying to take that next step. we continue to win a ballgame and take a step back. we need to take that next step and win another ballgame and build up a little winning streak. >> alberto's slide was so key because of the fact the way zimm hit the ball, hit it on the nose but right at the guy. it winds up being a big play. just goes to show you don't quit and make something happen. >> yeah. i don't think effort has been the problem here. and these guys will go all out for nine innings. i think it would have been tough to turn a double-play. zimmerman runs pretty good. it was a little bit to the left of the 3rd baseman and gonzalez

was in the hole. but gonzalez went hard at 2nd base and that had some time of effect on phillips. you play hard and good things will happen. >> he came up limping. >> i think he scraped his side a little bit. but he was okay. we asked him because otherwise we would have kept hernandez in the game. >> how is john lannan doing? >> he did a very nice job for us again. john is over the last four or five doing what he did last year. he goes out every 5 days and gives us a chance to win and throws that sinker. does a good job for us. he gave us an opportunity to stay close to them and tavarez was huge too, those 2 scoreless innings gave us an opportunity to come back. [audio indiscernible].

>> i think john lannan is no longer a kept secret. i think a lot of people are aware of him t. fact -- the fact he had over 20 quality starts last year. they are aware of him. but you are right, i mean if we would have had a better offensive club last year and this year so far, i think his name would pop up a little bit more. but we are fine with that. i mean he is here. we know he is going to pitch for us every 5 days. he is going to be part of the solution. >> debbi touched on it with the bullpen. but the fact that they have pitched the way they have over the last 2-3 week period, with as much maligned as they were as a group, how good is that to see for you and what does it do for their confidence? >> it is good for us and the rest of the ball club. obviously confidence has risen up for them. i think the big part of it has

been having beimel back and having colome and tavarez. those few veteran guys around those other guys to settle them down. i think they have done a very good job. we are not saying we are going to be lights out the rest of the season. hopefully we are, but they have been pitching pretty good for the last 3 or 4 weeks. macdougal was unavailable today. he threw two innings and pitched the night before. >> having all those runners on base, did you feel like once you have got the first two guys on in the 8th, this was going to be different? you were going to get the runs there? >> yeah. i felt like we got the first two guys on with the right people um at the plate. three's no way we are not going pull it off right here. but they still made it tough. we struggled with the bunt there. then gonzalez came up with a big

hit. he didn't get a very good read off the bat. but still, we won and that is what is important. we didn't have a very good homestand but at least we won on get away day and we can build on it. >> heading to tampa. that is a situation where the guys who haven't necessarily played there before, that whole ballpark can cause you a lot of problems with the cat walks and things of that nature. >> yeah. that is going to be an experience but sometimes the unknown can be good. we will go over there and give it our best. give us an opportunity to rest adam a little bit. dh him and get some guys at-bats. we will see. >> byron: manny acta talking about the next team they will play on the schedule. the rays friday through sunday. joined in progress on saturday a little bit after 7 p.m. also first time for the nationals in the yankees brand

new stadium starting tuesday through thursday. byron kerr and ray knight wrapping up as the nationals defeat the reds. time to get a winning streak started in tampa bay, >> ray: if we continue to pitch well and have a chance to win every ballgame and play good defense and get clutch hitting, we can play with those guys. they have struggled. they are 29-31 coming in yesterday. they have pretty good ballplayers down there. longoria one of the best in the business. you know crawford and they have a good pitching staff. garza going tomorrow against us. they are deep. david price. >> byron: yeah. the first overall from last year of course with david price. nationals are going to go with craig stammen. >> ray: he has been able to pitch well. he gave up five runs in the 1st inning but he has been out there throwing strikes. good sinker. fastball. he can get up to 93. good curve ball. 12-6. this is just his 5th start.

he has gone at least 5 innings. his ball moves all over the place, garza. 11-9 last year with 188 innings. he has given up a homerun in every one of his last 6 outings. but he is a guy that throws the ball through the corners with a lot of velocity. straight over the top. nice guy to hit if you like four-seam fastballs. >> byron: the nationals face the world championing in the phillies and now they get the a. l. champions. stammen should be loose and ready to go. >> ray: always feels better to win. that flight will be really good. some guys can relax, smile. you know and play some cards and just in some cases maybe just get some rest. it is hard to rest when you lose all the time. >> sights and sounds, ray good job,

>> ray: thank you. >> the reds get ready -- the nationals get ready for the tampa bay rays. big come back victory, the 11th of the season for the national s s today as they beat cincinnati. the final 3-2. we will see you in tampa bay next for the nats.

>> we're going to send you out to toronto right now. usain bolt running the 100. >> next to him, in lane two is henry of nearby pickerring ontario. he ran for canada in the 4 by 10100 meter relay in the beijing olympics. he's 30 years old. >> in lane three, ivory williams from jefferson county, texas. his personal best is sub10. he's a 27-year-old. and of course next to him is usain bolt. fans are lined ten deep outside this stadium to see the jamaican hero.

they have turned out in droves to see the world's fastest man. >> sean crawford of the united states has been overshadowed by bolt over the last 18 months. he was a silver medalist in beijing in the 200 meters. >> jared of charlotte town pei carries canadian hopes. he won silver with the canadian 4 by 100 meter relay team. he, too competed in beijing. and in lane 8 is bernard williams of the united states.

he was second to sean crawford in a 200 meters in the athens olympics. so an excellent field. six olympians and usain bolt. as bernard williams poses. the focus in lane 4 with crawford next to him. this is a new track in toronto. a little softer than the one he ran on in beijing. and of course it is slickened by rain. but usain bolt is set to step in. and we are set for the men's 100 meters. fastest time of the year, 9.94 by michael rogers last week in eugene, oregon.

>> false starts in what appeared to be lane three or lane 8. you saw williams we saw that infamously in atlanta with lynnford christy. >> that was a tragedy. that was a farce that any athlete would do what he did in that race. but certainly set it up better for bailey. >> so bolt will reset. so 3 and 8 are charged with false starts.

>> bolt loads himself into the starting blocks. >> another false start. this time, it is lane 6, marvin anderson. >> at least it appeared to be.

it's got everyone has to run his own race. this is not man-to-man. this is avoiding that and executing as best you can. so marvin anderson is out. because the first false start effects everyone. we now have a seven-man field. usain bolt is ready to run. next to him is sean crawford. he's said he too has his eye on the london olympics. down to a field of 7.

set again for the men's 100 meters. >> bolt is off quickly. in lane 3, ivory williams trying to hold on. but here comes usain bolt. and the world's fastest man blazes through the finish. unofficially, the time is 9.25 seconds, and usain bolt does not disappoint in tront toe. >> so for sure, the clock has frozen early. that would be beyond a world record. so it is 10 seconds flat for usain bolt. so the timing misfires, but the official time is now 10 seconds for usain bolt. ivory williams second. bernard williams his third. foresight finishes fourth. >> you see the bolt pull up.

will we ever see him go all out in a 100 meters? is. >> i think only if there is a lot on the line, and by some crazy happennen stance somebody is near him. >> he took a quick look at the clock and saw the 9.25, and thought that can't be right. and look at bolt playing to this crowd here. that called lane 9. those fans paid $25 to basically stand on the street outside the stadium and get a glimpse of usain bolt who goes over and says hello to his adoring masses. >> well, he's not just a great competitor. he's a terrific representative of the sport. >> >> so usain bolt, no problem. i don't even know if he broke a sweat, steve. >> well, who could tell with the rain. but look at the world record that usain bolt currently holds.

he had a field day at the olympics last summer. setting the record in the 100 meter and 200 meter races individually. he also ran in the 4 by 100 meter relay in jamaica where another world record was broken. so hopefully you enjoyed that. >> all right, still to come, our top stories. lakers and the magic. we continue to preview as we countdown to game 4 at the top of the hour. plus, a marethon thriller. and you've got to see it to believe it. cubs-astros on the way.