alright. priority mail flat rate boxes only from the postal service. a simpler way to ship. >> bob: in between drops, there was randy johnson's 300 win. a chance to meet the newest member of the nats' family. can they get on a roll against the rays? 15 straight against the a.l. east beginning tonight in st. pete.

>> bob: when you thought the schedule might be getting a little easier, no way. welcome to tropicana field in st. pete. the league-leading hitting tampa bay. this will be interesting with the yankees looming next week. i don't know if it saved the home stand but it sure left a better taste in everybody's mouth last night. >> rob: first and foremost, nice to have you back, buddy. >> bob: thank you, sir. >> rob: you have the american league east coming up. that's not going to be easy. you have to have well pitched starts from our rotation. john la man had a great start and the bullpen gave those guys the opportunity to come back.

you see hernandez with a huge hit on a tough curve ball, a 67 mile-per-hour curve ball. zimmerman got the fielder's choice. they threw the ball away, we scored two runs and took the lead. it was a fabulous game, bob, and it was a heck of a way to end the home stand. the next couple of weeks, this is going to be a test for this ball club. >> bob: rob's test is well taken. when you have a well pitched game, a ground ball, a hustle here and there makes a heck of a difference. let's talk about the bullpen, another reason why the games have been competitive lately. i love what manny says about these guys. your role is to go get outs. forget about who pitches when? >> rob: absolutely. you might pitch from the 5th inning. go out there and throw strikes. julius tavarez was amazing. ron villone has been unstoppable. one run allowed in 15 appearances since coming on to this ball club.

mike mcdougal, he gets released and finds another ball club. and joe beimel, he looks like a reliever. all the chicks dig him. chicks like it when you get your job done. >> bob: debbi taylor has the night off so byron kerr is with us. you have more on this bullpen. >> byron: we talked about that bullpen and it's been a couple of weeks for them as the pitching coach is kind of settling in. so much is made in baseball about who is the middle reliever, who is the guy in the 7th inning. >> i know some guys like to know who is the closer, who is the relief guy. i think guys need to be prepared to pitch. i'm not saying that might not come about or manny and i have not talked about but i like to have guys ready to pitch. >> byron: mcdougal is getting

close with that nice action that he had with the royals. >> bob: it doesn't hurt when mcdougal with throw mid-90s with all that sink. two years ago, the tampa bay rays won 66 games. last year, they won the american league pennant with 100. with young teams, folks, it can be done. ÷÷úp you don't do laundry at the beach. you salt-wash everything and let it breeze dry. knit, delicate, permanent press... the ocean doesn't care. so grab your bag.

. >> bob: nationals on m brought to you by southwest airline. and by aflac. we've got you under our wing. welcome back to one of the most unusual ballparks you will ever see a baseball game in here at tropicana field in st. pete where the rays are 18-12 this year. the nationals bring their 6-20 road record into here. and there are four rings around this ballpark, a, b, c and d. i'm not going to read this word

for word because it would just confuse you. suffice it to say that the bottom two rings, if a ball hits them in fair territory, homerun. if a ball hits one of the top two rings, a or b, right upped the roof in fair territory, keep on running, baby. it's as many as you can get. if it hits one of those rings in foul territory, that's a foul ball. >> rob: only one guy has been able to hit the roof, and that's carlos peqa. you keep on running. if they catch it, they catch it. some of them have lights mounted on them and they on have their own foul pole which is very unusual. ballpark seats 44,000 here on the edge of downtown st. petersburg. and a look at the nag nationals' starting line-up. with cristian guzman.

he really likes interleague play. he is 6th in the league hitting at .327. and, can, the nationals employing the dh, adam dunn. first time the nationals have ever seen matt garza. the former twin is big, strong. he is going to be attacking these guys early and often. giving you the pnc scouting report. he loves to attack strike zones. he will throw 75 to 80% fastballs, has a great hook. .206, that's the batting average against garza. he and dion navarro got into an altercation in texas last year and that's when he said he started to mature as a pitcher and as a person. he is still only 25-year-old, great kid. we have our lights cut out for

us to beat this young man. >> rob: tampa bay, defensively are in the bottom five. they made 42 error this is year. they played on turf a lot. this is an unusual field in that is it turf but has the full cut out on the infield with dirt. carl crawford has five assists and the best known player, of course, evan longoria. manny acta's nats, 16-42 on the year. this is the interleague stretch that we have been looking for, 15 in a row against the rays, the yankees, the blue jay, the red sox, and, again, the orioles.

first pitch scheduled for 7:38. we are about a minute late here as garza throws to guzman. 90-plus outside today and very comfortable, low 70s in here. so guzman batting at .327, on base average at .343. home plate umpire, joe west, tight little zone to start things off. joe west is one of the deans of umpiring in major league, crew chief in his 32nd year. paul nart, paul schneider and paul rapuano. the rest of the crew. >> rob: he can go deep in the

ballgame. >> bob: guzman only walked five times this year. >> rob: you can hear the glove popping over our mikes, he throws low 90s, mid-90s, but he will throw a lot of fastball. he does not even believe that he needs to throw a lot of offspeed stuff. he likes to attack hitters. >> bob: how refreshing is that? >> rob: it's fun for us to watch the young kid, could watch him all night. as i told you, that altercation with dioner navarro made him think more about being a team player. here is belt high, 95, you won't catch up with that. >> bob: 3-2 to guzman and he lines it in left center for a base hit. guzman now is now 10 for his

last 28. and we have talked about this on a number of owe cases. guzman has not scored many first-inning runs often this year. manny does not have a lead to work with this season but, he has two guys at the top of the line-up. nick is now batting at.316. rays at 31-31, starting the weekend 6 back of the red sox. >> rob: i had a chance to talk to jean downstairs and he is

still upset that the yankees strayeded nick johnson away. anybody who doesn't know who gene michaels is, he is head of scouting. >> bob: i was going to ask you, what job does he not have? the red sox are in philadelphia this weekend and yankees hosting the mets. 1-1 to nick. i i let's see if matt garza continues to pound the zone. he is like a bret myers. bret myers will throw 70 to 80 fastballs throughout the start, does not have nearly the velocity that matt garza has. >> bob: nothing unusual for this guy to go over 100 pitches per outing. he has thrown as many as 120 this year. the first two nationals have hit safely here in the top of the 1st. gabe gross charging the ball

and guzman into second right in front of nick johnson, two on and zimmerman now up. >> rob: the one that guzman mit was a little bit lower that he tried to throw 3-2 for a strike. this is the one thing i love about garza. five innings his last start but before that, 7, 6, 6 2/3, 2, 8, 7 2/3, 7 2/3, 7, 7. and that was to start the season, two seven-inning perform ands. he is strong, big and he is confident. and you should be confident. you are at the major league. you should not believe that anybody can hit your stuff. >> bob: i'm a little surprised he had 10 no-decisions last year. he pipd three complete games with a couple of shutouts, made it just to about 185 innings

and he has been untouchable in the 1st inning this year. that is really impressive. >> rob: wow, he can come out smoking out of the bullpen throwing 95 to 99 miles per hour heaters. >> bob: zimmerman gets jammed and he is late for it. and the count is 2 balls and no strike. >> rob: he is not going to make hitters happy. they like to calm down and settle into the game. he comes in as a closer. i can't imagine the minnesota twins trading him away for dellmont dellmont young. >> bob: ryan zimmerman with a tap i. it's one thing i like about garza, that's old style

pitching. one thing i like about garza is he only brings the change-up, the breaking ball when he needs an out. >> reporter: ryan zimmerman still in the top 5 in the league in patting average. this is turk into a long inning for matt garza. 13 pitches already, he has not registered an out. nick johnson got a full count and he pulled one to right field. fastball, taken way down and in, ball 2. zimmerman takes one

at the knees and that's the first out of the game. >> rob: he has opinion changing eye level all of a sudden in the 1st inning, up, down, up, down. and then he comes in here 2, 2, right down broadway, at the knees and zim can't pull the trigger on that. >> bob: here is adam dunn. this weekend, and, of course, in new york in a role that many feel suits him the best of any and that's dh. because of the base runner, the rays, we'll see how they play it later if adam bats with nobody on but they are not employing anything even nearly resembling a shift here. the shortstop is not within 20 feet of playing up the middle.

he is behind guzman. longoria has to stay home at third. and the 0-1 to dunn. adam had a good rip and it's off to the left, 1 ball, 1 strike. adam dunn will be one of the entries on our game note as we get the weekend underway. the rays have been playing very well. they are 16-7 the last 23 interleague games and adam -- the nats are not giving up the long ball. they have given up 54 on the year but they hit 63. tampa bay has given up 70 but they hit 80. adam dunn, right centerfield, base hit. guzman around third. b. j. upton with it, no throw and the nationals are on the board. adam dunn's in the top 6 in the league in rbis, national league, that is, and that's number 45. that's a great approach by a big man, rob, behind in the

count. >> rob: great pitch recognition. this is a little bit harder breaking ball but he recognizes the rotation, sticks with it, comes down and in and he smacks that into centerfield for a base hit. garza is not happy. >> bob: some scattered boos in the ballpark as not the liquid kind but the cat calls as elijah dukes was introduced. elijah played for the rays here, hit .190 the rays drafted him in the first round back in 2002 and after four years in the minor league, he found himself in the bigs at the age of 22. lays off the breaking ball, the count is even at 1. >> rob: that was pitch number 21. here are elijah's numbers with the rays.

>> bob: he is from hillsboro high school across the water in tampa. and dukes goes to the gap in left center. nick johnson scores. adam dunn rumble around third. pat listach will send him and the nationals have a big crooked number here in the top of the 1st, the number 3. dukes now has 29 rbis. welcome home. >> rob: who says you can't go home, elijah? he probably has a lot to prove. the 91 mile-per-hour on his hand. you mean they don't have a scouting report on elijah? he can turn on that pitch. you see that, rumbling, numberrable around and he scores. >> bob: i saw him check out where the ball was as he was approached third base. i think he knew he was going to score here is josh willingham.

good to see josh back healthy in the last couple of days of the hope stand. by the way, just to mention elijah dukes one more time, hillsboro high school in tampa produced doc gooden, gary sheffield, carl everett, mike heath and nationals prospects michael burgess. burgess. of course, a lot of other major leaguers have come out of high schools in and around tampa. garza falling behind most of his hitters here with the exception of adam dunn, had him 0-2. willingham has had a great

base-on average lately. that's a good pitch, under his hands for a strike. he already tripled. >> rob: he only tripled the amount he has given up in his prior starts. >> bob: maybe he was due and so are the nats who have not scored many runs in the 1st inning this year. willingham, slicing away from gabe gross. this is one of the few ballparks where the bullpen is on the field of play. he did not have to contend with the mound but he was not far from it. >> rob: you see that warning track right there that's like crushed rubber, higher sneakers, et cetera. that's the warning track around the entire field. this is kicking up a little bit. one thing about being out here

for the world series, that stuff is loose and it could kick up more like it does. you need that advantage when you are going towards the wall or towards the foul wall or anything to slow you up before you maybe run right over the wall. >> bob: 2-2 to josh willingham. that's ball 3 i 3 iwillingham may be about to add more to that batting average. rob, i know that you think it's unusual to have a turf field and then the full infield? >> rob: the only time i had seen that was during a tour -- there is a strikeout by garza, second out of the inning. that will bring up willie harris. but there is the edge. >> bob: you had some interesting thoughts on your defense behind you when they were playing on an all turf

field. >> rob: when they are playing on an all-turf field, at night , it was a bounce, like a true hop. it was a very fast surface but i had really good defense behind me. i had eric davis in center, mariano duncan. those guys didn't have to wear spikes. they could wear turf shoes, almost like sneakers and run around and get great traction and we didn't have to worry about a bad bounce in the dirt. here you get both. you get turf and it goes into the turf. i think it's hard to field. i was watching the rays take the balls off the pongo. it drops. there is a lip there. 1-0 to willie harris lo is hitting .250. willie broke an 0-for-10. garza behind hip, 2-0. right now, it's a 30-pitch inning for one of the better young pitchers in the american

league. garza 4, e.r.a. 3.55 coming into his 13 starts. top 9 in the league in strikeouts with 70. now, he goes 3-0. >> rob: it's number 31. >> bob: how about that, on the 7th man he is facing this inning. >> rob: here it is, 13 balls, 17 strikes. 30 total. and as i told you, 80% of his pitches, nothing but heaters. >> bob: and the nats might want more here. that's above the belt. he may be a little bit off in

his command and control but he is still changing eye level. look at what willie has done here. runners will be going. dukes, he will be going now on a ground ball. race to the bag. garza gets there before willie harris. nats get three runs in the top of the 1st. rbis by adam dunn after singles by guzman and johnson and then the big hit for elijah dukes. 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.

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wait, what? . >> bob:  evan rock longoria front of him. manny acta says the best way to handle this for stammen and for josh bard, keep b. j. upton off base. b. j. hitting only .2212. he came in as a .277 career

hitter. rob will have more on craig stammen who is mamaking art. his last uteing was not very od on sunday, was it? ro no. >> bob: b. j. upton who only has an on-base average of .307. byron kerr handing me a note and we'll knock on wood for this one. rays9-22 when the rays have scored first butve not had an at-bat yet. >> rob: and they do have the top offense inthe american league. >> bob: they have scored more runs than the nats have given up. that's a lot. >> rob: you came back on fire. >> bob: you know,