they never have won more than 71. they made it into the world series. >> rob: it's been around for 71 years. you were a red sox fan and waited eight decades, 86 years to win a championship. if you are the cubs, you waited a century-plus now. we are inyear 101 for e o cubs. bob: the washington nationals are in year 5. because major league baseball did this franchise not a favor in the last years in montre. >> b: ani lked to the general manager who said we only have been in of year team for ie and a half >> vh. >> rob: baseball america rated the nationals draft with mike rizzo and sam casten number 1. there is that nasty breaking

ball by garza. fastball, fastball, fastball, get ahead, big breaking ball. >> bob: here is willie harris who bounced out twice. what i'm trying to say, my message to our fans is, we know that this is difficult for you. we certainly do. >> rob: we'll all grow together. >> bob: that's a great way to put it. then when you win, you look back and say, you know what, we did it the right way. >> rob: that's right. >> bob: you can say, i came to the ballpark when we had 75 people there at the end of an extra inning game delayed by rain for two and a half hours. you know, crazy things happen on this journey. >> rob: well, you know, they keep comparing this ball club to the '62 mets. well, seven short years later, they win a world championship and they are the miracle mets. >> bob: the amazings. >> rob: the amazings. >> bob: if you want a little perspective on that, i wrote a blog on that last weekend which

is on the masn website. the yankees -- or the mets back then were made up of washed up yankees, new york giants and brooklyn dodgers players. it was kind of a gimmick. load up the ross ter with players that the fans would know their name. they didn't have ryan zimmerman or jesus flores and john lannan and jordan zimmerman. the '62 mets didn't have players like that. >> rob: detwiler and gonzalez and dukes. we have fabulous talent here. we have some holes. big deal. i would love to, you know, be where mike rizzo, stan casten and even manny acta saying we have to do this, do that, tighten it up. that's like rebuilding a ferrari. >> bob: 2-2 to willie who hacks one into the bullpen. >> bob: i think the '62 mets

were summarized by one thing. their most valuable player was ricky ashden. they gave him a boat. it sank. >> rob: how would you like to be a pittsburgh pirates man. about 25 years ago when i played against them, they were one of the toughest teams. now nate mac lot goes to the braves. >> bob: i would be mad about that. willie harris made an out but he battled for about seven or eight pitches. now, garza is battling in the 100-pitch territory and he has not even pitched 6 innings yet. here is josh bard who is 1-for- 2. 110 pitches, 65 strikes. of course, in this league, you don't have to hit for the pitcher so it's strictly by what's happening on the mound that you determine whether or not a pitcher stays in the

ballgame. manny commented on that this afternoon, first time on the road in an american league ballpark this year. he said the thing about it, you can be a little more relaxed when you manage. you have one less thing to worry about and that's what spot in the batting order is hitting and how far away are you from pinch hitting for your pitcher? >> rob: ant difference between having, say, craig stammen who is not one of the better hitters on this staff or even the team in the 9 hole, you have anderson herndz who is a speed center he is hitting .260.comming into today. he had a hit today. that's the difference that you have with the designated hitter in the american league. >> bob: good looking fastball. he didn't get the call. 2-1. >> rob: if you think that matt garza is difficult to hit now,

imagine a pitcher in the 9 hole for him. >> bob: yes. >> rob: nice heater there, nice movement. >> bob: you would think in the 6th inning a pitcher would get that call. >> rob: no. >> bob: and it's 2-2 now to josh bard. this could be, as they ring the cow bells here -- this could be garza's last pitch of the night. we'll see. how did cow bells ever catch on in a town like this, coming from mexico? can those things swim? do cows get over here from alabama through the gulf? what happened? >> rob: you only need one. >> bob: the high pitch count of the year, 120 at home may 16th against cleveland.

he pitched only 6 innings that night. bard, a good take. great at-bat with two outs to get aboard and get anderson hernandez to the plate. walk number 4 by garza who has only given up two hit since the 2nd inning and it looks like he is done. so the nats will take the pitcher that is the second toughest to hit in the american league and get him out of the game after two outs in the 6th inning. like to have verizon fios. these are your widgets, they let you put whatever you're watching down here, while you check out local traffic, weather, even your news up there. i've got a news flash you're out of mayo. how did you get in here? door was open. you'd have tons of ways for you to search for content: by actor, director, any word at all. what about chicken?

chicken's fine. any word. no i mean do you have any chicken? i want to eat some chicken. one of the coolest things you can do with fios... ...is stream your music and your photos from your computer to your tv. slideshows look and sound better than ever. and now is the best time to upgrade to fios all the time. want to tell them why? i do not. because you'll get up to $150 dollars back and over 100 hd channels when you upgrade to verizon fios. call the verizon center for customers with disabilities at 800.974.6006 tty/v i will now return you to your program and unfortunately for some of you, to cable. yeah! wait, what?

. >> bob: time to bring you to speed with the at&t rapid rewind. rbi hit by dukes and dunn. and the rays have a little bit of offense. this runner should have been out at the plate but it was tampa bay's first run. they steal a couple of bases. craig stammen, five strong innings giving up only one earned run, another unearned on three hits. at&t, your world delivered. 34-year-old joe nelson for the rays. he pitched in 59 games for the rays last year. before that, boston, atlanta

and kansas city. he has been with seven different organizations since the rays drafted him in the 4th round in '96. anderson hernandez, 1-for-2 with a base hit to left. dan wheeler throwing. >> rob: dan wheeler played with houston, atlanta. now helped them go to the world series. >> bob: this is a bullpen by committee. randy cate, howell, the lefty had two. troy percival had 6 early. that's a fastball outside.

2-2. on the field here in st. pete. >> rob: talking about public health care, i'm sure, nuclear problems in north korea. >> bob: anderson hernandez hits it off the end of the bat and pops it up. serious bullpen questions. they will solve all of our problems down there, i promise you. ♪ ♪ i always feel like somebody's watching me. ♪ (announcer) it's right here, it's easy... ♪ always feel like mebody's watching me. ♪ ...it's the money you could be saving with geico. ♪ who's watching? ♪ i always feel like (announcer) it's right here, it's easy...

♪ somebody's watching me. ...it's the money you could be saving with geico.

. >> bob: how is your fi start at the major league level going right now? i i will craig stammen has been amazing, against the best offense in the american league, he has five strikeouts on three walks, basically two hits and two runs. it should be one run up there. craig stammen, dealing, great movement on his pitches, 5 innings, 2 hits, 2 runs. three walks, three good walks, 5 k's. >> bob: 84 pitches, 50 strikes so far. and our pully, pully up. >> bob: hanrahan and villone. evan longoria 0-for-2 tonight drills it to center but right there is willie harris. >> rob: we've got a guy there.

>> bob: one out. >> rob: i like the defense. >> bob: by the way, that's nine of the last so for craig stammen. our copyrighted telecast presented by authority of the washington nationals, may not be reproduced or retransmitted in any form and any accounts or retrans mission of this game may not be disseminated without the expressed written consent of the washington nationals. next up, carlos peqa. not a wheel lot to show for the in-game box score for the hard hitting rays. >> rob: if he can get through the next two guys, it's huge. you won't see them again until the 8th or 9th inning, probably the 9th if craig can get them 1-2-3. you always think about that, where you turn the roster and where it's going to come back to haunt you.

>> bob: stammen's first major league start, he pitched one out into the 7th inning against the pirates. since then, he has not gone longer than 6. so this on that last out became his second longest big league outing. 1-1 to carlos peqa, ground ball and a strikeout. nats have a big shift on here. and just because you are having the shift does not mean you're not going to throw a guy a fastball away. >> rob: no. you have to pitch to your strength, even though you might change the defense because this guy is a dead pull hitter. you feel comfortable trying to blow fastball away on this guy and you don't think he can beat you to left field, go for it. >> bob: that ball drilled to right. only the third tampa bay hit and they've all beensingles.

>> rob: he pitched so well. he hangs a breaking ball and i'm sure steve mccaddy will say, okay, you hung a breaking ball. now what are you going to do? you have one out. you need a ground ball double play to get out of this inning. i had discussions with him about that. you need to get that out of your head. >> bob: there is another hit. peqa has to stop at second. i was thinking one more runner and that might do it. we'll see how manny plays it here. both relievers are ready. first time that rays have back- to-back hits. pat burrell is next. >> bob: manny will want hanrahan here. manny will give up 5 1/3. he has only given up four hits.

you salt-wash everything and let it breeze dry. knit, delicate, permanent press... the ocean doesn't care. so grab your bag.

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. same flat rate. boston. boise? same flat rate. alabama. alaska? with priority mail flat rate boxes from the postal service. if it fits, it ships anywhere in the country for a low flat rate. dude's good. dude's real good. dudes. priority mail flat rate boxes only from the postal service. a simpler way to ship. . >> bob: the learning proce the teaching process, rob dibble, continues, as student and teacher get together and we'll check on -- thank you,

aflac. the two number 1 pick over all on the roster. david price. pat burrell. they tricked us. >> rob: because beckham is not on their active roster but i think he is on their 40-man roster. >> bob: pat burrell. just when we think we've got these guys figured out. pat burrell was originally drafted in the 43rd round by boston, didn't sign and became the phillies' over all number 1 pick in '98. big at-bat here. flyball, centerfield. that's going to guy into the glove of willie harris. carlos peqa tagging. the throw is in behind him and he goes to third. i think willie might have assumed he was going to go to third. he wanted to make sure that the runner from first did not go to second. so what should the outfielder do then? >> rob: he did exactly what he

should do. this is a deep flyball and you don't want the guy on first to tag and get into scoring position here with two outs. he did the correct play. what happened is that carlos peqa second-guessed himself. should i tag, should i not? he is not throwing to third. he was trying to get willie to throw it, maybe throw it away. willie threw behind him, he went to third but that's the play. this is the second time that the rays have had the tying run at third base in a 3-2 game. it was with one out back in the 3rd. longoria struck out, so did peqa. and we'll see if hanrahan can get gabe gross who is 0-for-2. >> rob: manny showing a lot of confidence in hanrahan right here, getting him to pitch to gabe gross. >> bob: joel is going to have to reprove to the ball club that he can pitch in later

innings than this. this is how you re-establish yourself after a starter has gone out in the middle innings and your ball club still has 10 outs to get. first and third, two down here in the 6th. 3-2 nats. >> rob: steve mccatty told me he is more impressed with relievers coming into the game and not allowing those inherited runners not to score. so he wants to see joel han ran what leave those guys there. >> bob: e.r.a., scores, that does not matter.

>> rob: e.r.a., that's jumping to relievers. >> bob: hanrahan stems out. >> rob: once again, forget the runners. you have two outs, forget the get the hitter. get the hitter. >> bob: hanrahan, a perfect 8th inning wednesday against the reds after allowing runs in three consecutive appearances. six days ago, mike mcdougal named the closer. 2-1. nick johnson can't get it. this game is tied and runners all over the place.

it's a 3-3 game. nick johnson was holding the runner. the ball was spinning right off his glove and we'll see how they score it. >> rob: well, he fell behind 2- 1. pretty decent pitch on the outer half. gross pulls it down the line. >> bob: they gave him a base -- yeah, that's a base hit. three in this inning, 5 in the game. in fact, it will be a double because the ball went down the line. that one is charged to craig stammen. he is still responsible for ben zobrist at third base. second and third, two out. dioner navarro has driven in

one run tonight. zobrist at third, gross at second. >> rob: hanrahan, when he falls behind 1-0, hitters hit .314 off him. 1-1 count, hitting .367. >> bob: ron villone has been ready for quite a while. that will be strike 2.

>> rob: two strikes on a hitter. >> bob: rays have gotten matt garza off the hook here. hanrahan unleashes a fastball way upstairs. one of the problems that joel has had is, when he has missed, he has missed by such a wide margin at times that his fastball does not even challenge the strike zone or even make the hitter think about swinging. that ball served into left. josh willingham right there. so the d rays -- well, now they are just the rays -- tied the game. guzman will lead it off

followed by nick johnson and then ryan zimmerman. ♪ (tucci) more bars in more places. at&t. the best coverage worldwide. buy the lg xenon messaging phone for 99.99 after mail-in rebate and get one free after mail-in-rebate. 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. . >> bob:  nationals baseball masn, brought to you by southwest airlines. book your next trip on southwest.com and by pnc bank. pnc, leading the way. downtown st. petersburg on a friday night here in the middle

of june. it's a 3-3 game now. this ballgame into the late innings, top 7. it's up to the bullpens now. joe nelson against joel hanrahan. top of the order, guzman, 1-for- 2, base hit, walk, a run scored. christian will look at a strike. >> rob: we need to get the bats going again. three runs in the 1st and quiet again. >> bob: nelson around the strike zone, popped up hernandez to end the 6th. and guzman will hit one to center. it will turn b. j. upton around and he will catch that ball about 390 feet away.

nick johnson 1-for-3 tonight. the ripken all stars, the valley league all stars, collegiate ball players, the mid-atlantic classic on july 15th, furnish tour stadium, regency furnish tour stadium in wall cover. homerun derby and for ticket information, (410)588-9900. >> rob: i was going to say about cristian guzman, he cannot be hitting the ball in the air like that. he does not have the kind of power to put it out of the stadium. he has to work on getting the ball down on the ground and get on base for nick.

they were eating up garza first time through the night. this guy came in with a 5 earned run average. >> bob: nick johnson hits it hard the other way. longoria to his left with a fine play, two outs. nearing the 10 0-0 hour here on the gulf coast in florida. tropicana field, capacity 44,000. the rays are averaging 22,000. pitch change cominging up. bases empty, two outs. brian zimmerman on the way against wheeler. ♪