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. >> bob:  bases empty, two o ryan zimmerman coming up against dan wheeler. 3-3 the score here. you can watch nationals.com on your iphone. you can dial up number 35 dan wheeler, 31-year-old right hander, third year with the rays, split time between houston here in 2007 and then 70 important games for them last year with a 3.122 3.12

e.r.a. and 13 saves. he was a very important part of the bullpen last year. the rays got him from houston for ty wigginton just before the trading deadline in july of 2007. fastball outside. i wonder what duane stats, the tv announcer for the rays had to say about that pitch outside. dan wheeler is his son-in-law. >> rob: he has only allowed 7 hits and 3 runs in his last 10 outings, and three walks. >> bob: there is a good

fastball. outer half. 1-2 to zimmerman. ryan 1-for-3 with a base hit up the middle tonight. top of the 7th, the nats have not had a hit since the 4th. and they have had only three since the four-hit 1st inning when they scored all three of their runs. >> rob: and if you don't have overpowering stuff which wheeler never has, you per be a strike thrower. last year, 22 walks in 66 innings, 23 walks the year before in 75 innings. go back to a couple of years in houston, 74 walks in 7 -- 19 walks in 74 innings. that's the kind of stuff you need coming out of the bullpen. putting out fires. >> bob: you are not giving the team any additional runners. zimmerman on a pitch inside, charged by longoria. that's it for the nats.

7th inning stretch time on a friday night in st. petersburg, florida. 3-3, nats-rays. 

. >> bob: bottom of th inning coming up, 3-3 game. joel hanrahan still on the mound much long way to go here. >> rob: absolutely. manny acta knew this early. they knew we were going to have to score a lot more runs than

3. we have. joel hanrahan has to keep them right here. this is the most important inning of the game, 3-3 against the best offense in the american league. >> bob: i think joe west is giving the rays' dugout a hard time because of our lights. he knows everything going on out here. it's the bottom of the 7th. reid brignac, b. j. upton and carl crawford. brignac 0-for-1 with a dprowb a -- a ground ground ball and a walk. that ball right off the mask of josh bard. >> rob: we may have to explain

to joe west how much money masn spends to televise these games. he needs to take a chill pill. we have the best crew in the game. top of the order now, b. j. up ton after the base hit by reid brignac. upton is a right hander. ron villone is ready for carl crawford. so this becomes a vitally important hitter for joel hanrahan. here is b. j. upton bunting -- is b. j. upton bunting as early as the 7th inning, knowing it will be lefty-lefty after this? >> i don't think so. 8th inning maybe. 9th inning maybe.

>> rob: you already have the tie at home. you go for the jugular right here if you are the rays. they just beat the yankees 11- 1. >> bob: they lead baseball with 353 runs scored. >> rob: i think they go to ped and they score run. oops, they just scored another. they have a very good offense. >> bob: third in homers behind the yankees and rangers. they hit 80. >> rob: they don't have a 200 million dollar payroll either. >> bob: big lead by the runner. upton takes one that misses low

and inside, 2-1. >> rob: the yankees' third baseman has a 280 million- dollar extension, the first baseman gets 180 million-dollar to come there and play. that would be pretty satisfying to see what the rays did last year, 66 million and won 97. >> bob: i think everybody was hoping that it would inspire other, quote, have-nots in major league base dual to do it like these guys did. minnesota has not been in the world series lately but they do it often. the runner had a walking lead and joel hanrahan did nothing to stop him. >> rob: this is the type of situation where you have to worry about the runner.

tie game, no out. you have to make the runner stop. now they can bunt him to third. they're not going to bunt with two strikes but a ground ball would move him over. getting back to minnesota, they tied for the division. they had a one-game playoff with the white sox and lost. >> bob: late break, late swing and a big out. >> rob: he was trying to go the other way, had a fastball, had the big breaker. that's going to be it. manny has to come get him. here is the track from hanrahan. did not expect the breaking ball. >> bob: it will be ron villone against carlcrawford, lefty- lefty match-up with a runner at second and one out. changed. like owning a home. watching our children grow.

and retiring with confidence. so whatever you're looking forward to, m&t bank is here to help you get there. m&t bank. understanding what's important. for the next minute, i'm gonna show you what it's 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:  ron villone makes appearance here. he sports a lovely 0.53 e.r.a. despite getting his first loss just a couple of games ago. tagged with the loss on wednesday night in that crazy game delayed by rain that went into 12 innings. first pitch breaking ball a strike to carl crawford. crawford 0-for-2, hit by a pitch and a steal. could be a one-batter

appearance for ron villone because the right hander is warming with longoria next. >> rob: jesuss colome. >. i don't know i want ron villone versus longoria. >> bob: ron goes with the heater and misses away, 1 ball, 1 strike.

guzman jockeying with the runner and a breaking ball hangs up high, 1-2. cristian guzman man trying to keep reid brignac as close to second base as he can, mindful that there is a great arm in right field in case a base hit would go that way. >> rob: i think crawford is probably going to try to go to left field. you don't want cristian guzman running towards the bag worrying about the runner too much. trying to hit that way. big hole between third and short. >> bob: 2-for-12.

villone in the american league in recent years with seattle and the yankees. and a fastball hit hard to the right side. anderson hernandez, a nifty play, two outs. lead run to third with he have onlongoria coming up. evan longoria coming up. will manny stay with the veteran left hander here? not many get to go to the all- star game apt world series as a rookie. >> rob: bob, there is your answer. they're going to walk longoria and pitch to peqa.

the fans are going crazy, moo. >> bob: that's about the only way that ron villone ever walks anybody. >> rob: 19 homeruns by carlos peqa this year. >> bob: he has been pretty much all or nothing this year, came in batting .229 with 78 strikeouts, the second most in the american league. manny acta runs out and he is going to call his infield in and will go over this. that's a big out.

coming up, how the nats were able to get to matt garza early, 3 runs on four hits, 1st inning. craig stammen did well against the bats, not so well against the speed. tomorrow, jordan zimmerman back in the line-up. the game starts at 6:05 but we cannot join you live until 7:05. >> rob: 13 against righties, 6 against lefty for peqa this year. >> bob: shift is on. zimmerman is the only defender on the third base side. anderson hernandez is in a very

interesting position. if you threw a line to home plate to him, 2 wouldn't miss nick johnson by much. there is still a wide gap between hernandez and cristian guzman. he was all locked up there and that's strike 2. ron villone, total deception. and way ahead in the count. pretty good success against ron villone, .333. ron must have hung him a breaking ball somewhere. >> rob: much like aubrey huff. aubrey huff has his number. he tried to get him out with a

breaking ball, cutter, fastball. >> bob: does he attack on 0-2? and a breaking ball away. bottom of the 7th inning. nats still have outhit the rays, 7-6. 3-3 game. washington has not scored since the 1st and the rays have chipped away with singles in the 2nd, 3rd and 6th. 2-2. >> rob: sometimes, managers with two out will send the runners in the hopes that the

catcher will hole through. quickly time called by joe west. >> rob: you see there, the hole. longoria might take off. >> bob: big spot in this ballgame here, runners at the corners, tied contest. and villone misses for the third time. right hander zobrist on deck, a second baseman who has some pop in that bat and he could be facing jesus colome. villone will get him. he threw a fastball by him. that's the quickest looking 89 mile-per-hour fastball. the rays strand two more.

this game tied into the 8th.  

. >> johnny: david price the top selection talked about his years at vanderbilt and how they should not rush him along. >> it's a big difference, it is. going from this 7 days to 5 days is probably the biggest thing to me. can you definitely feel it on

your arm every time you go out. over the course of the season where you make 30 to 35 starts whereas in college, you make 15 to 16. that's twice as many starts. >> ray: taking to what rob said a couple of innings ago, ten years it took tampa bay to move that draft pick. >> rob: i talked to mike grissold, he already signed 11 of their 21 draft picks. yes, they will be negotiating with strasburg. will he pitch in the major league? they said, we don't know but no rush. that's what the rays did last year. i often said, bob, in 2007, he was reliever of the year in the summer league up in connecticut. he can pitch out of the bullpen but there is no reason to make him go up there after 110 innings pitched in college and have him go out there and try to start five games in september. >> bob: adam dunn, a perfect

night with an rbi hit and two walks. i think, if this is any indication, the rays may be pitching around him almost all weekend. the only hit he got tonight was when matt garza had him 0-2 and gave him something that was too close to the strike zone. other than that, they pitched away from adam dunn, away from the strike zone, that is. and a 1-1 pitch. that was strike 3 with the bases loaded last week, that pitch [ laughter ]. >> bob: we don't foreget, do we? >> rob: never. >> bob: elijah dukes next here in the top of the 8th. ball 3. breaking pitch i'm i people who may not know who mike grizz yo; he independento,

he inked -- he is very well versed as part of that 2007 draft, as they said, the best draft in 2007 by baseball america. he should be the general manager. >> bob: that got the bag. that's a fair ball down into the corner. the rays can't believe the call from paul naert and the nats have a leadoff double here in the 8th inning. >> rob: this will be interesting. >> bob: here is the replay by above. >> rob: looks like he is right over the bag. he has to go over the middle of the bag. and it can land in foul territory. >> bob: sure can. >> rob: hooking, hooking, fair. >> bob: it's a difficult call

for the umpire because, kind of in his mind, he has to freeze frame the exact moment that ball passes the bag and he called it fair there is no hesitation at all. here is elijah ducks. nobody out. elijah is 1-for-3 with a double today. there is that tight slider of wheeler. >> rob: you are saying he does not have the wonderment of the freeze cam. >> bob: he does not. he has no x-mo. >> rob: know x-mo. he can't see that ball tumble at 500 frames per second. i think that was a great call. took a little bit off that

breaking ball, 1-1 to dukes. elijah looking for his 30th rbi of the year. by the way, dukes, with that double in the 1st added to his runner in scoring position batting average. he came in hitting .315. here is another such opportunity. throws off the breaking ball, no fastball from dan wheeler yet. >> rob: come on, elijah, be patient. take that ball to right center. >> bob: he pulled off that one. >> rob: he pulled off that one. you need to get the guy to third but, more importantly, you need to get in there. >> bob: he might hit a ball out of the ballpark hitting to right field. >> rob: yep. >> bob: as strong as he is. >> rob: wheeler knows he can't get it by him on the inside. >> bob: so he's gone slider, offspeed breaking ball, slider, offspeed breaking ball again.

everything down and away i i what do . >> rob: what do you think he's going to throw him? >> bob: i have no idea. that's why i'm up here. >> rob: you are not going to be able to hit that ball. slideer away. >> bob: i would be shocked to see any ball near the zone. >> rob: actually a two-seam sinker that ran back over the plate in the lefty batter's box. >> reporter: keep in mind there is a runner at second base. >> rob: what a wheeler and dealer. two-seam fastball, a little bit low. >> bob: that is a great pitch. >> rob: that is a great pitch but he has to have the pinpoint command. he is not going to overmatch elijah dukes. >> bob: 3-2 with nobody out. dukes, high in the air, left field. how far can it go? it will be caught in front of

the 370 mark. adam dunn goes to third. carl crawford had a hard time digging that ball out of his mit. >> rob: i think he was shocked. >> bob: that was a great-base- running play but adam dunn. >> rob: i don't think they know that dunn has 64 stolen bases. >> bob: well, he also scored from first tonight on a double. see what happens to crawford. >> rob: no, he looked up to see what dunn was going to do and on the transfer, he did not pull it out of his glove. >> bob: now, alberto gonzalez becomes the dh of all things by running for adam dunn. so you put a very fast runner at third base. the infield is in. >> rob: is that the designated half the size of adam dunn?