>> bob: pardon me, .211. 27 d is d, we know he's better than that in terms of his batting average capabilities. >> rob: well, he's coming off a shoulder surgery in the off- season, bob, and he may not be 100%. it will take a ways to get back into game shape. he may not be feeling any pain, but anytime you have surgery, takes a while to get back to 100% baseball shape. >> bob: a young lead-off man who strikes out a lot. 72 times this year. third most in the american league. 

>> rob: i find it inter that every time a manager in new york, jerry manuel in trouble, bobby valentine wants to come back from the far east. >> bob: well, he's already managed that team. >> rob: that team 10 years ago. >> bob: heard an interesting story about fred who let bobby valentine go and kept the general manager. he told baseball people after that, that i fired the wrong guy. bobby valentine, last year of his contract over in japan. >> rob: to give you a perspective, yes, we watched some tough defensive plays

every night, but a game was lost last night, the yankees win because luis castillo drops a pop fly in the outfield because he doesn't use two hands. milton bradley, two outs in chicago throws the ball up in the stands. >> bob: zimmermann can get the lead runner here. the runner is going to be out at second base, that was hernandez trying to make the exchange when he dropped the ball. and really, he had no chance to get b.j. upton. >> rob: no, he didn't. this is the catching that's been going on lately, you need catchers that take command. last night great job by josh bard. you see him, he's fired up, he's telling his pitcher, great job. all tonight wil nieves has been on the same page with jordan zimmermann, pumping him up, bring it to me, bring your best stuff. with jesus flores maybe gone for the season, backup guys have been doing a great job in his place. >> bob: 6 for 6 in steals in this series including number 21

earlier tonight by b.j. upton. he did that while carl crawford was in the process of walking back in the first inning. zimmermann didn't give him his best move there. outside, one ball, one strike. >> rob: my first catcher in the big league, when he was my catcher, he would come out to the mound and grab you by the shirt and tell you to bring your best stuff to him. that's what your job is as a pitcher and a catcher. >> bob: great jump. and nieves puts the ball right on the back of the runner, but guzman can't hold on. they are 7 for 7 against the nats in the series.

>> rob: a lot of times when you steal it on the pitcher, you see a little bit of the leg kick by zimmermann. great strong throw right here. if he holds onto the ball he's out. closed his glove a little too early. in anticipation of the tag. >> bob: b.j. upton has swiped four bases against crawford here. it's 1-# with one out. -- it's 1-2 with one out. i think there are two teams in the american league who play a national league style of baseball at times. this ball club here. >> bob: he's out! a perfect throw by zimmermann, guzman got the glove down, and

b.j. upton is picked off of second base. >> rob: well, jordan zimmermann wanted a piece of him before. great move right there. great communication between guzman and zimmermann. you have to know that the guy's going to move. slaps the tag in there before his hands get anywhere near the bag. >> bob: that's b.j. upton who has stolen third base eight times this year being way too frisky with good hitters coming up. >> rob: you can't really blame our catchers. they've also stolen 96 bases on the rest of the american league and interleague play also. it's not just the nationals. they have a very fast team. you go back to the 80s and talk about vince and willie mcgee and all the speed they have there, and running wild on the base pads. they used to steal on us like it was nothing. >> bob: those ball clubs used to routinely steal over 200 bases a year.

crawford was reaching for it. anderson hernandez charging, close play and out. the nats rescue the inning with some good defense. ú we've got a ton of stuff we've gotta pay for. and a few things we want to pay for. on top of it all, we're still trying to put away some money for the future. with the wish list, we can save up for anything we want. and still have enough to cover the day-t0-day. plus, the savings engine helps our money grow. and that's something we need and want. introducing the virtual wallet from pnc, a high definition, online view of your money. pnc. leading the way.

>> bob: the top of the sixt inning, nats lead 2-1. zimmermann could be around for another inning, we'll see.

here sunday, off day monday, on to yankee stadium, we're back home against toronto friday night, 7:00. friday night fireworks and all that fun out there in the red porch as we come back home to play toronto and boston. ryan zimmerman will certainly be around for several more innings. he's 1-2 with a pair of rbi's tonight. >> rob: four hits, two runs, both rbi's by this man. this pitcher came in tonight with a 7 earned run average. >> bob: we probably know something right now that ryan doesn't know, and that's lsu won, virginia 0 -- lsu 1, virginia 0. earlier cal state

fullerton lost 10-6. sonnanstine's retired nine straight starting with zimmerman's bases loaded ground ball three innings ago. zimmerman, dunn and dukes here, top 6, nats by one. nasty breaking ball low and away. ryan out on strikes. sonnanstine with his fourth k of the game and he's retired 10 straight. he has rung up adam dunn twice. jordan zimmermann has he -- has returned the favor by ringing up evan longoria twice. not a fun night for the big

power guys. home run leaders, adrian gonzalez. we mention now that carlos menna has hit his -- pen qua has hit his 20th. ryan howard will be the next evidently and adam dunn will be right after him. adam right now, 5th in the national league in home runs and rbi's. 17 over 45. number one in walks with 50. lifting that ball to left center. it's got some carry to it. it will stay in the yard and it's run down by carl crawford. those two statements go hand in hand. if it stays in, carl crawford usually catches it. two outs. here's elijah dukes with two

outs. the bats have gone quiet again here. >> rob: manny may allow zimmermann to go back out there. >> bob: that's down the line and foul. craig stamen told me something interesting today. he was very upset at himself for not getting through six innings last night. he got longoria to line out in the sixth last night, gave up a couple of hits and manny took him out, that was still chafing at him when i ran into him this afternoon. i like that about craig. he was not happy pitching only 5 1/3 innings. dukes into right center. that will be run down by b.j. upton. p boss: so you've been doing a nice job out there helping people save money on car insurance. gecko: aw thank you, sir. boss: but i think there are a few other things you can say about what a reliable company geico is. gecko: right. uh, well maybe how geico's the third-largest car insurance company in america? nice tidbit there.

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>> bob: beautiful sunset looming out over the gulf of mexico here in st. petersburg, florida. longoria, pena and zobrist, as jason bergmann takes over.

andy sonnanstine is really being economical with his deliveries. he hasn't even thrown 70 pitches. 69 and 50 for strikes, retiring the last 12 nats. >> rob: he has to have -- remember john burkett, jeff suppan. when you don't have overpowering stuff yet you can throw 88, 89-mile an hour fastballs and place them. throw 78-mile an hour breaking balls and some change-ups, you can be pretty nasty. last year sonnanstine was so much better, they said 21 home runs given up over almost 200 innings. shows you how dominant his stuff can be even when he doesn't break 90 miles per hour. >> bob: jason bergmann has pitched 14 innings. that ball's trouble, left center. willie harris over to cut it off. longoria is not fast.

and evan longoria just collected his first base hit of this series after going 0 for 5 with a walk. so the nats have done a good job for two nights of containing this offense, but there's just very little offense to go with the good pitching so far. >> rob: jason bergmann continues to get hurt by that breaking ball. he has a great sinker. gets ahead of evan longoria, then he gets beat, you saw the weak swing by longoria. he kept his hands back long enough, worried about the 93 and he hits the 85 into left center field for a single. >> bob: we know carlos pena can tush on a fastball. >> rob: are you kidding me? a perfect bunt for a base hit. i'll actually as a pitcher take that, if he's going give up an at-bat and take a single, more

power to him. this guy's one of the best power guys in the game. you want to hit for a single, go right ahead. double play's in order. he clogs up the bases without speed. two thrower men on their team on the bases right now. >> bob: i saw the first base coach smiling, silent george probably told him, i would have never done that. >> rob: give up an at-bat for a single? i don't think so. >> bob: but it is a one run graham. that could be big for the rays. and ben zobrist is going to make this 4-2 tampa bay. manny acta takes jordan zimmermann out, three batters later, three runs for the rays.

>> rob: zobrist, the 93-mile an hour sinker, gets plate coverage and he just kills that ball. >> bob: ben zobrist adds to his career high with his 13th home run. the rays have scored four runs tonight, driving all of them in with the long ball. and they lead by two. >> rob: i'm sure manny will be asked about pulling zimmermann after 92 pitches. it was a long five innings for him. >> rob: a loft strikeouts. kind of a heavy amount of work for the young kid. he's the future. this team's so far out of first place he did not need to come out and throw over 100 pitches

today. the bullpen's been really good lately. i think they only allowed one home run in about 16, 17 games. it's a team that can put some runs on the board in a hurry. makes pena's bunt look like a genius if you give up the home run to descroab rift. run to zobrist. bergman may not be long for this game. miller light beach bash on june 19, that will be friday night. first 10,000 fans 21 and over receive free beach towels, live music before the game. fireworks after the game. get your tickets at nationals.com. or the box office at ballpark. 

bergmann had a good strin one inning appearances going on until recently.  >> bob: not to be forgotten the fact that back in the third washington had the lead, bases loaded, nobody out, zimmermann, dunn and dukes coming up, and scored one run on a ground ball. when the rays botched a double play. so the offense hasn't exactly

been carrying its share of the load here lately either. if you take away the 10 game explosion against the giants and the seven run game against the mets, the nationals have averaged anywhere from one to three runs over the last two weeks. inside corner for a strike.  >> bob: four hitters, thr runs, three hits and a walk here in the sixth. 

>> bob: red sox just scored five in the first at philadelphia. they've been delayed there. jason bay hit his 17th home run. red sox beat the phillies last night. and the mets won at the yankees today 6-2. gary sheffield, omir santos with homers, alex rodriguez hit his ninth. >> rob: when a guy like jordan zimmermann really sticks it to a team like tampa bay, as soon as he's out of the game, you can kind of take a deep breath, a sigh of relief. we've got that guy out of the game. now let's work on their

bullpen. >> bob: you can probably make a case that the walk to gabe gross with two outs in the fourth inning kept zimmermann from pitching into this inning. it probably added 10 to 12 pitches during that 27-pitch bottom of the fourth. he'd given up a solo homer. >> rob: then he threw about a eight pitch at-bat to hernandez after that. >> bob: there's another try to right for a home run. five hitters, five runs. here in the sixth. and the rays lead 6-2. >> rob: here's the 3-2 pitch by jason bergmann. way too much of the plate. sinker has to be down and away.

it's over the plate. >> bob: jason bergmann faces five hitters, every one of them scores. the rays up by four. 

>> bob: it's been a sixth inning disaster for the nats here. rays have scored five to lead it 6-2. big crowd here tonight.

first career at-bat, elijah dukes with a home run. >> rob: would you give us a hint which team it was? >> bob: we knew who he hit it for. >> rob: against the yankees, thank you. maybe andy pettitte? >> bob: nope. i just looked it up. >> rob: you're not allowed to do that. >> bob: i know, but i had no clue. jesus colome was with the rays for a good part of his career. came up with them in 01 here through the 06 season. >> rob: mike mussina. >> bob: you've got the right side of the mound though. >> rob: roger clemens. >> bob: no. >> rob: bill hughs?

>> bob: you're getting warmer. >> rob: ian ken can i? >> bob: you're getting colder. former expo. >> rob: he gave up mark mack wire's 69th and 70th home runs. carl pavano, from my alma mater. sorry, we've still got two world champions from that high school. >> bob: that ball out to center. it will drop in front of willie harris and a base hit for michel hernandez. now the nats get anybody out here -- can't get anybody out here in the 6th inning. reid brignac will be next. >> rob: all there's power hitters in the middle of this tampa bay line-up.

two biggest boppers, evan longoria hits a little flair out to the outfield. then your number four guy bunts for a base hit. then the bottom of the order just crushes a couple of home runs. >> bob: i think those last two columns gave you a reason for colome's problems here in tampa. tampa bay, at least. willie harris will catch this one, off the bat of brignac. jesus colome, a 10-7 strikeout to walk ratio. in his years here. tonight's copyrighted telecast presented by the authority of the washington nationals may not be reproduced or retransmitted in any form. everybody in this inning for the rays have batted except for the two speedsters, upton and crawford. 

>> bob: very tardy, strik looks to me like they've got some hitters in this line-up who do a lot of guessing. i think he was thinking first pitch slider there. >> rob: i would agree. then you regroup and you cut down a little bit. i want to hit something in my area.  >> bob: 17th time they've five or more on the board. that's how you lead the major

leagues with 260 runs. this is their 64th game of the year. so they are averaging 5.6 runs a game. >> rob: they're right there right now. >> bob: their e.r.a. is 4.30. >> rob: well, they're 8th in the american league in pitching, number one in offense. they're 10th in defense. >> bob: with last night's win, the rays are seven games over .500 at home both on the season and in their last 11. look at the batting average. they're outhitting their opponents by 65 points a game. a bouncer, zimmerman kn