slht faster and slightly stronger willie harris type player. >> rob: agreed. he needs tomake his percentage rise to put him back in the big leagues on a permanent basis. >> bob: 0-2. he will pull the ball. nice job. he was behind in the count. he moves dukes to 3rd with one out. well done. as he passes by, alberto gonzalez steps in. this kid hitting .308. you like him in this situation because he's a contact hitter. he's struck out twice this year in 65 at bats.

>> rob: that's very nice. >> bob: now the rays will play the middle infielders back. a ground ball past the mound is an rbi. longoria and pena on the other side with their respective bags. there's a ball. that's going to be over the leaping pena. the nats have the lead for the 3 3rd consecutive time in this series. they have scored early. for gonzalez, his 10th rbi. >> rob: this was a great at bat here. good outside off speed, looked like a changeup. itself actually a curveball. drives in a run. even better, it's a single. >> bob: it sounds nice when the

cow bells aren't ringing. that will shut them up. the nats could do running here. unfortunately that ball is hit too well. b.j. upton there, two outs. [cheering and applause] just beyond the 2:00 hour here in the tampa bay area at tropicana field where the nats are 0-2 this weekend. bob carpenter, rob dibble, byron kerr with us. we'll fly to new york and come to you from the new yankees stadium tuesday night with martis against sabathia. >> bob: i think some of these young pitchers are going to make sure they're not in awe of the place in which they're pitching tuesday, wednesday, thursday. last time they measured it, the

mound was 60 feet 6 inches too. >> bob: and hernandez will drop one to right center. gonzalez with a great jump. going to 3rd. he will be out with the ball waiting for him. testing the arm of gabe gross who threw him out. [cheering and applause] that made him make a perfect throw to get him. >> rob: i like it. challenge the defense. - oh, it's on. - it's on. - it's on. - ( music playing throughout ) - it's on. - oh, it's on, all right. - it's on. - totally on. jimmy, it's on. - it's on. - oh, yeah, it's on. affirmative, it's on. announcer: southwest airlines announces new service out of bwi airport, with three daily nonstop flights to new york laguardia for just 49 dollars one-way starting june 28th. grab your bag. it's on. - ( ding ) - book now at southwest.com. we've got a ton of stuff we've gotta pay for.

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nationals lose a runner 3 to end the inning. a 1-0 lead as we go to the bottom of the 2nd. gabe gross just threw out gonzalez at 3rd base. he's had a good series, 2-6, a home, 3 rbis and now an outfield assist. >> rob: why not be aggressive. you've made the point many times. i think you're right on. a better slide there by gonzalez and he's safe. he didn't go right at the bag. >> bob: no he didn't. he tried to do a hook slide. he thought the throw beat him which it did. if he had slid to the bag, he would have been safe. it's still a great play.

you're challenging him. had the ball gotten by him, he scores there. great hustle by gonzalez. >> bob: we love the see the line drive base hits. four of the five batters hit the ball extremely well. the only one that didn't, corey patterton moved a runner. pitch two here in the 2nd. >> bob: hitter now stepping back in. ross has been ready for quite a

while. >> rob: he looks like he's at that time gate for one of the triple crown races. a two hopper out to alberto gonzalez. >> bob: they hit the ball fairly sharp against him. he's registered four outs without a strikeout. that's okay. >> bob: next up gabe kapler. >> rob: on gross, he was right up on the plate. ross got inside on him and jammed him. if you throw as hard as ross detwiler, you're going to have guys hit shots off you. same thing for zimmermann. >> bob: ball one to kapler who's only at bat was a game winning home run in friday night's game. this year he's batting a buck 83 with two home runs.

>> rob: he got a reprieve when johnson dropped that pop fly foul. >> bob: kapler has never had a great full season in the major leagues. he did have 18 homers for the tigers in 99 and 17 for the 01 rangers. often injured, out of baseball for a year. detwiler walks him on 4. we mentioned corey patterson's fourth start today. byron kerr with more. >> reporter: i talked to patterson before the game. he's going to work hard to play well for the nats. >> definitely. all the guys run pretty much. you never know when they'll take the extra base. you've got to be in the game at all times. >> reporter: he says there's a lot of good guys trying to make

pit up here to play for washington. >> bob: he means willingham left yesterday to go to alabama to be with his family after the tragic death of his younger brother friday. navarro the catcher. tough weekend for manny. he was visibly shaken when he told us in his briefing about the willingham family yesterday. a double play by willie harris and johnson. detwiler is out of the 2nd inning. 

today's telecast celebrating the birthday of u.s. army on masn. we serve today for a safe tomorrow. panasonic computers. navy federal credit union. we serve where you serve. >> bob: well some clouds in the sky today. some cloud cover this morning made it pleasant on the way to the ball park. detwiler, the double play saving him pitchers against the good offensive ball club. >> bob: he's done things i said

in the report, finish them off, be economical with the pitches. you've got to come right after them. so what if they hit it. >> bob: in contrast, zimmermann threw two innings last night. 4 strikeout, 37 pitches. >> rob: this is a double contact there. you can't bunt it twice even if you're that good. watch this. bunt. >> bob: did you see the angle of that ball coming off of home plate? it went out straight toward fair territory. that was interesting. i like it when the little guys bump around the infield. put pressure on the defense. tampa bay defense isn't the best in baseball. that will be to center field

for b.j. upton. [cheering and applause] >> bob: nick johnson next then ryan zimmermann. the grand slam flex plan. don't forget the boston series is getting closer and closer. you can get in on that as part of your grand slam flex plan. pick four games, get one free. call or www.nationals.com. nick johnson, base hit first time. stranded there when zimmermann and dunn struck out in the top of the 1st. >> rob: nick was getting so many lits the first two months of the season. now they're starting to pitch him in. first at bat, he pulled to the right side for a single. >> bob: former yankees, nick will be the subject of a lot of attention when we get to the

bronx tuesday. [cheering and applause] got jammed. over to zobrist. two outs. despite the ball being in on his trademark, nick got pretty good wood on it. >> rob: got good wood on it, little bit of damage. just enough slow down for zobrist to do a nice play on the turf. >> bob: evidently he stepped on a dime out there. it's loose, but it's sticky loose. there's like this black rubber next to the green rubber. >> rob: strange infield. >> bob: somebody developed that with the goal of making it play as real as possible compared to natural grass. it's definitely not as fast as

the old astroturf which was basically laid on top of concrete. this will be easy for upton. nats go quickly in the top of the 3rd. still 1-0 washington. times may be tough today, but the things we all look forward to haven't 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. on to the bottom of the 3rd. loyal fans traveling down to st. pete to follow our ball

club club. today is telecasts by the washington nationals. it may not be reproduced in any form. the counts may not be used without consent of the washington nationals. >> bob: looking to bunt. this kid has had a great series, 4 life 7 with -- 4-7 with a walk. >> rob: from this point on, this is where detwiler has had issues. 22 earned runs or 22-72 with 13 earned runs. >> bob: the name of the hometown, same high school as andy and ben sheets went to.

that's a shattered bat. to johnson for the first out. >> rob: right here he gets gets inside. great curveball. i had a great conversation with the equipment manager for the marlins when i was there. now he's the equipment manager for the nationals. we talked about the extended length of the new bats and maple wood. how the maple wood has a swirling grain to it. the old bats, the grains are the length of the bat. when you broke them, it was basically like breaking a boat oar. now they're longer and thinner in the middle. you've got to projectiles when

i used to break them, they dropped at home plate. it's the grain and not the different types of bats. >> bob: detwiler tried to paint inside. change up and a base hit. >> rob: b.j. upton had that right there. i guess back in the day -- what was his first name, the walker that had the rbis and stuff. i think pat walker. wilson. i think they were stirring up the paint with his bat. he liked the look of it, they liked the look. that's why they started calling

it the walker finish. >> bob: those clubhouse guys are a different breed. they seldom see the light of day. >> rob: we talked about how the batting practice baseballs come from china. the game balls come from costa rica. >> bob: they're stitched by machine now. they're stitched tighter than human hands could. good lead by the runner. he's picked off. nick's got to hurry. he throws high. [cheering and applause] the nationals keep picking runners off but then don't get them at 2 2nd base. that's stolen base 23 for upton who has swiped five in this series. >> rob: nick has got to come towards the ball quicker. if you stand will and wait for

the ball to get to you, you're not going to be able to do it. you have to cut off the distance between the ball and the 1st baseman. with nick standing there, it takes too long to throw it to 2 2nd. >> bob: that's the tying run at 2nd base. it's a fastball away. i can think of four to five time this is year when the nationals have picked runners off 1st, kept on going and they make it to 2nd base. it doesn't go down as an error, but in a way, it is. >> rob: let's take another look. nick stand there is to wait for the ball to get to him. you can't it on that replay. you have to take at least one to two steps towards detwiler to barack -- to the ball. as fast as upton is -- nick

is going to wait here, gets it, then he's going to throw it. that's where he takes the step in to cut off the angle. cutting off that distance between the pitcher and ball, it's going to help you throwing him out at 2nd. you can't wait for it to come to you. >> bob: burrell robbed of a hit by harris the first time. he pops it up. it will get out of play. infielders don't give up here. if it hits one of the rings in foul territory and comes down, it's catchable. a ring, b ring, c ring slower part of your screen there.

then there's the d ring lowest of the four. it's beyond the outfield fences . 3-2 pitch, one out. >> bob: breaking ball. close but misses. 1-2 with even evan longoria coming. >> rob: you can turn two here.

longoria is not a speedster either. >> bob: people say, what does it matter if the guy at 2nd isn't fast? >> rob: it's going to take lodge tore get to 2nd base, take longer to get the ball to 2nd and concentrating on getting the double play. >> bob: up the mid it will first time. three consecutive hits now in the series. >> rob: the fact longoria has nursing a hamstring the last few weeks. that helps also. >> bob: he's been trotting the 1 1st base trying to get that warmed up. 2- 0. >> rob: we talked about this after the 2nd inning. detwiler has to finish off the pitches and try to throw it through josh bard.

when he starts falling towards 1 st base, he's not following through. when you're stepping across your body, your arms are trailing too far behind to throw stris. >> bob: pitch up. far enouway. couldn't reach it. it's 2-1. longoria got all 28 first place votes for rookie of the year lastear. >> bob: went to the all-ar game -- runner going to not even a throw. the ball was called a strike.

b.j. upton steals 3rd for the 9th time this year. he has six steals in his series series. >> rob: with longoria up there, rd will have to ro a big man. he can't get thisdo. the first night here he threw it to leld on a double steal. >> bob: bouncing ball, willie harris. here's your double play. detwiler gets his second consecutive inning ending 5, 4, 3. on to the middle innings. the pitcher and defense are doing their part. 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.

thanks to our united st army to protect and defend our great nation everyday. >> bob: thank you adam dunn. 240 years ago, the army was established. we salute all of america's army to build a better future. well said adam. you're entitled to some today. he's 1-2. he could always say hi to mom and dad, his wife or

kids. >> rob: we could have a contest, have adam say hi to you. >> bob: we'll call it "have adam adam. "how about this? there's dukes, it is beyond the reach of upton. dunn will stop at 3rd 3rd. elijah dukes is putting on a power display today. >> rob: how do you like me now? looks like a hanging curveball. it is. 85 miles per hour north on the pitch track. it's a double off the wall. second one of the day. >> bob: the ball got out there so quickly. adam dunn who could see off the bat it wasn't going to be caught couldn't get beyond 3rd