upset. >> 100% chance of rain basically from :30 on. i don't know. seemsúúxx the following is a masn presentation. >> interleague play has come back to nationals park as at group of birds from the great, white north have flocked to the nation's capital. it's another a. l. east opponents for the nats as the toronto blue jays are in town without their cy-young award winner roy halladay. his absence means an opportunity for the nats who are looking to get on a roll as the summer starts to heat up. tonight, it's jordan zimmermann's turn to take the mound as he searches for his third win of the season on masn 2.

it's a beautiful night for the beginning of a series against the toronto blue jays at nationals park. get your red on and come on down. fans are nielg. tonight against the jays. welcome, everybody. interleague play continues between washington. they got wane in new york take 2-3. now they have to see if they can do damage against the jays here at nationals park, tonight, tomorrow night and sunday afternoon. zoom in. johnny holliday along with phil wood. brandon knight has taken a -- ray knight has taken a couple of days off. the series in new york has put a fire in the entire town as far as what this ball club is capable of doing. when you went up there and shutout the yankees for the first time at home this year, only the second time all season long, do you it with a guy named craig stammen, things are going pretty, darn good. >> stammen gets his first major league victory the night after john lannan impresses his parents in the stands. he takes 2-3. he probably should have won all three games. he was swept three in tampa,

but held your own in all three of the games. this is a club that when they took on the yankees, clearly didn't have their hitting shoes on. it hardly mattered. they took 2-3 despite hitting .212 for the series. >> a couple of home runs up in new york. they score nine runs. look at the e.r.a. 2.08. we have talked over and over and over about the great, young pitching staff, the rotation manny acta finally has going for him. these guys are lights out. >> well, stammen has the super outing last night. first shutout of the year. nationals the last team in baseball to come up with a shutout. you look at stammen. you look at lannan. you look at martis. you look at ross detwiler still looking for that elusive -- and jordan zimmermann. these five guys right now, if this is the rotation. this rotation has a win-loss record of 12-14. that's pretty acceptable. you saw a couple guys on the d. l. who may come back and hem out before the season is over. the way things are going

lately, yeah, overall win-loss record isn't much to write home about, but anybody with hatch a brain who knows something about the game can look now and say things are change in washington. >> we'll talk to craig stammen in our show tonight. we had a chance to sit down with the terrific, young, personallable guy. alternates up in yankee stadium euphoric over the win in new york. he put things in perspective as did ryan zimmerman. >> we went out there and took two from the yankees. we went went down there. we had those guys on the ropes, too. here we had them on the ropes all three games. they were able to squeeze one out. we're no rollover for sure. i think teams, they're going to know that. they know that now. at the same time, our record kind of says a lot about what teams are going to think about us. >> it's huge. i think if you look at tampa, we could have easily won 2-3 of those. it looks like we're starting to turn a corner a little bit

which is positive. we're still positive here and just continuing to get better and learn from our mistakes and hopefully turn this thing around. >> yep, turn that thing around and building blocks from new york on through this series hopefully. >> one thing, johnny, i think that people have notice about the nationals, they never get too high or too low f there's a team that had a right to get low, it's this club. think it's happened. you have to give manny acta a orest -- a lot of credit for that. players know what happened this year is an be a racial. they've found new ways to win games -- lose games this season. >> yeah, let's hope the old ways are tossed out the window and the new ways will continue. debbi taylor is with us and had a chance to visit with a guy who had a good series up in new york, adam dunn. >> that's right. adam is coming off his two days of dhing returning to the outfield tonight as the nats take on the toronto blue jays. i asked him account team carry the momentum from that yankees series into this weekend series with toronto? >> i think we could have easily

swept the series and it's probably best baseball we've played in a long time. so, for us to kind of respond the way we did yesterday after winning whatever day it was, tuesday or wednesday, whatever, after that long rain delay, it's -- that's a good sign. >> shairon martis, john lannan and craig stammen combine for only three earned runs in that series against the yankees. what do you think of this young rotation so far? >> i think it's young. you said it. you know, it's starting to come around, we think. if they can continue to keep us in a ballgame, we'll definitely turn thing around. you know, we're getting really good pitching and playing good defense. that's why we won the last two games. >> speaking of defense, just for yourself, what are you doing to improve on your defense ?p. >> just trying to go out there early and work every day and just trying to do the same

thing and just repetition. >> now that you're just going to be in left field, does that make it easier knowing you won't have to shift positions quite as much? >> i think so. i think you can focus on one instead of three. you know, to me that would probably make sense that it would be a lot easier. so, you know, it's just kind of one of those things, work in progre.s i'll probably play first every once in a while i would imagine. just take some grounders over there. >> as you're clinching closer to a milestone, you're only four home runs away from 300. what would that number mean to you? >> as of right now, i don't think -- i don't think it would mean that much -- the reason i say that is because i feel like i have a whole lot of baseball left. hopefully, i didn't end at 300. so, it will be cool to kind of get it out of the way and hopefully there's a lot more to come. >> it's a step in the right

direction. knows that you're -- knowing that you're a home run hitter, think of the .500 -- 500 home run mark? >> no, to me, you've got to be very good for a long time and stay healthy. you know, that's something that i don't even think about. i mean, i think about being healthy and hopefully everything else will take care of itself. >> i think he can be pretty good for a long, long time. take this into consideration. he has 18 home runs that leads the nationals this season and only 2 1/2 months into the season last year's season leaders ryan zimmerman and lastings milledge collected 14. i think he's doing a good job and definitely the investment is work for the nats. johnny, phil? >> debbi, thank you very much. 224 home runs for dunn last six years. only pujols has more. that's pretty good stick work. >> pretty good. who was last guy to wear the washington uniform? i'm sure you listened may 6, 19 p 0 western frank howard hit

300 against rudy may against the angels -- of the angels. >> i was going to say that but you took the words out of my mouth. stick around. we'll continue. johnny holliday and. mr. baseball in washington, phil wood. coming right back at you after these messages. ♪

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♪ who's watching... (announcer) it's right here. it's easy. ♪ i always feel like somebody's watching me. ♪ it's the money you could be saving with geico. welcome back, everybody. "nats xtra" pregame on masn. johnny holliday along with phil wood. great night for baseball. great weekend series against the toronto blue jays just happens to lead the major leagues in hits with 674. they're going to throw brian tallet tonight at the nationals against jordan zimmermann. >> brian tallet is 31-year-old left-hander 6'6", 215 pounds. broke in with the indians in 2002. this is just husband 19th big league start. second-round pick out of lsu. once traded for a player named boomy bomuchera. zim, his 11th start.

hit five unhit innings. 50 k's. gets lots of ground ball outs. i think this will be a real test for him tonight just a good-hitting club he's facing. >> he pitched extremely well against tampa bay last outing. did not get the decision. i had a chance to sit down earlier today and visit with a guy that won his first major league game last night at yankee stadium and you could see the numbers interest. -- there. tallet, 4-4. zimmermann, 2-3. look at the e.r.a. brian a little better than jordan's. the strikeout comparison goes to zimmermann there, phil. >> absolutely. again, 4-1 strikeout to walk ratio. zimmermann doesn't have a win since the 26th of eighteen 6789 -- april. >> craig stammen and i sat down and talked a little about last night's game and what a thrill it was for himself to get his first major league victory. >> craig, got to congratulate you on a fabulous performance against the yankees yesterday in what had to be one of the

longest days of your life just waiting for the game. >> yeah, it was fun. waiting for the game, unfortunately, we've had a couple of those games here in washington too. i was looking forward to pitching in yankee stadium. i was glad the game -- we actually got play and finish it. >> you also had a chance to go to the other side and play over at the mets new stadium which has been the biggest crowd you've ever pitched before. >> yeah, both those stadiums are new and really cool to play in. you always think of the center of the baseball universe is in new york city. so, those are the two biggest stages. it's quite a fun time to pitch there. >> when you were growing up back in ohio thinking about maybe someday i could make the major leagues, was there a guy you said if i can pitch like this guy, i'll be ok? >> unfortunately, there wasn't -- there was pitchers because i grew up being a reds fan. i guess tom browning and jose rios and dibble upstairs and stuff. the guys i eye dollized was davis and larkin. i wanted to be a hitter.

i mimicked them. i have eric davidson's pitch down pat. just loving baseball that. carried me this far. i want to keep it the same way. >> like most good athletes, played other sports in high school. >> writhe right. i also played basketball and football. it kept me busy and i played golf in the summer when i wasn't doing one of those. >> how did you wind up university of dayton? >> it's a college close to home and i watched their basketball games on tv and i was always a big fan. i never got recruited by a lot of big schools, so kind of fit into what i wanted, the type of school i wanted academically and worked out baseball wise also. >> last night as tradition would have it when you have your first major league victory, your buddy lannan from the blindside puts that baby right in your face. >> right. >> done he was coming? etalkeding about it like two weeks ago. he's like when you get yours first one, you're getting shaving cream in the fares face. i could see him waiting on it when we took hands at the end

of the game. debbi asked me question and i was thinking what i was going to answer and, bam, he caught me off guard. i guess that's what you get when you get your first one. >> one thing we noticed about lannan is how quickly he got out of there and took the steps right down to the clubhouse. he wasn't stick arched. >> right. he didn't want any that have mess on him. we'll get him back later on in the year. >> this ball club is playing so well. you are as well. the pitching staff continues to get better all the time, don't he? >> yeah, we're coming around. we had five young guys in the rotation. we're all learning from each other and all pretty good friends. we're excited about our chances in the big leagues and maybe moving this frank chiez in a better direction so we start wing. >> have a great time. continued success. >> thanks. >> great, young man, craig stammen. he won't go against the toronto blue jays. he'll go against the red sox next week. the video of ramon ramirez throwing his bat down after he struck out the look on his --

alex rodriguez throwing his bat down after he struck out the look on his face how dare you. do you know who i am? we'll be back at nationals park as we have a big, big night. look at this girl. nice to be back home to see if the nats can make it three straight. no problem. you kno, maybe other people are content to sit around and wait. wait for something to happen. for business to pick up. but for you, it's time to kick it in gear. time to get going. time to get tough. take control. you're not gonna run and hide. because backing down's not your style. grab your bag. it's on. ( ding )

welcome back, everybody "nats xtra" pregame here on masn. some of the fans getting ready for the ballgame tonight at nationals park. should be a terrific, terrific crowd. let's take a look at the lineups tonight. first of all for froont, one of the guys they got to keep off the bases, scott rolen. number three in the american league batting average and has a season high eight-game hitting streak coming into tonight and hit .500 over that span. >> outstanding defensive player as well. >> marco scutaro will lead off at shortstop for the jays. hill at second base. vernon wells in center. scott rolen playing third.

in the cleanup spot, adam lind in left, lyle overbay at first. rod barajas will be catching and brian tallet on the mound tonight for toronto. now for the nationals, how about adam dunn? we mention add few minutes ago, phil and imp talking 224 home runs the last six speans. -- and i were talking 224 home runs the last six seasons. 296 career home runs. he'll be in the cleanup spot. here is the rest of the washington lineup tonight. cristian guzman leads off at short. then comes nick johnson. ryan zimmerman down at third. adam dunn in left with a .265 average. elijah dukes in right. josh bard will be catching tonight, willie harris in center, hanley ramirez at second and jordan zimmermann on the mound for the nationals -- anderson hernandez at second and jordan zimmermann on the mound for the nationals. they've won 8-10 ballgames and

a three-game winning streak. >> there are two guys that kind of jump up aaron hill and adam lind. hill has 15 home runs. this is where their power is coming. from neither one of these guys have done a whole lot in terms of home runs previously. hill's career high with 17 home runs two years ago. lind's previous five was 11 the same year. these guys are locked in this year, seeing a lost good pitches and they're delivering. they both have batting averages over .300 and both outstanding defensive players. defensively, the toronto -- toronto is the best team in baseball. >> one thing about the blue jays, they're still very much contention in the american league east. third place behind the yankees and red sox. >> they're a game behind the yankees and four behind boston. look at this club since cito gaston came back at manager. last year when sit cito came in, they were 35-39 under john gibbons. gaston replaced gibbons a year ago tomorrow, june 20th.

they went 51-37 the rest of the way and he got a two-year contract extension and won back toback world championships '92 and '93. more importantly, he's been a member of the toronto organization for 35-3 # seasons of the franchise. >> wonderful to see manny acta and cito gaston around the -- around the batting cages before the ballgame exchanging pleasantries. cito had tough stuff back in the day. >> you think about managers who get a second chance to manage clubs. it doesn't happen often. it's happened with billy mar taind the yankees a few times. i look at gaston and see guy -- when they replaced st. claire with mccatty, they said one of the reasons was he's more old school. you can't get more old school than cito gaston who twice has been propoamented -- promomented -- promoted. >> zimmermann has never faced this ball club before.

i wonder how much time do they spend going over a scouting report for someone they don't see throughout the regular season. >> that's all the guys. >> scouting report, right? >> exact e. unless they face these guyssometimes in the minor leagues, obviously toronto has players that have come up through the national league as do the nationals t.d comes down to scouting report and video. resource that weren't available 30 or 40 years ago. i'm not sure they'll be surprised by anything that zimmermann throws up there. as we've seen in the last several starts, zimmermann, it doesn't seem to be you ad by anybody. >> i don't know but. the last couple of days since the yankee win thursday night than last night, i've had more people talking to me about this baseball club than i was all season long. they're excited about whatthey've seen now. >> it comes down to this. people are swheeg the club intended them to see months ago. now it's finally happening. >> it's time for the stay of the game hold of the day

brought to you by just for men hair color. how about the curls recorded yesterday by villone. joe beimel has got eight, julian tavarez has one. three nationals coming in keep the nats in the game every time they come out of the pen. you too can stay in the game with just for men hair color. nice having you with us. ben goessling is going to talk with us. we saw terrific plays and then go to the hot corner of our "nats xtra" pregame when we come back with ben goessling. 

welcome back "nats xtra pregame on masn tonight. they'll meet tomorrow night at 7:00 and sunday afternoon game on masn 2. then, boston red sox come to town for games tuesday, wednesday and thursday. on the big one, masn hd. we hope you'll be with us here

in person if not on masn. manny acta knows one thing is for certain. pitching and defense wins ballgames. >> i don't think it's a secret that pitching and defense wins ballgames. the fact is that we haven't played good defense, and it goes both ways. if you play good defense, it makes your pitching better because there's a thousand of errors that they don't shoip on the box score. fly balls that we don't get to. fly balls that we don't catch. ground balls we don't get to that some of the guys get to it. it goes hand in hand. >> and ben goessling joining us from the "the washington times" in the hot corner segment. defense especially the series up in new york really got everybody's attention. >> yeah, it was different than anything we've seen this year. not only were the errors not there, they were making plays to save the game. you saw austin kearns throw out a guy. willie harris makes that catch to save a base runner that would have ended up scoring. cristian guzman robs derek

jeter of a hit. it was striking to see it not only that there weren't -- they weren't losing games that way, but they were actually saving enough runs to win the game. it was something if they can keep it up, i think you'll notice the difference simply because it's going to save some runs and make the pitching staff that much better like manny was talking about. you can cover over some of the errors and cover over some of the problems defensively they've been having if you do a few extra things defensively. >> somebody says when -- said when the boarding house ex employees -- exploded, rumors floating. more rumors about the nats and the deadline. how imperative they do something? >> well, it's tough to say that. i guess it's imperative that they do something to salvage this season. you know, you have a little bit of a mitigating factor in the sense that you may be tradeoff in kearns but who is going to take that contract and same thing as probably if you're

cristian guzman and even adam dunn i've heard rumors about adam dunn possibly going to an american league club. you're talking about a tradeable asset, you start with nick johnson. if you can get some things, maybe a center fielder. i know there's been talk they want more of a pure center fielder in the system. the bullpen still has things they'd like this revamp. if you can get a couple of pieces, i don't know that it's imperative they do anything. if you can do that, i don't think you have to say this entire slump and the veterans is a complete wash if you can turn it around and get something for them eye know you like the way adam dunn has been playing recently. stepped up, hasn't he? >> yeah, i think some of that was he didn't have to worry about playing defense and he was hitting in new york and didn't have to take his issues in the field to the plate with him. he saw a difference. we'll see if he's back playing left field if he can do that playing both ways again. >> thank you very much. always great to have you with us. ben goessling from the "the washington times" in the hot

corner. for phil wood, johnny holliday. the nats-toronto blue jays, first of three coming up. bob and rob next. 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,

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