boilt. >> bob: what a dairchs day makes in new york. back-to-back starters virtually unaffected by the yankees misdeed. can they carry the mom yum into tonight. the blue jays stand in the way on masn. 

>> bob: a happy bunch o nationals landed at 1:00 a.m. this morning from new york city. some momentum built in that finale of the road trip against the yankees. now the toronto blue jays come in. that is solid toronto club definitely contending for honors in the a. l. east. bob carpenter, rob dibble. good to be back home. that was nice wrapup to what we saw in new york. >> rob: yes, it was. it was a momentum builder and a way i gauge yourself against a very good team like the yankees. well-pitched baseball game, well defensively played, great defense and great pitching will when you -- win you championships. last night it was the great defense that kept this nationals team in the game and on the board and keep the yankees off the board with a 3- 0 shutout. willie harris, cristian guzman, anderson hernandez, ryan zimmerman at one point. everybody contributed to this victory last night. one of the best played games i

think all around from the starters to the bullpen to the offense to the defense. so, that was definitely a team victory and a way to get that series win. >> bob: i saw manny acta in his office after the game last night. he was talking about pitching. it leads to good defense and wins. jordan zimmermann's turn tonight. can he like his young teammates continue to feed off each other's success? éa,

>> bob: nationals baseball masn brought to you in part by southwest airlines. book your next trip at southwest.com. by aflac, we've got you under our wing. and by -- and by acura. acura advance. it's a nice night down there at the national harbor, the woodrow wilson bridge all the way up north to the red least and red porch here at nationals park. blue jays are second in the american league in hitting right behind the angels now. scott rolen a-former philly and

cardinal is really, really hot. he's 17-34 last. he's healthy for the first time in the last couple of years after serious shoulder problems hampered him and he's leading the way with a very good toronto lineup. jordan zimmermann, rob dibble, has a tough assignment against these boys tonight. >> rob: yes, em he will have his work cut out for him tonight. he has to stop this lineup like stopping the yankees and the rays. it's been intim indicate dating for the staff, buff they've been up for the challenge. >> bob: right on time at 7:05. partly cloudy skies and 82 degrees. this is a night when the ball should be carrying if anybody can get ahold of one. there's one down the right- field line but foul off the bat of marco scutaro. this guy has become one of the better leadoff hitters in the league and here is the pnc report on jordan zimmermann. >> rob: zimmermann has disprait great stuff. he's still working -- has great stuff. he's still working his craft.

he has 16 walks in 57 innings pitched against 60 strikeouts which is phenomenal. three wins in his 10 starts this year. that is not good. his job is to get victories for this staff. >> bob: a screamer into the seats foul. >> rob: you may start the game and leave the game, but you want to leave your team in a position to win. >> bob: marco scutaro, 33-year- old infielder from venezuela that got -- they got in a trade from oakland a year ago november. he hit .267 for the jays last year. he's hit .302 right now with a .404 on-base percentage. home plate umpire, 18-year veteran, crew chief brian gorman. jason smith james hoye, c. b. bucknor and mike everett around the bases. number two to the angels' .22. breaking ball, little chopper. zimmermann right there. >> rob: step and throw. nationals defensively, adam

dunn cannot d. h. because we're in a national league ballpark. he's in left. willie harris, a wonder play in new york last night. dukes is in right. then, guzman, hernandez,zimmerman, johnson and behind the plate josh bard. adam dunn back in left field. he told debbi taylor he really enjoyed dhing a couple of days ago in new york. here is aaron hill perhaps their purest hitter. he has 90 hits to lead the american league tied with miguel tejada for the american league lead -- major league lead and has 28 multihit games woirt. >> rob: you would think scutaro wouldn't walk as much, but scutaro has 47 walks on the season, bob. it's the guy in front of him you want to get around him to get to this guy. i wouldn't think so. >> bob: aaron hill is a former sec player of the year and all american from lsu in his fifth year with the blue jays.

27 years of age a really good second baseman and a 13th overall draft pick back in the first round. there's a swing and a foul tip and zimmerman strikes -- zimmermann strikes him out. blue jays and the nats have not met since 2007 and the jays haven't been in the district since 2006. vls is -- vernon wells is really having a buzzing season. the blue jays, more hits than anybody. nats at home, 22-17 in interleague play since becoming the washington nationals. it's kind of odd they played the blue jays interleague play 12 times. only three of those games have been in dc. at 2-1 for the nats at rfk back in 2005. >> rob: you saw that stat about how they lead the american league in hits. hill has 90. lind has 80. scutaro has 81. rios has 77 and rolen is catching up with 69. they're all good at putting the

ball in play. >> bob: vernon wells is their highest priced player. signed a big deal 2 1/2 years ago, $127 million. rich -- richest contract in the history of the toronto blue jays. he's been struggling this year. not that time. now he's 7-17 last. that will get scott rolen to the plate batting .327. >> rob: one thing young pitchers have done well is getting out of the inning after two outs which they hadn't done well. last six games getting out of the inning after two outs, imperative for this young staff. >> bob: scott rolen ran into choi choi of the dodgers back in 2005. until this year, his shoulder was never the same. he's been on the d. l. and out for the rest of the season a time or two because of it. he's now back healthy. he feels the best he has felt in years and the numbers prove

it. not a lot of power though. only four home runs, 22 rbi's. >> rob: well, we talk about ryan zimmerman's defense or longoria or a-rod, this is one of the best third baseman. seven gold gloves for scott rolen. so, whatever he's not doing with the bat, bob, he's doing it with the glove behind you as. as a pitcher, you've got to love a guy like scott rolen. >> bob: only brooks robinson and mike schmidt with 10 have won more gold gloves at third base. >> rob: he makes that play at second base better than anybody i've seen. he takes that shot, catches it going towards the outfield and can still throw it chest high to the first baseman. >> bob: i told ryan zimmerman when the nationals went to st. louis three years ago to keep an eye on scott rolen the way he throws the ball. he might be the most accurate third baseman in recent memory.

>> rob: , northrop grumman on the pitch track spoke to vice president development of player about catching and what josh bard and wil nieves have been doing lately. they're not setting up as far off the plate as they used to because the umpires are no longer calling that. they may set their target up. the glove. they physically are sitting more behind home plate. we talked about the strike zone. it's withered away. if you stay around the plate with your glove or body, the catcher, maybe the umpire will get you a few more calls. >> gary: so, -- >> bob: so, pitchers make adjustments, hitters make adjustments and so do catchers. >> rob: well, bob boone caught 225 games in his career third on the all-time list that rodriguezhas passed carlton fisk. >> bob: jammed on. here is our interleague updays. american league won 67,

national league 58. so, national league picked up four wins more than the american league did yesterday thanks in part to the nats. and a breaking ball popped up straight back. interleague numbers, american league 46 more home runs, e.r.a. better. look at that. national league has a better average with the dh's. >> rob: they're liking that dh. whoo-hoo. >> bob: for a change, the national league pitchers are outhitting the american league guys. i was getting tired of seeing those guys outhit our guys. rolen drives it to center. right there is willie harris. he deserves an easy play after what he did last night. here come the nats. good first inning for jordan zimmermann. - it's on. - oh, it's on, all right. - it's on. - it is totally on. jimmy, it's on. it's on. oh, yeah, it's on.

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we build moving vans. we build tv stations. we build the 25 mile per gallon chrysler town & country. come see what we've built for you. >> bob: bottom of the first inning. nalts are -- nats are hitting .257, eighth in the league, 10th in runs and seventh in home runs. adam dunn, homer number 296 at yankee stadium two nights ago. he has 18 on the year and 47 rbi's and he's hitting the ball pretty -- pretty well. slugging percentage up there. they continue to walk adam quite a bit. he's tied with adrian gonzalez atop the league with 53 of them. this is a left-hander that has a great changeup, rob dibble. brian tallet from oklahoma originally. >> rob: he's a big one.

6'6", 220. he almost throws totally side arm for a big man. >> bob: guzman, first pitch swinging. in the air, shortstop marco scutaro. still a fair ball weapon he puts it away. >> rob: as i said, he's very deceptive. he'll try to throw three quarter and below. zero home runs. that's the amount last year against 101 left-handed batters in 2008. 19th start of his career over six years. 150 relief appearances. he's been more of a short man and a setup guy and the blue jays have eight wins this season in his 16 appearances. 12 starts. >> bob: nick johnson hitting .306. >> rob: like you said, he has a very good changeup. he has a decent slider, decent curve ball a little bit of a cutter he's developed the last couple of years. you'll need all those pitches

if you go two or three times through the lineup. it's not an overpowering fastball. >> bob: i got a scouting report on him from former major league catcher allen ash biwho is a radio comoan commentator for the blue jays. he told me there have been games when tallet won't even throw a breaking ball in the early innings. he'll go fastball changeup on you. he's that good, that deceptive and later on he'll mix in a hook or two. that one is inside on nick johnson rand the count goes to 3-0. >> rob: and another thing bob boone told me today, bob, was we talked about never waste a pitch. always have a purpose. whether you're 0-2, there's no reason to throw it in the dirt way outside. i mean, try to get the guy out on that pitch. >> bob: and a four-pitch walk. nick johnson has now been on base 10 consecutive games. toronto is the second best defensive team in the american league. 27 herrors. wins with 24. marco scutaro and aaron hill very good up the middle.

vernon wells made a spectacular diving play in philadelphia yesterday. alex rios and adam lind on the flanks in the outfield. scott rolen, very good as we mentioned. lyle overbay and rod barajas has always been a solid, major league catcher. >> rob: not a lot of original blue jays on this team. >> bob: right. up and away to ryan zimmerman who is an original nat. >> rob: richardi is a very busy manager. >> bob: he's a wheeler dealer. >> rob: he is. >> bob: one on, one out. zimmerman at .310. 2-0. interesting about ryan. this year he's hitting .335 against right-handed pitchers. so, you figure he must murder lefties. you don't see lefties that often.

then, you're facing guys like this who is so -- who are so hedeceptive. rite ryan's batting average against lefties considerably lower than that .335. >> rob: especially against a good changeup lefty like this guy or johan santana. those pitchers will do better against righties than lefties because lefties take the changeup away from a left- handed pitcher. >> bob: a couple of interleague battles already significant today. the indians-cubs at wrigley are 7-7 in the 10th inning. -- inning. most of the other games just under way. milwaukee has a 3-0 lead over detroit and the braves from our division lead 1-0 at fenway park. 2-1 to zimmerman. off the end of the bat. that's why it's going to stay in the park. adam lind for the second out. >> rob: and to backup what you just said, brian tallet against right-handed hitters this year,

they're batting .218 off him. he's only faced 76. about a third left-handed hitters, they're hitting .237 against him. they have a few more home runs, but with that changeup it keeps those righties off balance. >> bob: here is adam dunn. adam in the new york series, 4- 9 with three walks, a homer and two rbi's. big holmqvist is on. rolen -- big shift is on. scott rolen is playing up the middle shortstop position. if adam dunn wanted to get elijah dukes to the plate in the inning, he could play carlos pena and bunt one down the third-base line, but the nats want this big guy swinging the bat. that was a front door breaking ball on the inside corner. >> rob: nice hit by direction

by adam dunn. >> bob: so, 47 of the 60, dead center or pull. of course, we remember one of those opposite field picks. a grand slam into the bullpen that beat the orioles. that was really off-speed there. >> rob: here is our x-mo. finally where he wey get our little toy back. >> bob: see how the bat is gone? >> rob: yeah, good breaking ball by tallet right now. >> bob: yeah, that ball right up the middle! it will get through. heading for third base, nick johnson. scott rolen, that was an interesting play. i thought he was going to go after it. then, he slowed up maybe because there would be nobody to cover the left side of the infield. i don't think he had that play anyway. how about done dunn beating the shift with a little ground ball? >> rob: it was a good pitch by tallet, a jam shot.

adam dunn is strong enough, watch the x-mo right here. he'll be in on the hands. strong enough to drive it up the middle, keep the inning going. >> bob: i'm sure he's telling lyle overbay, man, i hit that ball hard. >> rob: no, he's going, man, my hands hurt, but i'm not going to shake them. he's saying i'll take that one. >> bob: adam enjoyed playing at yankee stadium for three days. i'll tell you about that a little later. sheer dukes. elijah this year,.300 with runners in scoring position. he's 0-7 last. batting average downd down under .250. >> rob: go figure that brian tallet grew up in oklahoma and grew up loving nolan ryan. don't we all. >> bob: dukes will pop it up into short right field.

alex rios is waiting. nats will get a couple of base runners, a walk and sangle, leave two, no -- a single, leave two, no score. ÷pñ)y@@p

>> debbi: scoreless as we m to the top of the second inning. craig stammen told me last night that the young the starters are feeding off each other. they're good friends and a tight knit group. here is more from manny acta on that topic. >> they play together at some

point. a couple of those guys are together before. they motivate each other and feed off each other and it's good. they don't have any type of competition going on, but they're trying to outdo each other, followup in each other's step every feist days. >> debbi: for jordan zimmermann, he told me he needs to continue to pound the zone. he has a really good strikeout to walk ratio. he has nearly four strikeouts to each walk. >> bob: that is correct, debbi. a strikeout in the first inning gave him 61. only 16 walks in 58 innings this year. as rob has pointed out on numerous occasions, part of his problem, some of the strikes are too good, overred middle of the plate, too hittable. that's why opponents are batting .279 and his vearks 5.37. this is adam lind hitting .308. he's a edmundsy, indiana, kid, who went to the university of

south alabama and a home grown blue jay. third-rounder in 2004. jordan looking quick with the heater tonight. this hitter is third in the american league with 36 extra- base hits. he's one of those guys rob talked about with 80 hits or more. swing and a miss. he was overmatched on a fastball away. strikeout number two for j. zim. >> rob: bob, what we have talked about also with jordan is he throws so hard and so well, let's see if these guys can hit it. you know, throw to them. see if they can hit it. if you hit my best fastball,i'll make adjustments. there's no reason to go to your second and third best pitch when you have a great number one. >> bob: don't trick them with your number one? >> rob: no, don't show them your whole arsenal and rep pawr twawr the first time through. i like what brian tallet does. go fastball, changeup maybe the first time through.

maybe fastball, slider the second time. maybe all breaking balls your third time. always leave the hitters thinking. >> bob: that one's away. 2-1. >> rob: wow, tight zone tonight. --@@streak ios has him up to .277. sixth year with the blue jays a.288 hitter. a breaking ball. that's a good one away from the right-hander. i think everybody is more comfortable when the second baseman makes that call. he's got a bit. 37 wonó./minnesota has fewer er -- machine machine has fewer -- minnesota has fewer errors. they play in a skydome now called the rogers centre after the company who owes them. that's a ballpark that plays

big in the gaps. if you pull the ball, it plays pretty small. >> rob: yeah, it's a very goodhitter's ballpark. if you can fitch right like a roy halladay, you can make a lot of money up there but keep the ball in the ballpark. like you said, last year they were number one overall sta tiivegically in the american league in pitching, bob, a 3.94 earned run average and that was with a. j. burn.net. a lot of injuries. they're still tox and number two in hitting. that's what keeping them over. >> bob: last year, number one in e.r.a. in runs, they gave up the fewest homers in baseball and they were number two to the red sox in strikeouts. >> they had 15 complete games. one pitcher who used to do that 30 years ago. they blew everybody out of the water on that one. cleveland indians with their cy young award winner cliff lee had 10. other than that, everybody had single digits. roy halladay, a.j. burn net did a great job.

>> bob: where was that? my goodness. brian gorman's strike zone right now is the size of a shoe box. that was right over the plate. where are the knees on this one? overbay walks after a bunch of near misses by zimmermann. that's right on the corner. runner at first. >> rob: nice framing by josh bard. what that means is you see how he catches the ball and kind of frames his body around it to make it look better for the umpire. sometimes they don't go for it. >> bob: here is barajas wrajs, -- rod barajas, the opposing catcher who hit a home run for the jays. he has one a game in philadelphia for them yesterday, his sixth of the year. he's 4-9 of his last. we've seen rod barajas in this league with the diamondbacks and phillies. evidently, it's a high strike zone. >> rob: evidently, make them beat you with your bat. challenge the lower part of the batting order.

see if they can hit the old number one. >> bob: no swing says james hoye. >> rob: let's see this from the side. nope, he didn't. >> bob: one ball, two strikes a toronto team only 16-18 on the road. they're 3-6 in interleague play so far. as rob mentioned, they play well in their ballpark where it's a good hitter's park. they're 21-13 there. jammed him. right side for nick johnson. and the blue jays are gone in the top of the second. look at that. overmatching a left-handed batter and even the guy in the stands calls him out. custom s