. >> bob: nats go for four straight tonight, mostly because they are making the right play at just the right time to break their opponent's momentum. last night, adam dunn produced the defining moment, a walkoff in the 11th against the blue jays. ross detwiler gets the ball tonight, anxious to ring up his first major league win. ♪ three really nice wins in a

row against quality opponents elevating the flags nationals' interleague record to 4-6. blue jays in for a saturday night of baseball here at nationals park. bob carpenter, rob dibble. as the weather warms up, it's not the hitters, it's the pitchers and we found out lately you can pitch well to win ball games and, rob, in the last 23 1/3 innings by the nats starters, they have only given up four earned runs. >> rob: and they are starting to do their job and that's what they are being paid to do, throw strikes, get ahead of people and throw strikes. martis started this off at yankee stadium. he deserved a little bit better fate that they got. obviously, they should have won that game. john la man then, best start of his career, best start of the year, and a lot of yankee

scouts said maybe the best start against the yankees this year. and then nats didn't want to stop that. nice shaving cream pie to boot in his first live interview. jordan zimmerman last night was very special, 23 first-pitch strikes, was dominant. deserved a better fate but the umpire didn't give a lot of calls. we would agree that, later in the game, his strike zone loosened up and now ross detwiler, still looking for his first win, 7th career start at the major league levels for the washington nationals, maybe has the best stuff of anybody notice rotation other than jordan zimmerman. he still has a tough job ahead of him with the second best offense in the american league in the toronto blue jays. >> bob: and then there is the closer who is 2-for-2 and then the bullpen, over the last 28 innings, 3 hits, no runs. ♪

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. >> bob:  nationals baseball masn brought to you by southwest airlines. book your next trip at southwest.com. and by firestone, a tradition of innovation. after all the weather we had in and out of the area all day long, it has turned into a beautiful night. sunny skies here at nationals park. a lot of people are still coming down down the street from the navy yard station and looking to see if the nats can make it four in a row against the american league east. the blue jays lead major league in hits. they are batting .278 as a ball club, second in the american league, detwiler, julian tavarez, those guys, they're going to start a new show called gilligan's island. they are stranding everybody these days. how about that, 28 of 29. and so the blue jays, .278,

fifth in the american league in runs, fifth in homeruns and alex rios is on fire, .394 over 33 at-bats in his last eight games. his batting average is up to .277. tall order for ross detwiler tonight, but, hey, at this time last night, robb, we were talking about jordan zimmerman having his work cut out for him. that's a daily occurrence for these young pitchers. >> rob: and they have been up to the task. going back to the tampa series, i talked to a lot of the players there, they are still upset that they didn't win more games. there were a lot of great pitches. and ross detwiler in line to not break the chain. the nationals do not have a win in his starts. his job is to put them in line to win. you are showing up against the best offense in the american

league and, hopefully, you can rise up to the occasion so that's your pnc bank breakdown. alberto gonzalez gets a start. wil nieves hidding .227 since the injury to jesus flores. i saw jesus in the clubhouse. he wants everybody to know he is feeling good, not ready to resume baseball activities yet. they are still awaiting some mri results but there's willie and there is a pretty solid defense lately despite three unforced errors last night. big story in baseball, kerry woods blows another save for the indians. the cubs win. this end league thing is really

hitting up. here is marco scutaro. nats held him to a 1-for-6 last night. detwiler misses with the first pitch underway at 7:08. it's quite breezy tonight. 20 mile-per-hour wind, 85 at game time. interesting that the weather is so warm but the wind's coming out of the north. 2-0. scutaro walks a lot. number 1 in the american league with 47 along with carlos peqa. that's why he has a .400 onbase average. that's in there. bucknor, brian gorman mike everitt and james hoye.

detwiler throws one. he jacks it into right center, in the sun, elijah dukes, one out. >> rob: a little bit, too, rob, it's going to be tricky. a lot of shadow here, especially late in the afternoon. the sun is shining in the back of the field. you saw elijah dukes go from the shade into the sun and made the catch. >> bob: somewhere, george harrison is smiling because here comes the sun, shining. >> rob: very nice beatle reference. my favorite beatle song is "while my guitar gently weeps". >> bob: george did that one, too. right off the end of the bat. of course, as a high school boy, your favorite song was hey jude. it was slow dance that lasted 7 minutes. [ laughter ].

>> bob: can you play that again? >> rob: that's awesome that you know that was a slow song that they played for 7 minutes. >> bob: just a little bit off the plate. 2-1. detwiler in 33 innings, 20 runs, 19 earned, 36 hits and aaron hill is right up there. 91 hits. leads all of baseball. one more than miguel tejada here in this league. detwiler, lots of fastballs to start things off and he goes 3- 1. >> rob: they are not the most powerful team but they do lead the american league in hits with 681 as a team. we talked about it last night. a lot of their guys have over 80 hits. >> bob: one out walk. jordan zimmerman was amazing last night, only three batters did not get first pitch strikes. second highest in baseball this

year. it still took him 106 pitches to get through just less than 6 innings. here is vernon wells batting .239. this guy is definitely on the way back. he has eight hits over his last eight games, including 2-for-5 last night. there were two ball clubs about to run out of pitchers last night. and the blue jays may not have too many guys available in their pen tonight. we'll have to see how that goes later. 1 ball, 1 strike to wells nats looking for a grounder. popped off to the right side, 1- 2. that ball ticked off the

equipment of wil nieves. remember, ross needs to constantly make a conscious effort to remind himself to finish the pitch first and then fall off towards first base because he steps across his body. that front leg way over toward first base when he is throwing the ball to home plate. >> bob: late on that one. it was a pitch away and detwiler blows away vernon wells, his 24th strikeout in 33 innings. >> rob: here you see the delivery on the 1-2 pitch. high fastball out and away. can't catch up to the high heat. >> bob: scott rolen will be

next. rolen, two hits. one hit last night. hit the ball hard twice, reached on an error and he has a nine-game hitting streak. >> rob: james hoye has a nice high strike zone tonight. at that could help detwiler. >> reporter: what's better for the pitcher, high or low? >> rob: depends upon what he is throwing. >> bob: right field, elijah dukes moves back, moves over, he is there and detwiler puts a 0 on the board for the nats in the top of the 1st. úúxx

. >> bob:  nice vantage point right there near our masn set. nats are 9th in the national league hitting, .257, 8th in homeruns and nick johnson all over the bases. 19 multi-hit games, .333 in his last 8. he was on base -- count them, six times last night, two singles, three walks. and bret cecil, a maryland terrapin. 222 years of aim, a native of dunkirk. that's a low strike to guzman.

cristian guzman had his 93rd career multi-hit game last night, his third in a row and he has 24 this year. >> rob: fifth in the league at .329. >> bob: from the right side, .306. we'll get rob's scouting reports on bret cecil in a moment. he is a guy with an unusual delivery that the blue jays have been trying to do something about. at times, he has let other teams know what's coming. a little tapper, gets by the mound, there is a chance. there is a chance. guzman with a base hit. well played by scott rolen but so much he could do. and the nationals off to a start here in the 1st inning. >> rob: well, this is sometimes a thing of beauty. that's a swinging bunt. the third baseman has to wait when a guy takes a full swing like that and that millyisecond

that roland has to wait to come in and he is one of the best to pick it up bare hand. you can't beat the feet of guzman. >> bob: nick johnson has been on base 10 consecutive games and 18 of his last 20. first pitch off the stretch, way upstairs. and the next one right in there, 1 ball and 1 strike. cecil is a rookie. theme his thirds year of professional ball. blue jays took him as a supplemental pick right after the first round in june of '07.

only 9-5 in 41 minor league starts and he has been up and down between the big club and aaa. nick, very late for that one. rob, what's up with the arm? >> rob: this is part of my break down. he has a rick sutcliffe wrap. see how he wraps that? when he throws his knuckle curve ball and bends the knuckle up on the baseball, he was tipping the pitch to the hitters. so they are trying to break him of that what pit at that habit. this is like a fork ball grip.

a lot of guys are doing that. it doesn't look like they are digging into that ball to get that grip. >> bob: nick takes it up and in, 2 balls, 2 strikes. cecil, 6'1", 235. up and in. nick johnson is now in the top 7 in the league in walks with 42. he has only struck out three more times than that. zimmerman is next. the nats may be building a 1st inning rally here. we'll see if manny does something with the runner guzman on a 3-2 to nick. he is holding and it's ball 4. 2 on, nobody out.

pnc bank scouting record on mr. cecil. a big time wrapper, wraps that arm around his back and shows the ball to the hitters. big t back in 2006, he more than doubled the career save record up at the university of maryland and copy cat, he said he formulated his delivery off of that of one andy pettite of the new york yankees. so he copied most of it, except that wrapping because andy pettite does not wrap that much behind his back but very similar as you might notice. >> bob: big spot early for ryan zimmerman, fifth in the league with 81 hits. long ballgame last night. zimmerman 0-for-5 with a walk. but his walk in the 11th inning did set up adam dunn's walkoff

hit. good speed out there, guzman at second, nick johnson behind him. they play zimmerman absolutely straight away in the outfield. that's outside. 1-1. by the way, the interleague ledger, american league 75, national league 66 including the two games from today. >> rob: it's getting a little tighter. >> bob: yeah, getting up there a little bit. another week to do something about it. and the nats have been doing their part the last few days for the senior circuit. the national league is a little older than the american league. >> rob: check out that last pitch. maybe trying to look too much. look at how far out that arm comes, shows the pitch to the hitter. there you see it from the side

angle. >> bob: hitters like to focus on the release point and that's a long way to go with the eyes in a split second. 1-2 delivery. >> rob: it's a good thing with lefties and some of the bullpen guy, it's deception. you want to try to, you know, hide that ball as long as possible before you show it to the hitter and give him a look at your grip. if have you a big knuckle hanging up side the ball, here comes the knuckle curve. >> bob: still have to hit the ball. >> rob: yes. >> bob: he has a good change- up, maybe not as good as brian tallet whom we saw last night. >> rob: here is where he has the grip, change-up grip. he may not even throw that kind of change-up. he may change it in the glove.

and now he throws it to johnson. zimmerman up the middle, double play ball, turned by hill, 6-4- 3. ryan zimmerman hits into a double play for the 13th time this year. adam dunn got it done in the 11th last night. >> rob: the big hero. manny acta was telling me he was waiting for him to make contact hard somewhere, thought he could win this ballgame and right there you see him shoot down the right field line. and all they were saying around the batting cage today -- and he was launching second-deck house of representatives. sometimes, it's not a big homerun that wins you ball games. it's just putting the ball in play and that's what he did last night. >> bob: here is another such time. front door breaking ball up to dunn, now hitting .268. that was his 48th rbi of the year last night, 6th in the national league in

that. the shift is on. scott rolen, though, those stay somewhat close to third. adam drives the ball to left but it's right at adam lind. that's it for the nats. leadoff hit. guzman stranded. no score after 1. beautiful night here. s of tomorrow. they're all around us. which is why pnc created grow up great. a $100 million program that prepares young children for school. and the world they'll inherit.... sooner than you think. pnc. leading the way. at dodge, we build mechanical bulls. we build freight trains. we build toolboxes.

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blue jays here and tomorrow and then a day off on monday. the red sox for three. for more, we commute to baltimore. and shairon martis, ricky romero tomorrow. ross detwiler back to work, 16 pitches, 9 strikes in the 1st inning. adam lind leads off. >> rob: do we stay at a hotel there or is it a day trip? >> bob: we have been treating that as commuter day trip in the last few years. >> rob: we don't get per diem or anything? >> bob: you know what? i don't know that. it's within a 50-mile radius, i know, unless you live way out somewhere. if you want that per diem, you could rent a hotel room out by

dulles for the weekend but you would probably break even. 2-1. lind, rios and millar, the former oriole, ken millar, here in the 2nd. detwiler working upstairs effectively so far. adam lind leads the american league in double. 25-year-old outfielder from muncie, indiana, via a good baseball school, the university of alabama. tried to pull that outside

breaking ball did lind. alberto gonzalez throws him out. and three in a row for detwiler since the walk to aaron hill. and then alex rios is next. he is hot, eight-game streak. >> rob: this kid, rios, he reminds me a lot of justin maxwell, tall, thin, very good outfielder. >> bob: they. they list him at 6'52"15. >> rob: a couple of years ago, this kid was crushing the ball. they gave him a long-term extension. >> bob: 14 homeruns, -- 24 homeruns, 84 rbis in that season. he played 1161 games.

and .291 with 71 rbis last year. ynoble, port rico. if you know how to pronounce it, it's there. hey, it's up to me to fill in the blanks. >> rob: that's why i throw those out there. i didn't know what he hit that year. >> bob: i'm still trying to find. >> rob: what? >> vernon wells? >> bob: vernon wells. >> rob: i did look that up last night, the calgary stampeders. >> bob: i love it when calgary played saskatchewan, stampede against the rough riders. >> rob: