martis behind him 2-0. that will be on the outer half. two balls one strike. >> jim p.: off-speed pitches seem to speed up his bat. a lot of people think you can trick him. that's hard to do. then if you get behind him, as most young hitters, he'll look for balls he can drive. he recognized the change-up early. i think for a guy like martis, you would think because he throws so many change-ups, that as he goes through the line-up they would recognize unless he makes really good quality pitches. >> bob: 20 pitches in his second inning. a pitch up and in, a great inside-out swing by markakis and a base hit to left field. neither starter figures to be around very deep tonight in this game, but the recent trend for guthrie much better. 

 >> bob: here's aubrey huff who walked his first time. >> rob: including tonight, shairon martis has walked 48 batters on the season and only struck out 31. so that's a way backward strikeout to walks ratio. >> bob: i did notice in the first inning when he threw those 23 pitches, almost everything he threw was over the plate. he just kept missing low. so it's not like he was all over the place. >> rob: his best game of the season by far was against st. louis, the complete game, and he changed eye level throughout the game. fastballs all the way up the ladder. lately it's been a lot of this. throwing in that nice little box, the shoe box, and not really expanding the zone too

much. not up or down. >> bob: that's right on the inside corner, it appeared, and he doesn't get the call from doug eddings. >> jim p.: doug, i think he's still -- how do you not call that pitch a strike? wow. >> bob: if you can't get that, it's tough to pitch up here. >> jim p.: if bard was hitting low and away and had to reach back across the plate, but it was right to the glove. >> bob: he gets him low. had the left-hander reaching, aubrey huff 0 for 1 with a walk in the first inning. for martis, his third strikeout. the hitter will be nolan reimold with two outs. >> rob: i spoke with bob boone the other day, the vice president in charge of player development for the nationals, caught over 2,000 games. there you see that great change- up to huff. he said, you can no longer throw to a catcher and hit the

glove and get the called strike. you can't put the catcher's body out away from the plate any longer. they're not calling that. that's because of this evaluation zone camera in every ballpark, so they're having to reteach the catchers in the minor league systems to move the glove away from the plate, leave their bodies behind home plate. >> jim p.: that's why giving a target is so important. you try to do it late. some hitters do look down. josh bard right here. moves in early. >> bob: that results in a grounder pulled, to zimmerman, on to belliard. the orioles are gone in the bottom of the third. from that first dollar forward, cash flow isn't just an important thing to small business. it's everything. that's why pnc is introducing your new cfo, cash flow options

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 >> bob: beautiful evening, orioles park at camden yards. aflac has our trivia question for us tonight. the last position players to win rookie of the year for the o's and the nats. that would be in montreal, right? >> jim p.: you would think. did zimmerman? no. >> bob: no, he was third in the voting back in 06. josh willingham called on strikes with the bases loaded first time up.

the nationals have had a problem with situational hitting this year, and most notably over the last month. when willingham struck out, bard did get the rbi walk, but then arguably the most undisciplined hitter on the team, ronny belliard, hit into that double play. willingham takes a breaking ball very close. >> jim p.: only way you take that pitch is if you're not trying to jerk the ball and you cut down your swing and you're going to use the whole field, and he's been red-hot. probably one of the reasons. normally the good slider, is that you don't pick it up out of the hand. it looked to me this willingham was able to recognize both of those sliders and lay off them. >> bob: that's a fastball that's over but low.

>> rob: check out the side angle there. >> jim p.: boy, are you strong right there. that was a jim rice. >> bob: on a fastball up, it's a fair ball down into the left field corner. reimold will pick it up right here, the barrier. and josh willingham's 1 for 2 tonight. that will be his ninth double of the year to go with nine home runs. so he has 36 hits, and half of them are extra-base hits. more than half. >> bob: an awfully quick bat. all of a sudden if you're jeremy guthrie you want to get the first batter out. you can't, you got to throw the ball more over the middle of the plate. willingham all over that high fastball. three innings out of four now, the nationals have had their lead-off man aboard. josh bard's job will be to move willingham at least to third base. >> jim p.: it's what you talked about, situational hitting. who better to do it than bard, and he does it. >> rob: that may not be deep enough to advance anybody. >> jim p.: watch this arm.

look at this. yep. >> bob: he hit the cut-off man and he threw it so well it would have been a short hop at third base. >> jim p.: he came up a shortstop, and gary pettis was in town with the rangers. he said he could play shortstop, but they had signed betancourt, so watch this. you're right about hitting the cut-off man. >> rob: and he did a nice job surrounding the ball. he went back on it. some guys will catch it flat- footed -- flat-footed and get nothing behind it. he hit the cut-off man. >> bob: i had some conversations with and di van slyke. he always told me the harder you work before the ball gets there, the easier it is once you have it in your hands. he was a big proponent of charging hard on base hits and fly balls, and not all guys do that. >> rob: when and di van slyke who was a gold glover would throw the ball, he would fall

forward and almost do a summer salt. he would put so much behind the throw. you got to have momentum coming forward as an outfielder. >> bob: he also told me, he whistled at barry bonds and tried oh get him to move in two steps just before the cabrera hit that put the braves in the world series. bonds might have been able to get that runner at home. the speedster, sid breem. here's belliard flying one right-field line, twisting and turning away from aubrey huff and bouncing in for strike two. >> jim p.: it's kind of an interesting thing. dave winfield who is in the hall of fame, he said the reason he teaches, not only his son but young players to catch the ball with two hands is that if you do that, not that a lot of outfielders do it, it's already close to your throwing hand. how you go get the ball as a catcher. if you have to move your glove,

it takes longer. we know sometimes there are those bang, bang plays that if you execute them properly they're bang-bang in your favor. >> bob: belliard has driven in seven runs this year. >> rob: it's a transfer, too. we talked about this with albers last night, taking more time to transfer, takes more time for the catcher to throw the runner out. if you're running like adam jones, you catch it on the left side, you got to transfer it to the right side. that takes time. you want to circle the ball and catch it on the right-hand side. >> bob: left side, tried to pull that breaking ball, mora throws him out, two down. >> jim p.: i think jeremy getting a little lucky, because it hung away. if you're going to hang 'em, hang 'em high. and he did. he had to reach for it. >> rob: as a pitcher, you want this guy to have to pull the

breaking ball away. belliard does just that. all he can do is hit a ground ball. this is a nice play by mora. >> jim p.: so the inability to get willingham. >> rob: and for belliard, the inability to -- he's going to keep hacking and trying to hit home runs. interleague play, 10 home runs. i'm sure he read that stat and said, i'm going try to hit 11 and 12 tonight. it's just wrong. you can't hit and have that approach at the big league level. >> bob: austin kearns 10 for his last 70 after a ground ball to shortstop tonight. he's really been struggling. been mainly out of the line-up for at least the last week or so since josh willingham came back from the bereavement list one week ago today. 1-1 to kearns. >> rob: the one thing i've got to give manny acta a lot of credit for, they are getting these guys at-bats.

they are getting at least one or two starts a week. he gives them an opportunity to work their way out of their slumps. >> bob: the easiest thing in the world to be to bury them, and you never see them again. >> rob: but manny acta and his coaches will not do that. >> jim p.: the easiest thing for him to get out of a slump is just get a base hit here. >> bob: a single. >> jim p.: that's all you have to do. willingham will be running on contact. >> bob: sometimes it's a little ground ball to the opposite side of the field that goes through. sometimes it's a hard line drive to left field, that drives in a run. austin kearns, his first rbi since early may. >> jim p.: he puts a good swing on it and guthrie trying to go up and in. watch zaun go in. he doesn't get it in. pretty much inner half of the plate. >> rob: look at the x-mo.

he had the hands away from the body a little bit. he's been working very hard with eckstein. yesterday, you talk about adam balls. he's been hitting some balls right at people. >> jim p.: that's what rick said today. big part of the ballpark. last year may be home runs, this year fly balls to the warning track. >> bob: the last time austin kearns had an rbi was with a pinch-hit double against the dodgers in l.a. on may 7th. so he went one month and 20 days without an rbi and here's alberto gonzalez. >> rob: the thing the nationals did so well in the first month is get two out base hits. so many two out base hit rbi's and it's almost been like six weeks since they were hitting like that. and they need to get that back into their approach with two outs. you've just got to put the ball in play. >> bob: what gonzalez needs to do here, he takes a breaking ball off the plate. gonzalez came into this game

hitting .405 over the last three and a half weeks. i just talked to mike rizzo, mike loves the way he handles himself at shortstop. he said if he got a chance to play more he'd be a very good second baseman, even though he only spells hernandez there occasionally, he is still considered an above average second baseman for a position he very seldom plays. i think you guys all saw his arm. >> rob: before you joined us, that's what i was telling jim about that, is that this kid went down to the minor leagues for four weeks, he worked on some of his lesser things and he improved. >> bob: that was one of his bigger swings lately. you really need it these days. how come? well if you're hurt and can't work it pays you cash... yeah to help with everyday bills like gas, the mortgage... ...and groceries. it's like insurance for daily living. so...what's it called?

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 >> bob: screech is here and so is his buddy the oriole bird for this interleague series. lots of walks. the number one draft pick in the house, and a beautiful evening at the inner harbor. it's washington 3, baltimore 1 after three and a half. for the orioles, scott, mora and zaun here in the fourth. luke scott had a long discussion with doug eddings about that strike one call after the first inning was over and he struck out swinging to end that frame with the bases loaded. in fact, his manager had to come out and get him between him and the umpire. always interesting to see what happens the next time up and it's 2-0. >> jim p.: one was a 1-0 pitch.

>> bob: the changed the whole at-bat. >> jim p.: it really did. martis made a terrific pitch to strike him out. >> bob: and the bases were loaded. the orioles had a chance to get right back. >> rob: break it down pitch by pitch to luke scott. there you see the change-up. there you see the change-up down. it was that pitch that got him back in there where he threw a strike and luke scott thought it was 2-0, and as jim said, he had to swing 1-1, where maybe if it's 2-0 you don't swing at that change-up. >> bob: the orioles have a lead- off man on for the first time and maybe luke scott's conversation pays some dividends about 45, 50 minutes later. >> jim p.: don't you think, i thought that the pitches early on from guthrie to adam dunn in the first inning were off the plate but there were some close pitches. i'm sure the dugout has yelled.

and it wasn't that it was unfair, it's just that the borderline pitches seemed to go nationals way. who knows. you just want an umpire to be consistent. i don't know if he's doing that tonight. >> rob: just be consistent. if you're going to have a loose zone, be loose for both clubs. >> bob: what was so unusual, he had just walked two batters and then he got what really wasn't even a borderline call. that's why scott was so upset. it's a high strike, the count's even. >> jim p.: just think how difficult it is to umpire. i know you're standing there and whatever, but guys are all over the place, especially guthrie and martis early on. you'd like to have it somewhere in the vicinity of the glove. >> rob: but when you're being graded on whether or not it's a ball and a strike and you're going to go to the playoffs or world series, they err now on the side of a ball, because if they call a strike and they say, no, we feel it's a ball, your rating goes down.

>> jim p.: and you almost think it should be the other way around. what's going to speed up the game and have better baseball. a little pop fly, right side, belliard out, kearns in. ronny belliard with a basket catch on a play you'd much rather see be taken by right fielders. i've had hitters tell me if they did call more strikes, we'd probably be more aggressive, we'd be swinging more and i think the hitters would adjust. but they've not been allowed to do that. >> jim p.: years ago jay nolan came over and caught for us, he said in the national league the pitch is a strike until it becomes a ball. in the american league, it's a ball until it becomes a strike. >> bob: interesting. one a low ball league, the other a high ball league. >> jim p.: it was. >> bob: that's why bob gibson said i'll never pitch a no hitter because i'm a high ball hitter. one night he got one, but a guy like him might have had more no

hitters in a different league. >> jim p.: all i know is he had a 1.12 e.r.a. for the entire year. >> rob: they had to lower the mounds. we should thank mr. gibson with that one. >> jim p.: how about mr. mclean in that same year. >> rob: martis now throwing a few more change-ups. >> jim p.: made a great pitch to mora. i actually think his stuff has been pretty good tonight. he was a little erratic with it. >> rob: he's got a great running fastball. and he's got an excellent curveball, too. >> jim p.: i think the only one he through was the back door curveball to brian roberts to strike him out. there's the slider. >> rob: as i said before he was joking around the batting cage, loose, getting that first start in, what, a week? >> bob: and this ball to left

for josh willingham. that will be the second out of the inning, and number nine man robert andino will be next. let's pay off our aflac trivia. rookies of the year, position players. >> jim p.: it has to be cal ripken, and andre dawson. that's a way back. >> rob: i was going to say moises alou. that would have been my guess. >> bob: rob and i had this discussion a couple weeks ago, some of our fans don't want to hear about the expos. they consider that another lifetime. >> jim p.: so then we wouldn't have brought the nationals in there. >> bob: does anybody talk about the st. louis browns anymore? >> jim p.: 1954, yeah. >> bob: teams move and that's part of your history whether you like it or not. and the browns were not exactly stellar. i think they went to one world series in 44.

>> jim p.: anything else you'd like to vent about tonight, bob? >> bob: no. >> jim p.: my shirt? >> bob: i love your shirt. >> jim p.: you guys really look good tonight. >> bob: thank you. >> jim p.: you've got a long sleeve shirt on, rob, and bob's got the shortsleeve. >> bob: i've got less ink. >> jim p.: that's true. >> rob: i don't want to scare the people at home, so they do a shot of us, i pull the sleeves down. i look like you two characters. >> bob: bounced out to short first time. he lines it but it's right at willingham. and the orioles are gone in the fourth. @ (man) some days my 8:15 bus is just a bus, but other days, like today, it's my office. the boss just emailed me and wants the new proposal asap.

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 >> bob: tonight's beltway series on masn is brought to you by -- top of the order for the nationals. willie harris 1 for 2. a combined 3-4 with two runs scored by harris and guzman tonight. this isn't the first time this week willie harris has hit in the lead-off spot. he'll pop this one up.

melvin mora is coming back. he's got it for the first out. >> jim p.: high sky so everybody's pointing. you've got to understand, the nationals, those three runs were, what, they'd only gotten four in 28 innings in the previous four starts. >> rob: since june 4th, most times scoring less than five leagues. hington nationals le >> jim p.: i saw that. 18 times. >> rob: less than five runs since june 4th. what happened to the offense. >> bob: june 4th isn't that long ago. that's 18 times in 23 days. >> jim p.: guzman is 2 for 4. >> bob: guzman has multihit games in eight of his last 10 and h batting average is climbing toward the .340 mark. he started the night fifth in the league in the national league, so he's becoming one of those line drive machines again.

he has to fight off an 0-2 pitch. and mora swipes it and makes a very good play. >> jim p.: andino, the shortstop sprinting after that. but what a play by meln mora. four rbi's last n. he took one look tsee where everybody was, then there you go. people forget that when melvin % met of venezuela, there you go, he kind of got it centered, he was a great soccer player. played professional soccer down there. and then went to houston, went to the mets, came over here and played shortstop, playe cene fiel.%it and ught it. knew andino was coming down on him, too. >> bob: broke in the mets in 99 after signing with houston at the age of 19.

eight years before that. it took him a while to get to the big leagues. >> jim p.: that didn't work too well. i mean right here, 0-2, you're down by two runs, you've got to figure out, okay, number one, i want to stay away from an extra- base hit and i want tost afra homruu?r] ydoby fadown and away. make zimmerman cover the outside corner. >> rob: i had a pitching coach in the minor leagues, got love him, he passed away a few years ago, he used to always say don't be a thomas edison out there. don't try to invent pitches. don't try to do something you're not capable of doing. right there you saw him change the arm level and everything. i think as a hitter, you're probably not going to swing at that pitch unless it's anywhere close. >> jim p.: he did that earlier on in the year and had some success with it. again, you're already down by two runs. why would you want to change

something. this is not your normal guy who chases a ball four. at the plate. >> bob: zimmerman chasing what would have been a walk with a big power hitter on deck. this is ryan. when he's struggling he'll swing all over the place. he's 0 for 1 with a walk and a double play tonight. fastball that jammed him. >> jim p.: he's hitting .194? somebody said, you're hitting .194, got to be even lower than that when you get the two strikes, wouldn't you like to walk? i mean it's not a very productive average. sure, well. >> bob: and he's only hitting .220, .230 range since the hitting streak ended. that ball's out into left

center, not going anywhere except to adam jones. p - oh, it's on. - it's on. it's on. - 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. pilot: affirmative, it's on.