windup. it's not like he can't command his stuff. >> bob: josh willingham with a base hit over the glove of salazar. and willingham is two for three. it's more than hot over there right now. elijah dukes coming up.   >> bob: seven washington hits, hernandez had given up the same number of hits through five that guthrie did last night. i think you'd have to say one guy today is pitching better than the guy did last night, but the guy last night got the win. >> jim p.: well, a lot of it has to do with run support. the one thing, you do miss melvin mora at third base. melvin, hadn't hit a home run

in over 150 at-bats but he's playing sparkling defense. salazar is a good hitter, but he's not the glove guy. >> bob: elijah dukes, he's not a guy that hits the ball the opposite way a lot. but even when he does it a little, he's much better than he is now. >> rob: if you're going to stand in the middle of the box and not step in towards the plate or try and go the other way with t. then they're going to have a field game against you. you've got to go towards the ball. >> jim p.: he should get pretty good pitch to hit here, 2-1. the one guy that david hernandez has had great command on the outside quarter to third of the plate is elijah dukes. >> rob: yep. >> bob: struck him out swinging in the second to end that

inning. after the three consecutive hits, walked him in the fourth. but he was erased on the double play ball. dukes will pull a slow roller to third. going for two, and safe, aubrey huff might have saved a run, if that ball gets down the line. josh willingham might score from second base. >> jim p.: you know you're going to get the lead runner. he catches it, then tags the runner, the throw sails, aubrey huff, a very underrated first baseman. last year mostly third base to dh, but he does save a run. you try to be balanced so you can come off the bag. >> bob: he's not underrated in those games against washington this year. he's been outstanding. >> jim p.: aubrey, as dunn will come out to talk to david hernandez, aubrey was proving that he let the orioles resign

him, that he can not only hit, but he can play the position. i always thought when we saw him at camp, didn't see him as much at third base, but the last couple of years he's played well at third. he can flat out hit the ball. >> rob: if you can play defense and you can hit, you have more options to sign with a national league club and an american league club. >> bob: another big spot for anderson hernandez. >> rob: what i've seen of aubrey huff, he can hit. and now i know how well he hits lefties. if i'm any g.m. out there, i'm signing aubrey huff. >> bob: four for eight with a walk in this series is huff. hernandez is one for six. that hit today, double play the next time up. >> jim p.: that was on a hanging curveball. i'm sure alan dunn came out and said, okay, it's a 2-1

ballgame. pitch count over 100. fastball still good. what do we want to do? this is a critical point of the game. the orioles want to get out of the inning, the nationals want to add to their lead. make it somewhat easier for john lannan if that's possible. >> bob: he stays alive. >> jim p.: if you're going to throw him any kind of a breaking ball, it's the perfect time. you have runners at first and second. throw a breaking ball or a change-up, throw it out of the strike zone. but do you want to speed up his bat? i guess that's the question. i'm not sure if you want to throw it knee high in the middle of the plate either. >> bob: he's about to throw his 20th pitch this inning which will put him at 110 in the 6th. hernandez making it tough to

end the inning. anderson hernandez up the middle. willingham is not that fast. jones has five assists and the ball is dropped by wieters. josh willingham would have been out and the inning would have been over, instead it's 3-1 washington. >> jim p.: it's about how much he's going to be out by. a horrible pitch, 0-2, he just pings it into center field. >> rob: this is right on the money. >> jim p.: look at that. i think it skips. stays down. one thing about matt wieters, he's done a nice job of blocking the plate. but that time he moved back about a foot, rob, because of the throw. and so, again, not a good pitch for hernandez. but it looked like jones throw was going to get hernandez and the orioles out of the inning. >> bob: i don't know if the score would give the catcher an error on a play by that, but he would be justified in doing so. into the baltimore bullpen. ♪

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 >> bob: interesting play to end the day for david hernandez, as anderson hernandez is given an rbi for this base hit. but the runner should have been out. >> jim p.: i guess you can't assume that, but anderson hernandez with a couple of hits tonight. hanging breaking ball that time. talked about situational hitting. did a nice job there, cut his swing down and got a good pitch

to hit. chris ray comes on. he had one of those nightmare innings. they brought him back for the second inning down in florida and he thank you grand slam to hanley ramirez, ended up giving up five runs and seven hits in about two innings. but threw the ball a lot better velocity-wise, that was on thursday. >> bob: the nats are 0-6 against florida this year. hanley ramirez is usually in the middle of everything. >> jim p.: he had two grand slams. he did the adam dunn impression against the orioles. >> bob: a couple of good breaking balls. sometimes -- will try to pull one -- sometimes wil will try to pull a couple of pitches. he's in emergency mode here. and he got him on three in a row. 

 back at the yard. time to check in on the minor leagues. brian matusz has done very well since being promoted to double- a bowie. last game he had a good outing. he left at 5 1/3 innings, gave up just one earned runs, three hits and struck out five. he has a 1.96 e.r.a.

overall in the minor leagues this season. >> bob: thank you, amber. bottom of the sixth coming up. wigginton, markakis and huff. john lannan giving up only one run on three hits, all of that came early. he has retired eight of the last nine. pretty good off-speed pitch there. zimmerman to johnson. >> jim p.: the impressive thing is that when you give up a walk, a double and a single and they only get one run, you have first and third, nobody out, the game getting a little bit away from you, you do exactly what you need to do, that's allows you to get into the sixth inning. >> bob: when you make a base running mistake when you're ahead in the score in a close game, it always seems to come back to haunt you. in this game luke scott back in the second on that 3-5-2 double play. then of course the one in the

fourth when huff should have been doubled off first base. lannan got the next two hitters, no harm done there. markakis has lined hard to left and popped up to second. lannan start to go get a little more of that corner now from jim joyce. >> rob: getaway day. >> bob: you're still out there as a starter. you've been around the plate most of the day. >> jim p.: you've shown him where the glove is. i think umpires, you have to encourage them to throw strikes. >> bob: that ball will fly to center for willie harris. he's still going, so is the ball, he makes the grab about eight to 10 feet in front of the wall. somewhere around 400 feet away. >> rob: that was flying away

like southwest.com, but it came back. >> jim p.: you're talking to mr. southwest.com right here. that's how i get back to south florida and, again, the new buildings here. it's kind of funny about camden yards. when it was first built, the ball carried. then they built the football. then willie going, yep, it's going out. >> bob: a base hit by aubrey huff. >> jim p.: imagine that. >> bob: aubrey huff is five out of nine with two walks in this series. >> rob: and then the new buildings and in the back ground here in left center field, all of a sudden the dynamics change, the ball especially on sunday afternoons has tendency to carry a little better. kind of like oakland. oakland you pitch there at night. you go, wow, it's a great place to pitch. then sunday afternoon, anything in the air. >> rob: san francisco the same thing. san francisco, it could be 80 during the day and 40 at night.

>> jim p.: how about right center in the new ballpark. >> rob: you can't hit it out. >> jim p.: with nolan reimold, you figure the way this young man has been hitting, that you're one swing away from tying it up. controlled aggression. >> bob: he's been on base seven times. four hits and three walks. >> rob: i think he's like any young hitter. the key is to get ahead, then try oh get him out by making him expand. you can't do that when you're behind him. >> bob: he tries to put it under his hands. >> jim p.: it was like the perfect 1-2 pitch and he took it.

>> bob: another one. >> jim p.: i asked wade boggs, how do you end, i'm sure every hitter has a little different dif advice, how do you know if the ball's inside. he said, where i hold my hands. if the ball's inside that, i know it's off the plate. so they have a guideline. >> bob: huff on the move. shallow right field for elijah dukes, lannan pulling the string on a 3-2 pitch and he's through six. so are the nationals. ♪

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 >> rob: here's our miller coors freeze frame. you can see matt wieters throw out anderson hernandez. the pitch is up, he has to slide out to the right-handed batter's box. then in the fifth inning, the pitch is a little lower, same result though. perfect throw to second base. tagged a little off by ty wigginton in the fifth. i think we've shown today that matt wieters is doing an exceptional job getting away from the left-handed hitter, getting out and throwing the ball to second base. >> bob: top of the 7th. willie harris, been a pretty good lead-off man today. good defense in center field as usual. a fastball by ray who has come out and is looking very sharp. he struck out nieves looking on

three and he's been locating well. so five consecutive strikes here. >> jim p.: when you pitch an inning and 2/3 and give up five runs and seven hits, dave trembley talked about it, i watched the game, but the velocity was 96. he just made one real bad pitch. but they brought him out for the second inning after, and that just was a little too much. again, they were way behind in the ballgame. but this was a guy that three or four years ago is about as good as any young right-handed pitcher in baseball. had the tommy john surgery. it's taken a while to find his release point. >> bob: willie harris jacks one to right field, over the scoreboard and washington homers for the second time today and for willie harris, his third home run in the last two weeks. his fourth of the year makes it 4-1 washington.

gets out of here in a hurry when it's in the middle of the plate, especially inside middle. >> rob: you talked about movement. his first few strikes were moving fastballs down and away. this is a fastball that just stays up in the zone. willie harris not known to be a home run hitter, but to a lefty, you talked about this with aubrey huff, sometimes you change your eyesight and you say, hey, that's a straight heater. he crushed it. >> bob: willie harris has 24 career home runs. he's hit 17 of them since the start of 08. >> jim p.: it seems the one big difference that i see in the modern day baseball player, maybe the ballparks are a little more imminent, we've gone through different things where guys are stronger, and the balls have changed. but the one thing i think most hitters, even the spray hitters, the slashers, they hit the balls inside fair with more authority than they did when i pitched. not that some guys couldn't do that back then, but i think with all the drills, the

teaching is so much better. you still have to go up there and hit it, hit within yourself and whatever, but they cover the ball in and keep it fair. that's what willie harris did on that swing. probably just the same as his single swing. that's the big difference that i've seen. >> bob: he strikes out as ray got the ball down and in on him. >> rob: i was never a big proponent of the video and stuff like that except if you had a weakness or a flaw. i think with the technology, you can show some more flaws to guys so that then they can go out and actually work a little bit harder. we might have a pitching change. >> jim p.: i think a lot of pitches thursday, you can match up here with hendrickson. not that mark's one of those left-handed specialists. but i think dave trembley wants to save ray for the red sox. 

 >> bob: 20th appearance of the season for mark hendrickson. a big cheer here in the con federation cup, the usa leads brazil 2-nil. >> jim p.: they lost the cup about 10 days ago. they said we know them better the second time for the championship. >> bob: here's a guy who played

for a coach who coached usa basketball, mark hendrickson played up in washington state. kelvin once told me that mark hendrickson was the best rebounder in the pac 10 at that time. >> jim p.: the orioles just didn't want him to rebound. other than george sherrill he's the only lefty in the bullpen. started out you had jamie walker who was not on the top of his game, the nationals found that out. dunn hit that grand slam off him. a pretty important cog other than your closer. >> bob: nick johnson, 0 for 7 in this series. it will be ryan zimmerman with two outs, bases empty hitting ahead of adam dunn. john lannan in a position to pitch pretty deep into this ballgame, through six he's had

84 pitches. manny acta hasn't been able to hand the ball from a starter to a closer only a time or two this year. >> jim p.: what was that stat yesterday that the nationals in this month had scored four or less runs, what, 18 times? so it's 19 out of 23 games. they're right at their limit. i don't mean that. i'm just saying, so any run. >> rob: you're just being honest. >> jim p.: i'm just looking at the numbers here. >> bob: in april the first half of may, they scored 7 or 8 a night and kept losing. >> jim p.: when the orioles came in, they were like fourth in the national league in runs scored. >> bob: two weeks before that, they were in the top two and top three in batting average and runs. >> jim p.: that's when the

bullpen was imploding. >> rob: lannan, hitters are hitting .325 off of john lannan this year with two outs. he's working on that. there's a strikeout by hendrickson. @ our 737s fly to over 65 cities across the country every day. woman over p.a.: this is your final boarding call. all passengers... each with an average speed of 590 miles per hour. almost as fast as you. nothing's gonna hold you down. starting august 16th, fly southwest airlines from bwi airport to boston logan for just $49 one-way. bags fly free on southwest so our low fares stay low. grab your bag. it's on. - ( ding ) - book now at southwest.com. now that college is a few years behind me, it seems i've got three times the bills i used to. and they're getting in the way of things i'd like to do. with the money bar,

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pitches, it will be as if it's a side session. he is scheduled to pitch tuesday, in florida. now, with the struggles that shairon martis has had lately, it makes sense for stammen to stay in the rotation, a move will be made after the game. we will have all the details for you on "nats xtra." in other news, the nats walked minor leaguers with the seattle mariners. for infielder mike morris. >> bob: thank you. ryan langerhans had d so succleague level. right now the number one national, they're thinking about, is john lannan. six nings, one run on four hits. he's given up three walks and the orioles only made him pa for one of those, as he walked the lead-off man in the first, second and thel face luke scott salazar and matt witr he in the orioles 7th. >>im p.: don't you think he's pitching the way he's pitched

all june? >> rob: even going back farther, when he started to really step up as the acof the staff, there was a couple ogames where he was getting 3 and 4 double plays in the game. sometimes he'd stay out there and give up his first win of the season, he gave up six runs early. stayed out there for six, seven innings and we ended up coming back when the offense s clicking and he got his first win. i truly feel a lot of people talk about, your job as a starter is to try to win the ballgame for your team. forget about your stats or anything. go as long and as hard as youly >> jim p.: yeah, you beat the guy that you're pitching against. after watching you last couple of years pitched well against the nationals, play win. >> bob: high drive, right ce.t elijah dukes calling willie harris, i don't know what

happened there. harris peeled off, then i'm not sure dukes saw the ball. that was interesting. that's a ball that normally a centerfieldeould take care of and tell everybody to get out of dodge. >> rob: but wile harris knows the free safety should give wa to the linebacker. >> jim p.: like a freight train comg. he took one look at him right there. you're down in a dome, you never pick thnm up if you take your eye off it. but he took a long look at willie and said, i think i better catch it, and he did. >> bob: kind of a light glare on a cloudy sky all day today. here is salazar. john lannan got one out on one pitch to start his 7th inning of work. he has a chance to go into the 8th under 100 pitches. >> jim p.: i think it all started for john lannan, the nationals win, he took the mound and the sun came out for the