%- nieves, well >> rob: pttooooooo >> bob: tomorr night, sean west, a lefty, for the marlins who is 3-2. jordan zimmermann goes in the  wednesday anst  ho is 7-1. there's no doubt who is the os ((f  staff righno. sporting a 2.76 e.r.a. out of play right side. ricky is a .152 career hitter. >> rob: i think olsen and nolasco are challenging each other. nice. took something off of that. >> bob: i remember scott

telling me early this year, he and ricky nolasco were what they called throwing partners when they were with the marlins, so maybe you can reexplain that for our fans. >> rob: every day you've got a guy you throw with. if you're together and i was together with joe oliver for 12 seasons, we threw every day together. i threw with norm charlton for seven, eight years straight. i was roommates with norm charlton for seven years. being a throwing buddy is exactly what it is. he's your guy every day that you loosen up and you prepare yourself for work with. >> bob: olsen working up a good sweat on this 76-degree evening. but it was in the 90s, but if i remember correctly, when he pitched here for the marlins, he used to dip that cap in a certain solution in the dugout. it gives the -- it gives the illusion that he's sweating every ounce of moisture out of

his body. >> rob: does he put it in the ice water ammonia they have in the dugout? >> bob: probably. >> rob: another thing, they have the ammonia and the ice form, when it's really humid, and they'll soak a towel and put it over you to cool you down. i do miss that. >> bob: we can get you one up here if you like? >> rob: oh, yeah. take a deep breath and snaps you out. it's kind of like the smelling salts. some guys will snap those and there's a guy that makes everybody hot in the dugout. putting a jacket on. but you always protect that arm. the comforts i had with jim palmer over the last three days, he sees a lot of young pitchers in air conditioned rooms without anything covering their arms. i don't like that at all. >> bob: so five minutes before air time we could wrap a towel around you, snap out of it, dibble. >> rob: absolutely. or smelling salts. you don't have to throw water on my head. a loft guys i played with in

the bullpen, they'd call your name, they'd snap a smelling salts and take a deep breath. i didn't need that. i was already wired. >> bob: got a fly ball to center for willie harris. scott olsen, flashing the form the nats thought they were getting when they traded for him last winter. ♪ ♪ i always feel like somebody's watching me. ♪ (announcer) it's right here, it's easy... ♪ always feel like mebody's watching me. ♪ ...it's the money you could be saving with geico. ♪ who's watching? ♪ i always feel like (announcer) it's right here, it's easy... ♪ somebody's watching me. ...it's the money you could be saving with geico.

>> bob: story of this game so far, good pitching, some timely hitting on the part of the

nats. they've been outhit by the marlins 5-4, but this is the scott olsen the nats thought they were getting to start this season. >> rob: the last inning before that, that's the kind of stuff you want from scott olsen. challenge them with the fastball. he's throwing above 90 miles per hour which is excellent. he's throwing nice off-speed breaking stuff. he's in total command of his pitches now. so is ricky nolasco. this is just the kind of outing you expect from a guy like scott olsen. get him out there and hopefully he's the bridge to the closer and we have the lead. >> bob: so we arrive at the top of the 6th with cristian guzman leading off. the top of the nats order, absolutely nothing against nolasco tonight. harris, guzman, johnson, all oh-

fers. and guzman quickly in the hole, 0-2. the nats with two runs on four hits, three of them coming in the second. guzman looks and ducks back from a high tight fastball. >> rob: we've got to figure out a way to scratch out a couple more runs against nolasco. he's got some really good stuff tonight. put the ball in play on this guy. >> bob: to his right, cantu. to the pitcher, one out. 11 straight since the wil nieves base hit. well, 11 of 12. here's our friend. >> aflac. >> bob: the six players in uniform tonight that will receive votes for rookie of the year in 2006. one of them is the nats pitcher, one of them is their

pitcher. josh johnson i think was another. what do you have, four? i think jeremy hermida was another. >> rob: maybe dan uggla. >> bob: was willingham a rookie? might have been uggla. >> rob: hanley ramirez? >> bob: it was uggla. >> rob: didn't ramirez win? >> bob: he did. >> rob: ramirez, ryan zimmerman was fourth, fifth? >> bob: he was third. no, zimmerman was second, uggla was third. that thing was a marlin-fest. and a 1-1 to nick johnson.

>> rob: no, leo nunez was a rook any 07. >> bob: yeah, he wasn't one of them. maybe ross gload. i think he was with the whosm at that time -- the white sox at that time. hermida only played 23 games in 05, so he was a rookie. but he was hurt a lot. he's probably not one of them. >> rob: what about willingham? >> bob: nick johnson, high fly ball, left field. this ball slicing toward the corner, and over there to grab it, chris coghlan. boy, they've got some interesting plays in that part of this ballpark. josh willingham played 12 games in 04, 16 in 05, so he was one of those guys in 06.

so 12 of the last 13 nats batters retired by ricky nolasco. here's zimmerman who took him way deep leading off the second. ryan takes his first pitch of the night. he'd only seen two pitches. homered on one, popped up on the other. >> rob: he gets a hard slider there. nolasco pulling another trick out of his magician's hat. he's got a lot of pitches, this kid. >> bob: usually that would indicate fastball, but he tried to go front door with another hook. >> rob: he dropped down, threw like a sidearm slider. >> bob: ronny paulino was considered a very good young defensive catcher when the pirates had him. he and john baker, left-handed batter the platoon here. ricky nolasco career, 31-27.

his 62nd career start. he doesn't have that many more starts, about 11 more than john lannan. he did work out of the bullpen some. zimmerman takes another breaking ball out of play. this time right side, 2-2. john lannan, 52 starts now? took him 50 to get his 15th win. that was the one at yankee stadium. ross detwiler next to him. eight career starts. and then jordan zimmermann who will pitch her wednesday, detwiler friday at home when the braves come visiting. everybody got pushed back a day when the nationals reinserted craig stammen into the rotation. right at hanley ramirez. and the nationals continue to get very little -- hit very little against ricky nolasco.

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>> bob: bonifacio, ramirez, and cantu the due ups against scott olsen. let's talk about all those rookie of the year candidates back in 06. did we get them all? six of them. three on the nats now, zimmerman, olsen and willingham. >> rob: we got them all. >> bob: ramirez, uggla and josh

johnson, the marlins. >> rob: we didn't get josh johnson. >> bob: i mentioned him in passing. he got a mention. >> rob: you mentioned him. but he got hurt in 07, had the surgery. >> bob: we'll see all of him we want on wednesday. >> rob: more like bonifacio bunting the ball. >> bob: emilio bonifacio, 1 for 2 tonight with a triple and a run scored. and the marlins box rolling by, two runs on five hits. but now olsen has retired 7 straight. a little flair. hernandez getting out there and backpedalling to grab it. with more on scott olsen, here's debbi. >> well, the 25-year-old coming into this season had 31 career starts.

manny acta said before the game he wanted to see more of that scott olsen. he wanted him to get more first pitch strikes. scott's only win this season came april 29th at philadelphia. >> bob: in that ballgame, scott olsen went 5 2/3, struck out six and walked a couple. he went seven against the marlins at home. the nats had a late meltdown. he was up 6-3, but he left that game and the nats lost it. hanley ramirez 2 for 2 with a singular approach tonight. he's taken the ball up the middle twice, once for an rbi. >> rob: last time we saw him,

he was struggling. >> bob: when you see a guy hitting hard line drives and base hits up the middle, that means he's locked in. the home runs will come when you have that approach. he's only hit 12 which is prizing, but he is in the top 10 in the league in rbi's. he's also in the top three in the league in hits. he's only five base hits away from 100 now. olsen gives him some breaking stuff to get him out. nine straight for scott olsen who just got his fifth strikeout. >> rob: he sets them up, then pulls the string on this breaking ball. 81, the bottom drops out. he must feel cool and comfortable right now, that's what we talked about. throwing free and easy. got a nice pitch count going. >> bob: yes, he does. cantu flied to left.

>> rob: a lot of things happen when you get injured, when they do the mri's and all the other stuff. the one thing is when they tell you you're not injured, you don't have a tear, you don't have a blown out shoulder, it's just tendinitis, that kind of reenforces psychologically really helps you. that happened to me. once you know that nothing's hurt in there, you can go back to work. and it's not a problem. now you just have to get yourself strong enough to go out there and throw your 120 pitches. >> bob: that's what rehab starts are for. >> rob: absolutely. it's not about statistics. statistics are absolute garbage in the minor leagues when you go down there. it's how strong you feel, how you feel the next day, that kind of stuff matters the most. >> bob: cantu, nine home runs

this year. and i'm knocking on wood as i give you these florida home run totals that aren't exactly overwhelming after the way they started the season. >> rob: they each had about three home runs when we were here. >> bob: that's my point. this guy hit 29 last year. they had almost everybody on their infield hit 30. and he has nine home runs, 77 games into the season. >> rob: 185 at-bats. >> bob: he is so strong. you figure he'd have to run into one a week, or one every other week. another breaking ball here. >> rob: fastball change-up away. >> bob: 83, so it was the change. >> rob: i think he's throwing the change a little too hard. you want to take a little more off of that, make it around 80, it would be perfect. you've got to sell it with the

fastball motion. >> bob: up and in. he got him on that one. >> rob: you do the change-up away. then you jam him in with hard stuff. makes it look even more than 90 though. good change-up will make 90 look 95. got to sell that arm speed. the grip does all the work. >> bob: a chance for another relatively quick one. that's inside, not a bad pitch. as rob's been saying, cantu dives out over the plate taking some comfortable swings. change-up, he hooks it to left. that's trouble. but it's foul. adam dunn, well, if dunn can't get there, you know it's a foul ball. adam dunn going as fast as he could but that ball kept hooking away from him.

it's such an interesting corner. it's 330 down that line. the wall does not circle out toward left center, it comes straight out. this ball was about a food and a half foul. >> rob: last time we were here, didn't somebody hit a home run right down that line. >> bob: if you hit it off the scoreboard to the right, it's in play. >> rob: that's ridiculous. put another board there. >> bob: it's a football stadium. another strike. six strikeouts. scott olsen is listed at 6 to the, 211 pounds. i need to change my southwest flight. woman over phone: no problem. you know, 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.

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>> rob: as it pitcher's duel, two very good young pitchers, ricky nolasco, great breaking ball. he's just been mowing down nats hitters. then our guy, scott olsen fresh off the disabled list and rehab, has had amazing stuff all night. there you see a beautiful change-up. then ricky nolasco said something to him as he hit a fly ball to right field. former throw buddies. now dueling it out on the baseball field. >> bob: olsen, 56 strikes of

his 78 pitches. that's impressive. he's retired 10 straight. nolasco's retired 13 of 14 as he faces adam dunn 0-2. adam lined out to right and struck out looking. ahead in the count. he changed up on him, a straight change. only one other team in the division in action tonight and that's the mets. they're at milwaukee after they lost to the yankees last night, they're down 7-2 in the 7th inning. mets are struggling. they might lose their fourth in a row tonight. that was some scenario with mariano rivera walking with the bases loaded. got his first career rbi, then he got save number 500.

>> rob: congratulations to mo rivera. welcome to the 500 club. >> bob: small club. >> rob: he and trevor hoffman. got a chance to talk to goose gossage today. >> bob: what a guy he is. >> rob: when he went into the hall of fame, someone told him that he had 52 or 53 seven out saves out of his 300. >> bob: agents would file lawsuits against a ball club for doing that these days. >> rob: it's changed. the game's changed. he recognizes that. you have a specialist now from the sixth or seventh inning on. you have a closer in the 7th, a closer in the 8th, a closer in the 9th now. >> bob: dunn strikes out on a hard breaking ball. that's six k's for ricky

nolasco. but he hasn't been able to get his former teammate, josh willingham. he jacked a ground rule double. >> rob: he gave him four breaking balls. on the fourth curveball he smacked that into left field for a base hit. then cody ross sinking line drive, makes the catch. it rained before the game, it's a little soggy out there. >> bob: hard slider for strike one. willingham drafted by the marlins in the 17th round of the 2000 draft. he was in the minor leagues for five and a half years before he got his shot for just 12 games in 04, 16 games in 05, then finally a lot of playing time as a rookie of the year candidate in 06. one ball, one strike. it might take one mistake and josh willingham to pull a fly ball out of here to get the

nats back on top. nolasco is at 91 pitches with one out in the 7th. as he steps off, willingham steps out. ricky nolasco has been outstanding tonight. 6-1 career against the nats. eight straight since willingham's base hits. this little flair to right field will be caught by carroll. on saturday, first 20,000 fans receive mini usa flags. then sunday, family fun day. the kids run the bases after the game. or stop by the nationals park box office for tickets.

here's anderson hernandez. offered bunt, he was tumbling out of the batter's box. >> rob: once again, when you look at nolasco's overall numbers career-wise, but 464 hits and 443 innings, i still think it's because he's goofing around with five, six, seven pitches instead of sticking to three, going through the line- up three, four times and trying to just get some w's for his ball club. >> bob: he has not walked a batter. struck out six. he has hernandez 0-2. >> rob: he's got great command. 110 walks in that 442 innings versus 358 strikeouts. >> bob: in his last three starts he has struck out 27 batters and walked just two. >> rob: very nice back door slider right there but about a

foot outside. >> bob: that's similar to the pitch in the first inning that took hernandez bat apart. >> rob: batting average against .302, 18 walks, 67 strikeouts. it's hard to believe. just looking at this kid's stuff overall. >> bob: julienne tavarez. is scott olsen done. now, he might be warming up just in case the nats get a couple of guys aboard, but he's still two spots away. >> rob: for me he's got 78 pitches. if he labors at all, he's out. he's had a great night, great comeback start. he's the future. one of the futures of this franchise. >> bob: this guy is unhittable

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out of sam adams lager. having a boston lager in this glass was like tasting a boston lager for the first time again.  >> bob: a lot of action in this 2-2 game on a night that started in bad weather conditions with lots of rain, delayed 37 minutes. ryan zimmerman went deep to lead off the second. bonifacio as usual