nats. for the marlins, uggla, ross and paulino in the bottom of the 7th. scott olsen, 78 pitches, 56 strikes and he's retired 10 straight. so these pitchers have combined to retire the last 20 hitters. right e corner. uggla 0 for 2 with a pair of strikeouts, one looking.   >> bob: both of these pitchers great strike to ball ratios.

that's just outside the bag for a foul ball. the count's 1-2. ricky nolasco 98 pitches, 66 strikes. >> rob: i don't know how much longer nolasco is going to go. >> bob: that's 67%. olsen, 72% strikes. in his six innings. they are indeed throwing buddies tonight. that off speed pitch in the dirt. this sets up well for manny, too, if olsen can get through this inning because he's due to bat second in the 8th. >> rob: most pitches for nolasco, 112 versus the cubs. >> bob: that indicates something. olsen's fastball just 89, but here in the 7th inning, a powerful right-handed batter well late for it.

>> rob: those great breaking ball strikeouts. when you start throwing a great breaking ball, you're striking guys out like hanley ramirez, they know you've got some good stuff. then versus jorge cantu, he blew 90 right by him. that means he's changing speeds well. hitters let you know what kind of stuff you've got. like craig stammen against the yankees. they couldn't hate ball hard off him. it doesn't matter velocity. it's movement versus the differential between your breaking balls, your change- ups. keep them off balance. they can't hit you. >> bob: centering the ball like adam dunn found out last night. you can go a long time without centering the ball. threw him a strike. right on to nick for the first out here in the seventh inning.

bob carpenter, rob dibble, debbi terrell. our nationals version of our masn crew reunited here after a couple of our guys had the weekend off. we were working with the baltimore crew. great to have them back. here's cody ross with one out in the bottom of the 7th. the orioles came in here last week and were swept by the marlins. so our wise guy stage manager/stats man paul newman indicated to me that the marlins are 9-0 on masn this year. time to do something about that. >> rob: time to break that streak. i remember the yankees were 23- 0 allowing three runs or less to their opponent. >> bob: and the nats got them

twice, didn't they? of all people, they said. my lasting impression of that series will be walking out of the ballpark thursday night and a security guy came up to me and said, if we miss the playoffs by one game, we will remember the washington nationals. >> rob: the mets a few years ago really remember the nats. took five out of six the last two weeks of the season. they missed the playoffs. >> bob: he pulls the string on ross. that's 12 in a row, seven strikeouts on the night for scott olsen. you'd love to see him get one more out, then the nats score in the 8th to get a possible win. >> rob: he misses low, and you can't get hurt down there. >> bob: five of his seven strikeouts in the last three innings. so getting better as the game

goes. here is ronny paulino, 0 for 2. robbed by guzman last time, and he almost took the cap right off of the pitcher on that one. the marlins first base hit since hanley ramirez rbi single back in the third. >> rob: you know how -- don't get cocky. watch your onion. >> bob: somebody else would say chuck and duck. >> rob: exactly. so you're going along great. weak ground ball, one hopper to your third baseman a. punch out. ronny paulino, a very good fastball hitter lines one right back up the box. >> bob: not that you want to see this happen, but if carroll gets aboard, that should probably take nolasco out of the game. he's due to bat neck. >> rob: no, you want to finish it off here. finish it off, get this guy, and it will be a wonderful night in return for scott

olsen. >> bob: nolasco is in the on deck circle. >> rob: i doubt seriously nolasco will walk anywhere near the plate. he may be laboring a little bit now. it looks like he's rushing to try to get it up there to home. >> bob: the marlins, by the way, he's going to do some long tossing from the back of the mound. he had to get his teammate out of the way. wes helms is their only right- handed batter. and ball it right center. that will be an out for willie harris. seven outstanding innings by scott olsen. úú what is it to lead? at pnc, it's doing what most benefits our customers.

whether that's building more certified green buildings than anyone on earth. creating online banking tools for the next generation. or making a 10 year, $100 million investment in kids. it's how we've always done business. and will for a very long time to come. pnc. leading the way.

 >> bob: downtown miami shimmering on a monday night here at the end of the june. you could say the same for the shining performance of scott olsen tonight. seven innings, two runs on six hits, did not walk a batter,

seven strikeouts. coming up on "nats xtra" presented by verizon fios, a complete breakdown of olsen's return to the nationals rotation. a special week for garrett mock. suddenly tearing it up as a starter at triple-a. here we go. wil nieves, elijah dukes, and then willie harris. the nats only have one left- handed bat on the bench tonight. you never know when you might need your other catcher for later action. here's nieves 1 for 2 with an infield hit. target in, he gets under that one. looks like it's going to stay in the park for now.

it's up against the board, and caught by cody ross. oh, if wil could have pulled that ball just a little bit, it would have been a double or his second career home run. >> rob: ricky nolasco may be running out of a little gas. that fastball right there, almost left the building. cold di ross will run it down, right up against the wall. deepest part of the park. a lot of balls have gone out there to die, or be caught. >> bob: wil knows how close he was right there. here's elijah dukes. of the guys on the bench, he easily has the most power, and manny knows that one swing of the bat might decide this game, 2-2 in the 8th. dukes is in a big-time slump though. he's four for his last 31 and they are killing him with

breaking balls. >> rob: i had a great conversation with elijah on the way down here. he knows what's going on. >> bob: fastball drilled to center. too bad there's no elevation, two outs. >> rob: he got in on him a little bit. the thing about elijah dukes that i love about him, he has very good smarts when it comes to hitting. >> bob: that was a good at-bat, when you're down 0-2 and hit a ball that well. top of the order now. that's 12 in a row for nolasco and 18 of his last 19. he's only thrown six pitches to get two outs this inning. the nationals first three hitters are 0 for 9 and their first five hitters are 1 for 15

tonight. with only the zimmerman homer. man, what a hook. he has shown tonight how effective a right-handed pitcher can be against left- handed batters with a good breaking ball. not everybody can do that. and there's another one. he has struck out willie harris three times tonight. 

 >> bob: tomorrow night 7:00 on masn 2, when they put craig stammen back in the rotation, he said, cool. he'll be taking on left-hander sean west, a 23-year-old from houston. stammen and west tomorrow night. coverage begins 6:30, "nats xtra." juan villone takes over here. he'll face right-handed hitting wes helms pinch-hitting for ricky nolasco. ron villone still sporting a

nice e.r.a., it's his 29th appearance. not good control numbers. 12 strikeouts, but 14 walks. unusual for him.   >> bob: wes helms, as a pinch- hitter this year, 7 for 21 with five rbi's. he's at .33, ron villone nowhere near the plate here. >> rob: ronny's more at the stage of his career where he will pitch around danger more so than challenge it. >> bob: maybe that's why the walk total is up? >> rob: absolutely.

the rookie lead-off man chris coghlan next, then emilio bonifacio and hanley ramirez. their top three hitters are 4 for 9 tonight. the nats are 0 for 10. scott olsen finishes with 94 pitches, 66 strikes. oh, what a night. nats couldn't get him a run in the 8th to make him a rainer. ron villone has to hold the marlins. he's battled back now to make

the count 3-2 on wes helms. that's a base hit. inside the bag, willingham has a long way to go. if helms was a fast runner, he'd have a triple. there's another runner going to second base looking back over his shoulder to see where the ball is. good running, i mean good hitting, not very good running. but he's at he could base with nobody out. they have probably pinch run for him here. >> rob: wes helms is always known for his hitting and his infield play. inside off the bag. knows he's got at least two. he doesn't even think about three. never looked at the coach at third. >> bob: deaza will be the pinch

runner here. the scouting report on coghlan is that he doesn't really bunt for base hits, because as we mentioned earlier, he's kind of raw and inexperienced as a lead- off man, but a guy who hits here should be able to lay down a bunt. to move a runner. this stage of a game. he bends it perfectly. zimmerman, that that was across the bag for anderson hernandez. sacrifice, 5-4. >> rob: remember earlier in the year when it went right by him. ryan zimmerman comes in, throws it quickly, gets away from him, starts to run and tail on anderson. he comes across the bag, which if this was a bang-bang play, he might be taking anderson out of here on a gurney, but thankfully it wasn't. >> bob: that ball barely missed

the runner. here's bonifacio. they've got great speed. they could squeeze a run home here even with the infield in. that's how fast these two guys are. bonifacio swinging at a pitch away and fouling it straight back. he is hard to strike out, or at least he should be. his numbers this year indicate otherwise, as rob mentioned earlier, more strikeouts. 64, than anybody on the marlins. so unless he gets himself out of control here, he should put the ball in play. and you have to play the infield in. that's good fastball, outside corner. that's one of the best fastballs ron villone's thrown this year. >> rob: looked even harder with the good off-speed change-up

that he threw. then he speeds it up to 89. wil nieves has to block this ball if it's down in the dirt. that's his job. villone has got to throw it. >> bob: he turns one over and goes up and away. that one had some severe sink and run on it. >> rob: i think he change the grip on the ball. he threw a fastball, but sometimes you make it run away from the hitter right there. maybe a two-seamer. tried to throw him a change-up. >> bob: villone looked back at his landing spot. as if everything was out of whack there. marlins trying to take the lead

here and set it up for tonight's closer who appears to be left-hander dan meyer. matt lidstrom, their closer, is on the d.l. with 14 saves. and that ball to center. that will be deep enough to score dee asa. 3-2 marlins. and the lead-off double by wes helms really hurting. and now the marlins with hanley ramirez, and you know what he'll be trying to do. he'll be trying to hit a home run to make this a 4-2 game. he'll be facing julian tavarez and ron villone is going to be tagged with the go-ahead run here. the marlins manufactured it with a double, a sacrifice and a fly ball. it will be julian tavarez trying to keep ramirez in the park and the nats in the game.

e 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. time to get going. time to get tough. take control. you're not gonna run and hide. because backing down's not your style. grab your bag. it's on. ( ding )

to give people great, fresh beer. oh, he insists upon quality. everything's got to be a+. over the years i've been in stores all over the country just checking on the freshness and the quality of sam adams. right from the beginning, here he is, the owner of the whole company, coming in, rolling up his sleeves and doing the work. we check every sam adams, make sure that all the beer's fresh. if the beer's beyond freshness we buy it back. when you taste sam adams at the peak of it's freshness, there's nothing better.  >> bob: nice night now it's turned into at land shark stadium. hanley ramirez against julian tavarez in a 3-2 game now,

bases empty, two outs. hanley ramirez has one thing on his mind. trying to get under a ball and drive it which he does, but it's off the end of his bat. that will be a double down the left-field line once adam dunn retrieves it. he's going to go for three, and now stop. he was first pitch swinging with a home run on his mind. >> rob: when you're seeing the ball real well, then it's a hanging breaking ball right there. he was trying to throw in there for an easy strike one. with his speed he easily gets a double. looks like he's limping a little bit. >> bob: hanley ramirez three more hits tonight. starting the night the leader

with miguel tejada with 97. tavarez cannot give up another run here. the nationals bullpen has had an absolute nightmare against florida this year. that ball skipped and it was picked up in nifty fashion by wil nieves.   >> bob: front door breaking ball, well off the plate inside. 2-0. the nats in the ninth, guzman, johnson and zimmerman. crucial to keep this a one run game. any one of those guys could tie

it up. now they'll pass cantu and take their chances with a slumping dan uggla. you don't want it to go to 2-0, then feel like you have to throw one over the plate to this guy. he could make it 5-2 in a hurry. 

 >> bob: dan uggla, two strikeouts and a grounder. 0 for 3 tonight. dan uggla coming in batting just .225. with his 0 for 3 tonight, 2 for his last 13. but an all or nothing hitter who can put one over the scoreboard if you make a mistake. he's hit -- he's hit 15 home runs. tavarez turns and faces the runner. he throws that breaking ball about a foot outside. he had hanley ramirez retreating and the hitter getting a little nervous. 

 he took a little bit off. wil nieves, second good block of the inning. >> rob: look at that chest protector. he's loaded and ready for battle. great block by wil nieves. you see him leaning forward. play it off your chest. >> bob: he's played flawless defense lately. threw out a runner earlier tonight. >> rob: the elongated catcher's mask. throat guard, after steve yeager was hit in the on deck circle with a shard of wood in

the throat. that throat guard, now the catchers just have the metal come down farther in front of the mask. >> bob: some of the umpires have started wearing those as well. they've been known to take a couple of bats on the top of the head. >> rob: bill welke is wearing one behind home plate. >> bob: he's a ten year veteran who wants to be a 20 year veteran some day. or maybe play a little lacrosse. the florida panthers. >> bob: red sox beat baltimore again tonight. they're 5-0 against the orioles. the mets are getting it handed to them in milwaukee tonight. tomorrow night the phillies open a series at atlanta. here in florida, 3-2 marlins, two on, two out, bottom