politics and prose bookstore in washington d.c. hosted the event. for more information visit politician-prose.com.ñ4yw69f> next time booktv, encore booknotes from 1997. frank mccourt's memoir, "angela's ashes." born to irish immigrants coming

describes growing up in brooklyn with an alcoholic father and the loss of three siblings. frank mccourt died july 19th of this year. this is an hour. c-span: frank mccourt, author of "angela's ashes," right before the show started, somebody said to me if i ask you where this cover came from, that it would tick you off. >> guest: that would, yeah. c-span: why? >> guest: well, i've been asked a million times. it's--well, it doesn't look like me anyway. that kid looks too well fed. c-span: who is the kid? >> guest: i don't know. somebody--something scribners came up with. some urchin from some strange place. it does look like--a little--it could be me. it looks like some lane in limerick--but he looks too--even--but i never had bare feet. my mother always made sure that we had shoes even though they were falling off our feet. but we wen--other kids went around barefoot, but we didn't. we were too snobbish. c-span: so the--when they--when you saw this book, you didn't know that this picture--where it came from or who it was? >> guest: no. i had no idea at all. there was some dispute about it. my--my wife said that it's wrong

to put some unknown kid. she wanted them to put me on it. but they decided they li--and people like it in general. they--it gives the flavor of the book--cunning, furtive kid on the street. c-span: when did you get the first idea that you wanted to do something like this? >> guest: write this book? c-span: mm-hmm. >> guest: first of all, i always wanted to be a writer, but i didn't know that i wanted to write about this lane in limerick, this slum. because anybody that comes from those circumstances doesn't want to write about it. you're ashamed of it. you don't have any self-esteem. so it wasn't till i somehow began to gain some approval or acceptance from my students in new york or from friends of mine. in social circles, i start talking about growing upin limerick and--i suppose some of the stuff i told them was amusing and they'd laugh because the whole--poverty is so absurd. some of the stories i told them were so absurd. they'd laugh and they'd say, 'you should write this.

when you going to write about'--i've been hearing this for years. 'when are you going towrite a book? when are you going to write a book?' i--but no more insistent than the little voice in my head, 'write the damn book' and i've tried it over the years. i wrote a--i wrote a version of itin 1969, i think, called, "if you live in the lane. "but it was derivative imitate. i was go--i was imitating o'casey and joyce and henry wern in and evelyn wall--imagine metn writing like evelyn wall. i tried to be smart-ass, upper-class british writer. that didn't--none of it worked until eventually i found my own way. c-span: where is the high school you taught in? >> guest: in new york, east 15th street--four--15th and fourth avenue. but that wasn't the only one i taught. i think i was in three different high schools; mckey vocational in staten island, sewer park on the lower east side, briefly in fashion industry's high school on west 24th street. and then in stuyvesant high school. c-span: how many years? >> guest: a total of 20--well,

mo--close to 30 including substitute teaching. c-span: so when did you sit down and first start putting words on paper for this book? >> guest: well, this--that version i did, "if you live in the lane," in ni--in 1960--no, it's not s--it goes way back--it goes way back to my 20s when i started jotting things in notebooks, things that my mother said that--sayings from the neighbors, because there was a lot of funny stuff despite the poverty. there was a lot--there were--we had a lot of eccentrics wandering around in limerick who, if they were here, they would be locked up today, yesterday. but there were characters all over the place. c-span: who's this? >> guest: oh, god. that's my mother in the middle. that's when my brother mike got married. he's--he's the one to my mother's right. i--or--my brother alphe's on the left. mike, malachy and myself and my mother. that was mike's wedding about 30--i don't know--32 or 33 years ago. his first wedding. c-span: where are your brothers

today? >> guest: malachy--the bear--the bearded one is in--is in new york. he's an actor. he's writing a book. and alfie--m--mike runs a bar and restaurant out in san francisco, seal cove inn, and alfie--alf--they all went into the bar business. people used to say, 'well, when are you going into the bar business?' i said, 'when my brothers go--become teachers' alfie--alfie--he--we had great hopes for him because he's the only who had any kind of education. he went to secondary school in ireland, came over and we all thought he was going to go up to colum--he went to columbia briefly. and we thought he'd become a lawyer or something like that, but he--instead, he opened a mexican restaurant. the only irishman you ever met that opened a mexican restaurant. c-span: and it's still there in new york? >> guest: oh, no, it's gone now. c-span: oh, gone? >> guest: los ponchos. it was very popular in the upper west side. c-span: who's this? >> guest: that's my mother. c-span: when was this taken? >> guest: i think that was s. c-span: it says on the back '1979.'

>> guest: mm. some bar in--on third avenue. we would take her out occasionally. she loved going out because she enjoyed the good time. you can see she was a large woman. that--of course, that was because she was sedentary. but she loved parties. c-span: how many children did she have in her life? >> guest: seven. c-span: how many of them are alive today? >> guest: four. c-span: what happened to the >> guest: well, she had six half years and--that were--including twins.r4 and three of them died in that five and a half years.ws:)garetd the twins. she--margaret died in brooklynbu and the twins died in ireland,bn bronchial pneumonia or somethin2 like that--something preventable. and that's what--the death of the little girl, i think, drove my father crazy because he was mad about her. and i know that. i remember the kind of attention he'd pay her which he didn't pay us. he was very good to us.

when he was sober, but--and now if that--if the death of th little girl drove them into a%ee bottle, you can imagine what itr was like, then, when the twins died in ireland.c c-span: what year did the children die?iumf7cwnk?/= >> guest: margaret died in 1934y i think.jñ and the twins in '35.wco oliver died in may of '35 and eugene november '35. eugene november '35. and in the meantime, my motherv the month that oliver died.gwìc >> where do you fit in all of this? >> i'm the oldest. >> who is this? >> good god. that's my father. i don't know who he's holding. >> fiona. >> oh, yeah. that was taken just before he died i think. yeah. he lost all of his hair. he had an accent where you would

need sub titles to hear. that's in belfast where he died. he got into trouble drinking minute and his way back to his father's farm. >> when was the last time you saw him? >> in his coffin in 1985. before that i saw him in 1981 >> guest: it was the worst summer they'd had. c-span: what was your relationship with him in the end? >> guest: eh, inconsequential. i never saw him. if i did see him, it was kind of a for--formal conversation. it was very hard to get into a--an intimate conversation with him. and you-- if i were to look at this from the outside, i would have said to myself, 'well, why didn't you go back and talk to him?' but i think-i had a feeling that there was no point in it or that he wouldn't come through. he was so blocked in everywhere. he'd say,'well, how's your--how's your mother?' and,

'how's your brothers?' and--rawr rawr rawr rawr--and that was it and then he'd look out the window and he'd drink his tea and there was no getting through to him. c-span: were you ever close to him? >> guest: i was when i was a kid. c-span: did you. >> guest: i think i was close to him. c-span: there was a time in the book where you talk about he kissed you for the first time. >> guest: in the hospital. c-span: that you remember. >> guest: when i had typhoid fever. this--and this is a national characteristic, i think, of the irish, this poetic, mercurial, flamboyant race. we don't go around saying, 'i love you. 'the word 'love' was something that was reserved for god or babies, 'i love you darling,' it --you talk to babies or maybe horses that win. but not for--not for personal relationship. i used to think when iwas a kid when people said, 'i love you,' that was only for something on the screen at the limerick cinema. we never heard it. i never heard a mother saying, 'i love you,' to her child. and my brother malachy once had an experience. he was nine. he--i think this may have changed the course of his life

somehow emotionally. he was in the kitchen, he was nine years old, and he said to my mother--he was overwhelmed for some reason, and he said to my mother, 'ma'am, i love you.' and she looked at him--and then later on, he's there at the kitchen fiddling around and her friend brady hannah comes in from next door and my mother says, 'brady, do you know what he just said to me?' 'what angela?' 'he told me he loved me.' and the two of them had a good laugh and i think malachy sank through the floor. so you had to be careful about sa--telling people you loved them. c-span: what's this? >> guest: oh, god. yeah, that's the mongrie graveyard where we took my mother's ashes to be sprinkled. it's an old medieval abbey outside limerick. so she died in--she died in new york and we had her cremated and we took her back there. she used to say, 'i want tobe buried with my own people in mongrie.' and -i said--she was a large woman as you saw from that

earlier picture, i said, 'do you know the cost of transporting your body to ireland?' sowe cremated her anyway and took her back and five or six days of grief and celebration. c-span: when did she die? >> guest: 1981. december of '81. oh, yeah. oh, my--that's the can of ashes that we were sprinkling. it was a very strange occasion because there were--malachy was there and our wives were there and a group of friends. and i think we'd all drifted away fro--i--what i remember mostly a--abo--was our awkwardness at what--i mean, usually we're not caught short for words. but --it hink malachy and i felt a bit awkward at--on this occasion because we simply didn't know what to do. usually you have a priest taking care of it, but i j--there was a pause, we sprinkled the ashes, then i'm the oldest son, so i'm the chief mourner, i suppose, so i just started saying, 'hail mary, full of grace, the lord is with thee.' and that was it.

and we blessed ourselves and climbed back over that gate again because that's a national shrine now and you can't get in. but we had to climb over the gate. the same gate. that's me and my daughter maggie. yeah. c-span: and sheila brown. >> guest: and sheila brown, right. yeah. c-span: who's sheila brown? >> guest: she's a friend of our--brian brown's wife. they--and they have--own a kind of a normal castle or keep. c-span: is it--oh, maybe ask you a different way, how does it feel to be so public with your life? >> guest: i haven't had time to reflect on it since last september, how to be--because i've seen--i know people who are public because i used to hang around the lion's head bar in new york and i knew pete hamlin and people like that who'd been public for years and years and years. and i'd see them come and go and i--i'd be on the periphery of that crowd. and the--i was what they called in america 'only a teacher.' only a teacher. they're journalists and writers

and poets. i'm only a teacher. and i was thre--i--i ki--i was always on the periphery. in a sense, i was like my father, an outsider. now people look at me--oh, they look at me. it's like ralph ellison'sbook, "invisible man," peop--the people don't see you until you d--i wrote a book. i taught for 27 years and nobody paid me a scrap of attention, then i write a book about slum life and i'm an expert on everything. c-span: and we got all this from a young man that's in your family. >> guest: oh, connor, yeah. c-span: who is he? >> guest: he's doing a vi--he. c-span: who are these two men? >> guest: that's mike, my brother. my--he's the third in line for the immense mccourt fortune. and he's the one in san francisco. he's out there with his wife, joan. he--and he has four kids. and connor is a cop in new york who's become thefamily chronicler, archivist, video man. he's very enthusiastic over

capturing the history of the family. he's done a video. c-span: we know. >> guest: yeah? oh, yeah! yeah. c-span: we know and we're going to. >> guest: i think you know everything, brian. c-span: we're going to show some of that a little later on. there's just some more pictures here. >> guest: i think you have the goods on me here. c-span: yeah. this is a photograph that i--you know, it's the brothers, but what--do you know what year is this? i can tell you, i think. >> guest: this is last year. c-span: yeah. >> guest: this was at the grand ticino restaurant in new and you are flying first class and making big dollars, and you have to use steroids. we didn't have any. i never lifted a weight in my life. now they can work out. why use steroids. bat is 34.1 ounces and it was 36-40 ounces. so, players are getting better and stronger and using lighter bats. why do you need steroids? >> "outside the lines," will

have much more on the issue, and how suspected users should be used. more opinions from more hall of famers, sunday, 9:00 eastern "outside the lines," on espn. >> johnny cato on the mound at wrigley. taking on the cubs. doesn't do well. in the third, kevin hart robbed. and making the nice grab for the starter. and soriano, coming up with a strong bat. solo-shot to left center, and cubbies hold on for the 5-3 win. 9th and twelve game. cueto, 0-3.

>> still ahead, lance armstrong will not be drinking the champagne with the yellow jersey but his teammate w

>> kevin connors and reischea canidate, 1:30, induction ceremonies, at the hall of fame. rickey henderson and jim rice and joe gordon.

baseball hall of fame induction ceremonies tomorrow. >> let's welcome in george, the reds' broadcaster, at the hall. when you think of rickey henderson, what comes to mind. >> best leadoff man in the history of the game and, what a character. [laughter] >> probably, a tie for both of them. he's been a joy to be around since the first time i met him and continued right up through this weekend. he's having a great time. and he's drinking everything in and we're all wondering, what the speech is going to be like. but it will be a memorable one. >> let's hit on that. all time stolen base king and run leader, and second in walks, and hard to argue his place in history and he won't do that. what makes for a good hall of fame speech. >> you know, i don't think there's any formula, people ask me, what's the best speech you

ever heard. there are moments, every year is special. every person is special, those that you know, and you followed through their careers. but, every moment is different, too. i can tell you, that when bill stood up and tried to give his speech and got 30 seconds into it and started to cry. he said i can't do it. to me, that was one of the most memorable speeches i ever heard. if you never knew him, you didn't know -- now you knew what kind of speech it was. some have been political. and other ones, and bob could you colonel's speech was funny. up on that stage, it's interesting. if you go too long, about ten minutes, we've had people go 20, 25, 30 minutes, and you can't hear it or see it. the hall of famers, come on. it's hot. get going. move on.

and, i mean, they do that. and the day that bob uecker spoke, they wanted more. it was the funniest speech. and phil rizzuto's speech, memorable. everyone is special. everyone brings the emotion of the day, and the track-record of their history and lives, and what happened on and off the field. so, i think, you know, you take each one on its own merit. and for me, there is no formula to the best or greatest speech. but, and i think people wonder if ricky is going to stand up there and not make any sense. i think he'll be really good. having talked with him over the last few months, and getting an idea of where he's going, i don't know what he's going to say, but it will be good. and i wouldn't be surprised, he tells us all he's going to come back and be active again. [laughter] >> might still be able to play and steal a few bases.

>> you're not kidding. he looks great. he still looks like he can play tomorrow and he said i can. just i don't know if i can play the day after that. [laughter] >> the case for quite a few. in his 15th year of eligibility, jim rice finally gets the call. when you consider his career, what stands out about him. >> you didn't want him to beat on you those red sox teams, and i'm not saying it was indifferent, but if he was in that lineup, might have been a different end to the 1975 world series. but, he, to me, you know, he was the -- the consummate clutch-player, who would take what was given him. he'll get a homerun and go the other way. no, he wasn't the greatest defensive-player. and, that led to his detrok tors, and those that didn't know him. i got to know him and eddie

murray, pretty well. they weren't darlings of the media. so, i think that hurt them, in terms of their acceptance in the media. but, you went in the clubhouse, and you talk to managers and pitching-coaches, he was the kind of guy, you didn't want to come up, in a crucial situation. i mean, we were, jim and i were talking about about this morning. everybody knows jim palmer never gave up a grandslam and he remembered the day, bases-loaded and palmer walked him on four pitches so he wouldn't give up a grandslam. that's the kind of guy he was. and it's long overdue, he's on a list of guys that hadn't gotten in before this year. andre dawson, i hope he gets in, and they were bigger than what their numbers indicated they were. >> so, in your mind, it's clear, he's a hall of famer. took 15 years, 75%, leaving

still 25 -- 67% he got. 24% did not. in your opinion, he's a clear cut hall of famer? >> i'm not saying he's a clear cut. he's a hall of famer. and i would put him in a position. what helped him, tony perez getting in. very similar, and, tony was the really, the team of the red machine. and, he provided things that over players didn't provide and same thing for the red sox. yaz was great and fred i freddy lynn, but if you were in the other dugout, the guy you feared in in a crucial situation was jim rice. his numbers were dominant. and what hurt him, was the lack of defensive capability, and, he was injured a number of times. his numbers could have been more

impressive. he might have had more homeruns. but, i think you evaluate a guy, based upon the era they played in and that's why, in my mind, blyleven is a hall of famer, and andre dawson, and jack morris was dominant, and you have to consider who they played for. were they winning or losing teams? and i think in rice's case, when tony got in, that added a lot of fuel this those who supported him and those on the fence, began to realize, if tony is in, then he is in. that was similar to phil rizzuto and peewee reese. a lot of people bleed they were so similar, and as contemporaries, if peewee is in, then scooter belongs in. that has happened. among the veterans, the writers

voted him in. >> there's been some comments regarding steroids. some feel an asterisk should be placed on plaques. how do you think they should be handled. >> it will be very interesting, jim rice said it, if you are tainted you shouldn't be voted not a hall of fame. it goes, of course, understand, that, baseball writers' association vote on t you have to have 75% who vote, which is somewhere around, 500 ballots a year. and i think each one of those people will take it in their own conscious and decide. others believe he should not be voted upon. that's an individual belief and i think there are a lot of cases these players, the mcgwire and

bonds, remember, they have five years, and then they have 15 years to be on the ballot. so, you are talking a long period of time. you don't know what might come out. and you don't know how people will evaluate it. but it will be very interesting to see, how people will evaluate and bonds is the key element. because he was so dominant throughout his career. it's a shame or clemens. they were hall of famers and it's a shame that they got involved, if it is proved that they were involved. every writer, that puts in, and every hall of famer, who will vote, will do it on their own conchecks, and people were suspect. ty could ty cobb and people lik. it's sad that players get roped into these situations. bottom line, they have to play

the piper, on the basis of how people vote. i would vote on each one on their own individual merritt. it would be difficult, especially for those, who exited the ability, before the steroid era began. it's sad because the people we're talking about, i knew roger clemens, in college. he was a brilliant competitor and very positive person for the game. it's sad that it has come to that. my feeling is, anybody that was tainted, i wouldn't vote for. but, i don't have a vote. that's what it is. >> fascinating. george, mc, a original espner, many thanks for joining us. >> all right. thank you. >> top stories on the way, latest on the roy halladay trade rumors, stay current with "espnews" during the autobahn for all event you can get great deals.

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 well, last night was a performance by this washington nationals ball club. they managed only in a 6-2 loss against the padres six hits. jim riggleman not happy. we'll see if there's going to be a change in attitude tonight, a little bit more focus, a little bit more working on the small things that help you win a ballgame. the nationals and the san diego padres tonight from nationals park here on masn. welcome, everybody. nice to have you with us on a saturday night from our

nation's capital. welcome to nats town and a good crowd on hand this evening for game two of this weekend series against the padres who limp in at 38-59, the nationals 28-68. the silver fox looking mighty good tonight, our show brought to you by our good friends at verizon wireless. errors, errors are going to kill you every single time. i think the focus of jim riggleman's conversation last night to his ball club behind closed doors to get their attention, you can't continue to make the errors. nobody's trying to make errors, but it is what it is. 94 in 96 games. >> well, jim riggleman has always been a guy that thought about pitching first, defense second, offense third. and as a middle infielder he's a guy that stresses the fundamentals. last night he talked about details. last night we just had an awful night. a ground ball down the third- base line, adam dunn going into

the corner. the ball not hit very hard but it somehow gets around him and gets the runner on third base with leads to an easy sacrifice fly with that runner on third base and less than two outs. then a little pop-up here, that bard had his eyes on and misses it. then a little later on, bergman, not taking the hop. he takes the ball, throws it flat-footed and throws it away. four errors, two runs came off of that. what happens is you end up turning that line-up around and getting back to those big hitters and throwing more pitches and just putting overall stress on the ball club. >> if you look at the numbers there, the nats have committed 94, the fewest in the major leagues as the -- is the philadelphia phillies who have only committed 37 errors. >> when he was with seattle last year, became the manager, they went from the worst fielding team in the american league all the way up to fourth

in the short time that he managed. because he emphasized defense. willie harris last night said, we're trying. well, that might be the problem. you don't try. you have to do it. it's not about bad hops. bad hops sometimes go down as base hits. it's about the execution of plays that are routine plays. that's what an error is, a routine play that is not made by a major leaguer that 99.99 of the other major league players make. so we've just made way too many of them, it's been pretty much our theme every night that we've talked as we've lost game after game. >> last night in the clubhouse, both willie harris and josh bard talked about jim riggleman getting on them and said, hey, the ball club deserved it. >> he's disappointed and he should be. you know, you can take anything but sloppiness. you know, the fans don't deserve us to come out here and play sloppy like that. you know, we're playing one of the worst teams in baseball and they kicked our butt tonight,

so we got to get better. >> he said what he had to say, got his point across. just flat tonight. seems like we had a couple off days and then just came out there tonight and everything just seemed so flat. >> your managerial days, did you ever have a closed door session to get the attention of your ball club. >> i probably led the world in meetings because i was not one to be able to hide my emotions. people don't want to hear that ranting and raving and i just had a tendency not to accept it. i'll be doggone if i wasn't going to get it right one way or the other, if they didn't do it, i was going to let them know it. riggleman doesn't do that. every time i saw something go wrong, i had to tell them about it. >> and the spot was picked last night incidentally, inside that clubhouse. you look at a couple of guys who are consistently good, that's john lannan, greg stam an, and the other guys are kind

of up and down a little bit. >> stamon and lannan, eight out of nine quality starts since july. they've formed a really powerful one and two punch in the front of this rotation. zimmerman, two of four quality starts. the rest of the guys one of 12. the remainder of that staff has been pretty awful. and the two other guys stammen and lannan have been as good as you could possibly be. >> and john 4 for 4, 2.64 e.r.a., 1-8 stammen, the rest of the guys are 1-8 and 6.4 # as you can see the e.r.a.'s right there. >> those e.r.a.'s, that shows you right there when you've got two guys pitching well, 2.64 is just outstanding, and that 6.41 just shouldn't happen.

major league pitchers can't give up 6.41 runs a game. just can't happen. so there has to be some improvement there. they're giving them every opportunity. these young guys are getting every opportunity to make a mark and become big role players in this pitching rotation. >> we're going to take a break, we'll come back and continue, more of our "nats xtra pregame. against the san diego padres as j.d. martin loosens up there. ?

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president of communication. >> this was such a busy home stand. let's highlight some of the activities that the guys are doing. >> we did, we kept them busy. we kept them out there. so we had our fourth annual chris that is july toy drive and our fans and our community came out in droves to donate for the toys for tots foundation. we had a visit for the habitat for humanity with tyler who helped build a home in northeast washington. today even we had a clinic with 150 kids that came out from all over the district and the metropolitan area, one of the five clinics that we're hosting this year. >> when you were able to bring these kids out here to the ballpark, they get a taste of what major league baseball is all about. how special is it for some of these youngsters that have really probably never gone to a game. >> our coaching staff, they do a tremendous job on giving instruction on this field for these kids, and for the kids to be out and get major league instruction to be at nationals parkways beautiful venue for

them, it's an amazing opportunity. the kids get treat today a free game tonight, they get a lunch by smithfield, so it's a great day for the kids. we're very excited because our clinics are full. the next clinic is full, but you can get on waiting list. >> does it give some of these youngsters some hope, too, that they can maybe get out of a bad neighborhood, get out of a bad situation and that someone cares about them. >> of course, and we care. we love the kids in the community and we want them to know that we care, we want them to embrace baseball and love the sport that we know is the national pastime and it's really a good opportunity for us to get the community out there and show them that we want them to be a part of had world that we're apart of. >> you've been around sports for a long time. does it amaze you how genuine your players are? >> yes, i'm amazed, over two decades in sports, i really have to tell you, and i keep saying this over and over again, that our players are phenomenal. there's nothing that they don't do that we ask them to do that they don't do with sincerity

and with enthusiasm and with excitement. if you look at what we've done just this past week and this past home stand, it just blows my mind how much these guys put into the work on the field, because they're baseball players first, of course, but then their -- commitment to the community has really amazed me. and the riggers of the schedule, what these guys do, day in and day out. >> i love the fact, too, that they bring their families along, those ladies are involved with the first wives, the first ladies, excuse me, they're involved and just going forward. what's ahead on the next home stand. what are some of the highlights? >> we're excited about august 8, because from 58 am to 2:00 pm we're going to be hosting the fifth annual blood drive with the american red cross. so the fans can come out and the community can come out and give blood, save a life and they will get tickets to a game, they'll meet some of our players, the mascot, they'll

get t-shirt and we'll be here with the red cross once again. >> thank you so much. i know you're busy. we appreciate your time. back up to you. >> thank you. congratulations to all the nationals players who get out in the community and do such a great job representing this organization. let's take a look at tonight's starting lineups. first of oral for the san diego padres, luis rodriguez last night got a home run. he had three rbi, went two for four, his first roundtripper since april 17. that's a stretch of 48 games. he's hit safefully eight of the last 14 ballgames for the padres. here's the padres line-up. tony gwynn in center field, everth cabrera will be in shortstop, then adrian gonzalez, kevin kouzmanoff at third, drew macias in right field, rodriguez at second base, lobaton will be catching.

rodriguez two for four last night. that home run and three rbi's. nyjer morgan for the nationals did not play in last night's ballgame. he's in that line-up, he will lead off for jim riggleman's ball club, and with the nationals 25 for 73. take a look at the speed he's got. 10 runs, 11 stolen bases, the pride and joy, nyjer will be in the lead-off spot, cristian guzman batting second, ryan zimmerman, adam dunn, wil nieves will be catching jz martin looking for his first major league win. johnny holliday and ray knight with ben and a loft rumblings about what went on last night back in that clubhouse. >> it was a little different than anything we've really seen this year with jim riggleman kind of laying into the guys

after the game. to me it was, we kind of knew we were going to see a little bit more are of this from riggleman. to this point i hadn't really seen it. we hadn't seen him kind of talk after the game and be openly critical of guys, but last night was definitely a different there -- a difference there. i will it will be interesting to see how they go forward because this is not the approach we saw manny acta give at all. it will be interesting to see from here what players do with it. >> well, i can tell you, managing against jim riggleman, he has some fire, and he is not going to accept mediocrity. you can go out, as you mentioned last night, hitting is just one of those things. you either have it, or you don't. execution getting signs is something that is all on the players mental aptitude. some people don't have the aptitude to be able to even get signed. that's more than anything what ticks a manager off is those

detail things, not being able to pick up suicide squeezes, not being able to get directives like pitchouts and throws over. >> the other thing we heard a lot with manny, was i think the approach was definitely tailored towards young players. these guys that have first and second year in the bigging leagues, but this isn't that young of a line-up anymore. nick johnson approaching 30, josh willingham the same age, there's lot of guys that have been around. riggleman has tailored his approach to appeal to something a little different with these guys. >> he should be able to get their attention. they're playing one of the worst teams in baseball. >> it's one of these series that if you're not going to turn it around here, it's going to be tough to do it anywhere. >> did you like the way that you felt the team maybe came out of that? did you see some guys maybe mumbling or talking or meeting? >> i think it caught them by

surprise. the fact that they were playing like a team like the padres and they played as badly as i did, we've seen that happen a few times this year and hasn't been addressed that way. i think there was some surprises. i think there were some guys that said, yeah, we deserved it. it wasn't acceptable and i think the proof will be in what happens tonight and what happens tomorrow and on the road trip. yeah, i think there was some surprise in the way it came across. >> thank you so much. well, as ben said, only time will tell if it rubs off on the ballplayers tonight. let's hope so. they can even up this series at 1-1. 

 >> don't be surprised when come to a ballgame at nationals park to have some goodies handed out to you from nationals players. john lannan is handing out to folks coming in. they are involved in not better

than getting up-close and personal with a guy when you come into the ballpark and greet him when you first come in. >> i don't think there's anything more important than players being involved and having some type of interplay with the fans. whether signing autographs or just going out and saying hello, but anytime that they can get close to a player, is makes them draw closer together. >> i think kind of lost in the shuffle of the deal with pittsburgh involving nyjer morgan and sean burnett has been burnett. morgan, we well know, well documented the headlines he's received, but let me tell you something, burnett coming out of that bullpen, he's getting the job done. >> to me he's emerged as our best left-hander out of the pen. burnett nine innings pitched, 0.96 earned run average with 118 opposition batting average. he's got that nasty sinker. i didn't realize his ball went that much down late, and he has a real good curveball. he's always around the strike zone and he works very quickly.

those are some pretty pathetic numbers right there. >> he's got a .118 batting average against going forward and his strikeout to walk ratio 8-to-1. he has a hold and one earned run giving number nine innings. that's an 0.96 e.r.a. >> you don't see numbers like that in just nine innings, but it's nine basically different appearances. so he's been good every time out there save one, but he's right around the plate and has that kind of overpowering sink to his fastball with the command. >> how about your thoughts on jason bergman, he's been up from syracuse, down to syracuse, back up to the big leagues here. >> i've always felt that jason bergman was his own worst enemy. i think he thinks so much out on the mound. he's a very bright young man, but he can throw the baseball. his fastball can be electric at times. 96 miles an hour. his slider sitting behind home plate last night is as quick as

it ever has been. it's tight, it's short, then his curveball is very g and his opposition batting average .316 that, almost shocks me. because when you get behind home plate, you just don't think this kid is hittable, but he does make mistakes center of the plate. >> he's only given up two runs in seven appearances, six innings pitched since being recalled from the syracuse chiefs. he's been scoreless in his relief appearances, 17 games, down at syracuse, so you know that he went down, he learned something, now he's applying it when he's come book it is application. it's all application with him, because there's no one sitting in that dugout or out in the bullpen that possesses more ability than he did. he really has a live arm, he has a great break on his breaking ball, he has a nice simple delivery, he gathers himself and creates a lot of torque and a lot of power so there's no reason, it's always been right there with him. if he can get that thing settled down and not think so

much, he's going to be a big factor in this ball club building into the future. >> you know what time it is? >> what time? >> time for the stay in the game hold of the day. there you see the padres all time holds leaders. just as those relievers have kept the padres in the game, guess what. you, too, can stay in the game with just for men hair color. >> we're going to take a break, we're going to come back and continue with more of our "nats xtra pregame here in just a moment. 

 welcome back to nationals park, "nats xtra pregame" continues. one more game to go, that will be coming up tomorrow at 1:30 on masn 2. then the ball club on the road for four against the brewers in milwaukee, 8:00 on monday, tuesday and wednesday all in masn hd, then on thursday, an afternoon contest on masn 2, our "nats xtra pregame" starting 30 minutes before the times you saw on the screen. tonight, can the nationals have a little more spunk and fire out there than they had last night in the loss. it's up to j.d. martin to get this back on track. >> j.d. had a tremendous year down in syracuse. he won eight games down there. came up here, first outing, was a little shaky. he's a finesse type pitcher,

sinker slider guy. doesn't walk a lot of people, but he's a testament to perseverance as he was out in 2003 with elbow surgery, former number one draft pick we were able to acquire. >> five runs, eight hits in his major league debut on monday night in that loss against the mets. he's getting more comfortable here with the surroundings here in washington. >> not thinking about the surroundings. for me that was the main thing. and i'm just starting to get to know the guys a little bit more, too. >> j.d. is going to be oppose bide a guy i guess you could use the term journeyman right-hander in tim stauffer. >> the padres number one draft choice, he's got a really good fastball, 95 miles per hour it's been clocked a he's got a short slider, he goes elevated in the strike zone. the real problem he's had is he's never been able to throw the ball over the plate. he's walked a lot of people. only because the staff has lost

three starting pitchers is he up here right now. >> one thing about this guy is he has never faced the nationals. this is his first time facing the ball club. >> i think that's an advantage probably for the hitters, as opposed to him, because he doesn't know where to go, he doesn't have a lot of control. they're going oh go up there swinging the bats tonight, i think after jim riggleman had a little talk with them today. >> that was my question, the interim manager really got the ball club's attention last night. how much will that carry over to today remains to be seen. >> he wants effort. he wants the guys to go out and give effort, be strong mentally and be a detailed ball club. >> last night was flat, there was no fire, there was no intensity. let's see if that changes tonight. it better change. >> it better change. >> thanks for joining us, everybody. "nats xtra pregame" here on masn. some of the mascots walking through the fans and getting set to settle down to enjoy a nice saturday evening of

baseball. nats hoping to get their 19th win of the season at home and the padres their 15th on the road. bob and rob coming up. . all pa. each with an average speed of 590 mph... . all pa. almost as fast as you. nothing's gonna hold you down. grab your bag . it's on™west so our low fares stay low. ( ding ) book now at southwest.com. cold refreshment is an unstoppable force. because every coors light can is cold-activated. when the mountains turn blue, your beer is as cold as the rockies. the coors light cold-activated can. enjoy refreshment at its peak.

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