honor and privilege of standing behind the great president of the united states, dwight david eisenhower when he signed proclamation 3309. the territory of hawaii was annexed to the united states in 1898 by joint resolution of the congress based on a treaty signed by the hawaiian governor. and for many years thereafter -- mr. reid: could i ask my distinguished friend if he would yield a minute to call up an amendment? mr. inouye: please do, sir. mr. reid: mr. president, i ask the pending amendment be set aside and an amendment at desk, 1846, i ask it be reported. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from nevada, mr. reid, proposes an amendment numbered 1846, to

amendment numbered 1813. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent further reading be dispensed. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. reid: mr. president, i ask my friend, the distinguished chairman of the appropriations committee, his statement not appear interrupted in the record and, of course, we all know that the most courteous man in the entire senate is senator inouye and i apologize for calling upon him but he can use the courtesy again on my behalf and i appreciate it very much. the presiding officer: the senator from hawaii. mr. inouye: mr. president, for many years thereafter many delegations of congress men and senators visited the territory of hawaii to consider the pleas submitted by our people requesting statehood. finally during the 85th congress in 1959, members of the committee on the interior and insular affairs and the subcommittee on territorial and

insular affairs led by congressman leo brian, visited the territory of hawaii to make an inquiry into granting statehood. the members of the committee met with local leaders and the government officials in hawaii and noted that the islands of hawaii formed a unique and successful racial melting pot and claimed if the rest of the nation could mix as well all democracy would be advanced. the state of hawaii has been a rich cultural addition to the united states thanks to the ancient culture of native hawaiians, the diverse multiracial society created by generations of asian and european immigrants and the stunning natural beauty of our tropical climate. hawaii has produced the first chinese and japanese american

members of congress, the first woman of color in congress, and the first native hawaiian in the senate. mr. president, the honorable barack obama, the first african-american president of the united states, was born and raised in honolulu, hawaii. 300 years before, hawaii was much more than hula dancing, lovely beaches, and beautiful weather. for example, 300 years ago, before christopher columbus crossed the atlantic ocean in search of india, polynesians sailed north in canoes seeking a place. these voyagers found hawaii and settled there and slowly built this society and government.

the kingdom emerged and a monarchy gained the respect of nations around the world. and this kingdom of hawaii entered into treaties with the united kingdom, with france, japan and the united states. but that kingdom was overlone with the assistance of the united states military forces but, mr. president, the congress of the united states realizing that the takeover was not done in a democratic fashion recently issued an official apology to the people of hawaii. and, mr. president, it takes a great country like america to admit its wrongs. hawaii's location in the middle of the pacific between the united states mainland and the nations of asia has made it a

major center of military defense for the united states. pearl harbor senators as a -- sy to connect to other pacific nations. so critical is pearl harbor's location to our national defense that it was targeted by our enemies at the beginning of world war ii. the bombing of pearl harbor on december 7, 1941, brought the united states into world war ii and revealed the loyalty of the people of hawaii for the united states and the sacrifices they were willing to make for their country. thousands upon thousands of young men from hawaii volunteered to serve in the united states army during world war ii. senator akaka and i were two of the volumetories

the -- volunteers. nearly eight million visitors are drawn to the breathtaking beaches and scenic sites and culture. hawaii is home to one-fourth of the endangered species if the united states. we have eight national parks, including the hawaii volcano national park the home of the most active volcano on earth. hawaii has truly added to the diversity and richness of the united states culturally, racially, ecologically and geographically and today the congress of the united states celebrates hawaii as the 50th state into the union. i thank you, mr. president. i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: will the

senator withhold? the presiding officer: will the senator withhold the suggestion of the absence of a quorum? mr. inouye: question. the presiding officer: the senator from arizona. mr. mccain: i have an amendment at the desk number 1814 and i request unanimous consent the pending business be set aside and call up amendment 1814 which is at desk. the presiding officer: without objection. the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from arizona, mr. mccain, proposes an amendment numbered 1814 to amendment numbered 1813. mr. mccain: mr. president, this amendment is very simple. it would prohibit funds from being spent on the hundreds of earmarks listed in the committee

report that accompanies this bill. i emphasize that are listed in the "committee report," not part of the basic legislation. it would prohibit those funds from being spent on any of the hundreds of earmarks unless that project is specifically authorized. as we all know committee reports do not have the force of law. they're meant to serve as explanatory statements for what can be complicated legislative bill text. unfortunately around here, appropriations committee reports now are treated as if they were law and are routinely loaded up with millions if not billions of dollars in unrequested, unauthorized, unnecessary, wastefulful earmarks. when congress establishes the funding priorities it should do so decisively without cause for subjective interpretation or reference the material outside the bill passed by congress and

signed into law by the president. the funding priorities should have the binding force of law subject only to the president's veto power. yet here we are -- again -- with a committee report that contains 622 "congressionally directed spending items." it's a great name -- congressionally directed spending items-totaling over $985 million. none of the projects were requested by the administration. many of them were not authorized or competitively bid in any way. no hearing was held to judge whr not these are national priorities, and they're in the bill for one reason and one reason only: because of the self-serving prerogatives of a few select members of the senate almost all of whom serve on the appropriations committee. sadly, these members chose to

serve their own interests over those of the american taxpayer. early this year in response to criticism about the number of earmarks in the omnibus appropriations bill, one of the senators stood on the floor and proclaimed, let me say this to the chattering class that so much focus is on the little tiny porky amendments that the american people don't really care. the american people don't really care? then on behalf of the american people i suggest we remove some of the little tiny porky items that are listed in this report. here's just a few: $1 million for the bay view gas to energy project in utah. my colleagues and people who pay attention to these processes will know that almost every one of these projects has a location. and, again, usually located in

the home state of a member of the appropriations committee. $1 million for the bay view gas to energy project in utah. i've never heard of the bayview gas energy project and never heard a thing about it or never read about it. i am sure it is known in utah but i have no way of knowing whether it's a worthwhile project or not. and the most important thing are there other gas to energy projects in other parts of the country? maybe so, maybe not. these are ear markeys. $500,000 for the ben franklin technology partners in pennsylvania. ben franklin technology partners in pennsylvania -- now, from the reading of that i have not a clue nor would anyone else know what the ben franklin technology partners is all about. $600,000 thousand for biodiesel blending in business much $1 million for black hills state

eating and cooling plant in south dakota. $250,000 for a gas heat pump cooperative training program in nevada. $1.5 million for the gentleman ne -- for the geneticswitch gra, and $1 million for high speed wind turbine in wisconsin; and $2 million for the allerg algae biofuels research in washington; $1.2 million for the alternative energy school of the future, nevada. the alternative energy school of the future. $6 million for the hawaii energy sustainability program -- hawaii.

$6 million for the hawaii renewable energy development venture -- hawaii. $2.25 million for the montana bioenergy center of excellence -- montana. $10 million for the sustainable energy research center, mississippi. my colleagues may get a little thread that runs through this? mississippi, nevada, south dakota, utah, et cetera -- goes on and on. $10 million for the sustainable energy research center, mississippi. $450,000 for the vermont energy investment corporation, vermont. $1.2 million for the hydrogen fuel dispensing station, west virginia. $1.25 million for the long-term environmental and economic impacts of the development of a

coal liquification sector in china -- west virginia. $1 million for the alaska climate center -- alaska. $5 million for the computing capability -- north dakota. $1 million for the performance assessment institute -- nevada. $1 million for the new school green building in new york. it goes on and on. there are tw 22 pages and my colleagues may be interested in the innovative names. you won't find an explanation in the report on the projects. so let me be clear on one point: i don't question the merits of the projects. there's no way to find out what merits are. many of them may be very worthy of federal funds. but if that's the case, one should wonder why they are national priorities in desperate need of scarce federal funding, why they haven't been authorized

by congressional committee, why haven't we had a single hearing to talk about the desperate need for hydrogen fuel dispensing station in west virginia. if improve switch grass was so imperative at this time of crisis why was the funding not requested by the administration? i want to point out, again, mr. president, contrary to popular belief, contrary to what members of the appropriations committee will continue to tell you, earmarking funds in appropriations bills is not the way the congress has operated historically. it's like any other eve other e, growing larger and larger. now, after various scandals, it has leveled off or even decreased some, but after the scandal dies down, earmarks return. 9,000 of them were in the omnibus appropriations bill,

and, of course, the stimulus package as well. so there was a time when earmarks were nonexistent or at least very, very rare. and guess what? we didn't have $1.8 trillion worth of deficit for the year. and i'm proud to have served in the house with a man by the name of congressman william natcher. he was chairman of the house appropriations subcommittee on labor, health and human services, and he prevented earmarks in his committee. i'm sorry that there is not more william natchers still in the congress of the united states. citizens against government waste has tracked the growth of earmarks since 1991. according to citizens against government waste, in 1991, there were 546 earmarks totally $3.5 billion. in 2008, there were 11,610

earmarks totaling $17.2 billion, and that's an increase of 337% in 17 years. so it gets obviously not pleasant for my colleagues from the appropriations committee and not particularly pleasant for some of my other colleagues for notice come down here day after day, year after year to fight against these earmarks and pork-barrel projects. but the fact is that they have bred corruption. it wasn't inadequate disclosure requirements that led duke cunningham to violate his oath of office and take $2.5 million in bribes in exchange for doling out $70 million to $80 million of taxpayers' funds to a defense contractor. it was his ability to freely earmark taxpayer funds without question. so here we are with a $1.8 trillion deficit and 22 pages of earmarks, most of whom,

of course, have a state -- many of whom have a state earmarked next to them so that there is no competition, there is no revealing of the details of the project, and, meanwhile, we have places being raided by the f.b.i. around the country due to the allegations that criminal activity has taken place, which can be traced back to this earmark pork-barreling process. so, mr. president, i don't expect to win this vote but i intend to keep up this fight until such time as the american people rise up and demand that we exercise some kind of fiscal discipline. and i'll tell my colleague on the appropriations committee the reason why i think the chances are better and better, because they're having trouble saying? their homes, they're having trouble educating their kids, the unemployment rate is now 9.5% and predicted to go higher.

the present president of the united states campaigned and said that he would change the culture in washington. one of my deep disappointments is that the president of the united states has not fulfilled his -- his commitment to go line by line, item by item in every appropriations bill and not allow this pork-barreling earmark practice to continue. the american people won't stand for it forever. mr. president, i ask for the yeas and nays. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? mr. bennett: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from utah.

mr. bennett: senator dorgan is temporarily away. i'm sure he would give us a second. mr. mccain: have the yeas and nays been ordered? the presiding officer: at the moment there is not. mr. bennett: i'm saying senator dorgan is temporarily away, and i'm sure when he returns there, will be a sufficient second to grant the senator the yeas and nays. mr. mccain: i thank the senator. the presiding officer: the senator from utah. mr. bennett: mr. president, i have listened with interest to the statement by senator mccain. i rise with some responses to the comments that he has made which i hope will clarify the situation. senator mccain serves as the ranking member on the armed services committee with great distinction and has just helped manage that bill through the floor, and in the armed services committee -- in the defense authorization bill, which he

helped manage, there are specific authorizations for every defense program and there is a defense authorization bill that passes every year. if, indeed, we had a similar situation with respect to those items under the jurisdiction of this appropriations bill, i would be more supportive of the position that senator mccain has taken with respect to to the provisions of the bill. however, this is not a defense bill and not every department authorizes each and every year the same way the department of defense does. indeed, this is not the way that congress intended the department of energy to operate. when the department of energy was organized in 1977, making it one of the more recent departments of history, it was -- its organic statute provided broad authorities to support a diverse research and development mission with the goal of energy independence. this is not a project base

account and, therefore, it does not receive annual authorizati authorization. now, recently, there has been more attention on energy which has resulted in two energy bills in the past four years. but you need to go back 13 years before the 2005 bill to find another energy bill passed by congress. so obviously the organic statute creating the department anticipated that there would be an organic authorization for these items and they would be handled in the appropriations bills. if we passed senator mccain's amendment, it would eliminate any discretion of this subcommittee, of the congress, or of the congress itself, for that matter, to make changes in the department of energy's budget priorities or spending plans. the appropriations committee would, therefore, become a rubber stamp for the administration's budget.

since we do not pass something like the defense authorization bill and tr there is no corresponding authorization bill for the department of energy, we would simply take the president's proposal and pass the money to support it, and i do not believe that's acceptable. senator mccain ran through a list of projects for which he had little or no patience because he said they did not understand them and that struck him as being projects that possibly -- he did not say absolutely but possibly -- had questionable merit. i have a list of projects that were funded by the administration out of the blanket authority of what the congress gave him -- gave the secretary in what we call the stimulus act. we passed the stimulus act without any specific earmarks. we simply said, here is your money and you get to decide how

it's spent; congress will not intervene. i voted against the stimulus bill for a variety of reasons, but we now have the announcements from secretary chu as to the specifics of the wind program funding awards. to quote senator mccain in his comments about the earmarks in this bill, "it may be that every one of these projects is legitimate and every one of them has merit." but this is the way the administration handles out -- hands out money compared to the way the congress hands out money. the mountain institute inc. in morgantown, west virginia, overcoming barriers to wind development in appalachian coal country. $99 million -- no, $99,000.

then the west virginia division of energy in charleston, wes virginia, overcoming the challenges in west virginia, $100,000. in austin, texas, $118,000 to fund solutions for wind developers and bats. and for the board of trustees of the united states of illinois in champagne, illinois, studying "are flying wildlife attracted to or do they avoid wind turbines?" kansas city university in kansas -- in manhattan, kansas, "the environmental impacts of wind power development on population biology of greater prairie chickens. texas tech university in lubbock, texas, an assessment of lesser prairie chicken population distribution in relation to potential wind energy developments. and western ecosystems ecosystes

technology inc. in cheyenne, wyoming, $100,000 to study greater sage and sage grass sell elm tristudy for the simpson range wind resource area. and finally in kalamazoo, michigan, the western michigan university receives $99,933 to study genetic approaches to understand the population level impact of wind energy development on migratory bats. now, mr. president, these, as i say, may all be very worthwhile items. i don't think they're any more worthwhile items than the items we put in our bill. and i would say to those who are in support of the mccain amendment, if the mccain amendment passes, you take away from the congress the right to determine how this money is spent and you turn it over to the president entirely and let

him or his administration decide. it does not mean that the money will be saved. it simply means that the money will be spent in the way the administration wants it rather than in the way that members of congress want it. the last time i read the constitution, article 1 of the constitution gives the power of the purse to the congress and says congress shall determine how much money shall be raised and how much money shall be spent, and that is what the congress has done. it has given an organic statute to the department of energy and then allows the congress under that statute to come up with the specifics of how the money is spent. the senator talked about report language not being binding in the bill, if he will read it. the bill by legislative language incorporates the specific projects in the report by reference and, therefore, it

does become binding. if we passed the amendment that senator mccain has proposed, it would have a devastating impact on the department's environmental cleanup requirements. these are cleanup programs that receive annual authorization for cleaning up sites and projects under the defense authorization act, but it also has similar authorization on sites that are outside of the defense department. and included in this non-defense category are ongoing cleanups in the following places. let me repeat again, ongoing cleanups. these are not new starts. these are not projects that have come out of nowhere. these are items that are going forward that have been authorized by past congresses under the organic statute of the department of energy. paducah, kentucky, portsmouth, ohio, moabb, utah, oak ridge

national lab in tennessee, idaho national lab in idaho, brookhaven national lab in west valley, new york, santa suzanna in california, hanford, washington, argonne national laboratory, illinois, and the los alamos national laboratory in new mexico. if i might focus on the one in moabb, utah, this is a cleanup of a uranium site where there was a uranium plant that during the boom times when we were mining uranium as rapidly as we could, processed that uranium and left behind tailings that have been judged as being very damaging. these tailings were very close to the arizona -- to the colorado river and, indeed, the senator's own state of arizona is downstream from this tailing site. by appropriating this money in this bill in a manner that would be outlawed by the senator's

amendment, we are accelerating the cleanup process. and in this time of economic difficulty, more jobs, more activity and, quite frankly, lower prices, as contractors are anxious to gain work and will bid in lower than they would otherwise, it is a logical thing to do. it would be dropped from the bill if we proceeded with the senator's amendment. for these reasons, i think the senator's amendment would be a mistake, and i would urge my colleagues to vote it down. with that, mr. president, i yield the floor. mr. akaka: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from hawaii. mr. akaka: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that i

speak for five minutes as though in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. akaka: mr. president, i rise to speak on the resolution offered by my colleague and dear friend, senator inouye, and passed by this body. it is a resolution honoring the historic milestone of hawaii's 50th anniversary of statehood. in the center of the pacific on islands rising from the bottom of the owof the ocean, hawaii jr great and diverse nation as its 50th state 50 years ago. like the 49 states that came before it, hawaii has something unique to share with the world.

everyone who is born in hawaii or comes to hawaii embraces the aloha spirit. as a value and way of life. the aloha spirit is good for the united states, and it is good for the world. i was a teacher at school when congress voted to make hawaii the 50th state in march of 1959. firecrackers and sirens went off across the island of oahu in celebration. the bells at historic oahu church started to ring and hundreds of people gathered there. the next day the newspaper headlines hailed the good news.

my brother, reverend dr. abraham akaka was a minister at quahi church delivered the sermon. brother abe named hawaii "the aloha state" and 50 years later we still call it that. i'd like to quote a few words my brother said hon that historic day in march -- on that historic day in march of 1959. and i quote: "aloha consists of this new attitude of heart above negativism, above legalism. it is the unconditional desire to promote the true good of other people in a friendly spirit out of a sense of kinsh kinship. aloha seeks to do good with no

conditions attached. we do not do good only to those who do good to us. one of the sweetest things about the love of god, about aloha, is that it welcomes the stranger and seeks his good. a person who has the spirit of aloha loves even when the love is not returned, and such is the love of god." unquote. this is the meaning of aloha. hawaii's gift to the cultural fabric of the united states and the world. while we celebrate this landmark anniversary next month, we must remember that the privileges of statehood came with obligations. hawaii and the united states have a sacred trust relationship

with the indigenous people of hawaii that still remains to be fulfilled. in admitting hawaii as the 50th state, congress and the people of hawaii have recognized the importance of addressing the needs of native hawaiians and preservation of their culture and traditions. i am proud to continue this legacy, as we move forward with that promise. i congratulate hawaii and its people on 50 years of statehood. i am proud to represent this great state in the united states senate. mr. president, i ask that my statement be printed following the statement of senator inouye. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. akaka: mr. president, i suggest the absence of a quorum.

the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

mr. dorgan: the senator from north dakota. mr. dorgan: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be vacated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. dorgan: mr. president, senator bennett and i have discussed the mccain amendment and senator mccain has offered his amendment. i will speak briefly in opposition to the amendment. i believe senator bennett has also spoken. we are prepared toa vote at 6:00. and i would ask that -- i'd ask consent that the senate proceed to a vote on the mccain amendment at 6:00. i further ask consent that no second-degrees be in order. the presiding officer: is there objection? mr. dorgan: mr. president, let me withhold just for a moment.

mr. dorgan: mr. president, i ask by unanimous consent the -- the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection, so ordered. mr. bennett: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from utah. mr. bennett: i ask for the yeas and nays on the mccain amendment. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. mr. dorgan: mr. president, senator mccain has come to the floor, if i might, in response to his amendment he's come to the floor to talk about legislative directed spending. we just have some disagreements on that subject. i respect senator mccain's opinions on some of these issues. i disagree, however, that the

proposition that somehow what is in a president's budget -- that is the recommendation of a president in a the president's budget -- has any greater import than the recommendations of senators about what kind of projects have merit. the constitution of this country provides that the president proposes and congress disposes and the power of the purse is here. it is the congress that raises the funds, and it is the congress that is responsible for the expenditure of those funds. now, mr. president, there's been a lot of discussion about so-called -- quote -- "earmarks." congressionally directed spending is spending that has been dramatically reformed. we have substantially reduced the number of projects in this bill. by the way, i indicated when i began discussing the bill that senator bennett and i brought to the floor by talking about the number of earmarks that the president has requested. a very large number of earmarks

are in the president's request about what he believes we should pursue with respect to projects and how they should be funded. we've agreed with him in most cases, disagreed in a few cases, added some -- and those are areas where we have disagreed and we have not funded that which the president has requested because we didn't think it appropriate to fund it. we have, in other cases funded other proposals that have come to us from senators that have, we believe, more merit. i don't believe that the executive bnch always gets it right and the congressional branch or legislative branch never gets it right. i think somewhere between represents the best of what both can offer, and that's why we have preserved a substantial majority of that which president obama and his budget to the congress has requested. if you look back in history, you'll see that there are a good many examples of projects that

started out as legislative-directed spending or funding that have had major national implications. in 1873, congress appropriated funds for the indian police to keep order and prohibit illegal liquor traffic on indian reservations. that was through a congressional add-on or earmark. only later then were indian tribal police forces and court systems authorized and included in the president's budget. but it was congress that initiated the law enforcement approach that appropriated funds for indian police. in 1883, the united states navy began moving from wooden to steel ships. that came as a result of a decision by the congress. the congress said we want to move from wooden to steel ships. and that was appropriated in the naval service appropriations act. it directed the navy to construct two steel steam

cruising vessels from funds appropriated but not required for repairing wooden ships. in 1943, the senate school lunch program was established through a $15 million earmark in the 1944 agriculture appropriations bill. of course, that turns out to have been a wonderful idea. the school lunch program is a remarkable success. in 1987, it was the congress that earmarked funding for what was called gene mapping which later became the human genome project. that didn't come from some bureaucrat or somebody down in an executive agency that said you know what we should do? let's begin mapping the human genes. instead it came from here in the congress. in fact, senator -- former senator domenici had a lot to do with that. so, the congress originated the human genome project. well, guess what? we now have the first owner's manual for the human body, and it is changing everything about

medicine. that didn't come because somebody in the executive branch said let's do that. that came because someone on the floor of the senate here said let's do this because it has merit. just -- i mean these are just a few examples of things that represent substantial progress as a result of ideas that come from the united states congress. despite what you hear from opponents for that sort of thing, if you got rid of all of the ideas that came from the congress about how to spend money in the energy and water bill, we'd still be spending the same amount of money because what we spend in the subcommittee is up to the allocation given us by the budget committee. the budget committee says here is what is going to be spent. that decision is made by the senate. and then an appropriation called a 302-b allocation, an allocation, i should say, goes to this subcommittee, and that's what we then allocate.

that's what we decide we're going to have to spend. if we did not do that, then that money just goes down to an agency, and someone in the federal agency says here's what we're going to spend it on. so, eliminating all of the legislative-directed funding would not reduce the federal budget deficit at all. i mean, i know that's claimed, but it's simply not the case. it just is not the case. let me also say that the issue of legislative-directed funding is something we have dramatically transformed. number one, we've cut the amount of legislative-directed funding requests in half. by requests, i'm talking about those that have made it into the bill. we've cut it by half, got rid of half of them, because i think it went way too far. so we cut it back by 50%. second, every single request has to now be publicly disclosed. and every single legislative-directed funding that is in this bill is

described by who asks for it, how much it is, and what its purpose is. as i indicated before, what we are doing in this bill is investing in, improving this country's infrastructure. improving and investing in this country's energy future. putting people to work. doing things that will pay dividends for decades to come. that's what this subcommittee does. this is not some routine subcommittee. this is a subcommittee that funds the substantial amount of energy projects and research in this country that will have implications for decades. this is the committee that -- or subcommittee, rather, that funds all of the water projects. the dams, the harbors, the navigation, all of those issues that are so important to this country's water development and water conservation. and so, this is not some routine

kind of just expenditure. this is an investment that will create substantial jobs in the future, transform our energy future, in my judgment. and i described earlier the importance of the national laboratories that we fund. the science laboratories, the energy laboratories, the weapons laboratories that represents the repository of the phoegt breathtaking, cutting-edge -- the most breathtaking, cutting-edge research in so many areas. all of that is done in this subcommittee. i'm pleased to have spent time with senator bennett. we republicans and democrats on this committee worked through a lot of requests, requests from president obama, from his team about how they wanted to fund a wide range of issues, and requests from our colleagues. i would say secretary chu had requested a number of research hubs that he wanted to do, kind of a transformation in the department of energy.

and we decided to proceed with three of those hubs. it makes sense to us to begin to try moving down that road in a range of areas where you provide real focus on specific areas of energy and research into those areas. if the mccain amendment were to pass, my understanding is that they would be considered not authorized and, therefore, not allowed. that doesn't make any sense to me. there has been for a long period of time general authorization for the programs in the department of energy. we just routinely have never authorized every year that which we are doing here. we fund programs that generally have been ongoing within the larger framework of the authorization of the department of energy. and so, i very much oppose the mccain amendment. i respect our colleague, senator mccain. he's a good legislative. we have come to a disagreement on this subject. i hope my colleagues will join myself and senator bennett in defeating the amendment.

mr. president, i yield the floor and make a point of order that a quorum is not present. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

the presiding officer: the senator from north dakota, without objection. the question is on the mccain amendment. the yeas and nays have been ordered. the clerk will call the roll.

vote:

they were starved for information. they weren't getting a lot of information from the center of the organization, partly i think because the organization didn't want to make it seem to their own players, hey, we're all out pursuing favre. they didn't want to make it seem luke they were unhappy with what they had. the message from up top was, hey, if we add a hall of famer, great, if we can't, we can't. so the players tried to adopt that attitude. they were curious. a lot of them didn't want brett favre to come. they really didn't want this to drag on into camp, which is the thing i heard over and over and over again from players. fortunately this hasn't. >> do they try to walk a fine line there between, hey, good to have hall of famer, but we don't want to throw that jairs jackson

under the bus at the same time while we're waiting for brett favre's decision? >> i think in a competitive business like this, they all understand there is a hierarchy, there is a depth chart. we all sit here on the sidelines and say, will there be division in the locker room, that sort of thing. i think it's hard for a lot of people the make the case that adding a hall of famer to your team, adding a veteran, a guy who knows how to win might not be a good move for an nfl football team. i think all of this talk about, gee, will there be a huge division in the locker room, the players i talked to sort of brushed that off and said, come on, we all know what it's like to try out for team and some guys might be better than others or have an advantage over another in one case or another case. that's what we all think and the guys who are left and here who are here when training camp starts, that's where the competition. is that's where the competition will be on thursday. brett favre won't be there. >> rachel, thanks so much for that report from hattiesburg, mississippi. we appreciate it. >> thanks. >> in other news, former giants star receiver plaxico burress will testify before a manhattan

grand jury at 10:00 a.m. eastern tomorrow. his attorney says it's important for the grand jury to hear burress' side of the storerism lester munson now on the legal issues facing burress and former teammate antonio pierce. >> the district attorney is serious about going after abtone owe pierce. he does have a problem. if you put together the antonio pierce gambit from the district attorney and plaxico burress going in front of the grand jury to testify, what you have here is some very high-stakes bluffing going on. it may be part of a plea bargain process. if it isn't, this case is going to get a lot more complicated and a lot more unusual. >> and then you have this coming today: giants team president john marrow with his first public statement on the incident:

>> turning to baseball now, a major league source tells espn's peter gammons the boston red sox are not interested in trading their top outfield prospect ryan westmoreland to be involved in any deal involving roy halladay. the phillies were attempting to trade for halladay without including their top pitching prospect, kyle drabek in the package. the blue jays while softening their stance on the tuesday deadline are not backing off their proposal for what the phillies would have to give up. shortstop jimmy rollins and the phils on the possible

acquisition of halladay. >> i think the way to go is to trade prospects. you have a guy who is won more games in baseball than anybody pretty much since he's been here. y wouldn't you take a chance like that? you get him for a year and a half and hopefully you get a championship out of him. there's no guarantee, but you're giving yourself the best chance. and contract is coming up. so we don't only have a certain window. the organization has to do what's best more the future of the organization because they know that also. pretty soon we might have to make moves, an we have to look out for the future of the organization and not just for now. >> those thoughts from jimmy rollins. this is blue jays' second baseman aaron hill on the chances of halladay sticking in toronto:

that from toronto second baseman aaron hill. now, espn.com's jayson stark with the latest on the halladay sweepstakes. >> you can find the world series of poker on espn. you can also find the baseball edition going on in toronto right now. the blue jays' self-imposed deadline for trading roy halladay arrived tuesday, but it's obvious now this drama is going down right to the real trading deadline on friday. on one side you have half dozen teams all interested, but all saying they're not going to pay prices this steep. on the other side, you have the blue jays continuing to send a message that the phillies and all these other teams -- this price won't come down. for a deal to happen, somebody has to blink. it looks now as though we might not know for three more days who in this poker game is bluffing. >> make sure and tune in this

friday, 12 noon eastern time for our major league baseball trade deadline show. it is one-stop shopping. as the deal goes down, we'll have news, analysis and perspective. remember, it's all here friday on espnews. >> in other news, phil mickelson will make his return to the pga tour next week at the wgc bridgestone invitational. mickelson had taken time off to be with his wife and mother, who both are battling breast cancer. a two-time winner on the tour this year, mickelson has not played since his runner-up finish at the u.s. open a month ago. once again our top story. brett favre staying retired. the story first broken by the minneapolis "star tribune." brett favre telling our ed werder that it was an emotional decision and it involved intense soul-searching. but he came to this decision, calling coach brad childress.

here is the quote from ed -- to ed werder from brett favre: our we bring in our very own espn and hall of famer steve young with his insight on the favre story. your reaction, steve, when you s first heard he's staying put? a >> i got to be honest, i'm a little relieved, linda.t en y you know, there's always that inki of everyone that when you have great player and they're thinking about going to a newcoo team, you think, oh, wouldn't that be cool to see him try to do that. what would it look like? it wasbout when he plays the packers?is i there's a little bit of excitement that, but i think foh brett this is what he hoped for last year. that's what got him started on s this whole journey he had over the last 12 months, and i thinkt

it was just a year too late. dod unfortunately he couldn't get this part onef it done 12 a months ago.re i think things have waned, andh i'm kind of happy that yet's going to get moving on with his life. >> steve, we've been getting a lot of reaction from people whoc are close to bretist favre. why did he make this decision in was it the shoulder? new was it the fact that he'd havem to have new teammates, living in dorm rooms again.ha deep down, steve, you've been through this all, what do you think is the reason why he him decided to stay retired? >> linda, did you see him the le last six or seven games last year? you have no idea. no one knows the pressure andt the constant fatigue factors tht emotionally and mentally. brett talks about it, but no one really gets that because everyone who is watching, they think, oh, it's fun and exciting and go play. the toll that it takesal emotionally and not onlyanment physically but emotionally and mentally, and that's what brett constantly talks about over the last four or five years, i thina

he recognized going through itlo last year again for a new teamed trying to drag that, all the things that are placed on youins when you go to a new place, notp time because things are new and different and people and a relationships. they talked about how at lunchtime he was always hidden e away. kindeeded peace. this was going to be another, even though easier than the tito jets, another new transition. i don't think emotionally andlye mentally and physically... he knew, i can't do it again. i'm a year older.i th and i just think that he... i think he finally realized i cannot with all this in mind, ie can't do thatment. >> you know what, steve, everybody has different time frames to come to thisme jus realization. and brett favre's time frame just took a little bit longer than a few other people. and steve, we had antonio freeman o: moments ago on espnews.akin i asked him, i said, how do you think they're taking the news in green bay, wisconsin, and he said, linda, they areebting celebrating. do you think this actually now

helps brett favre's legacy ass o opposeed to if he became a v viking? talk a lot of talk was he would be hurting it.rm >> you know, in the short term the legacy, this will be a big part of it, the remembrance of i th of this awkward thing with the packers, the jets.f t you know, i think in the short term it will all be part of thel legacy, but in ten years, no ont will remember it. je think of... that's the case fors most everybody. c jerry rice told me, steve, no one will care about whether i go to the raiders or the seahawks.k did you know he ended up inill denver in nobody cares. the truth is jerry will go inr's the hall of fame. they're going to talk about the 49er years and all theakla. highlights. he actually was productive ine s oakland, but it doesn't matter because the truth is over timemt the packers and what he of accomplished there will win the day, and the rest of this is ere isind of fodder for the weeks ahead. notng it's not... there's nothing substantive there. he went to minnesota. i don't think it would be long o

term substantive. >> how about the mental state of the minnesota viking players who kept hearing it was all, youde know, almost all done that brett favre would be their new starting quarterback? now they go into training camp two days from now and have to it'stheir act together, regroup and know it's tarvaris jacksons? and sage rosenfels. >> it's a hiccup. i think emotionally it's a little bit of a... i think as te with most things in the mediaeda today with sports and big-time sports, the media's going to ruw it. it. hey're going to have to deal with it and have to talk about it. as l's the biggest burden. the truth of the matter is as long as they play well and win some game, it will all go away, but if they struggle and they open up, then the media's goinge to say, did you start slowg? because of the brett favre... the media will burden these guys. that's the fact and that's the chance that brad childress tooko in trying to get brett becauset. the truth truth is once you go w down that path and you don't gel

him, it's going to burden yourhw team for a while. >> steve, beforghe i let you goi want to ask you this. if i had my phone with me now and it was brett favre on theigt phone and if you could say anything to him right now after him making this decision, what would it be? wou >> from brother to brother,inofl through thick and thin, i would tell him that retiring is like t falling off a cliff, and a lotba of guys don't get up becauselayi it's debilitating because i there's nothing like playing in lambeau field in the fourth. quarter. nothing's going to replace that. but life can be sublime and wonderful and even better in many ways into the future. i can attest to that. i would just tell him to hangses tough the first training camp, the first season is the worst.ae first playoffs are the worst, and the super bowl is the worst, but then, you know, each year it will get easier for you. >> that's great advicement i'm glad i asked you.weill steve young, awesome stuff. we'll talk to you soon. thank you. >> see, yeah linda. thanks.

>> our top story, brett favre will not return to the nfl and join the minnesota vikings. he will remain retired. what are they saying in green bay? let's listen in to wduz. >> wouldn't you, harry? >> if magically they could say, harry, we can get you back to your body is the body of a 34-year-old. harry sydney will be able to king some butt plain, would you do it november, december this fall? >> well, i don't know if they have that much money in the bank. >> i know you get a lot of satisfaction with the giants. you could do that and play football. >> yeah, okay.

>> if brett doesn't want to practice, maybe you wouldn't have to either. >> nice. what world you living? >> brett favre's world. >> you know what, guys, i hate to gloat when i'm right. >> okay. >> it doesn't happen very often. today is my birthday, so please allow me to. >> go ahead. >> over a month ago... >> actually, it's more than a month. who is this again? >> this is chris. >> chris. go ahead. >> over a month ago, everybody was talking about how he had 25 hotel rooms booked for the packers' home game against minnesota. do you guys recall what my response was? >> refresh our memory. >> my response was, do you think maybe those hotel rooms were to retire favre's number against the vikings. >> we wondered that. i said, chris, that's a great point. i think i let you hang up first. then i said, that guy is crazy. you know, a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while. i'm going to enjoy it. >> what happen if tarvaris

jackson goes down in week two? >> i think favre is done. >> you don't think he'll come backúú÷÷  the following is a masn presentation. >> coming up on "o's xtra", we'll take a look at the week reimold vmd having bringing a three-game hitting streak into tonight's game with four multihit games. the orioles look to bounce back from last night's defeat in the opener of the home stand. it's the orioles and kansas city, game two of the series. it's "o's xtra" right now on masn. it is nolan reimold t-shirt night at oriole park at camden yards on a hot and muggy night. welcome in. it is "o's xtra" presented by at&t, your world delivered as the orioles get set to take on

kansas city. and tonight, it's game two of a a four-game series. look at the fans how happy they are to have the newest collectible nolan reimold t- shirt night. welcome in, everybody. i'm a bit disappointed i don't get a -- i didn't get a nolan reimold t-shirt. you know anybody we can get a t- shirt from? >> i don't know anybody. >> hey! >> how are you, bird! >> thank you very much, bird! >> we have a nolan reimold t- shirt. everyone is having fun with the rookie of the year. bird, you're the best. thank you for coming by. here is the oriole bird. how good is that? you ask and receive. he's top guy in the organization. >> this is going to be one of my collectibles. >> nolan reimold t-shirt night. see you, bird. bird has a fan club over here waiting for him in the picnic area. nolan reimold, you know what happens on bobblehead night. whoever has the bobblehead goes 4-4 in the home run. reimold is going to have a big night noont. >> he's going to have three. i hope he wasn't the guy you picked. we'll find out later on. >> tonight is a big night for jason berken.

no doubt about it. this is one of the situations where fair or unfair, however you want to interpret it, at the big league level it's about pitching. he has better numbers than -- better record than numbers would indicate. for jason berken, what do you see tonight? >> jason berken has to have a good ballgame. he won his first ballgame, his debut. since then he's really struggled. it's been one thing after another. mostly, he's been high in the stroan strike zone with a lot of his pitches and he cannot pitch up there. he does not have that same fastball that hernandez has, that 94-95 where you can get away with it. he has to depend a little more on his movement of his ball a lot like bergesen. we were talking. there's so much competition in this organization now at triple- a and at this major league level that everybody is on an audition. there's no big contract out there right now in the starting rotation where the organization has to worry about what they're paying searn starter so he's got to stay in that rotation to get their money's worth out of him. everybody is right there around

minimum salary except for guthrie and maybe hill a little bit more. guthrie is probably the highest paid starter we have. these guys got to compete against each other. guys are knocking on the door down there. we have a lot of good, young arms. there's a lot of competition. you can't get left in the dust. >> even though it may be fair or unfair according to the fan's perspective, all it comes down to is one start. it's ball production. jason berken is in that position last night. rich hill was in that position last night. he did not pitch well. let's get more as we welcome in amber. >> rich hill said himself he doesn't know what's going to happen next after last night's approximate poor performance. dave trembley has made it very clear the orioles will not be going to a six-man rotation not anytime soon anyway. that means when tilghman comes up tomorrow one of the current five starters will be burmd bumped from the rotation. rich hill's start last night did he not make a good case to stay in the rotation. dave trembley has said clearly the ball is in jason berken's

court. what's interesting about rich hill is after that performance last night, he spoke to reporters and for the first time, he told us that he has been struggling with tendinitis in his shoulder and said he's been sort of struggling with it all season. now, dave trembley was asked about this and whether or not he knew that rich was pitching with what he called some pain and some soreness and dave trembley spoke about the fact that he really wasn't aware of the extent of it. we asked if the d. r. was an option. it seemed as if dave trembley was not leaning towards that option. >> i haven't been told he's not. no one has told me he's not able to pitch again. obviously, if it was at such a point where he could not pitch, he wouldn't pitch. it's never been brought to my attention that he was not able to pitch. >> been having issues with the shoulder and we're trying to -- we've been doing a good job

keeping the fire down a little bit. just unfortunately something that hasn't been able -- been able to maintain any consistency with. other than that, unfortunately i just haven't been able to get any kind of consistent help to this team. i apologize to the front office and to the guys in this clubhouse. you know, it's not where i go out there and this is what i want. i'm not going out -- going out there and go shorten the game and use the bullpen every time that i take the ball. my plan is to go out there and start the game and finish it. >> so, it will be a tense 24 hours for rich hill as chris tilghman comes up tomorrow a roster move will be made, corresponding roster more -- move. here are the numbers rich hill is dealing with right now. 2 1/3 innings last night, three earned runs. in his last five starts, very rough road for rich hill. he's gone 0-1 with a 10.35

e.r.a. he's pitched 20 innings and given up 23 earned runs. it's important to point out that we don't know for sure if rich hill will be the corresponding roster move tomorrow when tilghman comes up. they do have options. if it is rich hill, they have options with him. they can place him on waivers and outright him, deghtd him for assignment down to triple-a norfolk or they could outright release him. rick dempsey did talk about salary. we know rich isn't making a large salry. he's making a little more than the minimum. it would not be a hefty contract for the orioles to carry if they were to release him. jim? >> amber, thank you very much. of course, the difference between the two pitchers amber is talking about, berken is still a prospect. he's just getting his feet wet in the big leagues. rich hill is beyond that point in his career. he already established last year didn't pitch well for chicago and not pitching well this year either. when we come back on "o's xtra", presented by at&t, we'll take a look at the minor league invasion. hey, if you're a fan of the

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 tonight's gametime fore presented by trane, visit trane.com to find an independent dealer near you. here at the ballpark, it is warm. it is muggy. it's a nice night for baseball. it's always love to play baseball when it's warm and it is 83 degrees, slight breeze out of the south-southeast at nine miles per hour. look at the humidity. 70% humidity tonight. whenever you have that warm and that humid, there is a chance of isolated thunderstorms. it's game two of the four-game series against the royals. here is the kansas city lineup. dejesus, bloomquist and butler. teahen, callaspo, jacobs, pena, gordon and betancourt. >> he's too big and too strong

and can hism hit the ball out of the ballpark. i'd be careful with him tonight because he's very confident right now. last night, five consecutive hits in this ballgame. really was a determining factor in the game for the kansas city royals and i can remember back when we played them in kansas city last year wind blowing in in that monster ballpark and he hit a shot to left field that hit top of the wall. otherwise, orioles don't win that ballgame. billy butler is a guy you're going to have to be real careful pitching to right now -- right now. >> getz let's get a look at the orioles lineup for right now. birds are just 2-8 since the all-star break losing lasts night in the opener of the seven-game home stand. roberts, jones, huff up top. markakis bats cleanup. he batted cleanup at fenway park the other day and won. nick back in the four spot tonight. nolan reimold in left field batting fifth. look at those numbers for reimold since the all-star break. scott, mora and wieters with izturis rounding it out. since the all-star break without a doubt, nolan reimold is showing not only is he on a tear, he's among the top

rookies in the american league. >> nolan reimold is really starting to come on strong. he started off his major league career swinging the bat pretty good. then, he went into a little slump for a little while. boy, as of the all-star break, he's come back. you heard jim talk about it four consecutive multihit games in a row. actually, he has six consecutive multihit, not consecutive, but six multihit games sips the all-star break. he is really feeling his outs now -- oats now. >> reimold one of the five major league players called up currently on the 25-man roster. tomorrow, another will join the group when chris tilghman is promoted from triple-a. he'll make the start. matt wieters was talk about how exciting it is tore part of that group at this time in the organization. >> i think so. i think it's exciting. you get the guys you caught in the minor leagues especially a guy like tilghman with his kind of stuff and just comfort knowing he's a good guy and it's going to be exciting to

have him up here and see if we can put together a little streak. >> one thing i noticed about this group of rookies, it does sliej you're very confident. do you think a lot of that came from winning together in the minor leagues that you did have success there as a team and how do you think that can bring sort that have winning mentality here to this club? >> i think so. i think winning in the minor leagues is important just learning to win mentality you can get and especially when you have it in your pitchers and your pitchers have won in the minor leagues. yeah, they're going to go through stretches where they're not going to win up here, but in the long run if they keep working hard and make adjustments, they'll be very successful up here. >> one last question. what does tilghman have? a lot of us will see him for the first time? >> he'll have a very good fastball and a very good curve ball both of which are off the charts. his changeup is something that's going to surprise some people that he's getting better and been working on it over the past couple years. he's got three pitches he can really pitch with at this level. >> these players, rick, this is a healthy organization, a sign of a healthy organization. two years ago, they were together most them at

frederick. they won the carolina league championship. most of them together at boyy. now the group is here collectively in the big leagues. >> i had a chance to talk to david hernandez today. i interviewed him for a while in the dugout. he talked a lot about how all theez these youngs guys together would talk down in the minor leagues how some days they wished they could all come to the major leagues and play together because at that time they were leading their divisions and winning their leagues. this is kind of how it all begins. you've got to get used to playing together and get cost with -- comfortable with one another and feel like you're going to win. sooner or later, that attitude of the way they do play together is going to pay off. you know ceiling is the limit with matt wieters. awfully tall ceiling. hernandez and bergesen are both off to real good major league starts. they've really shown a lot of promise so far and lived up to their billing. matt wieters is still getting better and better as time goes on. defensively, i know we'll see a much better player probably for the rest of his career he's going -- he's really come on offensively and showed that he can hit the ball through

stretches too once he gets comfortable up here and sees enough major league pitching, this guy is going to be one of the best hitters and the best catchers in awful baseball. >> we know that the minor league system for any major league organization is there to develop players for the major league club. what i'm gathering from what you're saying if you can have the bonus of having success at the minor league level, when you get here, you tend to expect that. as a result, not only do you get a better prospal pektd, you get a better attitude from that prospect. >> as long as they communicate while they're down there and winning ballgames, they learn what is the reason for winning ballgames. when they lose, they all realize what they've done that helped lose a ballgame. as you come up the ladder and you're constantly wing at the levels you're playing at, it gives you the confidence some day when you're alma injury together, they'll win at this major league level. we have not won here in 11 years in this organization. i'm sure that this group of kids is the promise of the orioles in the future. >> jason berken is on the mound tonight. he's trying to win his second game in the big leagues.

when we continue on "o's xtra" presented by at&t, buck martinez sat down with berken. i'll hear from the oriole right- hander when we come back on "o's xtra". pxopo

 adam jones taking batti practice prior to tonight's game. last night, adam hit his 15th already. he's trying to catch luke scott. luke continues to lead the orioles with 18 home runs. jason berken will be on the mound tonight. jayson is qibl quickly learning what it is to -- jays jason is quickly learning what it is to be a player that is a prospect and in the big leagues you're expected to produce. he won his debut and hasn't won since. buck martinez talked about the trials and tribulations trying to figure it out at the big league level. >> jason, obviously you got off to a great start winning your first major league game. it's been a rocky road since then. i know with your background of a football player, quarterback, a leader, i'm sure you've thought about what you need to do to be an effective and

successful pitcher in the big leagues. what do you think you have to do to make the next step here? >> i think the biggest thing for me is being consistent from every start guy out there. i've had good starts. i've had bad starts. it's been a little too up and down at this point. i think for me personally it's get mig delivery to be consistent working every time and find outweighs to get consistently down in the zone with all my pitches. over last couple weeks i've really made a conscience effort to work on and this it's come around good. i feel like i'm really close. i'm looking forward to my next stop. >> -- start -- my next start. >> we have a tendency to lump all pitchers into the samebasket and compare you to an peernsed -- experienced pitcher. i don't think that's fair. talk about what you've seen since you got to the big leagues from successful pitchers? >> i got a chance to watch halladay and buehrle pitch. the thing i see with them is their delivery is the same every time. every pitch comes out looking the same. they're ahead in the count.

body language i was just saying. i think it's a good chance for me personally to see these guyspitch. they've been consistent throughout their career. i feel like i've learned a lot over last couple months. i feel like i've made a conscience effort to focus on older guys and talk to older guys and pick guys' brains. i think things are coming around good right now. for me, it's a matter of continuing to learn and continue to get better. i feel like i'm doing it right now. >> you guys, the group of young players that have joined this team this year want to turn fortunes around this have organization. how much do you take in saying it's our responsibility to turn this team into waning ball club because there is a great core of young talent on this team right now is. >> yeah, i think obviously it's not going to happen overnight. it's a learning process for all of us. mr. macphail has done a great job bringing in a lot of good pitchers and a lot of good players. last couple years giving me a chance to play with guys like bergesen, hernandez, tilghman. you have guys like arrieta coming up. there's a lot of really good,

young talent. i think it all starts with talent. things are moving in the right direction. it's exciting to be a part that have process. >> when you think about all of these young guys, and now you have a responsibility of saying i can pitch here. you've got the confidence. you've had success at every level. now the next step is take that same confidence and take it to the mound with you every game. >> yeah, there's no question. i think at this point there's no more excuses that can be made. i've got my opportunities. i've had a chance to learn. i've been up here for two months now. it's time for me to start putting in more quality starts, being more consistent and winning more ballgames. that's what i'm trying to do at this point. >> jason, thank you for your time. good luck to you. >> appreciate it. >> jason berken with buck martinez. here is our pitching matchup. brian bannister on the mound for kansas city very impressive e.r.a. at 3.76 and jason berken looking for his second big league win with an e.r.a. of 6.55. when we come back, rick dempsey breaks down the pitching matchup, we'll get the scouting

report as orioles-royals play game two of a four-game series at camden yards. 

 today at espn zone, it the first annual orioles cooking challenge. brian roberts and jeremy guthrie preparing their specialty dishes and panel of judges did the voting. it was gregg zaun voted the best chef in this competition for his recipe for chicken enchiladas. now you can go to espn zone and the chicken enchiladas will actually be on the menu. following gregg zaun and brian roberts talked about the expertise in the kitchen. >> spent a little time working in a restaurant. by the time i left there, i was a line cook. i have a little kitchen experience on a professional level, but just finding things in the pant trito throw together at the last minute is kind of how i like to cook. so, that's how this one came about. >> we had a great time.

it was fun to come out and let the judges critic our cooking -- critique our cooking ability which is not very good compared to our baseball skills. >> gregg zaun says he van riemsdyk to go in the pant triand find whatever is in there and whip it together. either he's amazing cook or he doesn't know how to prepare and go out and buy ingredients. are you a good cook? >> i'm a good cook when my wiep wife isn't around. i'm got add bacon and eggs. >> just go down to espn zone and find out the gregg zaun chicken enchilada as he won the cooking challenge. tonight, it's game two of the four-game series. jason berken needs to win certainly. what about the pitching matchup, jason berken? >> there's a big dinchs differential with jason berken especially his e.r.a. at home and away. so far at home, his e.r.a. is 4.54, but away is astronomical at 9.53. that's a difference of 4.90.

that's number one in the american league. he owns a very ugly record so far. eight consecutive losses is the most by any american league pitch sorry far this year. you certainly want to get away from that. >> on the other side tonight, right-hander brian bannister. here is a pitcher who has pitched better than his numbers indicate. >> well, the kansas city royals don't score him a lot of runs, but he's still part of that dynamic duo he with kansas city and i don't mean their batman and robin. i mean bannister and greinke, both their records together 16- 13. the rest of the club together has only accumulated 14-30. so, it's not a very good. these are their two best pitchers coming up for our next two games and the o's are already in his book. last year, eight innings of shutout baseball, he beat the orioles 4-0. so, that's been his best outing of last season so far though. this year he'll be tough tonight. >> birds need to win game two of the series. what's your key to the game? >> we have to get in the royal

bullpen. the royal bullpen right there, the e.r.a. is the 28th in major league baseball. they rank with a 4.96 e.r.a. they've blown 16 saves so far this year most of them for this guy pitching tonight and they've only won nine games out of their bullpen. we have got to get in this bullpen before he -- before the game sofer. >> it's kind of amazing when you look at the numbers. brian bannister hey as -- has allowed three earned runs or less in 13 of his starts. even though jason berken hasn't won in his last eight starts, in 10 of those he won two of them. you look at the win-loss record, everybody is saying what's going on? >> that was the jeremy guthrie syndrome of the last two years. >> time for the orioles challenge which i won last night. -- last night. i'm closing the gap. who is your player to watch? >> the judge likes you better teahen likes me. >> who is your player to watch tonight? >> my player tonight is nick markakis. nick has only had two games so far this year where he went

back to back without hits. i'm guessing tonight, he was 0- 4. tonight he'll have a big night and get back on track tonight. >> my player to watch tonight is matt wieters. wieters is getting -- getting comfortable. he has hit in five consecutive games. he has six base hits during a five-game inning streak a couple of rbi's. he is catching a fellow rookie tonight. he's going to feel a sense of responsibility because he has to go forward and help jason berken out. tonight, wieters sweerts my player to watch. >> let's go. heads up. you and me. >> dempsey still leads 5-2, by the way, but i'm closing the gap. thanks for joining us for "o's xtra" presented by at&t. gary thorne and buck martinez are next. they'll have the play-by-play. rick and i will be back following the game with "o's xtra" post-game. big night for jason berken. there's rick's player to watch nick markakis. he's getting hot at the plate. luke scott needs a base hit. orioles take on kansas city in game two of the four-game series. if you happen to venture away from your tv tonight, don't forget. turn on the radio 105.7, joe

and fred have all the play-by- play. stay tuned. it's o's-royals coming up. enjoy the game, everybody. see you on the post game.

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 obviously tonight the ball is in berken's court. it's that simple. the ball is in his court. that's as plain as i can put it.   it's the orioles on mas and camden yards a summer night

and the kansas city royals, second of four against the o's in this royals team that came away with a win kansas city did in game one. hi, everybody. i'm gary thorne. the skipper was talking about the starting pitcher in tonight's game, jason berken. it's a chance for him to make a mark, make a note, maybe be part of this rotation or at least part of the pitching establishment not only for this year, but for the future for the orioles. as the skipper said, it is up to him. in the bright note, his name is nolan reimold. rookie of the year candidate, you better believe it. nolan reimold has had a very impressive, under the ray -- under the radar kind of rookie season. however, right now a lot of people are asking how good is he. we compare the numbers against the winner last year of the rookie of the year award. evan longoria. take a lack he -- look at the numbers for nolan reimold this season and for longoria. those numbers are for the first 60 games from both in their career. clearly right there with the man who won it last year as the orioles -- is the orioles left

fielder. he's having a great season. >> bob: he sure is. i think nolan reimold is off to a better start in that he's hitting more consistently. the thing about nolan, he's going to -- going to develop power's gains more confidence. he uses the whole field. he puts the ball in play. he has a great i've. we have -- great eye. we have seen the way he hits in fenway park, he's not intimidated by any atmosphere. >> we were talking about the orioles starting pitching for tonight, jason berken as was true last night for rich hill, this is an important start. >> it sure is. he's 1-8. he won his major league debut. after, that it's been a disaster. last time against the yankees, numbers ar little deceiving. he gave up four runs in the first inning. after that, pitched very effectively. he needs to establish the fact that he can pitch on a downhill plain. i asked jason berken to explain what that means to him to create that downhill angle. >> some guy being a six-foot guy, it's important to create thing thatle with the arm slot and stay behind the ball. i have a tendency at times to get on the side of the ball and

my arm drops a little bit and i lose that angle. the biggest thing for me is creating to be able to stay back, stay behind the ball and trying to throw on a downhill plain. >> oftentimes the adrenaline will get to you try too hard, you will collapse on the backside and the ball will flatten out. he has to stay tall in the zone tonight. >> the other for the orioles the offense that has been so good this season can get back on track. nolan reimold t-shirts, yes, indeed. number 14 being given out here at camden yards. xw@t@t@@@@@h

 >> gary: orioles baseball o masn brought to you by southwest airlines. book your next trip at southwest.com. and acura, acura advance. few rumblings of thunderstorms in the area that went by, but no rain here at the ballpark but for a brief one minute maybe. both teams able to get full batting practice activities in before the start of the game here tonight. great to have you with us here

at camden yards. let's take a look at the starting lineups the kansas city royals brought to you by southwest airlines. dejesus, bloomquist and butler, teahen, callaspo, jacobs, pena, gordon, betancourt and billy butler a career night last night. a 5-5, three rbi performance. >> buck: now it's time for the pnc scouting report for jason berken. fastball, slider, curve ball, changeup. he'll throw two fastballs a- sinker and a four seemer. he needs to improve fastball location. one of the problems he's had because he left too many breaking balls out over the plate and he's got to get pass the first inning. it's been a hurdle for him. he mentioned in his last start against the yankees, he was charged with four first inning runs and really pitched very effectively after that. it was a little too late against the yankees. >> gary: so, for berken was -- as was true for rich hill last night, a chance to prove he deserves to stay in the rotation and be given more chances. it really has become a very

short tether as was true for hill last night. we should bring you up to date a bill bit on rich hill. some question now about whether or not he has got a shoulder problem. he's using the word tendinitis. whether or not that's going to result in him having to go on the d. l. or not remains to be seen. there was no answer to that question before the ballgame today. dave trembley clearly not particularly happy with the fact that hill is now saying that it's been a problem most of the season. trembley saying i never saw that on any of the medical reports coming to my deck throughout the year. that's kind of where that stands. we are ready to go. david dejesus will be leading it off. he did not play in the ballgame last night. a regular starting in right field in the game tonight. he had been in 43 consecutive ballgames before getting a rest in the game one of the four- game set against the o's. and the pitch outside for a ball. dejesus, he's got some power in that leadoff spot. he's got 20 doubles, seven home

runs and 46 rbi's on the season. berken with a 1-0 delivery to him and that is in there for a strike. >> buck: gary, we talked with berk -- about berken making quality pitches. he throws 93 miles per hour. if you leave that fastball up out over plate, beleaguers will catch up to it and hit you hard. he needs to get it to the corners and make better pitches with his off-speed stuff. >> tony: one ball, one strike delivery to dejesus. grownd ground ball right back to the mound. one down. >> buck: that will work a little tapper off the end of the bat right back to the mound. easy play. one up, one down. reimold, jones and markakis in the outfield. izturis and mora on the left side. roberts and huff on the right side. this is a inexperienced but effective battery tonight and has been in the past and hopefully it will be effective here in the big leagues as well. berken and wieters. >> tony: 25-year-old p jason berken make his first appearance against the kansas city royals in his career.

bloomquist standing in. bloomquist had a 2-4 in the ballgame last night. three-game hit streak. a dramatic difference home and road. phenomenal difference. biggest difference among pitchers in the american league. check swing. did he go around? they check at first. yes, he did. wally bell down at first base on the call. >> buck: take a look at the attempted check swing. willie bloomquist went way too far. berken is out in front again. >> gary: ahead in the count 0- 2. bloomquist will reach and gets a base hit. it's a nice piece of hitting by bloomquist. he had a -- he had to find that one. that will bring up the number three hitter billy butler who last night the orioles couldn't find a way to get him out. he ended up with his first career 5-5 game, two runs, two doubles and a pair of rbi's in the ballgame. red-hot at the plate. >> buck: yep, he hit everything hurled to him hit into the gap and power alley in right

center. two doubles, three singles, three rbi's his first career 5- 5 game. he is starting to really swing the bat the way they hoped he would. >> gary: and the throw over to first base to get bloomquist back. this is something the orioles in the second half are going to have to contend with and that's base stealing. teams are running on the orioles. their pitch verse not done a very good job at holding runners and wieters 1-9d% throwing out base steal he is. -- stealers. delivery on the way. butler will take that for a ball. bloomquist on first base can steal bases. he has 17 of them and only been caught twice. >> buck: yeah, they'll run until you show them they're you're -- you're going to throw them out. that hasn't been a case. pitchers are more concerned with throwing strikes and holding runners -- than holding runners. >> gary: butler, he'll tap that one foul. that will even the count up at one ball, one strike. butler has 31 doubles along with a 10 home runs that he has picked up. he is third in the league in

doubles. he plays in a ballpark in kansas city that has a big outfield area, so that is a ballpark for doubles hitters not necessarily for home run hitters. certainly for gap hitters. he's one of those. 1-1 delivery from berken. he'll take that one down the line. that will be a souvenir. 1-2. >> buck: interesting to see how berken stays with the fastball with two strikes he was ahead of willie bloomquist 0-2 and threw him a little lazy slider and bloomquist just served it into center field. might want to change the pattern with two strikes and not allow the royals to pickup on the fact that you're trying to finish at-bats with the breaking ball. >> tony: butler, 1-2. bloomquist, a decent lead. he's running. fouled away again. so, bloomquist was off and going and the count stays at 1- 2. >> buck: and a good fastball inside to billy butler tied him up. obviously, looking for a ground ball in a situation like this with one out and run aer at

first. he was caught stealing in the american league by the catchers cleveland 15%, orioles second tied with boston. we know what kind of struggle boston has had. they have allowed more steals than anybody in the american league. >> tony: one ball, -- >> gary: one ball, two strikeouts. see if he goes again. he does not. fouled away again. this kansas city offense needs to be creative because they are 13th in average and runs. they do not -- they do not hit a lot of home runs. they're next to last in that. they're next to last or last in virtually every offensive category, so trey hillman, the orioles manager, you've got -- royals manager, tough do something or try to make it happen. that's why this team is doing some running. that being said, they are also in the bottom two in stolen base so is they don't do that a lot either. >> buck: they're big base stealers. on the disabled list, coco crisp, the guy they grawt fwlawt to give them that

dimension of speed. create movement. create hoaments holes on the field by starting base runners. >> gary: 1-2 delivery on the way. that one to center field he got a lot of it going back at the wall. butler is 6-6. good-bye, home run. billy butler doing a number on the orioles this year. it is a 2-0 lead on his 11th home run. rbi's 46 and 47th. >> buck: we told you he's been swinging a hot bat obviously even prior to last night's 5-5. he had a two-run home run on saturday that helped luke hochevar win the game. there's a high fastball over the plate. nothing exceptional or extraordinary about the fastball. with two strikes, he was able to square up on it and hit it deep into the seats in center. >> gary: the seventh home run surrender on the year by berken. three of those have been hit by right-handers. kansas city, as they did in the ballgame last night jumps on

top. they got run a in the first in last night's game. now butler continues his onslaught against the orioles this year by delivering another shot. a ground ball to first. aubrey huff off the bat of mark teahen. two down. >> buck: you'd like to see more balls on the ground with jason berken. that will indicate he's throwing that sinking fastball down around the knees. he tried to elevate that fastball. difficult unless you have really setup the hitter. just kind of surprise him and change his eye level, but he didn't see enough off-speed pitches and pitches down to be caught off guard by that high fastball. >> gary: alberto callaspo with two down, nobody on. he's got a -- he's got a nine- game hit streak. he had a 1-5 in the ballgame last night. the oriole pitchers have now surrender 119 home runs this season, third high in the american league behind the yankees and the cleveland

indians. that has been the gopher ball has been a problem all year. that seven home runs in 57 innings surrender by berken. here is the 2-0 delivery on the way. that is lined foul. >> buck: again, the first inning a problem we mentioned four first inning wins last time out allowed by berken and he falls behind 2-0. just got to stop it right here and kind of say, ok, i'm going to dig my heelts in and you're not going to score anymore. >> gary: 2-1 delivery on the way. first time through the order against berken, teams are hitting .330. second time, .253. third time, .327. so, the first time through has been the biggest problem for him with opponents getting their best numbers up. here is the 3-1 delivery on the way. that's up high. he surrenders the walk. callaspo is on with two down

here in the first inning. >> buck: both izturis and mora have made their way into the mound now trying to encourage berken to relax, pitch a little more aggressively and don't get yourself into these multiple run situations. if you're going to take your lumps, make it happen earliment force the hitters to swing the bat. don't allow them to sit back and get a gauge on your pitches. it's the first time the royals have seen jason berken. >> gary: mike jacobs did not play in the ballgame last night. in fact, he hasn't been in for three. he pitched -- the pitch is taken inside for a ball. jacobs getting the start in this game as the designated hitter. miguel olivo filled that role last night. he is out of the lineup tonight. jacobs has not had a hit in his last seven at-bats hitting just .219. an off-speed pitch in for a strike. jacobs has been a

disappointment for the kansas city royals this season. they really hoped they were going to get more offense out of him. >> buck: yeah, they needed some power. they thought his home run totals in florida would translate into kauffman stadium, but it hasn't been the came. he's hit just 13 home runs and driven in 33. >> gary: check swing. i don't know if that hit the bat or out of wieters glove. i guess it popped off the bat. we'll see. 1-2, it did. >> buck: yeah, a little check swing foul tipped that just deflected off the glove. there's that delivery trying to stay tall so he can create that downward angle. down in the zone. so far, he hasn't been able to do that. >> gary: callaspo at first base has not been a base stealer this season. 1-2. jason berken with his own 1-8 mark. the team has two wins and nine losses in his 11 starts this

year. callaspo is leaning the other way and goes diving back in. when you're struggling on the mound as last night rich hill is and berken is, these long, early innings especially the first are real downers not just for the pitcher but for the team. you just come out and you know what's on the line here and you want to have some momentum. you want to try to build it up, feel good, get it going early. instead, you hit the slippery slope early in the game. >> buck: yeah, you'd love to be able to hit without thinking about erasing an early deficit. >> gary: one ball, two strike count. callaspo not going. the off-speed pitch again is going to miss and the count will go to 2-2 on mike jacobs. berken has surrender 22 walks striking out 30. not a strikeout pitcher. opponents hitling .305 off him.

left-handers .331. right-handers, .274. callaspo not going again. jacobs, he is gone. berken gets the strikeout. runs come on the butler home run a-two rbi shot with one left on. 2-0, royals. pa announcer: final boarding call... all passengers... each with an average speed of 590 mph... 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.

so, what's the problem? these are hot. we're shipping 'em everywhere. but we can't predict our shipping costs. dallas. detroit. different rates. well with us, it's the same flat rate. same flat rate. boston. boise? same flat rate. alabama. alaska? with priority mail flat rate boxes from the postal service. if it fits, it ships anywhere in the country for a low flat rate. dude's good. dude's real good. dudes. priority mail flat rate boxes only from the postal service. a simpler way to ship.  >> gary: some of the fans o hand here. i'm sure they have their nolan reimold t-shirts that were handed out tonight. think they're having a good time at the ballpark? take a look at the starting

lineup brought to you by southwest airlines. roberts, jones, huff, markakis, reimold and scott, mora, wieters and izturis. nolan reimold since the all- star break even better. >> buck: he has been on fire. tonight, he's getting his first look at brian bannisterment here is the pnc scouting report for the royals right-hander. fastball, slider, curve and changeup. he's a ground ball ground ball pitcher. he's got a will the of movement on his ground ball and he has a great cut fastball. kind of a natural pitch. it's a pitch you can't really teach, but he has one kind of like mariano rivera that just takes off. it's got a lot of life to it andproduce -- produce an awful lot of ground ball outs. >> gary: brian bannister, 28 years old, 29-33 in his career. brian roberts and pitch is in there for a strike. brian had an 0-5 in the ballgame last night. his third in runs, first in doubles and fouls that one off and bannister gets ahead in the count two strikes.

>> buck: he's going to throw you a lot of strikes. you better get set in the box and be ready to hit. bannister doesn't waste any time. he will throw a lot of strikes with that cut fastball. many people called it a slider. it's got such dramdic break. it's truly a cut fastball. he just moved a -- its just moves a lot. >> gary: 0-2 delivery on the way to roberts. he'll golf that to first base. gordon has to husband this will one and he can't do it. roberts is on and orioles get a start here in the first. >> buck: that's way to cut into the early deficit. royals defense is committed 75 errors on the season. dejs dejesus, bloomquist and teahen left to right outfield. betancourt and callaspo in the middle and gordon and butler at the corners and pena behind the plate for brian bannister. >> gary: that is an infield hit for brian roberts. roberts is on. adam jones hitting in the

number two spot 1-3 in the ballgame last night. a home run. adam now extra-base hit wise 18 doubles, 15 home runs and 54 rbi's. bannister's pitch a slider in there for a strike. >> buck: last night against bruce chen, two outs first inning. hits the breaking ball and drills it into the seats. home run number 15 for adam jones. got the orioles off and running early. >> gary: roberts a-short lead at first. here is the 0-1 delivery on the way. again, slider taken outside. pena behind the plate making his ninth start. he has thrown out 3-12. not a lot known about his work behind the plate. bannister has a pretty good move. he gets rid of the ball in a hurry. he'll slide step it up there where needed. time-out taken by jones. >> buck: brayan pena snapped an

orioles streak of 12 straight steals when he threw out cesar izturis last night. first time izturis had been caught all year long. >> gary: 1-1 count. jones will take it down low. jones fed three breaking ball pitches to start it out and n a two ball, one strike count for bannister. bannister has only one win in his last seven starts. he's had a win, four losses and two no decisions in his last seven. 2-1, the look. and that one is going to miss down low. jones gets the hitting count at 3-1. bannister coming off a couple of no decisions against the angels and tampa bay. his last win july 5 against chicago. against the orioles, he has a 1- 0 record lifetime. nothing this year. delivery is lifted and love you

that baby go? good-bye, home run, adam jones! the orioles get two back. >> buck: get comfortable. adam jones. we'll be here for a while. he drills this pitch deep into the seats to get the orioles the tie here. 2-2 in the first and jones is smoking. >> gary: 16 homers on the season for adam jones. here is aubrey huff. batting in the number three spot. do not make a mistake up in the strike zone to adam jones. you talk about jumping in a pitch. he went around on that one and

it is a two strike count. nick markakis is battng  clanu toda. davetrebe saingjust ths for the gae just to see what happens trying to do wht's bst to try to ge a victory in this game. here is the 0-2 delivery a slow roller. bannister gets the out. huff retiredment one away. >> buck: nick markakis batting fourth. take a look at the american league east. three or mower hitters with 100 or more hits. toronto has three with hill, security and lind. excuse me, six. they have six over 100 hits. orioles and yankees have three apiece. markakis, roberts and jones for baltimore and the yankees, jeter, cano and eira. you can sethat the toof this orioles lineup very potent and among the league's best atcollecting hits. >> tony: here is nick

markakis. ikdn 0 --- óis a nick had an 0-4 in the ballgame last night. he comes in eighth in rbi's and fourth in doubles among the american league leaders d the and huff move up to the third saçry[nóo find some rbi's. aubrey huff has not been rving runs in late. markak will take that tothe yoright center coming hard to dejesus and a diving catch! dejesus spreading out toget that one and a fine play. @'sonly his second start in right field. no, it's teahen. sorry, teahen moved over to right field. >> buck: and mark teahen makes a sliding catch and takes the hit away from nick markakis as that ball was sinking fast. he made a nice catch to record the second out of the game. >> gary: got flip-flopped from the lineup that was hung in the

kansas city clubhouse before the game. so, i'll put teahen over there in right and fortunate that he was as the catch is made. that will be the second out. here is reimold with a four- game hit streak. reimold had a 2-3 in the ballgame last night. two runs in on the jones home run. that is taken down low. >> buck: four-game hit streak for reimold. 9-13 including his run in boston. since the all-star break, he's been on fire over .450 for nolan. this game -- he gapes more confidence with each at-bat. the one thing he's been so consistent. he doesn't have to pull the ball to hit the ball with power. >> gary: reimold hits shots, line drives. that is a strike on the outside corner as bannister will get the benefit of that strike zone call.

3-2. >> buck: another one of those cut fastballs right down on the knees. it looks like it might have been a bit low. >> gary: brought to you by northrop grumman, the information systems powerhouse. that one is not close. so, both pitchers having their problems in nearly identical first innings. the home run by butler for two rbi's off jason berken and then the home run by jones for two rbi's and each surrendering a walk with a couple of outs in the inning. that will bring up luke scott. scott trying to get his bat going. he had an 0-4 in the ballgame last night. the orioles designated hitter. and it is in there for a strike on the outside corner. >> buck: you see the numbers for luke scott before the break over .300. it's been a nightmare for him hitting just 74 with two rbi's.

>> gary: he has faced bannister three times, 1-3 off him a little tapper. that's a fair ball and got him. nice play by pena to get the out. the orioles get right back into the ballgame as adam jones delivers his 16th of the season with roberts on base to tie the ballgame up at 2-2. 

 >> gary: tonight's contestant is florence shumaker of hover

degrace, maryland. a chance to win -- vavre degrace, maryland, you have a chance to win tickets. berken will face the bottom part of the order now, pena, gordon and betancourt for kansas city. >> buck: fresh start for both starting pitchers now. >> gary: pena, he can move. you look at him, you think he's not going to be very fast he can run. as you saw in the last play defensively, gets around at the plate with the gear on. 1-1. >> buck: he's a pretty good catcher. he came out of cuba. he defected from cuba. he and yunel escobar, great teammates and pals in cuba.

>> gary: he has a base hit. he'll think about two. markakis will hold him. a leadoff single here in the second inning. this weekend the orioles-red sox will play here at camden yards a-three-game series. saturday game almost sold out. good seats remain for friday, 7:05 and sunday a 1:35 game. hoap hope you'll come out and paint the park orange in a great showdown with the red sox. tickets at 888-848-bird or go to orioles.com. >> buck: we'll get a chance to see john smoltz on friday. he'll open the series. orioles hit him pretty hard at fenway park last sunday when they played against them. >> gary: that ball will be fouled back by alex gordon. jeremy guthrie, john smoltz opening up on friday. david hernandez and josh beckett, orioles haven't announced officially the sunday starters against clay buck holtz who is playing against

boston. tomorrow, a night game tomorrow. here is the 0-1 delivery. that is taken for a strike. chris tilghman will be making his debut -- tilghman will be making his debut. he'll go against disairchgy. that will be his opponent -- grerng grerng. the numbers for tillman this year. fans will get to another future names for the orioles and there will be a day game 12:30 and that will be brad bergesen taking his 6-5 mark out against luke hochevar who is 6-3 on the season. one ball, two strike count. pena on at first base being held. gordon swings through it. foul tip says the umpire. two strikeouts for berken. >> buck: what jerk needs to do -- jason berken needs to do is

focus on one pitch at a time and try to execute a pitch, get down in the zone. that's where he's most effective with the fastball he threw to gordon and try to put together some pitches, sequence of pitches leads to an out, one out leads to two and then you're look at the end of the inning. that's literally how he has to build upon this start. >> gary: betancourt, the number nine hitter on the off-speed pitch. betancourt had an 0-3 in the opener of the ballgame last night. short lead at first. same pitch. same result. >> buck: you heard jason berken in an interview talking about how he wants to get to a point where every pitch looks the same to the hitter. he med mentioned how he had seen roy halladay and mark buehrle recently and really marveled at how their delivery was the same on every pitch.

>> gary: 0-2 delivery on the way. popped it up. wieters, mora, easier play for mora. betancourt retired. two down. >> buck: we talk about these young pitchers coming up here and they all played on a winning team in the minor leagues. i asked jason berken what that does to build the naught of -- thought of winning here in the big leagues. >> i think once you get a taste of winning, you want to win that much more because you realize how awesome it is. i've had a chance to go to the world series in clemson and we won the carolina league and there's no greater feeling than having everybody come together at a certain time and feeling that chemistry build and that bond. i think that was us right now the chemistry is definitely there. >> gary: fouled off. more and more the youngsters who played together in the organization for the orioles at the minor league level as the plan is ceepg keep arriving at the major league level and

rejoin and see what they can do here. they are the ones the orioles are counting on for the future. >> buck: jason berken eluded to the fact he pitched in the clengs college world series for clemson. pitched in the final game in the college world series. >> gary: in the air, left field by dejesus. reimold is there. he's got it. no runs despite a leadoff single and one left on basement bottom last of the second and a tie game. gecko: uh, you wanted to see me sir? boss: come on in, i had some other things

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 >> amber: back at the yard been a case of no is i disbamplts they've lost the games by two runs or let less. you know that has to wear on the team. take a look at the numbers. they're 2-8 since the all-star break. opponents have outscored them in the 10 games by just seven runs total. in turn, orioles have outhit the opponents 97 hits to 88 hits. the problem is, the orioles are lacking finally hitting. they're batting just .235 with runners in scoring position since the all-star break. that has to improve especially for a team that's hitting .294 on the season. gary? >> gary: yeah, that is a surprising number, too, because the orioles for most of the season have led the american league with that batting average with runners in scoring position. now all of a sudden, that has just fallen away. here is melvin mora. melvin getting his first at-bat will take that slider away. throwing a lot of those early in the ballgame. wieters and izturis will

follow. melvin mora, 1-3 in the ballgame last night. here is the 2-0 delivery to him. melvin takes it to center field. bloomquist will drift back and he's got it. mora is retired. as you take a look at melvin mora, he says he wants to play for another four years. why? because then the kids will be 12 years old. look at this. the quints. they were born on this date back in 2001. they are celebrating their eighth birthday today all of the little moras and kind of ironic it was also on this date one later year later in 2001 that melvin mora was traded by the mets to the orioles. same date as the quints were born a year difference. well, melvin said how many cakes today? he said one for every kid. >> buck: that's awesome. happy birthday to the mora children. that's wonderful melvin a very

proud papa always anxious to talk about his kids. >> gary: it's great to kid him about him. gisel back home with the kids. wait till they're 12 years old before gets done with baseball. you're a smart man. he just smiles. here is izturis. he takes it for a strike. izturis ballgame last night had a 2-4. he picked up a couple of singles. he continues to produce in that number nine hole that. pitch will be taken inside. batting .257, six doubles a- home run has added nine stolen bases. chopper up the middle. bowfert over running throw and will get him. so, the bottom third retired in order. we've completed two here at camden yards. ballgame tied at 2-2. @ú@úéúxút

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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.  >> gary: earlier today, esp zone was the spot of a cookoff. brian roberts and gregg zaun. they prepared dishes. judges were there along with fans to make a decision -- judges were there to make a decision. the winner ended up being none other than gregg zaun. zauny had chicken enchiladas. that was his specialty. he prepared to do that all along ever since they announced they were going to do this. he got the win and let it be known to all his teammates when he got to the ballpark today that he was the winner today at the cook off in no uncertain

terms. and swung on an miss -- and mitted -- missed. bloomquist leading it off. >> buck: i think we could have been judges. >> gary: i would like to be a judge. >> buck: how come rock got to be a judge? >> gary: i don't know. it's not fair. it's not right. we do a lot more eating than rob. >> gary: we can prove that by standing up. pitch is high. bloomquist singled and scored in the first inning. time permitting, we'll hear from the chef who won. here is the 1-1 delivery on the way. that one is going to center field. he's got it. gregg zaun, winning chef, what do you have to say for yourself? >> spent a little time working in a restaurant. by the time i left there, i was a line cook. i have a little kitchen experience on a professional level, but just finding things in the pantry to throw together at the last minute is kind of how i like to cook. so, that's how this one came about. >> we had a great time. it was fun to come out and let

the judges critique our cooking ability which is not very good compared to our baseball skills that's for sure. >> gary: they certainly had a good timement ground ball by butler. are they going to get him? yes. so, that will end his 6-6 in two games. >> buck: he got him out. i knew we could get him out. >> gary: after hitting a two- run homer his first time up. >> buck: he's become a good hitter. mentioned he hid a -- hate two- run home run in support of luke hochevar on saito saturday when they snapped the long losing streak. he hit a home run to start this game. >> gary: now teahen will stand n he grounded out his first time up. a couple of hits. six at-bats so far in the two games. and the pitch is taken for a strike. so, jason berken trying to rebound here. have a 1-2-3 inning. ground ball towards second

base. brian roberts up makes the play. he does. he retires the side in order. we'll go to the bottom of the third. orioles will have the order coming up on an 81 degrees summer night at camden yards. and a historic brewing spice called grains of paradise. it's citrusy, lemony. sam adams summer ale. it just totally reminds you of summer, yeah. a clinically proven, low-dose tablet for erectile dysfunction you take every day so you can be ready anytime the moment is right. tell your doctor about your medical condition and all medications and ask if you're healthy enough for sexual activity. don't take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain, as this may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. don't drink alcohol in excess with cialis. side effects may include headache, upset stomach, delayed backache or muscle ache. to avoid long term injury seek immediate medical help

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turn the lights on? >> gary: i told them we want to save energy so we had them to shut off. you notice we left those logos in the water. it's hard to paint when you have a rippling surface like that teefnlt taken for a striewk. brian roberts a single scored on the home run. he'll take the pitch inside. two bats against the royals. kansas city has a 3-2 edge in the season series. in the 1-1, it's taken outside. bannister will miss on that. 2-1. orioles have had their problems against kansas city this year even though it's only a one- game difference. kansas city has outscored them in the pitching department which is where they have their strength.

the orioles and trey hillman team having trouble getting the big hits. backhappeneder. butler to the bag in time. roberts is retiredment one away. it's time to bring you up tospeed with the at&t rapid rewind. >> buck: start of the night, brian roberts on base. adam jones goes deep against brian bannister. home run number 16, rbi's 55 and 56. that tied the score at 2-2.   >> gary: and our at&t, fastes delivery your world delivered. adam jones, 16 home runs and 56 batted in. the slider outside for a ball. royals have outscored the orioles 27-20. they've outhit them .310 to .237. orioles only .237 in the previous five games against them. ground ball to short this time.

betancourt up. jones retired. and there are two away. kansas city pitching staff comes into this game with a 3.6 e.r.a. against the orioles while the orioles have a 5.50 against k.c. kansas city had the better of it in every department including the one game advantage in the series. aubrey huff ground out his first time up. up high for a ball. >> gary: in nature records, not that much dissimilar. kansas city has won 39 games. just can't let down in any ballpark. i don't care where you're playing, -- who you're playing, where you're playing them. a given night, any pitcher can beat anyone in baseball. that happened in milwaukee when the washington nationals went in and mawkt referred to it as the easy win syndrome and his team got caught off a bit. josh willingham, two grand slams in that game for the

nationals. >> gary: underneath the feet that time was the night of salamis last night it was a not home runs being hit everywhere with the bases loaded. the yankees, they had home runs last night. now they've got six yankees and 15 or more on the season. fouled away. teixeira, a-rod, daisuke matsuzaka, johnny damon -- mutts, johnny damon, they're the second team ever to have six players with 15 or more home runs before the 100-game mark. the other team was the texas rangers in in 2005 and teixeira played on that team too and alfonso soriano, kevin mench richard hill dogo on the texas team. the 2005 rangers and this year's yankees the only ones with six players with 15 or

more homers in 100 games. >> buck: johnny damon had a big home run here with 17. damson going to be a free agent at the end of this season. that ballpark -- they're on the road right now b-that you home ballpark plays to the home run, doesn't it? >> gary: 2-2 delivery. aubrey huff will foul it back. we were talking about that the orioles hitting instructor before the ballgame. crow was saying when the yankees were at -- o's were at yankee stadium, -- yankee stadium, he went to the right field corner and you take a look to your right, there is a straight line. there is no curve in that fence at the new yankee stadium. there was a curve however on that one and huff is retired. first strikeout and a 1-2-3 inning. that's going to be seven in a row retired by bannister. 2-2. ?

 >> gary: uh-oh, uh-oh. we have a situation here. come on, d., let's go. stand up. that a boy. where are the numbers? ok. they all joined in. it must have taken five days for them to do that. get the letters in the right order. [ laughter ] that is good. they're just responding to the new address out there 2110 eutaw and deded they have another street address they

want to put up there. >> buck: there's a chance for these three to be out here for qiel quite a while. they might not have to wash the numbers for loaning time. >> gary: they won't that. one to center field. that one will fall in for a base hit. wally bell, the umpirecrisscrossing there with izturis and jones. just can't get out of the way. it's a base hit. >> buck: off the end of the bat. close to himpire knows it's izturis didn't have a chance to make play on t it was going to be a texas leaguer in front of adam jones. >> gary: he was trying to run away from the ball and it followed him right out there. a leadoff single. callaspo has a 10-game hit streak. here is jacobs. struck out his first time up. mike jacobs batting just .29219, the designated hitter. the pitch is in -- .219, the designated hitter. the pitch is in there for a strike. >> buck: mike jacobs a little

bit like russell branyan early in his career. a lot of early misses. it's been a tough transition coming from the marlins to the american league with kansas city. >> gary: 0-1 delivery to him. that will be taken down low. one ball, one strike. berken has walked one, struck out two, given up the two runs -- two runs on four hits. the orioles, two runs on two hits, two left on by the orioles, one by the o's far. jacobs 84 strikeouts already. that will do it. 270 at-bats and 84 k's. >> buck: they said at the time that he is up there he swings and misses. he gets it going. he's always thinking about doing some damage, but really hasn't played well in that big ballpark in kansas city. just 13 home runs as you

mentioned. >> gary: berken backing off. both of these teams, two wins, eight losses since the all-star break. both now have 16 wins on the road. 1-2 delivery a check swing and held up on that one. get the new baseball in a two ball, two strike count. long look down to third base. look at the coach down there with the fastball on at first. aubrey huff holding. jacobs gets that hold between first and second. he takes it the other way! brian roberts snares it. >> buck: good jump by brian roberts that. ball wasn't really scorched. kind of a humpback liner. epd he has a bead on it. callaspo does a good job

freezing on the line drive. toad make sure that ball was pass roberts. it's not. he has to retreat and get back to first. >> gary: the old humpback liner. >> buck: just not hard enough. >> gary: here is brayan pena. runner goes. swung on and fouled off trying to protect the runner and took the home plate umpire marty foster. callaspo going. pena reached out and foster caught all of that one. >> buck: here he's going to take time to regroup. it's a hit-and-run. runners going. pena just gets a piece of it and wieters was coming out of the chute to make a throw. he didn't provide protection from the umpire marty foster. took that one on the left foot. >> gary: he has those guards on overt upperpart of the shoe.

that caught him. looked like just below it. 0-1 count. pena. callaspo back to first base not running in the air to left field. reimold two down, runner back to the bag. tomorrow, rookie pitcher chris tillman expected to make his major league debut. zack greinke will be the opponent. hope. >> -- you'll be here to see one of the o's pitchers to make his first appearancement tickets start as low as $9. tillman not officially on the roster, but he's here. >> buck: he was doing a good job down there and certainly didn't appear to be intimidated by the advancement to triple-a at all. >> gary: gordon up takes a strike. take a look at the season and career for him. >> buck: yeah, career