12% and we're seeing unemployment continue to rise across the country. the stimulus bill that was passed here, the president said it was going to keep unemployment at no higher than 8.3% across the country, and we know it's a lot higher than that everywhere now. this is not just a nevada problem but a problem in every state. american families across the country are hurting. they are hurting badly. to help out i am offering an amendment because the states have been borrowing from the federal unemployment fund and they have depleted that fund so i'm offering an amendment to help the states. but i'm offering it to do it in a way that's fiscally responsible. my amendment is very simple. it would say that we're going to use out of the stimulus bill, we're going to replenish the

unemployment funds that the states are borrowing from and we're going to do that in a way where we don't increase the deficit and we're not going to play any phony numbers games and here to do that. the bill that was sent over here from the house of representatives -- that's basically what it does. it says, technically, it is not increasing the deficit, but, madam president, if the federal government is borrowing from future, probably that will forgive the states of that money in the future, that is going to increase the deficit. mark my words, this congress will say that the money the states are borrowing in the future, because they will have to borrow a lot more next year -- around $7.5 billion now they need to replenish the funds with and next year projected to be another $30 billion and we have seen in the stimulus bill this congress has given money away to the states. that will be another amount of money we will have to borrow to

forgive that debt the states have run up. they will not be able to pay that. right? that's what we assume so at least take that money in a fiscally responsible bill out of the stimulus. the senator from illinois was just on the floor talking, and i listened very carefully to some of the things he was saying. he was saying that if we actually, for instance, the vitter amendment, if we borrow less now it means that our deficit is going to be more. well, that just doesn't pass the commonsense test. he is saying, basically, if we take the money away if the stimulus -- in other words, we borrow less now -- that it's not going to help the economy as much. that was the philosophy behind the stimulus package that by borrowing money, putting that government money into the economy, we are going to help the economy recover. well, there are a certain amount of jobs, it is unarguable that

can be created by government spending. i voted for the stimulus bill because i thought a lot of the money was irresponsibly spent and would run up the deficit so i was looking more long term not just short term. the problem with continuing and continue telling borrow more and more we have the threat of long-term economic harm. we have the threat of long-term inflation in this country which will be devastating to this economy. under the president's budgets this was passed here in the congress, it is projected our national debt will double in five years and triple in 10 years. think about that: take all of the debt borrowed in the history of this country from george washington to george w. bush and that debt is doing to be doubled in five years and tripled in 10 years thacht is -- in 10 years.

that is unsustainable. the states need help to replenish federal unemployment insurance fund. they need that help. we recognize that. but let's do this in a way where we are not borrowing more money from our children's future. that's really what this is abo about. we had former federal chairman alan greenspan talking to our conference the other day at lunch a couple of weeks ago. one of the things that he talked about, one of his big fears he talked about was that the united states is borrowing too much money and that can be a future threat to our economy in the follow of inflation. if we get to the point where other countries decide not to loan us this money anymore, if they quit buying our treasury bills, in other words, our economy falls off a cliff.

we don't want to get to that point. that's why we need to start taking small steps which can lead to larger steps on being fiscally responsible in this country. every time i hear both sides of the 50eu8, senators from both sides of the aisle talk about being fiscally responsible and yet every time we have a small proposal and here it's rejected. we can't do that now. we can't do that with this program. the constitute stimulus programf limits although a large amount of the is stimulus will not be spent for a long time. that was originally supposed to help our economy this year. william, the senator from illinois said the economy is involving. there are signs the recession is slowing down. however, this looks like it will be a completely jobless recovery. that's not what the stimulus bill was supposed to be about. it was supposed to be about

creating jobs. we had alternatives that who is created jobs, would have helped the housing industry. the housing industry is what -- was the program or the part of our economy that drug the rest of the economy down. so we thought we should have fixed housing before we started putting money into all the other projects and all the other government programs. this was rejected by the democrat majority, unfortunately. i still believe we need to have help in the housing industry. senator isakson from georgia has a good proposal, giving a $15,000 tax credit to those who buy a home. states like my state of nevada -- housing market is still devastated. we have huge foreclosure rates, we have large amount of inventory that is still out there. the housing market is starting to turn around in some of the other states but it still has so far to go and we could really

help the housing market. the bottom line is, we need to be more fiscally responsible to future conventions. my amendment today is taking a small step toward that. and, you know, my dad told me a long time ago, all the time when i was growing up, if you watch the small amounts of money -- if you watch the $20 bills, the large amounts of money take care of themselves. let's start watching the -- not $7.3 billion is a small amount but around here it is, let's start watching these as of money so when we talk about the $1.8 trillion deficits we can take care of that and with can start being fiscally responsible to the future generations. so madam president, i urge my colleagues to support this amendment, this commonsense amendment, the vitter amendment i think is the right direction to go, as well. and i think this is something we need to do for future generations.

madam president, i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from california. mrs. boxer: i rise to speak against the ensign amendment and i want to explain why so i will take my time off that discussion and retain the balance of our time in the amendment. senator ensign wants to talk about fiscal responsibility. i welcome that debate. and he blames the democrats for not doing anything to help us get a handle on deficits and development let's go back to recent history -- not ancient history, recent history. bill clinton left the white house in the year 2000; we had a budget surplus that was senior hard t -- wasvery hard to get te democrats did it with the help of some republicans. we had a debt almost eliminated. it was on the way down.

i thought, what do we do when we have no more treasuries to buy? and then we had george bush elected. we had the republicans supporting him. and in a nano second the whole table turned. we went from budget surpluses as far as the eye could see to deficits as far as the eye could see. we went from a debt that was going to be extinguished to a debt that began climbing. as a result of these policies there was a call for change in this country and we had more democrats elected, we have a democratic president and he inherited one giant mess. the chickens came home to roost. he said to the nation, i'm going to do everything i can to get out of this economic mess --

help me. help me pass a bill that will put people to work. he said, i know it's going to be hard. i know it's going to take time but we need to do this because of the recession. and if we don't get out of this recession, we're not going to be able to attack the problem of deficit and debt. everyone knows when president obama was a senator he was always consideration of fiscal areas and distressed about the course we have been on for the last eight years. so here's what happens: we're four months into the economic recovery package and i've been to places in california, i've seen people getting those jobs. highway jobs, water infrastructure jobs, cleaning up superfund sites, restoring our

wildlife refuges. those are some examples. we know according to vice president biden about 25% of the funds have been obligated. now, senator vitter came down here and said it's not -- nothing's working we are not getting the jobs out there, let's go in and cut that stimulus program, put a dagger in its heart and what they want to do when it isn't necessary to do is. the congressional budget office, as i have said and as i put into the record, tells us that the bill the house sent us does nothing to increase the deficit. as a matter of fact, it's a small benefit to the deficit over 10 years, they figure, about $400 million. not much, but it doesn't produce

more deficits. so they come on the floor and they are argue the house bill at the desk causes deficits when the congressional budget office says, after they have done a study, absolutely not. they still uncyst it does stilly don't agree with the c.b.o. but they do agree with the c.b.o. when they say there are costs for health care reform, then they embrace c.b.o. but not now because it does not fit the political rhetoric. so if you take all these amendments -- look, i think -- i don't think they're meant to be mean spirited. i think they're honest in their approach. they don't like the fact we passed a stimulus bill. they don't believe in it even though a few of them on the other side, a few of them have gone to see the projects that are putting their own pect to work. work -- a few have done this,

but that's their choice. the argument just doesn't hold up. look, if we take the funding out of the stimulus we put at risk $10 billion of highway-related jobs. we put at risk millions of dollars that otherwise would be paid to our construction industry. we put at risk very important construction projects at military bases, long overdue superfund clean ups, the creation of clean energy jobs of the future, improvements to outdated rural water systems. why would we want to do this? why? in the middle of a recession when we have come up with a way to handle this, that does not add to our deficit? now, on the highway trust fund, democrats and republicans in the senate agree, we ought to do an 18-month extension. on that part of the vitter amendment you find me on your

side but not to take the funds out of the unspent stimulus money that is on the ground, putting people to work, and will do so. it's only been four months since the funding has started to get out the dr. have a little patience here. eight years we saw the economy turn in a bad way -- eight years we saw this economy turn bad. eight years we saw the recession building. eight years we saw the deficit building. eight years we saw the debt building. it's not going to take four or five months to turn this around. and why would we put a dagger in the heart of job creation at this point no matter how noble the effort? i believe it's very important we don't play games with this bill at the desk. for example, senator bond is

going to offer a very good amendment that has nothing to do with cutting stimulus, but just corrects a real problem. it restores funding to the trust fund. he's absolutely right on it. and i absolutely will support his amendment. but here's the thing. we have until september 30th to make that fix when we have to reauthorize the program. this is just the financial transfer into the fund. september 30th, we need to reauthorize the highway bill. and we will take care of senator bond. but the reason i can't support it is as he well knows, the house has stated, and i don't agree with their attitude on this -- i don't agree with it, but they have stated, this is it, we're giving you this quick influx of funds and we don't want to have it come back with amendments. so we can put off the bond amendment. we have time to deal with it. and i praise senator bond for continuing to raise this matter

before us because we do have to take care of it. so let's just get it straight. when people come down to this floor and rail against deficits and rail against the debt, just remember that little simple piece of history that is documented that president clinton left left president george w. bush a surplus as far as the eye could see and a debt going down. and now the other side of the aisle claims that our president just isn't moving fast enough on all of these fronts. let me assure my colleagues that our president cares a lot about the financial future of this country. he's got two little kids. he knows -- he knows exactly what their burden is, and i just don't believe that fiscal responsibility belongs to the other party. because it was our party under

bill clinton that got this country in the best financial shape it was in for decades. and it only took a few short years to see all that go out the window. so let's not lecture each other on this. and if they continue to do it, i'll just continue to bring up the facts. but, again, i see senator bond is here. i'm going to repeat what i said before he got here. i complimented the good senator because i think he's totally right on his amendment. however, i do know if it is attached to this bill, what will happen because the house has told us they will not take up the replenishment. we risk -- we risk the highway trust fund running out of funds and i personally will work with the senator from missouri and my senator, senator inhofe, to make sure that the bond amendment is part of the reauthorization, which we will have to do in september. but i thank him because he perseveres on this.

he brings it up all the time. and it is good that he does so. i support exactly what he's trying to do. but the timing, unfortunately, would undermine the replenishment of the trust fund. i yield the floor and maintain the balance of my time. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from oklahoma. mr. inhofe: while i love the chairman dearly, she's dead wrong on all the information that she just gave you. let me go over that real briefly. first of all, on the -- on the clinton -- on the clinton administration, let's keep in mind that even then vice president al gore admitted that they had a recession coming at that time and that reduced the amount of money coming in to run government. we all know. that's basic economics. we also know during the eight clinton years, he downgraded the military by 40% -- 40%. not 10% or 15%. i'll never forget the euphoric

attitude, the cold war is over, we don't need military anymore. then 9/11 came and we're in the the middle of a war, fighting a war with a military that was downgraded bit president. so, obviously, took a lot of money to bring this out. and i'd say on behalf of president bush, that was a tough situation, but he grabbed a hold of it. yes, we had to spend more money at that time, but we had to rebuild what was torn down during the clinton years. one word about the vitter amendment and the ensign amendment. they're both good amendments. all they're doing is what the chairman of our committee joined me in wanting to -- to do back when we were considering the -- the stimulus bill, th the $789 billion. only 3.5% of that -- 3.5% went to roads and highways and bridges. you know, that would have really stimulated the economy. i had an amendment cosponsored by the chairman, chairman boxer,

and we were unable to get it passed. that would have made -- have turned this thing into a real stimulus bill. frankly, we wouldn't be here today if we had been successful in doing that. all we're trying to do -- look, 6% of that $789 billion is unobligated today. what better use could there be than going and using that for construction, for getting into something where we can stimulate the economy? this has to be done. our roads, our highways, our bridges are in deplorable condition. the chairman and i agree on that. we want a robust reauthorization bill. in the mean time to be able to take some of the money in the stimulus bill that doesn't stimulate anything. we're not talking about taking away from military construction. i'm the second ranking member on the arm services committee. i wouldn't tolerate that. that is already in there. but the unobligated amounts to about 67%, or about -- ove

over $400 billion of the stimulus bill. now, so i'm going to strongly support -- in fact, i recommended to both senators vitter and ensign this is a good place that we have to find in order to rebuild our system. i have to say something about the bond amendment. i have to leave the floor in just a minute. i'm fully supportive of the amendment. the recession is bad for every state and bad for the highway program. this amendment corrects an accounting provision in safety that removes .7 billion of what was supposed to be unneeded contract authority. i think the recession was not intended to have real funding impacts on the state, but the provision in the energy independent security act of 2007 changed how the rescission was to be implemented. now states stand to lose abou about $400 million of real money. it happens that $40 million of the $400 million, i say to my

friend from missouri, comes from oklahoma. right now the oak secretary of transportation, gary rigly, he is the best secretary of transportation anywhere in the nation, he recently told me that my state will be forced to cancel $40 million in projects that were supposed to begin this year. for this reason this amendment can't be put off. we have to pass it now, otherwise states will have to cut planned projects in anticipation of this recession. some argue that this amendment was in danger of the trust fund res. kiewvment i flatly reject this argument. the other body is in session. they're over there and we should not bow to their whims. this is not a senate problem to fix. as i stated earlier, the house is still in session and they can take a few extra hours before they're adjourning to pass the highway fix bill with the bond rescission language in it. it's ludicrous to talk about

infrastructure spending being an ingredient in th creating jobs n one hand and on the other hand allowing $8.00 billion in contract authority to disappear. i urge my colleagues to support all three of these amendments. yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from missouri. mr. bond: madam president, i thank the chair. i thank my ranking member, senator inhofe, for his support of the amendment. and i thank our chair for her kind words even though we disagree with this, we do -- we -- all three of us strongly support the need to get the highway fund moving to build the infrastructure that we need on our transportation much because -- and this is a -- transportation. and this is a critical time. right now our economy is struggling to recover from the worst recession in generations. hundreds in my home state of missouri are losing jobs of our states are straining to fund projects that are critical to

our constituents. unfortunately, unless we act now, our economy, workers and our states will be dealt another heavy blow. at the end of september, millions will be cut in ongoing shovel-ready highway projects. that doesn't have to happen. the drastic cut will cause critical -- for critical transportation projects like the repair of bridges and highways across the nation. in addition, it will halt critical infrastructure projects. this cut will cost jobs in 50 states. that is an estimate of 250,000 jobs. now my amendment is the action i believe we must take now to protect our struggling economy and protect jobs from dangerous rescission. the amendment will protect our economy and workers by eliminating the $8.7 billion rescission of contract authority mandated in the last highway bill safety in september 30,

2009. the reason for repealing this dangerous cut is very simple. we should not give money to states for infrastructure jobs and economic growth on one hand where we need the jobs and on september 30, taking that money away. this contradictory action just doesn't make any sense and it runs counter to our efforts that we made so long and hard in the environment public works committee to build our infrastructure. according to our state department of transportation, rescinding contract authority it limit the state's ability to fund their priorities and operate their programs as efficiently as possible. there are real world consequences for our states if we continue with these recessions. the most obvious consequence will be a halt to much-needed improvement to the nation's infrastructure. i don't think i need to remind people of our state -- of the state of our infrastructure around the country. if i do, then simply you're just

not paying attention. we're beginning to burst at our seams. our vehicle miles travel raiment at historic highs. congngestion rates are up with more and more people sitting in traffic next to trucks carrying products to and from businesses across the nation. our deteriorating infrastructure is a real problem and it is taking an economic toll at a time when we simply cannot afford more burdens on our system. unfortunately the real world consequence of this dangerous cut will be hardest on workers and families. in my home state of missouri, the department of transportation estimates that this rescission will mean about $200 million in lost projects and countless pink slips in missouri. missouri's not alone. when you look at the numbers for the other states, they're startling. for california it mean means $793 million. for pennsylvania it mean means $404 million. new york it means $406 million. for maryland it

means $140 million. most importantly, behind these numbers, there are jobs. the american association of state highway and transportation officials estimate that for every billion dollars rescinded, our states will miss out on nearly 33,000 jobs. if senators were to contact their states department of transportation, they would quickly understand the full impact the rescission would have back home. and i'd urge my colleagues to do that before voting on it. in fact, i do have some comments from state d.o.t. directors on the real effect this rescission will have back home. the colorado director of transportation, russell george, stated that the upcomin upcoming $8.7 billion rescission will cost the state almos almost $100 billion. quote -- that could have been obligated and out the door to help hard-working coloradans and providing important

infrastructure projects to the state. this real-dollar cut is about 20% of the total federal funds colorado receives each year. close quotes. the department of transportation director in nevada, susan martinvich, said that the upcoming rescission o of $26 million represents 25% of the state's annual $236 million aid allocation and that she would be forced to cancel $48 million in projects that are already under under construction would have a -- quote -- "devastating effect on workers." we kicked the can down the road on this for far too long. ride now on this amendment this is our last opportunity to do what's best for our country, for our economy, for american workers, and our states. i don't want to go back to my state having voted against so many jobs for the hard-working people in the highway construction business in missouri or for the missourians

who depend upon good roads and bridges. repealing the recession will allow states to continue to move forward to meet our infrastructure needs and to create jobs with struggling families in this country so desperately need. i have a letter of support for this bill and for my amendment from the americans for transportation mobility that i'll ask to be included in the record. the american -- the presiding officer: without objection. mr. bond: i thank the chair. for the record, this is composed of the american public transportation association, american road and transportation builders association, associated equipment distributors, association of equipment manufacturers, associated general contractors, american society of civil engineers, international union of operating engineers, laborers international union of north america, national asphalt pavement association, national stone, sand and gravel

association, united brotherhood of carpetters and joyners of america, and the u.s. chamber of commerce. now, madam president, our distinguished chairman of the committee has said that if bill is amended, it will fail because the house of representatives may not take it. but as the ranking member pointed out, they're still in session. if we really believe this is right, accept the bond amendment, pass this bill as amended, send it to the house, give them the chance to do what's right. our job is to make sure we get this business right before we go home on august recess. if the house refuses to take it, they'll have to go home and spend all next week explaining why they are at home instead of having passed a bill that could have had workers on highway and bridge projects working at home.

they should be asked if they go home, if they refuse to pass it, "why did you leave early? the senate's still in session. you could have stayed there and gotten rid of the rescission that will cut jobs." now, there is i guess going to be a budget act point of order raised against this bill. i will, of course, ask to waive the budget act point of order, and i would hop note that if yoe going to take budget points of order seriously, this whole bill could be challenged on a budget act point of order. i will not do that because i want to see this t done. but let's be clear. this money -- the so-called money for this bill comes from going back and assuming interest were paid on the intergovernmental transfers. we don't do that. that's totally bogus. that is a pencil-whipping trick

that i don't believe anybody would honestly score. that is the problem with the whole bill itself, not just with my amendment. if you want to be serious about paying for this bill and my arntle the vitter amendment's very -- my amendment, the vitter amendment's very simple. we can rescind a small amount of money, a small portion of the stimulus bill that was passed -- and only less than 10% has been used. that money will be able -- we can use to put people to work on shovel-ready projects, make sure that the -- that the work goes on that otherwise would be cut off by artificial september 30 date. and i hope my colleagues will support the waiver of the point of order on the budget act, because if you don't, quite

simply, to put it in terms we're using every day, if we fail to repeal the rescission, we'll be taking the shovels out of hands of workers ready to go to work on shovel-ready projects. that's not something i want to go home and explain to the people of my state or i would think that senators and members of the house would want to go home and explain to the people or the constituents in their areas that they represent. madam president, i thank the chair and yield the floor. mrs. boxer: madam president? mr. bond: and i call up -- excuse me. i call up the amendment. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from missouri, mr. bond, proposes an amendment numbered 1904. at the appropriate place -- mr. bond: i ask further reading of the amendment be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. boxer: madam president? the presiding officer: the

senator from california. mrs. boxer: before senator bond leaves the floor, i again want to thank him for his leadership on this issue, and i want to assure him and all the people who support this amendment that this amendment will pass. it won't pass today i don't think for one main reason: we're fearful of, you know, playing these parliamentary games with the house on the highway trust fund. and we have until september 30 to address this issue. my friend is entirely correct, we must deal with this recession and we have to repeal it and we're going to repeal it, and i will work with him to do that. i simply wanted to say that on september 30, when we're faced with our next deadline, the entire bill has to be reauthorized. so it's not only this problem but many other issues have to be addressed. and, again, i want to state th this, i'm not happy that the house sent us this very short

extension. i, and i know my colleague, wanted to see the highway trust fund extended for 18 months. i think the places that we differ really have to do with how we pay for the extension. and senator vitter and all my colleagues who were dealing with unemployment insurance and the rest want to cut funds out of the job-producing stimulus program. i think it is unnecessary. i also would say to my colleagues who say we're borrowing and beer borrowing to do all -- and we're borrowing to do all this. simply look at the c.b.o. score which scores this as a positive. the house bill is scored as a positive because of some of the legislative changes in it. so, again, i just want to be clear. i will work side-by-side with senator bond. we're going to reauthorize the highway bill. it might be for 18 months. maybe we get together and we can come up with a bill for five or six yearsment we have to find a

funding source to do that. i hope we can. but we deal with the bond amendment. we have to deal with it. the senator is exactly right, exactly right, and he talks about taking shovels away from workers. the only place i disagree with him is that i think you're taking shovels away from workers by cutting the stimulus. i visited my state. i see people being put to work. and as senator -- vice president biden said, you know, we've only seen 25% of the stim money go out the door. so i also wanted to ask that when senator mccain comes to the floor, he wanted some time to speak on the bond amendment, so i'd ask unanimous consent that senator mccain be given up to 15 minutes to speak on the bond amendment. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. boxer: and with that, i yield the floor.

mrs. boxer: i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

the presiding officer: the senator from arizona. mr. mccain: i ask that further proceedings under the quorum call be suspended. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mccain: madam president, i rise in opposition to the bond amendment number 1904, which, if enacted, would add another $8.5 billion to the $1.8 trillion deficit that we are accumulating this year. as many of my colleagues will recall, when congress considered the safe, accountable, flexible,

efficient transportation equity act of 2005, the so-called safetea act, we included a section that required that $8.543 billion of unobligated contract authority be rescinded on september 30, 2009. now, the question, obviously, would arise, why would we do such a thing, authorize money but then say that it will be rescinded or canceled? and it was done for one simple reason and that is because of the size of the bill, it would have been subject to a point of order because it exceeded the budget. and so -- and by the way, i would remind my colleagues, this was a $223 billion bloated and earmarked highway bill. so apparently it's not

sufficient in the minds of some that we at least honor a commitment we made which would have canceled about $8.5 billion. please keep in mind that it was a $223 billion piece of legislation. please keep in mind that just like fall, we -- we passed a -- earlier this year, we passed a $787 billion stimulus bill that only 10% of the money has been sent and only 1% of the $787 billion stimulus has been spent on highway and infrastructure projects. so we know that the many, many billions of dollars mor will be

spent on highway and infrastructure projects out of the stimulus bill that has not been spent and yet that doesn't seem to be enough. we need to add another $8.5 billion. and i would point out that this amendment, the same amendment, was considered in the senate environment and public works committee on -- just on july 15 and was defeated by a vote of 14-5. well, sometime we got to stop. you know, we keep coming to the floor time after time and say at some point, we have to consider our children and our grandchildren and the kind of debt that they are inheriting. now, this is just another $8.5 billion that was not budgeted which will add to the burgeoning debt that america is staggering under and at a time

when we know that tens of billions of dollars in addition will be spent on highway and and infrastructure. you know, it's almost sad to see this because it began with gimmickry in order that the bill on the floor at that time wouldn't be subject to a budget point of order, knowing that there would be an attempt at some point to restore it, which is now being made. now, in 2005 we were accumulating deficits but unlike anything we have experienced if the last several months and since the economy cratered back in september of last year. so i hope my colleagues would reject this amendment. it's unnecessary. it's unneeded. it's unwanted.

and very frankly, it's just another sign that we don't understand how serious this deficit problem is that we are accumulating, the biggest deficit sense world war ii as a percent of our gross national product. i hope my colleags will vote against the amendment. i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. reidisland. mr. reed: i ask unanimous consent the call of the quorum be dispensed. .the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. reed: i rise in opposition to senator ensign's amendment. this amendment would fund the

unemployment compensation trust fund by taking unobligated money if the recovery package. i think it's ironic that one of the major tools we're using to maintain employment and grow it is the recovery package. in my home state of rhode island our state used about $200 million which is a significant sum in their budget to ensure that they didn't have to lay off workers which would have increased the demand on unemployment; that they could maintain services. all of this is a result of the stimulus package, the recovery package. we're beginning to see the momentum pickup. for example, with respect to weatherization, rhode island initially received some funds but then the bulk of the funds would be received based upon submission of their plan. the plan is underway.

so the state will see several, roughly, $20 million coming into the state over the next few weeks or months to get people to work doing weatherization. not only does this help our environment but it will provides employment particularly for those most hard hit, the construction industry. so to take this money now and to put it into the trust fund is counterintuitive and counterproductive. on those grounds alones i think we seriously have to look at this amendment. the other issue, i think, that should be mentioned, among several more is that c.b.o. has indicated this approach of moving funds in the underlying bill has no affect on their baseline because it's an enter governmental transfer that the underlying legislation is

proposing. this issue is more of a comment, perhaps, on the recovery package than trying to effectively stem unemployment and to provide funds for those who are unemployed. this issue of unemployment is probably the most significant one we face in the country, particularly in my home state. we know joblessness is rising. it's 12% in rhode island. rhode island and 18 other states have had to borrow $12 billion to keep the state unemployment trust fund solvent. rhode island has borrowed more than $80 million itself to recover unemployment confidents and over the next few months they will draw on a line of credit of about $40 million to keep paying the benefits which are absolutely critical to the families in the state who have lost their jobs so if we don't today transfer these funds as suggested in the underlying legislation, rhode island and many other states would look to

a real crisis in which they would fail to be able to respond to this need for unemployment compensation. so on the merits of where the puthemoney comes from, the recoy act, the biggest tool we have trying to keep people working and employed more people, if that doesn't make sense, and not making this transfer as suggested by the underlying legislation, would imperil the state's ability to provide unemployment compensation in a market that is still very, very weak -- the labor market. but we have to do more and we have to be more innovative in our approach to unemployment and one of the things that my state has done with their own resources is a work share program. rhode island and 17 other states are using their resources to

provide workshare and it's a very effective program. what it does, it allows an loir to cut back on the -- an employer to cut back on the number of hours a worker is engaged in and that worker is qualifying for a partial unemployment check, not the full check so it does not put that much of a drape on the trust fund. part of the conditions in rhode island the employer must maintain the benefits the worker is enjoying so it is really a win-win-win. first of all, people do not lose their health care because they must maintain the benefits. they are still employed so there is a continuity on the factory floor or the office of workers. and, third, the pressure on the state trust fund is lessened. one of the things that is particularly appropriate to mention when it comes to the

unemployment trust funds, this is a program that provides a big bang for the buck. mark zander, a well renowned economist, indicated for every dollar of funds put in through the unemployment system we got $1.69 back. that makes sense. people who are getting unemployment funds are using them right away. they're going into the economy with their other funds to buy the food, the necessity of life that they need. this has a stimulus effect on the economy, and that's another reason why i think we have to move very aggressively. but i would like to broaden this concept of work-share, which has been so effective in rhode island. and to ensure that we have a system that would provide some federal support to those states that are engaged in work-share.

again, it is not only an efficient program. it is very popular with industry and business in rhode island. i had occasion to visit a hope webbing plant and they have engaged in work-share. the number of companies has gone up dramatically given the economic recession. and at this company i listened to a woman who worked there with her husband and they benefited with this program and she said pointblank, without it, we would have lost our health care and we would have lost our home. so we can do some more when it comes to the fle flexibility wih respect to unemployment. but we have to get this legislation passed immediately. over half a million workers will exhaust their benefits by the end of september and 1.5 million will run out of coverage by the end of the year.

this is an extraordinary number of americans, and we need to provide them the support of the unemployment system. and as, as i indicated before, this is a way in which we can not only moderate the crisis of unemployment for families, but also to -- to stimulate our economy. in fact, in that sense it complements the recovery act. and to take away funds from the recovery act to place into this would blunt the overall macroeconomic stimulus that we need to get this economy moving again. the unemployment levels today are unacceptable, particularly in my state of rhode island. it's the number one concern. and related to unemployment, for many people in my state, the loss of health care, so we have to move aggressively on health care reform also. but we have to act. and we can act and we should act and i would urge my colleagues

to reject the ensign amendment. mr. president, i would yield the floor. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from georgia. mr. chambliss: i would ask unanimous consent to speak as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. chambliss: mr. president, i rise today to honor the life and self-less commitment of lieutenant brian bradshaw of the united states army and to our nation. lieutenant bradshaw died as the result of an improvised explosive device on june 25 in afghanistan. he was 24 years old. coincidentally, mr. president, lieutenant bradshaw's life was taken the same day that pop star michael jackson died. the gogel news search reveals the number of new stories in the past month filed about michael jackson is 142,929. the number filed about lieutenant bradshaw, 26. it's time the american people know a bit more about this young

man who sacrificed for his country, his life, his family, and all of his potential, giving all that he would have and all that he was going to be. in his youth lieutenant bradshaw served his community in stilacomb, washington, as a search and rescue volunteer, as an altar boy and summer camp counselor. he was described as a man with a rye sense of humor. he graduated from lutheran university in the spring of 2007, joined the army and began service in afghanistan in march of 2009. as a member of the u.s. army, lieutenant bradshaw served in the first battalion, 501st parachute infantry regiment, and the 25th infantry division and stationed at fort richardson, alaska. described as a man who found

more meaning in actions than words, it is no surprise that lieutenant bradshaw found meaning in his service and in operating -- in operation enduring freedom. in the course of his deployment, he sought to help the less fortunate people of afghanistan and to improve life for the children there. frequently writing home for packages of gifts to give to local children. lieutenant bradshaw found his voice in the honor and patriotism of the army. with a father who was a retired national guard helicopter pilot and a mother who was a retired army nurse, lieutenant bradshaw was a military -- was a man with military in his blood. thus, it is only fitting, that the transfer of his papers on june of his remains on june 25 to the air force base was carried out in an honor of -- in a ceremony of honor and patriotism.

sent t to retrieve lieutenant bradshaw's body were members of the air national guard from my home state of georgia. on their sad mission, they landed their c-130 using night vision gogels in blackout conditions. what appeared to be hundreds of his fellow soldiers stood in formation in the dark as lieutenant bradshaw's body was carried aboard the plan. in a letter to lieutenant bad shaw's family master sergeant reilly of the georgia national guard who were present at the ceremony described the experience and i quote -- "everyone we talked to spoke well of him, his character, accomplishments and how well they liked him. before closing up the back of the aircraft, one of brian's men, with tears running down his face said: that's my platoon leader. please take care of him. the world may have been occupied with other things, the media

with other stories, but for one brief moment the war stopped to honor lieutenant brian bradshaw. mr. president, it's my honor and privilege today to pay tribute to lieutenant brian bradshaw who ex ibts the honor an courage that exemplifies our nation. it's thanks to citizens like him that our nation has been and will continue to be a great an free nation -- and free nation. and with that, mr. president, i would yield the floor and i would suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

mr. coburn: mr. president, i ask that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. coburn: i'm expecting senator mccain on the floor any time, but i think i'll begin. the government indicating office -- accounting office released a report yesterday that talked about the highway trust fund.

and what they noted over the last four years that $78 billion of that trust fund has been spent on things other than highways, bridges, and roads. some of the things that it's been spent on, nobody would have any question. but here we find ourselves, the second time in a year, trying to bail out the trust fund and we're going to decide if we're going to steal it from our kids or steal it from the stimulus bill, which will actually make it much more stimulative than the money's that's there. but we find ourselves in trouble fflt you ask yourself the question: when this trust fund was first setup, it was set up during the eisenhower administration, and it was designed to build the interstate highway system and help us with roads and bridges and secondary roads and bridges throughout country. and what it has morphed into is

that a large percentage of it now doesn't go for any of that. and so we find ourselves in the midst of a recession with last year having high gas prices, which depressed the money going into the fund and with a recession now decreasing the revenues going into the fund, and we have all of these projects that we know are priority for us that need to be fixed. now the other thing we learned from this report is that 13,000 people in this country a year die because of bad roads, bad bridges, and bad highways. so it would seem to me that the highway trust fund moneys ought to be spent to eliminate those 13,000 deaths and that the priority ought to be about roads, bridges, and highways. and i will put into the record many other items where the money is spent.

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>> and now the focus is changed. now he has a lot of questions to answer. >> ortiz did say that nobody who is on that list from 2003 should be punished. but moving forward, he was very adamant there should be a year suspension for anyone who tested positive and not the 50 games. that being said, with the questions looming, we have seen what he has gone through with his struggles on the field this

year. what do you see going forward for him mentally with this on top of it? >> well, it's going to be difficult for him. the way that most of these guys have gotten through this, meaning a-rod and manny ramirez, they just hit their way through the controversiy and everybody pushes its to the side because it's manny and he hit a grand slam, and a-rod, he has 20 homers since he came bake. ortiz has had to answer a lot of questions this year about his performance so i don't think he is in the same position as manny ramirez where he can slug his way through the controversy. he is right, nobody should be punished for what happened of those guys on the list in 2003. but sadly in today's media age and the way our society works,

it doesn't matter. you're already dirty from being on the list. if that's fair or not seems to be irrelevant. if your on the list, you're a steroid user and you have done it for a long time, even though we have no proof of that. >> how tainted his legacy will be we don't know, but manny and david ortiz teammates on the two boston world series, what does this do to the legitimacy of those championships? >> people are going to say, well, those two championships have to be tainted also. this is why i'm not in favor of putting an asterisk next to anything. but it seems to me so many players from so maybe different organizations were involved in steroid use that if we're going to start to taint the red sox world series championship, we have to taint the championships of every other team that had any player with any sort of connection to steroids. that's why you can just say, let's put an asterisk there.

in the court of public opinion we have people saying, all right, now we have to look at the red sox championships in a different way. i'm not of the belief of that. we leave -- look at this whole era this way. it's a very complicated story, and anybody who things the story is going away, has to be kidding me. two more months from now we're going to get another guy that comes '. the story is going to be talked about for the next 0 years, and everytime any one of this guys come up for the hall of fame, that's what why will be talking about. >> we should mention, too that that list of more than 100 major league players that is now below 100 was supposed to be sealed. it was supposed to be destroyed. but the names continue to be leaked. we have a full scene. can we put it up there in terms

of the players whose names have been released with regard to the testing back in team here they are. david ortiz, manny ramirez, sammy sosa, alex rodriguez, and those players names combined to hit 155 home runs and at what point do you think we get ready and say, based on those numbers, at what point do we sort of embrace it and say, this is what it is in. >> i have already done that and more people should consider it that way. i don't think there's any other way to look at this. this is the steroid era, and even though the derek jeters of this era are totally clean, we want just look at it and say, this guy was connected to this, therefore this numbers went up. three of those guys on the list of hall of fame baseball players, and david ortiz isn't.

so let's understand this is a time we have to deal with, and we will be dealing with for the rest of the time, 50 years from now, people will have that imaginary asterisk over this era saying that woulds the steroid era, be careful of all the numbers. extremelien fair to the clean players. if we do it case-by-case will have asterisks all over the record books. it's just impossible to do a proper job. >> alliance is good but i don't know how can -- you would have o look game by game. >> it's not even worth trying. >> this an interesting dynamic for the red sox with the trade deadline tomorrow at 4:00 eastern time. with the struggles ortiz had on the field this season and seeing howl he has been dealing with it mentally, what do you see boston

doing in terms of making an extra evident of adding anotherx

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it's been quite a turn around as you can see for the nationals bullpen. since after the all-star break the ball club is 3-1. this is

the best bullpen we have had johnny since we have been here. i know we look at roush and cordero. all are different. gives you different angles. i have tyler that can miss bats and strike people out. >> these guys can really get the job done and they have numbers-wise. before we talk a little bit about some of the guys in the bullpen, drew storm is on the line with us. how are you doing? >> i'm great. thanks for having me. >> at least he was on the line. >> i have got him i heard him, hey, drew, buddy. off to a tremendous start. tell us about how you adjusted down there and what is the key to you throwing all these strikes?

not walking anybody this season with shoot, 33 strike outs? that's unreal other well you know, i haven't really had trouble throwing strikes all year. but it was really the adjustment i made in the first couple of weeks here getting the fast ball down. in college i didn't concentrate much on doing that. just trying to align my velocity. when i got here talking to the coaches and catchers, really understanding the different approach, trying to get the balls at the knees instead of belt lie, it is a big adjustment and it's really helped me out. >> drew, i guess you recall called the sports's guy's kid. what a great low glow to have on you, because you have such a terrific father. >> yeah i was fortunate enough to have him as my dad. i got to meet a lot of people. i guess the now nationals organization connection was through him and it's nice. i have always kind of had a target on my back because of that. and always had to play under pressure, if you like. i think it's going to help me

out. >> no question that helps you out. as you know, your father and i are great friends. but my question is, the change or the difference in moving up a classification, you have gotten better, if that's possible. hadn't given up a hit to a left hander yet. the opposition is hitting .171. are these hitters as good as you face in college they should be. but you don't act like it. >> well i actually think they are better. these guys really tell you how to manage mistakes. some of the balls they put in play have been hit pretty hard. fortunately there is a solid defense behind me that helped me out. i think these guys don't really i guess care as much about velocity as college guys do. >> when ray and i look at the

numbers here in the 14 games you pitched in the 19 innings, zero walks for drew storm. is this going to be a minor league record for having walked nobody in one season that you are working on? >> i sure hope so. i don't know how long i went in : college. i think 5 strikeouts before walking somebody. usually you get in trouble walking people. i'll give up my share of hits or what not, but i want to make people earn it. that is something i really take pride in. >> we appreciate your time. continue success to you up in hagers town or down in 30 tomorrow mack, we hope every time you go out there you are lights out. good luck to you. >> thanks a lot. thanks for having me on. >> our pleasure. drew storm the tenth player take

in the 2009 draft. let's go back to the bullpen now. sean burnett has got to be happy to be out of pittsburgh with the fire sale they were having in that city. he is getting the job done. >> the mayor may be leaving pittsburgh with all these people leaving. burnett a great story johnny, he was the best player in the organization, drafted number one in 2000 and actually just fired through their minor league system with the 95 miles per hour fast ball. hurt his arm, tommy job surgery and they put him in indianapolis for two years and now he's been in the bullpen did a great job for him. a nice cutter a fast ball a sinker the best left hander we have had in this ball club i think hands down. we have had some pretty good ones. >> and a .108 batting average again. jason bergmann earned three runs

runs. >> ray: he has been up and down up and down up and down. seemed like he was a whipping boy for the organization. that made him tougher, stronger. a lot of people said he was soft. that means he willets under pressure. but he has proven now he has gotten through that. it is all about that experience and being on the mound. one thing nobody ever questioned is his ability to throw the baseball. 95 miles per hour fast ball. a great slide and i believe now he is here to stay and going to be a big impact player. >> last time we saw tyler clippard struggle. >> you go out there enough, you are going to have bad outings. he didn't look comfortable on that mound. for some reason he could not throw the ball over the plate. his fast ball normally he is able to control his slider is more of a curve ball. his change up stopped. not a real good decision there.

it is, if you haven't shown the change up. but he threw it the first pitch the third pitch and seven pitch at bat. got it up and the guy got a homerun that is the learning process. he can strike you out. 16 strikeouts. you have a guy to come in that bullpen with bases loaded you know you can miss that. he is the guy. >> he struck out seven padres last saturday a record coming out of the bullpen for an appearance you have macdougal, ron, the rest of the guys. >> two guys in the middle can bring it, kensing, 95. macdougal, 97. i do believe jim has a lot of confidence. there is a sinker that wears people out. very much of a safe have i type pitcher. malone is always the guy that was a muscle guy. he likes to throw the ball hard. he has lost some of that. you see the 17 strikeouts, his

control has been his problem. he is the guy for me that is in the mop up type role. but the rest the of guys, as far as i'm concerned, are the best group of arms we have had, as far as velocity and make up. and they finally got it right after going through about what? 20 relievers? >> 23 to be exact. >> right off the top of your led. we'll take a break and come back and continue with more of nats extra pregame. we are going to take phil wood and stand him up and dust him off, right here on masn.

welcome back, everybody. nats extra pre became brought to you by corona and corona lite. relax, responsibly. how about the national starting lineup.

23 rbis, five stolen bases with a baltimoreing average of .264. nyjer morgan, there has been some changes. he will be in center. gonzales the two, nick johnson batting third at first. clean up dunn in the clean up, ryan zimmerman at third. hernandez at second and j. d.martin on the mound, hernandez making his third start since the 12th of july. how about milwaukee. ryan braun with a .318 batting average six for 11 if in the series so far. a .545 a couple of home runs, four rbis, a 9-game hitting streak and received the most votes of any national league outfielder for the all-star

game. felipe lopez, ryan braun, prince fielder, corey hart in right fielder, mike cameron in center, casey mcgehee at third base and yovani gallardo will be on the mound today. let's talk to phil wood about some history of the milwaukee franchise. >> indeed, johnny when both leagues expanded in 1969 with the advent of divisional play the national league put new teams in montreal and san diego. the seattle pilots. the seattle franchise was awarded max and dewey soriano. they did a great job of selling the city of saturdayal to baseball but behind the scenes they were badly undercapitalized. they played their home games at sick stadium. it seated fewer than 15,000 fans. the city promised to expand seating there to 25,000 but

they didn't get the project finished until the middle of pea. the club had good players, tommy davis, tommy harper, a future cy young winner mike what you are shall, but the most famous had to be number 56 jim bowden, bowden kept a diary of the 69 season that became the best selling book ball four. it was unlike any baseball book ever published. the pilots were managed by joe schultz. he had been a coach with the cardinals for several years. his pep talks usually ended hey let's go pound some budweiser. the pitching coach was the old right hander for the giants and the dodger, sal. going over the lineup one day he kept saying pitch around him. pitch around him. by the time he wanted to pitch to a batter two runs would have crossed the plates and the bases would be loaded with nobody out. the pilots poor economic situation caught up with them

and by season end the club was essentially bankrupt. about a week before opening day they were purchased by a milwaukee car dealer and immediately moved to milwaukee where they became the brewers. 64 wins, 98 losses. last place in the american league west. the city sued baseball after losing their team and in 177 they got the mariners to settle the suit. the pilots are gone and unfortunately largely forgotten but ball four has been reprint multiple times and is still considered a classic in baseball literature. phil, thank you very much. another history from my man phil woods of diamond dust. time for the stay in the game hole of the day. the seattle pilots 1969 saves readers dog go with 12, john oh donahue with six, jack acre had three, john goal ner had three

as well. just as those relievers kept their team in the game you, too can stay in the game with just for men hair color. when we come back we'll take a look at the starters this afternoon. j.b. martin takes to the hill for the nationals. 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.

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you're covered. because now every can turns blue when your beer... is as cold as the rockies. it's cold insurance, only from coors light. cold beer: that's our policy. frost-brewed coors light. the world's most refreshing beer. welcome back, everybody. nats extra pregame here on masn. johnmy holiday along with ray knight. j. d.martin starts for the nationals after what? seven, eight years for the cleveland organization? >> johnny, he was their number one choice and really highly thought of. we picked him up as a free agent. he is an ath lee. he fills his position well, went from first to third the other night. got a big base hit. he has that makeup that if the stuff is good enough, he will be successful here. he doesn't throw real hard. he is a pitcher not a thrower.

>> what is john dale martin's mind set as he takes the hill today against milwaukee? >> for me, like every time, throw strikes. keep the ball down. it is a smaller park. keeping it down and let my defense help me out. >> as you see j. d.martin's numbers one walkout, one strikeout. i don't have gallon is 9-7 about ago yovani gallardo is throwing the ball extremely hard. they found themselves with a pitcher there with a 9-7 record. high strikeouts is 12. the last five outings he has walked at least four hitters. >> i want you to rest easy, willingham is not in the lineup today. i know you are working only because of a stiff neck from watching his grand slams fly out a couple of nights ago. >> we will be back after the

ballgame. bob and rob are just around the corner as j. d.martin gets set to throw against milwaukee. enjoy. ♪ ♪ more bars in more places. at&t. the best coverage worldwide. for back to school, get the pantech matrix for $29.99 after mail-in rebate. what is it to lead? at pnc, it's doing what most benefits our customers. whether that's building more certified green buildings than anyone on earth.

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 offense clearly the story this week in milwaukee. 11 big flies, 43 runs combined to the first flee game. will it sound the same again today? can the pitchers step up and get it done? >> 

 it's cloudy and possibly stor outside in milwaukee today. there is hammering hank. that stormy outside, this might be the calm before the storm. nyjer morgan ready to explode again. we are going to cover the bases with him today for the nats and the brewers as they wrap-up this four game season rob you and i have talked about this on numerous occasions. a little man who can rub has changed the complexion of an entire ball club robb yes he can. he can do a lot of things in the field. one down the lane on an infield single. steal some bases, he is a heads up guy. ball gets by the catcher he is a very intelligent baseball player. we didn't know he could have this kind of power, though. the other day set the tone with a lead off homerun. also had the fantastic arm you see that in the defense mode and then he is just a run saver. he is a guy if he can't get to

it, nobody can. >> .389 in 24 games as a that the. he has 11 multi-hit games while starting 22 ballgames. and the pitchers have to love this guy. >> rob: absolutely. he could go 0 for four or 0 for five. you are going to challenge guys and pitch to contact since then, five games not one single error. they hope to keep it up today. almost as fast as you. nothing's gonna hold you down.

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there is weather threatening in the area and the nats getting ready to take on the brewers. washington going for three out of four. there's been a late lineup change for the nats. let's look at the southwest.com lineup. josh willingham was in the lineup batting fifth. nick johnson bumped up to third. nyjer morgan has been a terror in this series. he is 7 for 15 with a homer, four rbis and he has scored four runs, debi taylor, why is josh willingham not in the lineup. >> debi: i talked to jim, and he told me josh slept on his neck a little funny. it is a little bit funny. right now he is getting treatment. i asked him if he may be able to come into the game later as a pinch hitter and he said he'll have to see how the treatment goes. back to you. >> johnny: for those of you who are suspicious to things like

this, i did have a nats official say this is not related to any deal involving josh willingham leaving the nationals. the trading deadline is tomorrow, but it is a physical reason, nothing more for him not being in the lineup today. the nats are 6-8 under jim and rob has more on yovani gallardo. >> rob: the kid is good. he's got a great arm. 23 years old. very hard to hit. 136 strikeouts. no place like home. loves pitching here in milwaukee. this season 5-5 about a 3 era. his career is 3.22, so he is legitimate. the brewers are the number sixth ranked defense in the major leagues. felipe lopez, whether or not

made nine errors with arizona has more than anybody on the field. casey mcgehee the third baseman has seven. nobody else has more than four. they are not spectacular defensively, they are just very stead and i they seldom do anything to beat themselves. we are going to cover the bases with nyjer morgan today. you will see him hopefully get all dirty and be all over the bases. yovani gallardo 0-0. the first pitch is coming. it's a little bit high, and we have a story to tell you about the umpire as well. chance of rain 6 degrees outside. they closed the roof about an hour and a half ago. joe west is the crew chief in

his 32nd year. 4000 games. game number 4000 for joe west today. and he only threw rob dibble out twice. >> that's it. that's it. 3398 times he had it easy. >> johnny: and a 1-1 to morgan is up and away. dean is the umpire. congratulations to him. >> rob: excellent umpire. always has been. never held it against me, never took a strike away from my team. >> johnny: morgan took a big, hard swing at that one. batting average up to .306 and as a that the .309. >> rob: has country albums out there. >> johnny: 3-2. we're going to hear from joe

later today. and a 3-2 to morgan. that was way outside. but on two strikes he was hacking. yovani gallardo's control numbers this year 2-1. 163 strikeouts, 63 walks in 128 innings. wow. this ball into left center. it will have a chance to drop and will, in front of ryan braun. then when it gets away it turns into an easy double for the speed sister morgan. >> rob: we just told you he was intelligent. heads up baseball right there. saw it get by brawn. draughan made a nice effort for it and he takes second basesly. inside outs it left field ryan

braun moved from third base to left field because he wasn't the best third baseman in the world. look at this right here. kicks it into another gear. i'll take second, thank you. >> johnny: nyjer morgan has now let off three of the four game series by getting on base. this is a great scenario for alberto gonzales. now on that bunt attempt casey mcgehee stayed home at third. prince fielder charged hard from first and the pitcher of course coming in. gonzales wants to push the bunt toward third base although prince fielder is a right handed throwing first baseman. he would have little chance of getting morgan at third. alberto gonzales is three for his last 33. when you are slumping you have to help your ball club by getting a bunt down and moving runners around if you are not getting hits.

>> rob: and stabbing at the ball is not the way. you have to give yourself up, square yourself around, get the bat out in front of you. and just lay down a good bunt here. >> johnny: they have him bunting on 0-2? doesn't lack like it. that is a real bad at bat for the first out. not sure what's going on with alberto gonzales. but he has been clueless at the plate for about two weeks. >> rob: mentally he is out of it. he is thinking too much. got to get back to just seeing the ball and putting it in play and making some contact. right there you have to make contact. try to put to to the right side of the infield. >> johnny: this is why jim riggal man moved nick johnson up.

>> rob: i swear he is a double agent. every time i see him he has different facial hair, something going on. >> johnny: easily back is morgan. >> rob: here's craig counsell right here, little sneaky devil. once again it is that open up the glove, let your pitcher know you are going to the bag. >> johnny: nick johnson will foul it off to the left side. ball got in on him. >> rob: i love the fact the brewers have to worry about nyjer morgan. your infield's worried about him. >> johnny: if there was a right handed batter he would really

be thinking about stealing here after the failed sacrifice attempt. and nick will hit the ball to right field. kind of got him on the trademark. morgan has no time to get back and tag. two outs. >> rob: not on corey hart. >> johnny: it will be up to adam dunn done with two outs. adam having a few words with joe west, probably congratulating joe on his milestone. and everybody we have talked to around this ballpark thinks that the 445 feet measured on his fourth inning homerun tuesday night was an absolute joke. it went over the pickup truck and under the time warner sign. >> rob: under the road runner. >> johnny: yeah and bounced out of the stadium. that thing had to be about 4890

to 500 feet. and the nats would love 150- foot line drive to fall in here somewhere. morgan still at second base. two outs. worth another look. >> rob: well, it's got to be one of his top five. distance-wise, home runs.   >> johnny: third batter in a row yovani gallardo got an 0-2. a fast ball that crossed up jason kendall. he was not ready for a one.

he acted like he was waiting for a change up. >> rob: he was. maybe 8 2-rbgs 83. he gets about 95 and that's not good. see, it almost takes his mask off, and his head. >> johnny: if a ball gets by a catcher nyjer morgan might be going 180 feet, not 90. 12-2 on dunn who has driven in 74 runs. that's a bounce and a good stop by jason kendall and you might say the catcher's having a good at-bat now.

don will wind up, but it will hook foul. >> rob: adam looking for the change up got it. just a little out in front of it. >> johnny: something about him against the national league east. you figured it's a division that hardly ever sees him and he is pretty good on top of that. one of the better young pitchers in the game. he's only 23. brewers took him in the second round back in 04. >> rob: since sheets and ca bathia -- ca bathia left town he is one of the elite. >> johnny: that is a breaking ball and nyjer morgan tries to advance and is thrown out on a ball that bounced in the dirt. and how good was jason kendall during the adam dunn done at

bat? galled 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.

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again. fielder, hart and cameron pretty good three through six. offense is not this team's problem. we'll have a look for the third time at j.d. martin and because of weather and some other things that have come into play only six innings pitched in his first two starts. rob will give you the scouting report in a moment. here's felipe lopez. he is a first pitch swing and morgan is right there. this fact, he came in so quickly he had to reach up for the ball. >> rob: that is your run saver out there in centerfield. j.d. martin is going to love that. into the great unknown with j.d. martin as bob said only six innings pitched so far. 61, this is his 61st start by a rookie pitcher for the nationals this year in target practice hit the targets, keep your secondary pitches down.

>> bob: oakland athletics have made 68 rookie starts this year. baltimore 52. toronto 50, atlanta 32. that is the top five. so oakland and washington way out ahead of the pack. dave on the job since june 2nd and the team era is right if he 5.00 mark. craig counsell with a walk and he is on. an 11 game hitting streak with 1 hits. >> rob: a lot of that has to do with the bullpen. the starters era is almost around 4.7, so they have been doing a great job. >> in recent days way down under 3. craig counsell is from white fish bay, wisconsin. the high school school. actually born in south bend, indiana and ended up going to

notre dame. johnson will take care of that one. two up, two down. ryan braun next. nationals defensively have an errorless streak going. morgan flanked by dunn and harris. willie hasn't played too much right field this year. actually harris, now we have noticed, they have switched the outfielders, dunn is in right and harris is in left. gonzales, hernandez, zimmerman and johnson will new year's eve. we were told dunn left and harris in right, but they flip flopped them, without telling us. and ryan braun will be the batter with the bases empty and two outs. >> bob: the bottom line is no matter who has played where the nationals have caught the ball and thrown the ball well lately. ryan braun in this series 6 for 12, two walks, two homers, four rbis and he is on a nine game

sit hitting streak. he has easily been the most dangerous brewer. tied for second in the league with his teammate, prince fielder. albert pulhous has 58. 1-2. there's the prince. he has had four hits, two rbis in this series. he is second to pulhous in rbi. that is what the nats have been doing, they try to get ahead and get that fast ball under his hands. 

 nice cut fast ball. you don't mind seeing ryan braun or fielder with nobody on base. >> bob: prince fielder hasn't had a lot of damage in this series because the bases have been cleared a couple of time. 3-2. busted back, charging from short. and playing it well. alberto gonzales in a 1, 2, 3. covering the bases with nyjer morgan. more on him. coming up. @ñ

 >> debi: we move to the secon inning and we are covering the bases today with nyjer morgan. he's got a super personality, something unique, he has an alter ego, named tony. >> me and my boys back home, when we were like 21, 22 years old, we called ourselves the rat pack. and i was i'm tony, i have my boy franklin, and my other boy james dean, so we are the rat

pack. >> debi: sean burnett told me, too, that we may see of tony on the video board tomorrow when we go to pittsburgh,. >> bob: bob interesting. evidently some of the pirates are saved likenesss of their former centerfielders. it will be an interesting homecoming for nyjer and for sean burnett. he was hitting .277 for the bucs and 18 steals when he was traded to the nationals on june 30th. glad to have him. so adam dunn is retired. he was at the plate when nyjer was thrown out. now zimmerman and harris will be the next two hitters. ryan in the series four hits a homer hit by a pitch a walk. so he has been n base thr intesting spot in the line for him. when i heard willingham was going to be pulledfrom the

lane up i thought riggleman might go left right left but he wants adam dunn in the clean up spot. it is left right left as far as the 3, 4, 5 hitters  llopez goes out. lopez cheating up the mid hits the mound, almost knocks him over it is hit so hard. plenty of time to throw h out. he's willie harris into the  lineup as a late addition o the scratch of josh willingham. willie in the series one for 00 four with a couple of walks.

he has been al ovr the a walks so willie has a .233 0-2. and joe west, by the way, only has to work six and a half more years to make it to 5000 games. and that's if he works every day. 32nd year. >> rob: that is a lot of ballgames. >> bob: that is a lot of travel. you know those guys don't get ten day home stands. lopez plays it and throws out willie harris. and the nats go in order in the

top of the second of a scoreless game. 1?owo j hey mom i need some minutes. i just gave you some at the restaurant. yea i know. i threw them out. they were old so... old! they are rollover minutes. they are as good as new. ya know not everyone gets to keep their unused minutes. and these days we can't afford to be wasteful. saving minutes... ...saves money. yea.

(announcer) only at&t's family talk with rollover saves your family's unused minutes. and saving minutes saves money. for back to school, get the lg neon for $29.99 after mail-in rebate.  >> bob: no score. bottom of the second. pitchers dual shaping up can j.d. martin keep up? get your red on and watch the nats take on the diamondbacks a week from saturday. first 15,000 fans will receive a free adam dunn bobblehead. so come on out early when the gates open. it is presented by pnc bank.

888-623-nats. or the box office at the ballpark. that will be a weekend series against arizona after the florida marlins are in, starting next tuesday. j.d. martin, strike one to prince fielder. prince at .302 on base average the best in the league at .422. fourth in walks. second in rbis. extra base hits, slugging, you name it for the all-star prince fielder on a play. fifth year, coming off a couple of hundred rbi seasons. great breaking ball by j.d.

martin. >> rob: wow. >> bob: that was a hammer. >> rob: that one fell so quick it needed a parachute. it was a great breaking ball. talk about locating these secondary pitches down low, can't get any lower than that. over the top. beautiful pitch. >> bob: next upright fielder corey hart. four hits in the series. a solo homer. couple of big hits for them late in the game last night when the brewers came from a 4-0 deficit to beat the nats 7-5.   up and in.  2-1. 

 up the middle, off the pitcher. that will be a base hit. the way j.d. recovered and ran after the ball, he must be okay. but let's see what the secondary sting feels like here. >> bob: back at you. looks like it just clipped the inside of his right leg. >> bob: couldn't right next to jim riggleman. j.d. shows no sign of needing attention.

here's mike cameron, who had a big night last night. he was 0 for 7 and 1 for 24 before he walked, homered, and then singled twice. they have done some running with corey hart. he is a big guy who runs well. breaking ball. cutter. >> bob: hart has eight stolen bases in 12 attempts. >> rob: i like the way j.d. is hitting the edges. keeping it just enough outside where hart had to try to pull the ball and he pulled it right up the middle. >> bob: he's ahead of another hitter. last night's pinch hit here

casey mcgehee waiting.   >> rob: he was probably loo for the breaking ball but right back into another one. he got a strike out. little bit muddy over at first base. corey hart came up with a handful of mud. >> bob: they either watered down the infield. i didn't know we had an early morning shower here but i noticed that during batting practice. the dirt, you can fell, starting from the on deck circles, is a much darker color than it is on the warning track. they really watered this thing

down and rob, that may be a reflection of what we talked about how hard this infield is hear. 3-26789 we'll see if the runner goes. he does. the ball is popped up behind short. gonzales out, waves everybody off. alberto has it for the second out. here's what casey mcgehee did in the sixth inning against tyler clippard after a critical walk to mike rivera. >> rob: one too many change ups to a right hander. guys sitting on the bench all night. you don't want to help him out by taking something off the pitches. another reason for the mud over at first base, it low as down not only our running game, but your own. that may be why corey heart's not trying to steal right now. look how muddy he is. he is not happy. >> bob: so we can call that

lake morgan over there? >> rob: they are probably trying to shut down nyjer. >> bob: they might have gone a little too far. and a ball hit to right field. adam dunn drifting near the line. he puts it away and a couple of good innings for j.d. martin on only one hit. no score into the third. 

 >> bob: lake michigan right east of downtown milwaukee and about four or five miles to the west of that it's miller park. we go it to the top of the third. we enjoy it when you ask about the nats. jeff and me linda would like to know why do references to nats record include the montreal expos? i think we make it very specific on the air. when we say it's a franchise record, that means it was done in montreal and now done in washington. and we differentiate between franchise records and national's records. but you know, this ball club did have a long history, not a winning one, in montreal. and of course, none of that has anything to do with the senators, a different franchise, a different league, a whole

different team and organization. >> rob: didn't the senators move to texas? >> bob: well minnesota first and then the next version moved to texas. i think it was 1961 to minnesota and 72 to texas. calvin griffith and bob short, the two respective owners. so we are real specific when we say franchise record or nats record. but it's a good question. hey, i don't see the brewers talking about the seattle pilots. that's where they came from. but what the pilots last? one year in seattle? how about an expansion team that stays for one year and leaves? breaking ball will nieves. he looked at it all the way outside and didn't miss by much. will hasn't played much this month, but he is 9 for 26 with three rbis, batting a very respectable .262. takes that fast ball, might

have broken his bat, sure sounded like it. >> rob: he needs some new lumber. >> bob: i love the quote from joe schultz, who was the first manager, well the only manager of the seattle pilots. they asked him about his team's prospects since spring training. and he said this team is going to win some games. in his book ball four, jim bowden writes i don't see how we can avoid it. you are going to run into a few here and there. one ball and two strikes to will, and a little tapper. third base side. casey mcgehee can't handle it and will nieves will probably be given a hit. >> rob: single. >> bob: my other character, rob, from that book, and here harry potter he is trying to make the

play. >> rob: it is do or die. if he doesn't make a clean pickup bare handed, it is a hit. >> bob: there was a kid on that team named steve. he was a thinking sort and he said to a pitcher a base hit is the perfect example of negative feedback. a controversial book at the time. >> rob: still is. >> bob: he brought a lot of things out of the clubhouse, didn't he? >> rob: not so much he brought a few things out. i think he went to a place where you shouldn't go on a guy like a mickey mantle. an icon. and i think that upset people for decades. >> bob: yeah. >> rob: some things are better left unsaid.

>> bob: i'm in silent agreement with you. no balls and two strikes to anderson hernandez. nats need the little guys to start getting some base hits. gonzales has struck out today. hernandez is five for 34. so these two little guys who play middle defense are a combined eight for their last 68. if there are jobs available, that's not how to win them. >> rob: getting the bat head out. whether or not told you about that drill? >> bob: joe weston has called him out. >> rob: really? >> bob: the nats are claiming he foul tipped the ball. riggleman's already with the

umpire. pat is down from the third base coaching box. did the ball change directions? oh, definitely. >> rob: yeah, i thought he hit the ball. >> bob: and then it came up and hit the umpire in the chest protector. that angle doesn't show it but the angle from behind the pitcher does. that ball definitely changed directions straight down and sad to say in his 4000th game joe west just missed one. now jim riggleman is going to go to paul and he should. if the, maybe the argument in here is why are you not asking for help? i don't think paul can do anything unless his home plate

umpire asks him for help. jim riggleman has been ejected. >> rob: this is a great job by jim riggleman. >> bob: the thing you would have to criticize here, rob, why would he not ask for help unless he feels he is 100% sure? and evidently joe west does. but he missed the call. >> rob: it is a tough angle, he misses the call and it's a foul ball. right here you can see him make contact with the bat and let go of the bat after he makes contact and jim has a right to ask the home plate umpire to ask for help from the other three umpires. >> bob: but evidently joe west wouldn't do it. >> rob: one of the reason you have all these instant replays is to get the call right. that is all major league baseballs and the teams want,

get the call right. >> bob: one out. j.d. martin in to bunt. he is 0 for 1 as a major league hitter but his one walk after the rain delay on saturday night led to amazing things for the nats jim let him in to hit knowing he wasn't going to pitch. the bases were empty with two outs when he drew that walk and then the nationals went on to have the huge inning, scoring five times in the second and winning the game 13-1. pat in charge of the ball club now. jim riggleman winning six, losing 8. and being ejected. there is a wise baseball man

who has managed many games in the league's baseball level himself. that's strike two. the nationals are 0 for 2 on bunts so far today. and martin will strike outlooking. nyjer morgan coming up. we are covering the bases with him today. he is 1 for 1 with a double. and growing up a little guy in san francisco look at that. he's already got the pittsburgh

pirates cap as a kid. must have been his little league club. >> rob: karma. >> bob: you got that right. you will hear about hockey today. batting over .390 as a national. so twice in this game the nationals have had a lead off runner never advanced anybody evidently the family made it down to southern california. mickey and mini. >> rob: that's what that is? >> bob: there's that attitude. >> rob: we like it. strike one.

.396 morgan is batting. he did play in washington nyjer morgan left his california home at the age of 16 to go to canada, and play junior hockey after these days you are looking at. evidently he is at the airport. well he is not 16 there. >> rob: taking a trip somewhere. he played two years there. state of washington, not dc. and the 1-2 to morgan. on a delayed run, a throw to second. and tagging will nieves on the helmet is craig counsell well the nats aren't sure the blue shirts are getting anything right here in the third inning. did they get him on the helmet?

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the world's most refreshing beer.  will nieves just now has his gear on and he is ready to go out and work in the bottom of the third with j.d. martin. and a look at what happened to him at second base a moment ago. up to the right side. i think will was amazed at this

call. he never felt anything. >> rob: i don't think he even came close. >> bob: there's air between that glove and the helmet. >> rob: if anything he may have hit the shoulder, but i doubt it. no. another bad call. >> bob: paul misses on. and it will be kendell, gallardo and lopez for the brewers here in the bottom of the third. kendall one for six with a walk in the series, hitting .279 over the last three weeks and nyjer morgan will skip his way to that one. one out here in the third. we have got a good hitting pitcher coming up, as we check out the tv schedule. it is on to pittsburgh. john goes tomorrow on masn 2 against ole lien dover. on sunday we'll stay over for a monday night game, with garrett mock.

and then the marlins are in next tuesday. so this is the fourth of an 8-game, two-city road trip. too long series. this kid can hack. and a soft liner caught by hernandez. gallardo has hit two home runs this year and has four in the career. two quick outs for j.d. martin here in the third. i guess j.d. martin only needed a roof over his head to stick around for awhile and pitch a good ballgame on a day when the weather threatens. here's felipe lopez who is 0 for his last 7 in the series. after going four for his first six. lopez has sort of a familiar pattern when he leads off a ballgame. he almost always swings if it's a first pitch fast ball, then he'll take a view his second

time up. 0-2. >> rob: in the a really good lead off hitter if he does that consistently. >> bob: well he didn't see many pitches. there was a time when lopez first came to the nationals, i remember this stat, he was seeing about four and a half pitches per at bat. but as his two years in washington went by he became increasingly impatient. 0-2 to felipe. >> rob: each suzuki's teammates have said he is selfish because he doesn't take many pitches. he sees he is in the top three every year of seeing the fewest pitches for at bat. he is a great hitter. but you have got to show your lineup what the guy on the mound features that day. if you are going to swing at the first pitch, kind of hart hard to tell what j.d. martin has got going on. >> bob: i know we weren't

pleased with the at bat by guzman last night. in a situation when he grounded out early in the count. and now lopez has a two out base lit with craig counsell coming up. felipe lopez now 12 for 33 as a brewer. so he is hitting .360 in ten games since coming over here. and here's counsell. >> bob: grounded out to nick johnson first time up. this is craig counsell's 13th big league season has an accounting degree from notre dame. and he drives one hacking hooking, and well to the right of the foul pole.

>> rob: he got ahold of a cut fast ball that was coming in on him. whether it is a slider or a cutter thrown properly all the left handed hitter can do is pull it foul. you have to visualize that. a lot of times when i was going to throw a slider coming in i was thinking either he is going to miss it, or he is going to pull it foul. that is why you bury it down and in. >> bob: and this one to right field. that is trouble. it is going to leave. craig counsell's fourth homerun and the brewers lead 2-0. 

 >> bob: this pitch right here right down broadway. hit the back wall beyond the yellow line and came back. 2-0 milwaukee. and in 13 years, craig counsell has now hit 39 home runs. what a lift for milwaukee that is their 115th ties them for second in the league with colorado behind the phillies. and the first major league homer given up by j.d. martin. >> rob: it is bad location. you saw the catcher down and way away off the plate. that was right down broadway. >> bob: this all started with two outs and now you are dealing with ryan braun. don't make a mistake here. he got it on the inner half. that might have been too good of an 0-2 pitch but it was tipped into will nieves's glove. nyjer morgan will still be at

the plate when the nats come up in the fourth. @x@0@p@0@6p)@)@)

 >> debi: it is 2-0 milwaukee as we move to the fourth inning. we are covering the bases today with nyjer morgan. he was traded from pittsburgh and he likes his new home in washington, d.c. >> first of all i love washington. i have never been here. just all the history, and all the special monuments and everything like that. there is so much history there, there is a lot of things to on do and definitely a lot of

things intrigued me. hopefully i could stay around a lot longer. >> debi: he has done such a great job revitalizing the team. his mom called him the reenergizer bunny. >> bob: he has some serious battery power there. that was a nice little bunt butcher boy into left centerfield. 97 at bats, 39 hits, .402. how about that? the on base average as a national, in the 435 range right now. so here's a chance after the other team has just slapped you in the face to get right back at it maybe get a run or two back alberto gonzales has to do something good here. there is all kinds of hitting room on the right side. she had four innings to try. i'm not sure when they watered

it. it wasn't right before the game. >> rob: it's not dry. it is just mud. >> bob: that goes back to the play at first base. and the first inning well grounds crews and managers have been doing things like this for over 100 years. it is not like a football field where everything is the same or a basketball court where you might have a bad board here and there. baseball's the one support where every field is different. to a certain extent you can control the conditions in your own ballpark. >> rob: called games man ship. >> bob: he took it for a ball. top of the hour here in milwaukee and top of the afternoon to you on a thursday matinees rob temple, rob dibble, debi taylor and our march crew

here on a homerun by craig counsell. the brewers lead 2-0. every runner that the nats have had have been wiped out on the bases. gonzales had a right field idea there. sounds funny to say, but that foul ball was one of his better swings literally. he had an idea what he was doing, and came close to executing. he's three for the last 34 in this series one for ten. runner goes, and morgan got back. how many guys stop on a pitch out and get back to first base? that was kind of funny, rob,

kendall had his moment tum going toward second base and then he had to throw it first. that was interesting. >> rob: that was a false break of the i think he just wand to see what they were going to do testing the surface. >> bob: got a 2-1 count out of it. not a long lead. almost as if he knew guard was going to throw over. >> rob: he may be trying to wear down that muddy surface and get in dry dirt. get a better footing over there. he started and stopped again. now i wonder if you can e an area like tha over there % pt$ive and your guy  3@@knows where maybe start stop, back to the bag. >> rob: i just think tea a

bunch of muck. i think they are more worried about nyjer. >> bob: they are the last in stolen bases in the league with 34. >> rob: right. >> bob: the count's 2-2. >> rob: trying to clean off his spikes. >> bob: it takes a lot of guts to pitch out on 2-2. this might be a running count 2-2 with your 23, 4, 5 hitters coming up. he's holding and gonzales gets jammed that ball foul, fortunately, by the time it gt @ocsycgehee.  >> bob: well they have already played one game of a day/night double head ner new york today. yo hahn santana -- yo has been santana beat the rockies. he is 12-8 with that win and

his era going down to 2.96. they'll play again tonight. he is going. ball there's. no contest. and nyjer morgan haze his 32nd of the year. >> rob: kendall is trying to say now gonzales was in his way and he was. but joe west said he stepped behind gonzales to throw the ball. i don't think anybody's getting a call today. >> bob: this one didn't require a call. 32 stolen bases and 14 already as a member of the nats. now gonzales, i mean he's entitled to part that have batter's box, as long as he's not stepping in front of the catcher, he's fine. >> rob: no kendall tripped over his feet. >> bob: here's the 3-2 now.

nationals's 45th stolen base of the year. johnson has been in the on deck circle for a long, long time. 2-0 brewers top of the fourth. gonzales has driven in 18 runs. on a fast ball, another foul. gallardo 46 pitches in the first three innings. and the first two hitters here in the fourth making him work. gonzales gone. failing to advance a runner from sect base with to object out for

the second time today. >> rob: i don't know what you are looking for here 3-2. this is straight down broadway on the inner half. that is a beautiful pitch by gallardo. i don't know what you are trying to take for. got to swing the bat at this level. >> bob: situation hitting no good today. there is the frustration of going three for 35. nick johnson next, he flied to right. hits are even at three. big runs sitting out there. 2-0. 

 nats ball three. carlos lee has hit his 17th homer at chicago for houston, top of the second. the cubs have scored two in the bottom. they are a half game behind st. louis. they have beaten the dodgers there's days in a row. this central race is interesting. houston three and a half back. a 3-0 to nick johnson on the outside edge. wild card races getting interesting as we get to the end of july here. >> rob: i said this yesterday. mets winning they keep themselves alive. they are about five back. >> bob: six teams within four games. >> rob: it will be interesting to see who does something. who goes out and gets help.

braves don't need pitching they need hitting. astros have good offense. >> bob: the brewers pitching is going to have to be better. >> rob: marlins have good pitching. >> bob: they are five out in that race. a lot of ball clubs involved. that is what baseball's looking for with the wild card. >> rob: giants definitely need thumpers in the middle of that lineup. number one if pitching from the national league. a good at bat from nick johnson breaking ball low. first and second. one out. at dam done coming up. get your red on and come on out tuesday the nats will be home on august fourth to start a new homestand. you know you are getting a free nats fan t-shirt for the first 10,000 fans to enter the gates.

888-632-6287. or nationals.com.   we are going to have to see what the ten things are you know you are a nats fan. 62 now for gallardo. 16 in the city. adam dunn at the plate when morgan was caught stealing.   >> bob: and guard suddenly nibbling against the nats's left handed hitters. adam dunn in this series, three for six, four walks, a homer and

three rbis. he'll drop that one to the outside corner. interesting that a couple of reds have the most all time. that's where dunn and griffey hit most of those, of course. adam, one as a that the in this series. all those guys in the division no surprise there. >> rob: adam not happy with this swing right here. good change up. >> bob: he was pretty complimentary toward trevor hoffman's change ups last night, wasn't he? >> rob: yes he was. he said that last was theqbest change up he has ever thrown to

adam. >> bob: two men aboard. one out here in the fourth and a 2-2 pitch. adam dunn, they'll appeal. no swings, and a full count. >> rob: see if this goes our way. no. that is a good call. interesting situation, dangerous hitter on deck. 3-2. fast ball up and away. oh, you're kidding? joe west is going to call adam dunn out. dunn has a few words and keeps on walking. he can't believe it, two outs. >> rob: guard worked him all over the plate, that ball up,

change up away. another change up away and he 93 up and in. he throws 94 outside the box, but gets the call. >> bob: here's ryan zimmerman. can't fault adam for taking that because that wasn't really a hittable pitch. ryan bounced out to second base first time up, two on, two out. >> rob: i disagree with you. he's got to be swinging the

bat. 3-2 first ask second. he is getting paid to drive in runs not draw walks. he is not a lead off hitter bob been i agree with you in that respect. i didn't think the pitch was something. >> rob: i would rather have him swing at that than, you know, let that go by looking for a walk. >> bob: zimmerman rocks one to left center. that ball is gone, and the nationals lead 3-2. so after all the bad breaks they have gotten today, zimmerman plates three on one swing, his 1st of the year. it's all about karma, bad calling, adam dunn on the third strike. and that man strikes right there. one swing of the bat. 3-2 ballgame.

ryan zimmerman's rbi total shoots up to 66. he has driven in six runs in this series, here's willie harris. for the nationals, their 95th homerun of the year. the brewers have given up 138. they are a homerun hitting club but their pitchers have given up more home runs than anybody in the national league. so what's that? 13 home runs in this series now, and 48 runs between these clubs. the nats have outscored him 30-18. >> rob: standing up and swinging at each other. >> bob: yeah the theme song for this series should be i get knocked down and i get up again. man.

30 to 18 in runs. willie harris fouls one back. had a good rip. ryan zimmerman has now hit four home runs and driven in 10 in his last seven games. over that time he is 10 for 26. >> rob: where is that flex cam when you need it? >> bob: we know how strong he is. harris will strike out, looking. all three nats who made out struck out, looking. but the other guys did well. morgan a hit, johnson a walk, jimmerman a laser beam to left center. the nationals lead 3-2. 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. all the way to the home, you meant... we bring fiber optic all the way to the home. um... which gives you more bandwidth than cable. so you can upload faster. so it's like comparing a horse and buggy to a sports car. am i the, uh, horse? (announcer) it's a whole new internet. makes uploading as easy as downloading. because your internet's not fast unless it's two-way fast. what is it to lead? at pnc, it's doing what most benefits our customers. whether that's building more

certified green buildings than anyone on earth. creating online banking tools for the next generation. or making a 10 year, $100 million investment in kids. it's how we've always done business. and will for a very long time to come. pnc. leading the way.  nationals take the lead 3-2 on ryan zimmerman's homer and rob additional, just when you think nothing is going to go your way, one of your star players takes a big swing and changing everything robb i think it was two weeks ago rick told us i would like to see our guys get more big hits in situations where we need them. ryan zimmerman a clutch homerun and that one may not be coming back 

 >> bob: first pitch bottom of the fourth prince fielder ties the game with his 25th. and now j.d. martin has given up home runs to two of the last three hitters. >> rob: we talked about the unknown territory. this is the second trip through the lane up for martin. struck out ryan braun in the last i think -- inning. next up will be corey hart. 3-3 ballgame. all right. 14 homers in series and 4 runs. >> rob: told you, it is a slug fest.

they're not going to go down without a fight and neither are the nats. that is the way you like to play baseball. just hope we are on the winning end. a good breaking ball, strikes out. corey hart. >> rob: he regroups quickly. >> bob: well he struck out ryan braun after the home and it will be mike cameron and casey mcgehee, the next two hitters. >> rob: hopefully he is motivated enough and ticked off enough he is not going to give up any more home runs. dominates hard and punches him out on a great breaking ball. >> bob: if somebody would have told me monday afternoon that three days later we'd be sitting here in the fourth inning on thursday trying to win three out of four tied in the fourth inning i would say let's go, take our chances with that.

>> rob: i agree. exactly right   >> bob: good night. that was a beautiful breaking ball by martin. good morning, good afternoon and good night. wow. >> rob: that is just over the top pulling down the elbow to the opposite knee. can't diagram that any better. >> bob: last five hitters, homers strikeout, homer, strikeout, strikeout. it is all or nothing right now and here's casey mcgehee who fried to right his first time up. up the middle.

martin, in good position. able to knock it down. the brewers are quickly gone. prince fielder ties the game but hey, it is only his first homer of the searry. ♪ (tucci) only at&t has the best selection of full keyboard phones. like the lg neon, just $29.99 after mail-in rebate.

 then on this one, will nieves flashing by the shortstop, craig counsell. and he was called out for a tag on the head. the world's most refreshing beer of the prince fielder homers in the fourth to tie the game for prince's 25ing of the year, number 105 in his four year career. >> rob: on the will nieves play if he hit the helmet, he would have knocked the helmet forward. the helmet didn't move the. he is in a bad position. he needs help. jim is asking for help. one of the other umpires, joe west refused to ask for help, and i'm glad jim argued the point. because he was right. >> bob: will nieves bounces another one to third. this time casey mcgehee can

play it with the glove. davis got a base hit on a similar bouncer back in the third. mcgee this time used the leather. missed by a couple of steps. anderson hernandez alberto gonzales are 0 for 3. i don't want to lump them together and make them seem like they are not unique individuals, but they are similar type players. one's batting second, one's batting eighth and neither one is hitting. 8 for 71.   that is a good pitch by gallardo. >> rob: the only thing i can

say about being in the situation the nationals are in, they have got time to make these kids play. are you every day players? or are you going to be role players at this level? >> bob: right. as we talked about before, i have had this conversation with several major leaguers over the years. once you are labeled utility, it's a hard label to get rid of. pitcher on deck. anderson hernandez was pretty much penciled in as the regular second baseman when the season started. gets under one and pops it up

to center. cameron for the second out, with j.d. martin the pitcher, coming up. afternoon trivia from after flack -- aflack. >> who became the first rookie to appear on the all-star ballot? >> could it be the base coach for the brewers? >> rob: i have to disqualify myself. i know the answer. >> bob: i know who you are talking about. and we won't mention any names. we'll see if the folks can figure it out. >> rob: yeah. >> bob: that ball tomahawked down the line and left, and it is foul. 

 not far from a four bagger. >> rob: wow. where did that come from? he just swings you are dangerous when you have got lumber in your head. >> bob: this is an interesting ballpark because 344 is relatively down the line but the gaaps in this park aren't very big. that is a breaking ball that misses away. 1 and 2. 400 straight away center. the wall is the same height all the way around. you'll see a lot of balls pulled back by outfielders here. that's nasty. and the nats are gone in the top of the fifth inning. halfway through the ballgame, it's a 3-3 battle on get away day in milwaukee. 1?owo j

 the pats left home at the age of 169. made his debut in this ballpark with the pirates. couple of years ago. the nats got it with sean burnett. >> bob: let's see how quick number 13 is here. got the face off. little give and go. takes the path. there he goes. he has tripped. first time it in there, nyjer. i think it's pretty obvious, rob. he was faster. he shoots, he scores.

>> bob: you know, i think it's pretty obvious. he was faster on his skates than everybody else was. turned 29 years of age on july 2nd. there is a little come backer from kendall to j.d. martin and for more on nyjer morgan, here's debi. >> debi: his strength is speed always will be speed. here's more from nyjer on playing hockey and when i first moved to can district attorney i was a defense man. i was 15 years old. they saw the speed and i was rub aring the puck -- rushing the puck like bobby or. >> debi: we are so glad he swapped his skates for his baseball strikes. bobby, one of the greatest that ever played. >> bob: he changed the game he went end to end and guyss had not been programmed to do that

before. >> rob: maybe number four wasn't available. now that's pretty tough when you are in the little leagues and a number's not available. >> bob: sometimes in those little leagues, though go by size. >> rob: maybe the coach's son had number four. looked like nyjer was the biggest kid on those teams. >> bob: the bottom four hitters in the milwaukee order 0 for 8. top of the order now felipe lopez. he is at two line drives, he is one for two. >> rob: referred to left field in pittsburgh a morgantown 

 >> bob: slides off, that will keep him at second base. felipe lopez, we have to give him some credit. swinging the bat well here in milwaukee. he is now 13 for 35. >> rob: he keep throwing this guy off speed junk you are going to pay. a breaking juan, down and away. change up. >> bob: he lined out hard on a fast ball, first pitch of the game. since then the nats won't three him a fast ball. >> rob: i don't understand it. you throw fast balls in on the guy. not going to take you deep. but you throw them change ups and curve balls. he is going to slap them out here for base hits. that's his job that ball in the

dirt, will nieves not only covers it gloves it and threatens to throw. you have to pitch to him with ryan braun coming up. that is right down the middle. 1-2. one ball and two strikes

to craig counsell we'd like to welcome the rest of our masn audience who watched the orioles beat kansas city today 7-3 behind ferguson. had a homer from thai wigington. we are in milwaukee with a tie fifth inning. craig counsell flies to the left, willie harris to the line and puts it away. and so the nats, who have won two of the first three in this series, tied into the sixth inning. ♪ ♪ i always feel like (announcer) it's right here, it's easy... ♪ somebody's watching me. ...it's the money you could be saving with geico.

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 ryan zimmerman with two men aboard. lasers won to left, the nats in the first pitch on the bottom of the fourth. prince fielder.

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kendall pops up a pitch but it's not going to stay in. not a hole lot of foul ground here with the exception of

the way they have packed the house kendall gets jammed. runner coming home. zimmerman throws and safe. >> rob: no way. >> bob: joe west is going to say the runner got under the tag. and here comes pat. pat is the manager in charge right now, with jim riggleman ejected. will nieves can't believe it. let's see if cameron spikes got under the tag. did will block the plate at all here? that's not a good tag.

he tagged him high. looks like joe west got it right, rob. >> rob: i hate to say it. but i have to agree with the call. this is a high tag. cameron gets underneath. you have got to block home plate with your shin guard. he does it and he gets underneath it. >> bob: if will nieves plays the glove down the runner is out and the brewers lead it 4-3 here in the seventh inning. and martin is done. almost as fast as you. nothing's gonna hold you down.

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being in control of my money feels good. introducing the virtual wallet from pnc, a high-definition, online view of your money. pnc. leading the way.   the brewers lead it 4-3. nobody out here in the seventh. i think we are going to see that an umpire working his 4000th game got a critical call right as will nieves brought the mitt up and the spiked were down. >> rob: bob, right here this catcher's leg got to be blocking the plate. it's not. and mike cameron is going to come in here and just slide right through unabated. you have to have that front leg in front of the plate. you have shin guards on. like associate sha was one of

the best at blocking home plate and he would keep that leverage leaning forward, put that shin guard in there, and he would hurt guys. he would almost break guy's ankles by not letting them into home plate. >> bob: well catchers have been doing that for a long time. first and second, nobody out, jjust harding, bunting, it drop. zimmerman's got it on the run. good play. sacrifice is good, 5-46789 i think the nationals changed pitchers before the pinch hitter was announced so the brewers were able to pull him back, i believe. >> rob: he knows it is going to be a soke are sac bunt. the official box shore we are looking at shows that garrett was appearing as the pinch hitter so they must have burned two players there. but no matter, they got the sacrifice and now we have a chance for more.

here's felipe lopez against sean burnett. infield in. ner going to walk him and go lefty lefty with craig counsell. the brewers do have another infielder, but he is not having a good year by the name of bill hall. who is right hand and has pop. no move toward a batting helmet or a bat for him. maybe this is why craig counsell stays in the game. well, they used the term gamer to describe guys like craig counsell. but on a world championship team he revered around the major league, he is one of the hardest

workers out there. you talk about making the most out of your skills. 13 years in the big league? >> bob: yes, sir. >> rob: that is a fantastic creek career.    lefty lefty match up. counsell one for three with a couple of homers at third base mcgee, first base lopez. the brewers looking for a seventh inning knock out punch. they are trying to make a winner out of yovani gallardo, who struck out 11 in seven innings and gave the nationals three runs on just five hits. ball two.

ken macha also knows that craig counsell has a 12 game hitting strike and has a very good batting eye. certain guys you don't worry about the lefty lefty match up. >> bob: strike one.   up the middle. should be two. hernandez throws it away. nick johnson saves it. and the brewers lead 5-3. burnett does a great job, gets a

ground ball on a great contact hitter. taylormade, right here. hernandez rushes the throw and throws it away. should have been out in the inning. right here he is going to flip it over, instead of taking his time, now you are chasing two runs. first and third, two outs now. >> rob: that play's got to be made at this level. >> bob: that was a taylormade double play ball. high hopper. no problem for gonzales. we have talked about how hard this infield is. those high choppers, they get to infielders in a hurry here. you can't be afraid of the guy taking you out at second. watch second base they get their knees and legs blown out but that's the price you pay for

playing at this level. been bob a good running fast ball there ryan braun who is 0 for 3 today. the nats could have been out of this inning with no runs scored. the play at the plate would have been the first out. there has been an intentional walk and a ground ball since then. gonzales gets to and rolls it to hernandez, 6-49 in the seventh inning and the inning is over. but the brewers get two runs on two hits and an intentional walk. and they lead it now 5-3. @x@0@

  it's turned into a nice day outside in milwaukee. the roof has been closed all day because of some earlier showers. top of the eighth inning coming up. and we'll pay off our trivia here back to 176. the first rookie to appear on the all-star ballots. >> rob: willie randolph. >> bob: whether or not became a six time all-star. and he was one hard-nosed

player. serving as ken macha's bench coach right now after his rude dismissal from the mets. >> rob: i agree. he was unceremoniously let go there. >> bob: he asked them if i'm done, please let me go before we go to the west coast. he was told he was safe, went to the west coast. won the first game on a trip and got fired in the wee hours. we love you, willie. >> rob: you are gone. >> bob: top of the eighth. >> rob: we love him. goodman. class act. >> bob: great baseball man. hernandez, belliard and morgan, here in the eighth. jj hardy stays in and plays short. that moves craig counsell over to the hot corner.

they got their defense lined up. most of the guys they usually start at those two positions. hardy, jj hardy, the rifle from tucson. what an arm on that kid. >> bob: so their pitcher batting seventh. that is the everren jettic todd coffey broke. >> rob: i got a chance to talk to brad yesterday on my radio show. there had to be a time you were going to be a pitcher. he said absolutely. he was drafted as a pitcher. >> bob: with that arm of his? >> rob: with that arm. they said no, we'd rather have you play the outfield. >> bob: did you ask him why nobody runs on him any more? >> rob: maybe because he has one of the best arms in the big

league? >> bob: respect. belliard on deck here in the eighth. anderson, hernandez and alberto gonzales are having tough days. that is the twelfth national to strike out today. follow the nats on your i-phone with ml b.com. 2009. featuring video highlights and live audio broadcasts. visit nationals.com on your i-phone or ipod touch to purchase. here's ronnie belliard, 0 for 5 last night. 

  mike mcdougal hasn't had much work lately. last save opportunity was won sunday. the nats won that game. he saved one right before that but hasn't really worked since.    sean burnett will pitch one inning. he won't be charged with any runs. one intentional walk. one score.    all he does is come in and get outs. >> bob: and a fast ball up and away to belliard.

two balls two strikes. >> rob: he keeps it pretty simple. probably 90 to 95% fast ball pitching and contact. here it is. >> bob: and belliard will pop up again. nyjer morgan has been a shining star for the nats. three of their five hits with a first inning double. he went out to left center for that one. in the fourth inning leading off a base hit up the middle then he stole second and scored on the zimmerman homer and then he pulled a double down the right field line in the sixth but rob the two times he doubled leading off he never made it beyond second base the first time and third the second time. >> rob: that is where you miss cristian guzman good contact runners moving along. but you have to see these guys are every day players. and you are in a situation which doesn't come too often to allow these younger players to get more playing time. got to make the most of it.

been bob morgan hitting .408 as a national. 40 hits in 90 at bats and his next base hit either today or tomorrow in his old baseball hometown of pittsburgh will set a new nationals record for a month. there's guzman next for alberto gonzales if the eighth inning goes that far. >> rob: i wanted to get this right. he was drafted 47th round in 8 by the bluejays, as a pitcher. went back to college, went to lsu. >> bob: morgan a good id of the slider and the count is 2-2.

they have suffered through 20 minutes of rough radio without you today. we get you for day games and todd coffey gets nyjer morgan for the final out in the eighth inning. ♪ ♪

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  we'll get you going at 630:67:89 nats extra hosted by johnny holliday and ray knight. >> rob: big man throws hard.   a few moments ago anderson hernandez had taken the field to play second base in the bottom of the eighth. and then ronnie belliard came

out and replaced him. so that makes a double switch, the nats had to do that. unless they wanted to just burn a pinch hitter and a lineup spot. so macdougal will be batting eighth and belliard plays second base. a closer who needs work. not a good situation. challenges prince fielder with a fast ball. he let off the fourth, he is not that tall, maybe six foot. but he generates a lot of bat speed and a lot of torque. >> bob: he squirts a base hit to

left field. we have seen him do that a couple of times in this series. he is hitting over .300 in the season. his on base percentage before that at bat. .422 career, .380. base percentage 380. that is pretty good. >> bob: by the way, we may hear bells ringing here in the ballpark shortly again. the nationals took trevor hoffman out of the first two games of this series by having late leads. even though he did get some work in one of those games. there is a base hit by hart. verizon presents father x-ray. j.d. martin had an up and down afternoon. had a chance for a quality start but he gave up two in the seven. not good base running at times by the nats today. not real good defensive play a

time or two against milwaukee base runners. we'll see why ray calls it an increasing four game series by pittsburgh. maybe ray's intrigued to find out who the pirates are going to put on the field after trading most of their starting lineup this year. jack wilson freddie sanchez departing yesterday. and now a wild pitch. second and third. nobody out and this game's about to get out of reach. macdougal tried to overthrow a little bit. talked about that a lot. you cannot what they call hump up and muscle the ball. got to be fluid and mechanical. >> bob: there's no doubt he's

got a good, hard running sinking fast ball. but what does he have to go with it? >> rob: the question. he tried to throw a breaking ball. usually down in the third. that one didn't pull it down. let go of it a little early. brewers aren't. >> bob: brewers aren't going to gainey ground on the cubs today. they have really hit the houston pitching staff hard down there at wrigley field. here it's the eighth. two on, nobody out and a 2-1 to cameron. he fouls one back. and frank catalanotto on deck for the second time today. the pitcher's spot is next.

congress dong, dong, that is what you think when you see trevor hoffman. cameron's going to get a one run on a deep fly ball to nyjer morgan, up against the wall. it's 6-3 and the other runner goes to third. mike cameron's bat came alive last night. and he has a double and a sac fly here today. looks like mike cameron's power is out there to right center. >> rob: yeah and he knows this guy doesn't really feature an off speed pitch. he waits on a good fast ball. didn't even really take a hard swing. put it in play. got the rbi but more importantly, got the insurance run. >> bob: frank catalanotto will pinch hit here for the pitcher, coffey. going to walk him and put

runners at first and third and face jason kendall. >> rob: this team's got a lot of talent. i'll be interested to see if they make a move and go out and get a pitcher or two. solid bullpen but you need some more starting pitching. not that easy to come by these days. why do you think the world champions would go out and get cliff lee, the cy young award winner? >> bob: the brewers stepped out of character by getting sa bathia, he did go 11-2 here. and got them out of the playoffs but they never made it out of the first round. can you do that two years in a row when you are talking about giving away multiple young players to get someone? and. > >> rob: these fans are hungry. >> bob: it was their first winning season since the early 90s. >> rob: put up this kind of attendance means that you want

to see some results. we are just hoping that you can go back to the playoffs. it's been 26 years since they had been to the playoffs going in the last year. >> bob: if you are a team that is not drawing, that is one thing. if you are filling your stadium almost every day, it is pretty hard to lick your fans in the eye and say we can't afford to go out and make a move. they are wondering what's it going to take? we are here.    first and third one out a run in. wild pitch. safe. 7-3. a nightmare of an inning for mike macdougal with two wild pitches. and trevor hoffman will probably sit down now. >> rob: another wild pitch.

will nieves makes a nice play on the ball. bob been we saw mitch stetter the left hander up. four hitters. two hits. a walk. a sac fly. two wild pitches. ball three. >> rob: he has had his trouble

on the road this year with a nine innings pitched coming in to today, 13 walks and hitters hitting .378 off of them. >> bob: the last thing pat thought he might have to do is get another pitcher up in the ninth inning. it is ron villone and a 3-2 from macdougal. the hitter helps out. and will nieves throws him out. jason kendall gone for the second out. today's copyrighted telecast presented by authority of the washington nationals and may not be reproduced or retransmitted in any form. any accounts and descriptions of this game may not be disseminated without the express consent of the washington

nationals. pat managing the ball club since jim riggleman was tossed after joe west missed a call on an anderson hernandez foul tip back in the third inning. west said he struck out. replays clearly showed a foul tip. jim argued with joe and the third base umpire, who stood there didn't say a word because the home plate umpire never asked him for help. riggleman was tossed. sent the first national manager to be tossed since frank robinson? or did manny get tossed a time or two? can't remember, really. manny was not confrontation al. nor is jim riggleman. i don't know what he could have said to maybe have gotten tossed. until he warned him not to go to the other umpire. >> bob: i think that's got to

be it, robb rob he said i'm not asking for help, don't stay out here. you know what? when you are right, you are right. you shouldn't back down and jim didn't. >> bob: one ball and two strikes with two outs. runner at second. and a little player to center. here comes morgan and he takes another run away. no matter what's happening with the rest of this team, nyjer morgan keeps playing brilliant baseball. two runs and it is 7-3 into the ninth. 

  last chance for the nats. in this series in a 7-3 game our game summary ryan zimmerman three run homer in the fourth is the extent of the nats run scoring offense today. nyjer morgan has been fantastic, three for four. stellar play in center field. j.d. martin pitched into the seventh. >> rob: he deserved a better fate. >> bob: he did. >> rob: his catcher makes a tag play on a ground ball. he might have pitched seven innings and only given up three runs. >> rob: he is a good kid. he throws a lot of strikes.

i like his stuff. >> bob: mitch stetter for the brewers. stetter pitched in the nats, and that is a foul ball. the nats blowout 14-6 win on monday night. and he didn't retire anybody. gave up two hits. pardon me, one hit, one walk, two runs in the sixth inning. >> rob: let's see if counsell pushes this ball foul. no it is foul. >> bob: it did hit foul, right next to the bag. can't complain about that. >> rob: valiant effort. >> bob: for those of you who may be wondering, jose morales is still going to make the trip to pittsburgh. the nats are still 4-2. rob and

i have made an executive committee decision that jose stays with us as long as the nats are above .500 with him accompanying us. we had a four day unbeaten streak and a little fun with that. not that we are superstitious or anything. but he is making the trip. tell you another game like today better be flame retardant. i'm kidding. i'm kidding been bob boy, do you turn in a hurry. man. good line. >> rob: thank you. >> bob: only the second walk by the brewers pitchers today. they had walked way too many batters in the first three games of the series. you know the interesting thing about this. it is a 7-3 became.

if the nationals get three men on, it is a save situation again, and trevor hoffman would get back up and be throwing, if he is not already. and he is. john lannon goes in pittsburgh tomorrow night. we'll be with you at 6:30 with nats extra with johnny and ray. >> rob: i wonder if stetter is irish? then he would be an irish stetter. all right. that is a reach. >> bob: he would be a teacher if he wasn't a ball player. he is a sycamore are from indiana state. larry bird's school. 

  he is phase iii nationals hitters in this series. see what nick johnson can do with dunn and zimmerman the next two due up here in the mining. if he breaks that imagine plane that is close. we'll take that one. to keep your hands that far out in front of the bat, you sometimes get that call. and that is ball three. it helps to have a good batter's eye. >> if the nats get two men aboard. the tying run would be in the on deck circle.

so it doesn't have to be bases loaded here. if nick gets aboard, we could see trevor hoffman. nick's not going to on a fly ball to left center for cameron. >> debi: right handed pitcher jorge sosa has been fantastic as a reliever. ace a 1.48 era in 12 games. he has a 1.38 era. he is starting to pitch very well down there,. >> bob: bob plenty of it. that is an intriguing name. i wouldn't mind seeing sosa up here. the coaching staff are high on him. >> bob: adam dunn a pop-up. two strikeouts today. >> rob: keep throwing the way

you are throwing, jorge. you'll be here. >> bob: he would rather face stetter based on the comments afterward. >> rob: i think he would rather take the breaking ball down than trying to hit that change up. adam dunn gets one to center. how much of it did he get? two outs. if will be up to ryan zimmerman. as he hit a laser beam to left center. >> sometimes that's all it takes to be our ford drive of the game one swing of the wood.   zimmerman one for three. 1 homers, the brewers are one

out away from getting a split in the series. and the nats had a winnable game last night. and they led again today.    0-2 to zimmerman. ground ball felipe lopez. ballgame over. series over. and the brewers come back and salvage the series by winning the next two. two hours and 38 minutes.

a 7-3 win. the nats only had five hits all day. we are back in a minute. good a. ya know not everyone gets to keep their unused minutes. and these days we can't afford to be wasteful. saving minutes... ...saves money. yea. (announcer) only at&t's family talk with rollover saves your family's unused minutes. and saving minutes saves money. for back to school, get the lg neon for $29.99 after mail-in rebate.

>> bob: 7-3 the final in milwaukee he didn't have any errors. there's plays could have gone as errors. miss tag in the play. missed double play. crazy game. >> we'll talk about it as best we can. to sort out the 7-3 loss. we'll go back up to rob and bob up in milwaukee. we'll see you in a couple of seconds.   brewers 7 nats 3. we'll get you going at 6:30

johnny and ray. this is masn sports.com for all the latest news on the nats. this has been a presentation to masn. stay tuned nats extra coming up right now. from the booth so long until pittsburgh. >> one of the bright spots ryan zimmerman got a pretty good muscle there why not? against milwaukee back in the fourth inning the nationals fall though because they needed more than just zimmerman's homerun. they lose the fourth game of the series. they split the series with the brewers 7-3 the final. first time milwaukee has won back to back games in a month. >> wow, they are not playing well either. they are in contention. >> they are. they have got a good offense. they are going to score runs. they score runs in bunches. their pitching staff not real good. they are in a division they

have a chance if they can put together a streak. they looked really down the first two games but they were able to come big base hits council only 46 lifetime home runs. it is a homerun today. >> defining home? i would think probably the seventh inning the score was tied and all of a sudden they get a double double. >> cameron doubles right down that line. first and third. kendall zimmerman. throws the ball, will nieves catches and he is actually safe. look how he raises up. and these tags instead of dropping the ball right in front of the plate. he is out. i don't know why you end up raising up. first of all you need to be out in front of the plate.

joe west got that call right. >> it is a pretty good play for cameron, too. >> you are not supposed to be giving the plate. nobody could do better in it. you put your foot right there in that corner. you take away the plate. the only place you are supposed to be able to slide is the shin guard and then you bend your leg and so aptly showed on the teleadministration. for some reason he stays up, right. that play's one of the toughest

plays you are going on the line. you have to make it almost through the runner. you can't hardly even see the catcher. >> you saw the line there moments ago. the nationals 3-5-0 and milwaukee 7-9-0. you heard bob and rob talking about j.d. martin today in his second start. it is pretty darn good pitching. >> he can pitch. we talk about stuff all the time this guy doesn't have great stuff whether it comes to overpowering stuff but he had the mentality. he threw today 65% off speed pitches. didn't throw that many fast balls. when he used his fast ball it makes it better. we are going to show you what he did. he was able to throw the fast ball down. 88 little cutter 85. 89 and the slow hook.

you see how he is able to change speeds? he had four pitches. that is a tremendous break on a curve ball only 73 miles per hour. that pitch right there is probably going to keep him in the big leagues. that was a flip single off the end of the bat. you can't throw 88 down the middle. you never hit home runs. i was very impressed with the way he threw the ball. he was able to throw a little cutter there down and in you can't hold prince fielder down the whole series. this is the first time he hit the whole series. 86 pitches 64 spikes. that is almost 78% strike. that is the highest strike

ratio we have had all year long. i see now why everybody was high on j.d. martin. he is one of those young guns, not that, he is just a guy that knows how to pitch. >> he has a spot on the rotation? >> i think so. i think he is a guy that is way advanced as far as understanding where the bat barrel is. that is if a guy is out in front of the fast ball, then you throw him off speed. if he is on the breaking ball you pitch him inside with a fast ball. he shows today evidence he can do that. >> if you look at his numbers today seven hits. didn't walk anybody. he struck out four brewers and six innings in the mound 86 and 64 and 32 balls but the brewers win it by a score of 7-3. they come from behind they led by a score of 2-0. the nationals took a brief lead in that fourth inning and the brewers tied it up and weapon on to bin by 3-7-3. we'll talk

about controversial and rather unusual calls today on this ballgame. we'll be back in a moment.

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jim got his final word in there didn't he? before he got ejected from the ballgame. the nats take the first two at miller park and the brewers come back and take the next two. batting average the brewers .293 the nats at .390 in the series. nats had a better era than milwaukee did. >> that helped, right? >> the offense today, the guy that always seems to be getting it done and getting it started is nyjer morgan. >> golly, johnny. .444 this kids' hitting with this ball club. line drive up the middle just a flat stroke. still second after a walk nick johnson and a bullet left

field. zimmerman swinging that bat. that ballpark plays awfully small. it is a low, fast ball. stays on it. beautiful stroke. nice drive, stays balance and drives the ball out that have park and the gun he has right there reminds me of you, johnny. >> fat chance. look at morgan's numbers today. three for four. two doubles and a run scored. nobody else had two hits in this lineup. zimmerman goes one for four with his 19th homer. drove in the only three runs for washington and will nieves with a single. seems like every time will is catching he gets a base hit but that wasn't enough. 7-3 as they head tonight to pittsburgh to begin a series tomorrow against the pirates a four game set there. we talked about controversial

plays, questionable plays, i don't know what you would call it but there were a lot today one cost jim riggleman a spot in the dugout. should we look at some of these? >> i will. rigs has a right. there is a breaking ball after he should have tried to one him over. couldn't and nyjer goes on a ball. it got hung up in kendall's glove. then that the third inning hernandez deflects this ball he chases a bad ball. the ball hits the bat as you clearly see the change of direction there. rigs rigs comes out and all he is saying is ask somebody else and cowboy west didn't ask somebody out and as a result he gets thrown out of the game. i think the aggressiveness is showing up any ball in the dirt. take off. usually you are safe but these balls are bouncing right back to

them. great, tremendous play there. a terrible job by will nieves. that foot is about 12 inches from where it should be. it should be right in front of that plate stopping and impeding the progress of the runner and you end up sliding right into the shin guards. you can also drop on one thee. he got that ball in plenty of time. but maybe a little skittish, i don't know. i just know it is a terrible play by a catcher in a situation where that is a go ahead run. great play, jim whoever manages him pat makes the decision, i'm sure jim is down there telling him what he wants him to do. bu