possibly coming back. wil played it right until ball came back to a stop. lannan is going to walk a speedy batter who has stolen 19 bases and give vandenhurk a chance to bat here with two outs. john lannan's 43rd walk of the year. the only puzzling thing about john this year the strikeout to walk totals. 59 k's, but 43 walks. the fact he's pitched so well with that ratio indicates how well he's thrown the ball this year. >> rob: i think he pitches carefully to guys he doesn't need to pitch to and then he's very good, and i told you this many times, you're always one pitch from a double play or one pitch from getting out of an inning and he does that quite well. >> bob: breaking ball, yes. he had bonifacio going backward to the bag that time. vandenhurk is 0-5 this year and

1-31 in his young career. recalled on july 20th from triple-a new orleans. this is only his fourth game of the year. >> rob: that's not going to get you a silver slugger bat. >> bob: in his career, it's notable that in 2007, 2008 and 2009, not once in his career has he pitched more than six innings. 6-5-6 his first three starts this year after only pitching in four big league games last season. bonifacio has a big lead, but he's not running. the pitcher is gone. it will require a throw and the top of the second is over. dan uggla's 20th homer gets the marlins on the board. elijah dukes coming up next. ♪

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first pitch. the d'backs are in, balester, dan haren saturday. sunday to be determined for the nats against pettitte. there is some speculation it might be jordan zimmermann, but the nats kind of a wait and see attitude on him. >> rob: there's no rush. >> bob: no, sir. he did get hit by a batted ball in his outing last evening. evidently ok. elijah dukes 3-15 with three rbi's since returning to the ball club four games ago. .0. debbi, what's the latest on jordan zimmermann in. >> debbi: jordan admitted to me his leg is still sore after he got hit last night. as for his arm, he toll me it felt ok. he thought if he continued getting treatment and massages he should be able to start on

sunday. >> bob: there you have it. had to chuckle at one of the entries on you know you're a nats fan t-shirt last night. it was telling the difference between the zimmermans. one with one n. one with two. clever. a 2-2 to elijah and dukes hits it hard to center. too hard. right at bonifacio for the first out. it's a wired wednesday. jim riggleman has been kind enough to agree us object a -- on a weekly basis. we had him in milwaukee last week. we look forward to that. that's if nyjer morgan ever stops talking we can actually get riggleman on the air. >> rob: once nyjer put that on, it became the nyjer morgan

show. he's a good, young man right there. gifted. i was wondering as far as i heard about the -- as soon as i heard about the bly lefl eleven, vandenhurk thing, did he teach him that big curve ball? that has burt in the top 10 all- time in strikeouts once again thinking of a basketball team with that that pitching staff over there. this kid is 6'5". johnson was 6'7". >> bob: he still is. >> rob: yep. >> bob: ronnie belliard, 4-8 as a pinch-hitter with two walks in his 10 pinch-hitting appearances. so, a guy does well for you.

he deserves a start here and there. ronnie gets one tonight. good eye. 2-2. >> rob: leroux is 6'6". pinto, 6'4". then johnson and miller are both 6'7" and then volstad and sean west are both 6'8". >> bob: ronnie belliard, left field line hooking. not missing a home run by very much. tim wood and brian sanches must feel like -- around these guys. >> rob: probably going, yeah, two 6'8" guys, two 6'7" guys. that's what is pirates are talkb those are guys they want to draft. >> bob: rob and i talked about that sunday in piferg. pirates have a philosophy in their organization now drafting

tall pitchers. increase that go downward angle towards home plate. belliard can't get it. strikeout number two for vandenhurk. >> rob: the thing about neil huntington i do like is part of his baseball resume is work with the cleveland indians. they've had a great -- or a great history of great evaluations and drafting very talented players. as long as you develop and draft talented players you think and project could play on the major league level, the pirates would be fine. once they get of age you're going to have to sign them. you've got to eventually spend money to win games. >> bob: you cannot continue to be a farm team for the rest of baseball. >> rob: right. >> bob: that's why you have a team in washington. expos did not have the attendance and money base to keep all those great, young players. >> rob: getting guide like vlad goero go and larry walker and

groims -- it's sad because you think of what could have been up there in montreal and it was just like, no, we're not going to spend the money. we're going to give these guys to other teams and help their organizations out. >> bob: wil nieves hitting .257. one of the great friends in this business is in the ballpark doing radio for the marlins. that's dan von horn. for a couple years while they were there they didn't have an english-speaking radio contract. nieves squirts one over to nick johnson. the nats go in order. manager jim riggleman with a 9- 11 record joins us straight ahead. if you're like a lot of people,

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there, guzman can get like that, too. >> rob: yeah, guzman is a very good contact guy. how much has the addition of nyjer morgan not only helped this lineup offensively but defensively? >> it's been huge. i think last night was a good example. he made a play for us and got an out at third base you don't normally see. he got a runner over. allowed us to get a runner to third base and get a runner in on an 0-4 night he had a big impact on that ballgame. >> bob: jim, how about the effort of your wall ball club lately? we had a brief conversation about that during your press briefing this afternoon coming from behind winning these games and a never give up attitude? >> i think that's very important. we'd like to be able to continue that just to always feek feel like we've got a chance. a guy last night was throwing a great ballgame. our guys were saying all the right things in the dugout. let's stay close and hang around this ballgame. we'll get the big guy out there have and maybe bang up the bullpen and they were able to do that. >> bob: a bouncing ball to the right side for belliard with

belliard. we got you an easy out, skipper. we'll ask you one more question. i was not aware that ryan zimmerman and adam dunn had not gone back to back with home runs this year. talk about the synergy between the two of them in the three and for four spots. >> yeah, i didn't know that either. i know zim really likes having dunn sitting back there. i think it's helped him. there's so much respect in the league for adam that ryan is going to get some pitches to hit. he just will take advantage of those and has. we're very fortunate to have those big sluggers in the middle of that lineup. >> bob: jim, as always, we appreciate your time, sir. we'll let you back to work. >> thank you very much. >> rob: thanks, jim. woit. >> bob: that is so great that we goat talk to the skipper live every week on wired wednesday. john lannan throws a strike under the hands of his former teammate nick johnson. after the easy out, coghlan bouncing out to belliard. top of the third under way. and the nats on top 2-1. both

pitchers are pitching inside and that's a good thing. fieldin culbreth has established an inside korver corner oriented strike zone tonight.   under jim riggleman, nation have now won 9-20. almost five runs a game. almost .270. 20 home runs in 20 games and the e.r.a. is about .8 lower than the season e.r.a. is at 5.04. definite improvement, rob dibble. >> rob: yes, definite improvement. they've still had games where the errors have hurt them. >> bob: that is your definition of a slow roller. guzman gets nick johnson. >> rob: as long as you have the effort on a team that they know at this point they're not going to the playoffs.

i think they're working harder now than maybe two months ago. i think mike rizzo has done a wonderful job trying to get together enough talent to be competitive in these ballgames and now coming down the stretch in the last 60, you become the spoiler. the one thing that i liked about this team a couple years ago, they knocked the mets out of the playoffs. now, that's how you can really build some character for next year. engage your talent level. it's a little easier to evaluate. >> bob: hanley ramirez did not have a hit in the series until his two at-bats tonight. >> rob: that guy. >> bob: an infield base hit and a clean single to left. jorge cantu is next. >> rob: not hard to evaluate his talent. that kid can play. >> bob: he came in batting .340 leading the league. zach duke zach duke leads all of -- ichiro suzuki leads all of baseball. cantu called out on strikes. i'm sure he remembers the breaking ball under his hands first time. lannan starts him off soft with

a strike. by the way, unl under jim riggleman, nats are 9-11. they've won 7-11 and 9-16. remember, they lost their first four games with him as the manager when the cubs came in here and swept the nats. since then, they're 9-7. that is a good, solid, veteran baseball man there. 0-2. lannan goes real soft and dumps a 72-mile-per-hour off- speed pitch in the dirt. jim got kind of a raw deal in seattle last year. took over the ballgame. said we're not carrying about wins and losses. we're look at young players. at the end of the season, they told him he didn't win enough games. he didn't get that job. their loss is washington's gain.

that was close. 2-2. big, strong, 6'3", 207 jorge cantu who works his family's 8,600 acre cattle ranch in mexico during the offseason. he was born in mcallen, texas, and the ranch is right across the rio grande. 3-2 and ramirez will be running. a guy with extra-base hit power and that's significant because ramirez represents the tying

run. changeup. extra-base hit. the nats hope it stays in front of willingham and it does. it will be second and third, two outs. i just thought of something. it's dangerous when a fan interferes with a double because if the fan interferes, the umpires can use their judgment on whether or not they think a runner might score and send him home. >> rob: the ball gets by the bag. the fan tries to make a catch. thankfully, he misses it terribly. it stays second and third. john lannan has still a chance to not give up a run in this inning and keep the lead. >> bob: uggla followed by ross. that's outside, says fieldin culbreth. >> rob: throwing a lost pitches

early. 47 already in the third inning. nibbling the last couple of starts the a lot are more than he has in the past. >> bob: yeah, the outs aren't coming early in the count, are they? >> rob: no. >> bob: at pittsburgh last friday, john lannan threw 50 pitches in the first three innings. then, he got through seven. >> rob: good 1-0 count there breaking ball for a strike to even the count up. wow. >> bob: that was a strike earlier. >> rob: the umpire thought it was a little low. 1-1 pitch just dips on the edge of that zone. >> bob: it's a perfect pitch.

>> bob: uggla, an all or nothing hitter. .229 coming in. now 20 homers 94 strikeouts. ball three. cody ross, nationals tormenter is next. they broke in big in 2006. he was one of the marlins who was in the rookie of the year voting with ramirez and johnson and ryan zimmerman. bases loaded. second with a -- second walk for lannan. nats will host the fifth annual nationals blood drive in partnership with the red cross this saturday 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. in the na nationals park conference center rooms three and four. donors receive a unique nationals collectible t-shirt, two tickets to an upcoming game

and a chance to win more. you can dial 1-800-give-life or visit my-redcross.org. ross retired on a good play by guzman, first time. -- good play by guzman first time. wil nieves makes a very good stop. we could hear the sound of the ball hitting the dirt before it got to the catcher. >> rob: no breaking ball -- you know breaking ball is coming. you know you have to get down low. you see him leaning forward. you talked about it. you have to keep your chest going back towards the mound so

the bhawl doesn't slide off to the side a guy like ramirez is like a nyjer morgan. he'll score easy if it just squirts 10-15 feet from you. >> bob: this all started with two outs. up and in. >> rob: he's not feeling it right now. you don't want to just throw a bad pitch to this guy. >> bob: cody ross, 18 home runs, a grand -- are grand slams. it will make you throw a strike as well. ball three. here is our baserunning bunch. ramirez singled. so did cantu. his actually a double. two hits and then the walk to uggla and now cody ross a three- run count. and a ground ball to zimmerman! knocks it down. still got him at first! >> rob: nice play.

>> bob: ryan zimmerman sacrificing his sore body to get the nationals a crucial out here. that is textbook keeping the ball in front of you. 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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and knock it down. that's part one. number two, it got far enough away from him where it had to be an unbelievable do or die play and he made t he barehanded it, stayed with it. he has to sacrifice his body right there and then throw him out. very similar to a play last night in the mets game where johan santana kicked it. david wright barehanded and it threw somebody out at first. >> bob: how about that shot of zimmerman airborne as he let that throw go. that was fantastic. >> rob: well, he's one of the best third baseman. you brought it up about bonifacio. not everybody is made it not just physically, but mentally to play third, even first. you have to be willing to take a shot one bounce it in front of you and knock it down. >> bob: about five years ago, i had a conversation with a great baseball gentleman named george kissel who is a longtime major league instructor. he gave may statement that

shocked me. he said, bob, you would be surprised how many major league ball players are afraid of the ball. he said you cannot play third base or first base if you have any fear of the baseball at all. >> rob: i'm not surprised. i've seen many guys afraid of contact, afraid to knock the ball down. playing third base takes a certain mentality. they used to have a phrase they yelled at the infielders all the time as nyjer morgan miss as bunt attempt. get your face in front of it. not your body. get your face in front of it. get your glove dirty. get your head down and get in front of the ball and knock down. not a lot of people want to put their face in front of the ball and knock it down. >> bob: cantu hasn't played that much third base. nyjer morgan just got hit on an 0-2 pitch. that's as good as a walk or a hit as far as the nats are concerned. nyjer morgan gets hit by a pitch for the eighth time this

year, third time as a nat. lathe ladies' night is back on august 20. $30 gets you access to the rooftop happy hour which begins at 4:30 and the 7:05 game against the. >> rick. complementary food and drinks, managers, massages, playerappearance, dancing and more. 202-675-nats. outside to guzman. not the most patient number two hitter with a speedster on first. >> rob: caught him leaning again. >> bob: he's been caughtstealing 15 more times than any runner in the major leagues this year.

  >> bob: ironic that the man is holding him spent most of the last month hitting behind him. he's holding. a strike to guzman. the count is even. guzman first pitch swinging first time up popped up to short. there were two outs. zimmerman hoampld opposite field. adam dunn went upper deck, right field. pitch out. ball two. morgan not running. ronny paulino, 24% throwing out runners this year.

1-50. >> rob: that can't be too easy with all the slow pitches delivering the ball to him. >> bob: short lead. he's running despite a very short leadoff. the ball is in center field, but it took nyjer a while to roll over and recollect himself. >> rob: i think the ball hit him. >> bob: he has 33 steals on the year. >> bob: it's harder to pop-up when you go in head first. so, that's 33 and with the nationals, he has 15. >> rob: see where the throw goes by paulino here as you see him take off. gets a grate jump. nice job by vandenhurk. >> bob: hanley ramirez is shaken up. >> rob: yeah, i think he got him on the wrist. >> bob: took his glove right off.   >> bob: boy, he sure dives into that bag, doesn't he?

>> rob: yes, he does. that's why the other night in pittsburgh he was knocked off the ball and tagged out. ramirez is still hurting as you saw his glove come off with nyjer. he may have separated his shoulder. >> bob: it appears like they're massaging it maybe trying to pop it back in. >> rob: the x-mo on the collision. he plandz on top of his glove and his arm. >> bob: morgan at second base, one out. guzman has worked the count to 3-1. with one pitch out in there for ball two. >> bob: that's a fair ball! the nats have another run.

guzman heading for second base. he is there! 3-1, nationals. guzman now has 14 rbi's in his last 12 games. nyjer morgan helping to manufacture a run. >> rob: well, this is what being a veteran will do for you. approximate 3-1, most guys looking fastball. he gets a breaking ball. smokes it down the right-field line. sure rbi. he's got to pick it up a notch to get into second base. very good job by cody ross playing it off that carom. our guys don't even play it that well sometimes. made the play at second. >> bob: cody ross throws left- handed. he didn't have to wheel and fire to second base. here is zimmerman. first baseoff open. how will the marlins approach him? first base open. >> rob: made a play out of elijah dukes's ball number center field. that's nice they have the

versatility to move him around.   >> bob: hard, sinking fastb missing. ryan zimmerman hot as the august weather. hitting .420 now over his last 12 games.   2-1. >> rob: what's funny is we them play every day. we have seen him struggle and expand his zone. when he is going bad, he was swinging at everything. everything inside, everything inside, he was hack. he's so comfortable and in such a zone he is say backly what they say spitting on the pitches. let him go and pick the one he wants to drive. >> bob: tries to pull that outside pitch cut off by cantu. that's the second out.

after zimmerman homered in the first, listen to what nyjer morgan had to say about adam dunn coming up. >> slider. you can see it. he was stay in the way. right in that little thing right away just like on thefeld film. ohhhh! and nat town we just witnessed. >> bob: nats town did witness it. they're going to walk dunn. that will be the first walk of the game by vandenhurk. that's ok with the nats if they want want to headache their chances with -- their chances with josh willingham. -- if they want to take their chances with josh willingham.

adam dunn walks for the 80th time this year. 82 for pujols. 83 for adrian gonzalez. now a walk from mark wiley. we're going early with our trivia. here is -- >> aflac. >> bob: three players hit two homers in the same inning twice. how many days would it take to research this one? 

 >> bob: sheer josh who stru out looking first time. the nats lead by two here in the bottom of the third and willingham has a chance to put a big stamp on this game early.   >> bob: that's a foul. interesting that willingham and zimmerman have the identical number of career home runs. willingham is at 17 this year. zimmerman 22 and they both have 80. look at that. 13 rbi's his last 10 games. thanks in part in large to the two grand slam game in milwaukee. they're really pounding him inside. >> rob: well corks tatis be one of them? fernando tatis hit two grand slams in one inning. >> bob: i think he would have had to do it twice. >> rob: well, two home runs --

right in his career. >> bob: i don't know that he ever had another inning like that. >> rob: but he may. >>