>> or school board or things like that. and if it is going to cover them, the court said then they should have a way to get out from underneath the requirements of the voting rights act if they

have no history of discrimination. so i think it's rather hard to read into that, something about what the court is saying with respect to the future and whether they will strike again. and for similar reasons, i would say that to mike. i think mike has done a real powerful, important work and in demonstrated in a variety of areas that commitment to equality under the law is intentional, ultimately, with this effects test and it is throughout, something that is in a variety of areas of law. but with respect to this, i think the court in the mungo doesn't give any indication that they are troubled by the equal of the concerns that mike is raising, as much as the question about whether or not congress has the raw power under the 14th and 15th amendments to enact this law. and on that, i think, you know, we will have to see what happens. i think it is a real open question. i think you would be very hard to read into that the justice

majority, something that says the court is signaling that they are going to strike it down. and it would be hard after all. the founders, the 14th and 15th amendments, gave explicit textural commitments to congress to enforce these acts through appropriate, and force the meaning of an image through appropriate legislation. so you have a clear board and there are a bunch of historical evidence from original establishments at the time that while i think make it tough for the court. i'm not saying it is impossible but i think it is a very difficult question. just one last thing about the effects test that mike was talking about. mike said it would become a coder required. and i'm not sure that is always right. one can envision a number of job qualifications that have nothing whatsoever to do with merit. you can say, for example, debbie's listed or generals must in order to do the job, in order to get the job, benchpress 150 pounds. that has nothing to do with what we do. and if that were a requirement

it would have a disproportionate effect on women, and it would be illegal for that reason. that isn't a coda required. does have an underlying view in there. and i understand that sometimes those go off the rail and do descendent of the stuff that mike is talking about. but there is a core to some of the effectsdoctrine which is simply about something i believe in and i did most people in this room believe in witches just plain old fashion merit in making sure the tests actually measure the proper of skills for the job. >> let me respond first on the northwest case. look, i want to agree up front with neal. i don't think this tension between the fx test in the nondiscrimination mandate the constitution was underlined what was going on in northwest austin. i think, i will come back to that. i will come back that even what wasn't present in the case the court went out of its way to sort of make this point. they said that voting against justice kennedy, race cannot be the predominant factor in redistricting under a decision,

miller b. johnson yet in the 14th minute, section two, seemed to be what saved under section five. so my basic point is it wasn't the central issue. but there is this tension between section five effect testimony on in the constitution. a point that wasn't noted in the courts opinion, and that will become prominent, when i bring the next challenge, the point we made in our brief which was unbelievably enough, in 2006 and they didn't just continue the requirements of section five, they said, no, what we have done in mississippi in 1965 really isn't enough to cabin the incredible racism of these covered jurisdictions in 2006. things have gotten so much worse in the 1960s. so we're going to actually ratcheted up the standard. and they change the law to say there can be no diminution in the ability of minorities to

elect their candidate of choice. meaning of course, you got to draw every district in a way that ensures as best you can bet the minorities prefer a candidate of choice will be elected. coincidentally, outside of dade county, that will always be a democratic candidate. so the court is now going to be confronted with a situation where they didn't just perpetuate the status quo. they actually made the status quo worst. and that is her important because of this case may not get back up into the court until after the next redistricting cycle, and the justice department will be -- had a huge sort of hanging over its head to see how race conscious they are in terms of enforcing section five. they are the principal forces of section five. and in the '90s they engaged in a very straightforward maximization requirement that the court consistently struck down both in statutory cases and in the shaw line of cases. now, what did bother them in the northwest, austin case and that

congress can never fix it, first of all, neil crackly says they went off on the statutory question. but they also devoted four pages to discussing the constitutional issues. if you're a judicial minimalist and you think something violates a statutory number would you ever reach the constitutional question. right? the reason you have before constitutions is because you don't have to wade into all these areas so you have a very voluntary choice, by the court, to discuss the serious constitutional questions involving section five. and i think that was not in anyway unintentional. and what they said was, there's two basic problems with extending this absurd statute which served an obvious purpose in the '60s and 70s in terms of creating voter equality. but now that is morphed into this situation where you are requiring a proportional representation, representative. and the biggest problem is you can't show that the situation in

georgia or the other covered jurisdictions is worse than in the jurisdictions that are not covered by section five, like arkansas or these other things. and how can congress fix that problem? they have to change a formula, which i want to emphasize was based on election results in 1968 and 1972. what rational person -- it's as if congress in 1965 said we need to divvy up the united states and find the bad states and the good states. so we're going to go look at the fdr-who are result of 1928 or 1932, no rational person did this. why they engage in this absurd situation where they looked at a 40 year old election results. because no congressman, with the possible exception of john, we'll say i got a lot of races in my district. [laughter] >> and you really should cover us and let georgia off the hook. the congress is never going to redefine the formula, and every

objective measure of racial equality from registration to election two minority representatives shows that the covered jurisdictions have no worse situation than he and covered jurisdictions. and that is not rational enforcements of the 14th or 15th amendment. >> either that or they ran out of time, like we are. and, this next time, instead of teasing our guests kind enough to come over his victories, i want to focus the panel on the point he made in his opening remarks, that justice thomas seems to be the lone, most principled justice. and we had a lot of talk in the confirmation hearings for judge sotomayor over different conceptions of what the rule of law is, what law is. to those of us who are textualists, originalists, the

approach tom is is taking is the principal one, and the others are doing something else, or at least sometimes doing something else. politics, or what were they? what are they doing these days? what is the roberts court -- it's a joke now for a few years, and it will get a new member next year. are there any differences in how its behavior this past term? do you see any new trends? >> are you asking me? >> i am asking all of you. >> yes and no. i mean, i think one should be very wary of drawing conclusions from a single term because the court swings one way or the other on the basis of what's on the docket. what's in the docket is to some extent though they have some choice in it, wrote to at -- fortuitous. in some cases, it is better than

others. so i do think that the court is largely, and i won't say larger, and a minimalist core. they tried to side what only as needed. that section five case, i mean, they think i would love to have the fantasy life that neal has because if you think that you are not getting a real show to say these are significant constitutional questions, they concern us very much. and they somewhat concern is that we are willing to do radical, plastic surgery on the statutory claims, that we may go on that basis. then i will lose hope for the justice department. justice thomas is very principled, but so are they. they all have different conceptions of the judicial function. many of them are very similar to each other even if they use different methodologies.

i will say that i don't particularly find that everything that justice thomas does, although undoubtedly very principled, is really constructed for the rule of law at large. you really cannot have a system of case law in which he is as willing as he is to discard long-standing case law from the core. people have to be able to look at the books and say this is what the case law is. we have to rely on the court to stick with what has been ruled on, absent the very reason. into my mind he is a little bit too swift to discard precedent when he thinks it was wrong as an original matter. and it is very hard to run a railroad if you are willing to disregard 200 plus years of constitutional law. >> you have to use a baseball analogy does we. not a train analogy. i'm sorry. >> and so i think, yes, it is a very principled stand but not necessarily the one i think

commends itself, to be me, as the most consistent with the predictability of the real. >> thanks. >> one major difference that you may see this term as opposed to pastor and to answer one of your question is the rate of descent. in the last term, the statistics show that the average case you have a dissent by two points or four justices, which went back to 1995 is the highest rate of disagreement among court in an average case. i think for example october 2005 it was 1.23. so again that may be a function of what cases came to the court this year, but it also may suggest something about the particular dynamics on the court this year. over the last year. i didn't mean to suggest that there is only one metric for being principled that justice thomas undoubtedly needs. but one is simply sticking to your guns, and adhering to your

consistent philosophy in case after case, it doesn't matter what your other colleagues say, i think justice thomas has lead here there are many other ways, one of the version of principal respect for justice, something that justice o'connor made much of. for me, i think one thing to think about is whether or not people are being faithful to the tradition of deference to legislatures and to congress in engaging judicial restraint. on that model, for example, justice breyer would do quite well the statistics which show. you know, i guess i am a little concerned that sometimes our constitutional dialogue, and i think you heard it here with mike a moment ago, when he refers to the voting rights act, is a quote absurdist aji. it may be absurd as a policy matter. of course, that is something that congress overwhelmingly disagreed with, mike, in 2006. but that doesn't always make something unconstitutional. and i do think that sometimes in

our constitutional dialogue we are losing sight between the distinction between what is bad policy and what is unconstitutional, and on this respect, and this is not someone who has been consistent but i would like to point out what justice souter said in his last dissenting opinion this term, which is in the dna case. i think that is a model for at least one way of thinking about what a principled judge is. and this is what he says. we can change our own inherited usage is so fast and a person is not labeled a stick in the mud for refusing to endorse a new moral claim without having some time to work through it and to lecture in devotional he. and the limits of experience affected capacity of an individual to see the potential legitimacy of a moral position, the broader society needs a chance to take part in the dialectic and political backing for the budding new liberty claim before it makes sense for courts to declare unsympathetic, state or national laws arbitrate to the point of being unconstitutional. and what he is staking out there

is a tradition of conservativism that i think has been a bit missing in the dialogue. and whether or not he insistently adhered to it or not, i think that opinion will go down as kind of allowing us to rethink some of what's being a great judge is all about. >> let me begin by clarifying, that i wasn't saying section five was an absurd statute when enacted. i think i almost said precisely opposite. i said it was absurd to think about that was supposed to be a temporary emergency measure to deal with the obvious problems in the southern states in 1965 pick in 2006, extend that to 2031 without updating your coverage formula. which again was analogous to using states that were problematic in 1932 to justify what he did in 1955. and that is not only absurd as a policy matter. it obviously violates the text of the constitution which says you can't enforce the 14th and 15th amendment.

but section five doesn't enforce the 14th and 15th minute, which only prohibit discriminatory intent. it prohibits effect, and we are still, it only applies as higher standard on a certain subset of our states. it would not be rational congruent or proportional to say every state west of the mississippi has to come to washington, d.c., on bended me to a bunch of bureaucrats, but those east of the mississippi do not. and that, since they are using a formula that has absolutely no relation to current day realities is precisely what congress did in 2006, with overwhelming republican support, because republicans understood that the best thing that ever happened to their party, and i was in the midst of making this happen, was majority, minority districts because of the adjacent districts were of course predominately white districts in the south. and i think the principal reason for the republican gains in the '90s in the south was because of section five of the voting rights act. so of course, being people who

are interested in on self-interest the republicans were more supportive of continuing this section five regime than the democrats. to get back to the basic topic here, trends in the corporate every year we get all these scribes and scholars together and discern this trend and we are moving this way and stuff. you may want to jot this down. it's kennedy scored. whatever justice kennedy wants, that's the trend to get the cases come up anyway where he sides with the conservatives, then it will be a conservative term. if it is what he decides with a liberal blogs, it tends to be a liberal term. there is one caveat to that. on issues like confrontation clause, sentencing and punitive damages, they will find it to what the liberals all of a sudden become or to get originalist and agree with them that yes, in this area i happen to fall a history of the constitution, but other than that it is whatever comes up that justice kennedy does. i mean, we can all analyze and

try to perceive different trends, but that seems to me to be the basic reality. in terms of principled justices, i do want to say i think the most principled, articulation of the correct way to approach the wall was articulated by judge sotomayor over the last four days. i have never seen such a stinging review to the lawless and pathetic, touchy-feely jurisprudence of a president obama has delivered so eloquently i judge sotomayor, who said, just like justice, what you do is look at the terms of the law and you apply it, without favoritism or any other group i happen to believe in. so i got to tell you, i am very excited. i have been arguing about this for 30 years. it seems that every democrat on the judiciary committee, and they're nominated supreme court has now abandoned, this nonsense about looking out for the little guy that led obama to vote against justice roberts and justice alito because they were

not sufficiently sympathetic to the groups he likes in american society, and have such a ringing endorsement for neutral application of the rule of law. you may call me cynical. i don't know if all of this will translate into the way she actually cites the cases, but i was certainly very happy to see that in terms of her articulation of her philosophy. was very much justice thomas mode and very much a retraction of the obama moment. >> thanks. that was very interesting. but now we're going to turn to other philosophers in the audience. when i recognize you, i want you to wait for the microphone. we have a couple of people in either side of the room. as much as our heritage.org viewers as well as the c-span audience. and please try to make your question a question. why don't we begin. [laughter] >> -- two gentleman right here that caught my eye first.

>> is this thing on? hello? >> apparently not. i wanted to ask you some related questions about the coalition building that justice roberts has been doing with respect to the political, so what he is doing. it do you see him politically becoming sort of a counterweight to the current regime and being sort of trying to create this kind of reaction that could read create what happened during fdr's first few years? also, do you see justice roberts with respect to the civil rights act, do you see him taking this sort of anti-1965 voting rights act aslant with anything more radical like a rejection of any similar cases on the court docket? thank you. >> can you restate the question for the audience. let's try to get the audience fix what we are answering.

>> there are certain presumptions and the question that i don't agree with. i don't think that he, he, meaning that chief justice, has an agenda on a political question. as i said earlier, i do think that what the court tends to do term to term tends to be a function of the docket that comes to them. and i do agree with mike carvin that the outcomes tend to be those that seem legal and enlightening to justice kennedy. and so i don't know that even where he is so mighty, which i don't think he is, the chief justice has the capacity to implement any sort of political agenda. i do think that he is speaking with what he said at his confirmation hearings. having a look at some of the

papers in the section five case, which we discussed, i find it very hard to believe that any motivation other than pure modesty, the narrowest possible bases could explain the outcome in the section five case. and i ultimately don't think it is an anti-section five motivation. i think it is a desire to see congress do its job. i mean, there are, you know, one of the sad realities of debates over the court, which is ultimately another point, is that people tend to have a great deal of respect for the sizes for cases they really like and not a great deal of regard for it for those that they don't agree with. and i think it would be good to see the court as a whole take an even approach to the doctrine.

obviously there are cases that are no longer working and have to be discarded. but i think on the whole, they tried to do a very good job of putting aside their politics and just rule on the law. and i think that's true on both sides of the court. >> let me just also say something about that. the thing that bothered me the most undercovered of the voting rights act argument afterwards was the number of journalists who said things like go, chief justice roberts wrote memos in 1982 that was hostile to the voting rights act, and so it is not surprising that he gave the defenders of the voting rights act a hard time and stuff like that. which i just thought was silly. this was a man who, you know, his entire being is bound up in the supreme court. i mean, from being a law clerk to justice rehnquist and in my office, to private practice and so on. the notion that he is going to try and kind of reenact some

policy memo from 1982 into the constitutional law in supreme court decision making is i think rather far-fetched. and i think if you take that view of chief justice roberts you might also answer your other part of the question, which is do we expect a replay of 1935 in the supreme court, basically to spring for acting the way it did during fdr's legacy. i think that was a tough moment for the court, and i think people who care about the court will be very hesitant to replay something like that. >> mike, i don't know if we got the microphone to work, but we will relay your question. shouted out. >> michael roberts. the courts concerning the northwest, the power of congress section five. it's possible that the court will adopt the line of cases when they do consider that

question, which is a fairly rigorous review of congress' power. if they do, isn't there just a big problem for the section to affect test as it is for section five, and isn't there a problem for the sg's office because to justify section five, they have to say those jurisdictions are really different. but to justify section two, and the fx test of section two, they have to say, well, there are problems everywhere. and that they required congress to go beyond mere constitutional violations, which has to be congruent. >> too brilliant for me to repeat, but mike, can you begin? scenic i will answer for neal.

[laughter] >> and he will be bound by the answer. [laughter] >> go ahead. >> well, you're getting into very confiscated stuff. i would make two points, and i am sure neal they clearly disagree with both. as i said, and you've got to get into the minutia of the law to understand. the court over the last 15 years has sought to weaken the race conscious mandate of section two. it is made clear that the minority has to be 50% of the relevant population. but you don't have to draw these ugly districts, that you don't have to break down the lines and break up communities of interest. so what section two, in my mind, is reduced to this incremental approach from the court is basically saying, look, if in normal circumstances you would draw a majority minority district because it's a nice square kind of district where minorities, for whatever

demographic reason, costed 55 to 65% of the population, by. but if you have to hook up this group or that group and cut over a jurisdiction you don't have to do it. so on the one hand, they have ratcheted down the race mandate consciousness of section two. van gundy very similar similar thing with section five. in the ashcroft and the bowsher paris one and bowsher parish to decisions. they have said essentially it is okay for jurisdictions, for example, to convert majority minority districts in 240 to 35% to six. were not going to handcuff the jurisdictions on this front. and the point i was making before was, congress consciously overturned, right, we said we don't like the ashcroft decision. we don't like the bowsher parish to decision. for we are now going to put a straitjacket acland southern jurisdictions that wasn't present in mississippi in 1965.

and said, if you have a 60% disher today you can't diminish that proportion. you have to keep it where it is. we are also going to rebound the justice department to say if you can create a 55% district, or 35% district over here, we are going to say your failure to do so constitutes a discriminatory purpose. so both of the things that bothered the court both boast about section five, disempowerment of justice department of bureaucrats to pursue a maximization agenda congress consciously reinstated in 2006. so if they do get into things other than the coverage formula, if they get into the comparison of the revolt, results of the affect test like mike was just saying, i think it will look very skeptically at what congress did in 2006 and they will say for that reason alone it's not congruent and proportional. and i suspect, this is an internal long winded answer to your question, that they will therefore never get to the section to dilemma that you articulated because i think it will be very concerned about the

ramping up of section five in 2006. >> just briefly, section two and section five are really rather different so section two is really an after the fact remedy, after something has been changed, a voting practice has been changed you can then bring a lawsuit. section five is a preclearance. it is before him. it is a more intrusive remedy. and it is a much greater incursion as the court recognized traditional notions of state sovereignty. and so section to the fans i think works in a rather different way. section five basic point is to say 60 days before an election or something like that, jurisdictions can change the requirements and you won't have time really to get a section to also going in in place. and then you'll have that person elected under that unfair regime, and then they will have all the advantages of incumbency put upon the. i agree with mike entirely that the changes to section two, five in the 2006 amendments are going to be fertile areas of

litigation. and i think, you know, any of you interested in this area should really read mike's brief on behalf of commissioof commissioner thernstrom, which i thought was the very best brief filed in the cases she. >> thank you. with that i think we've gone just about at our time limits. so while we bring the next panel up, i would invite you to join me in thanking our first panel. [applause] . .

to serve as a war correspondent there, writing for national review and "the weekly standard" and is filled with articles and many journals including the "wall street journal," the "washington times" the "new york post" and the national review online. prior to coming back to heritage in 2008 robert todd national security law, criminal law and legislation at the university school of law in cleveland and he is also illegal and international affairs at the edge for the center for public affairs at aston university. robert deibel turned things over to you. >> thank you rich. there are many questions on the hill this past week about

cameras in the courtroom, so it is appropriate that we now take up the scribes panel of our annual supreme court review. highlighting a band of reporters that provided better window into the decisions and workings of the court, at least in my opinion then and the camera could. covering the supreme court is a difficult job. the hardy few reporters to cover this bead did not flee from a scare latin phrases that sound lesser reporters getting off into the night. they mustin one brett discuss cases regarding the fcc regulation of fleeting expletives, hopefully without burning fines for any media covering this event and in the next discuss statute like macaca cumbre bill, the false claims correction act which holds an acronym nearly as profane as its substance. [laughter] indeed, these reporters delton to the partina statute we now know that even members of congress don't bother reading.

this term has provided a number of cases to which they can apply their skills. after all, who could forget poehler cankers versus the city of valdese, a case involving the tonnage clause. i see blank stares. article i, section 10, knows the show without the consent of congress late any duty or tonnage. i think we need to sell more copies of the heritage constitution. how about raising the question of whether hud should be applied to low-enriched uranium, refined over seed pursuant to separate work unit, agreements? still no-- okay, you have to know kennedy versus plan administrator, a tantalizing erisa case looking at whether it planned administrator lights some beneficiary designations or a divorce decree manufacturing to limit the beneficiaries

rights? great and exciting cases, but no, why did you come today? because of the tmz like gover jeb stip searching teenage girls. i know, i know for quite sure our distinguished panel slid to a better job of picking cases to highlight the nine have so i shall move to their deductions. we will begin with lytle denniston. lyle is a legend in the supreme court reporting. he is celebrating his 59th year as a journalist and his 49th year covering the supreme court. during his extraordinary career he has covered one in every for justice-- justices ever to sit on the supreme court. he currently reports for the indispensable, which i am sure you are reading and if you are not you really should. he also reports on the court for radio station wbur in boston and for justice talking, and embryo program originating in philadelphia. he is the author of the reporter

and the law, the techniques of covering the courts and is a member of the hall of fame of the society of professional journalists. our next panelist really requires no introduction. juan williams is one of america's leading journalist. he serves as the news analyst for npr, a contributing political analyst for the fox news channel and is a regular panelist on fox news sunday. he has also appeared on numerous television programs including nightline, "washington week" in review, obreck, cnn's crossfire where he is frequently served as a cohost and capital gain sunday. the author of several notable books including the biography of thurgood marshall american revolutionary as well as the eyes on the prize, america's civil-rights years and enough. apropo our discussion today i should note he wrote a phenomenal forward to the new book on the voting rights act, voting rights and laws.

he worked for "the washington post" tories service and editorial writer, ob they call nissen white house reporter. he has won an emmy. his articles have appeared in publications far too numerous to mention ranging from "newsweek" to a gentleman's quarterly. last but certainly not least we have quin hillyer. quin is a multiple award-winning journalist with over a quarter century in journalism government and politics. he currently is a senior editorial writer at the "washington times," a senior writer or editor at the american spectator and a columnist for the washington examiner. he has previously served as a senior editor and executive editor at the american spectator magazine, editor or writer for the mobile democrat gazette. he has been published officially in well over 50 publications including the "wall street journal," and "the washington post." he has been recognized by "the washington post" and msnbc is one of the nation's top

political prognosticators. we hope to put his nostradamus like skills to work for us today as we peer into the crystal ball of what may be held in the supreme court's next term. without any further delay, let's hear from lyle. thank you. >> thank you bob. i am pleased to be with you today and i'm not exactly sure why i am here, because in todd's invitation to me, he pointed out how wrong some of my coverage in, on the blood has been. so, i went looking for my wardrobe to see if i could find a pink shirt, so that i could perhaps exhibit the quality, the ideological quality that i think he ascribes to me. what i found was an orange shirt that in some light looks think. [laughter] so, perhaps maybe that is what todd is seen as something that really is up a different color

entirely. in any case i am delighted to be here. this is a fine annual program and i am very pleased to be part of it. in my opening, i'm going to cover just kind of a quick smorgasboard of things. brad and concentrate on particular cases. what i want to do is to make sure that you plan to come to next year's scholars and xscribe's because this coming term is going to be really spectacular term. we are of course going to have the hearing that begins in september, before the term begins on the constitutional questions involving the campaign finance law, and there is little doubt in my mind that what the court is going to change course markedly on that. we also, after all these years of debating the slaughterhouse cases, we are perhaps going to confront the continuing validity

of the slaughterhouse cases and the attempt to revitalize the privileges and immunities clause as part of the court's consideration of whether to extend the second amendment to apply to state and local government. we are also going to have mike carbon's great case on the free enterprise fund case, which has to do with the appointment power to the accounting board that congress set up after the scandal. there also is going to be a very early test for judge sotomayor. when the court takes up the brosco case from virginia and in essence the court is i think going to be re-examining a decision of just this term of the melendez diaz case, in which the court said that the prosecution in the criminal case wants to put in evidence a lab report, the confrontation clause requires that the chemist who prepared it be made available

for cross-examination during the case. the vote was 5-4 and one of the five in the majority was justice souter, who is obviously retired and will be replaced by justice, one suspects, sotomayor. she is i think more prosecution oriented then justice souter was, and i think there is a chance that the court, if it is willing to be somewhat embarrassing klebold, it may actually cast aside melendez diaz and start over in that area of the law. let me also say something, that bob had mentioned in the opening about questions of cameras in the court. there is no real prospect, whether what arlen specter things to the contrary. one of the reasons is that i think the court, within the

court, there is a growing concern that the public for trial of the court would, if there were cameras, be too selective. we have heard this argument over and over again against cameras in the court, but i think what i am hearing is a new argument which is, if we allow the porch rail in the public media, particularly television of a particular case, do we as an institution invite greater public attention to that and make that case seem more important than some other case that doesn't get the media attention? so, there are principled reasons within the court why they are unwilling to go further with opening the court. john robertson has gone a long way to open the court up further, particularly with his gesture and authorizing the same day release of the written transcripts, which is enormously helpful to us in the press. let me say, before my time runs

completely out, a word to about justice sotomayor. let me get that that first by saying perhaps in disagreeing with other people's perception of chief justice roberts, i think the chief justice is in a hurry to establish some new principles of constitutional doctrine. i think it is very clear that the chief justice does have an ideological agenda and is actively pursuing it. but i think he must pursue it in a hurry because once tony kennedy leads the court, and that could be sometime during president obama's ten year, the five justice majority on which the chief justice now can more or less reliable accounts, is going to be gone. what i think will happen when kennedy is gone is that we will see the rise of what i call a new dynamic center. in that center, perhaps taking

the place 2nd chances. andy reid through his sons who have gotten more than a couple of chances to redeem themselves and tony dungy whose son commited suicide and didn't get that chance. i think they are 2 guys who are trying to help him, pull him through this. and allow him to succeed with this 2nd chance. the other thing too is a just feel like here in philadelphia, where there has been a rash of animal cruelty cases over the past 2 years, from dog fighting to instances of pit bulls found dead in the park, dogs being burned all over the city. they even declared a dog fighting epidemic a couple of years ago. michael vick can do tremendous good in a city like this. that's why i applaud the humane

society for taking him on as their ambassador. there are neighborhoods that let's face it that the humane society members are not diverse and the ceo said that michael vick can demonstrate, if he does what he says he is going to do, he can go into these neighborhoods and get to the kids that the humane society people can't get to and try to diffuse all of this heinous dog fighting and dog cruelty that is going on in the city. >> an, thanks for joining us on espnews. >> back to the 2nd round of pga championship. lookie here. tigers woods has dropped a stroke. he and padraig harrington now tied at 5 under par. you see glover and others at minus 3. a couple of guys at the bottom

of the leader board. keep an eye on them. they are still on the course. a lot of holes to play. phil mickelson watching that cut line right now. it's projected to be plus 3. mickelson at plus 4 in danger of missing the cut for the first time since 1995. here's tigers woods. he bogeyed his first hole but then steady himself. >> the jets take the field tonight. the quarterback clemens or sanchez? a live report from jersey on the way. our poll question: log on to espn.com. you vote and we will have the results later. forty

see i told you there were forty shots in there. but you also said there'd be a reverse ventriloquist act here. excuse me guys. (announcer) calling all captains. drink responsibly.

>> what-2-watch-4 on espnews: linda cohn and mark morgan. the rams coming off a 2 victory season. with a new coach and a new defensive coordinator they have to face the jets. 2 quarterbacks fighting for one job. clemens and mark sanchez. let's bring in rachel nichols from the meadowlands. hours before the jets take on the rams. what is the plan for these 2 quarterbacks tonight? >> clemens the more senior guy will get the start tonight. but mark sanchez will get a few series with the first team. neither one will play that much. 2 starters are injured. coach rex ryan doesn't want to take the chance of either guy getting hurt. he wants to see what sanchez can

do in a pressure situation. sanchez admitted he is nervous. he wants to be perfect. he is sleeping with his playbook in training camp. ryan said if you make a mistake, it's okay. just watch your body language. don't be demonstrative on the practice field because everybody will be watching you. >> sanchez sending out a great message by coming to camp soarily and signing the nice deal the jets offered. let's look ahead at rex ryan's plan for selecting a starter over the next few weeks. what will he be looking for? >> ryan said he wants to make that decision before the team's 3rd pre-season game. that's not far away. he wants to see how sanchez who hasn't been in this environment can do under pressure. he wants to see if this is clemens time to lead the team. clemens has had more trouble with interceptions.

that was his problem during the last quarterback battle with chad pennington. sanchez signed a $30 million deal. a lot of money. rex ryan said sanchez looks like a million dollars -- well, several million dollars. he corrected himself. >> he is a funny guy. i hear there is an unexpected entry in the jets quarterback sweepstakes. what can you tell us? >> this is where the quarterback controversy is. let's not joke around about clemens or sanchez. safety kerry rhodes is very upset the new madden came out and he is rated very low, his little character on throwing ability. he pointed out he was a quarterback in high school. he made a youtube video with the center. they went out. he showed he could throw the ball and shows accuracy and compares to nick. he has a higher rating.

he makes a big youtube case. if they run through all 4 quarterbacks rhodes is the one they will go to. >> something about rex ryan tells me doesn't go on youtube that much. rachel nichols, thanks for the information. take care. enjoy the game tonight. >> thank you. >> straight ahead. doug glennville played for the phillies and he will

>> i was wrong for what i did. everything that happened at that point in my life was wrong. it was unnecessary. to this day, i can't undestand why i was involved in such pointless activity. why did i risk so much at the penacle of my career? i was naive to a lot of things. i figure if i can help more animals than i hurt, then i am contributing. i am doing my part. >> former major leaguer doug glennville played 6 years in philadelphia and also played college football at penand writes a column for the "new york times". what is your reaction to vick veck's-- michael vick's signing with the eagles? >> i didn't see them on the short list. it's going to be intense. philadelphia doesn't play around.

it will be a high bar, high standard. reading the comments by reid and mcnabb, they will give him an opportunity to change minds and perform again. >> what did you think of the news conference today? did you get to see much of it? >> i didn't see much of it but read a lot of it. i felt like there is some serious tones from the clips. he seems to have some level of remorse and knows he has to turn the page. that's important. obviously his actions were unacceptable. there say lot of outrage about what transpired. he has to not only perform, but he has to mature very rapidly as a person in a short period of time. >> it seems like from our reports out of philadelphia since the news broke early last night, it seems like the city split in half there as far as pro and con about the signing of vick. how do you expect the eagles fans over the course of the season to adjust to vick?

>> it's going to be a tough walk for him. philadelphia fans don't taka it lightly. they will make sure he has a rite of pazage. if he continues to do the right thing and helps philadelphia get a championship, i think they will reconsider. they back winners. they expect a lot out of their players. >> they boo everyone. i am sure you felt that at one time or another being an athlete in philadelphia. how can the fans who are not crazy about the vick signing now be won over? is that a gradual process you knowing the philadelphia fans? >> there is always a segment of fans who may not ever be one over. i understand that's possible. you have to continue on this path of making meameds and using

his experience and mistakes to improve the community and playing well and not complaining about his opportunity. just getting out there and performing. i feel like over time, things can change for people. manny ramirez, look at all of these guys. alex rodriguez, they are back on the feel and doing things. they didn't commit things as agregous as what happened with vick but they are on the path of amending themselves. >> doug, you join us from from time to time on espnews. we appreciate it. >> coming up on espnews: wondering how tigers woods is doing on day 2 at hazeltine? the pga championship, we will update you next. ooooohhhh.

i'm not beth. aaaaaahhh. ooooohhhh. (announcer) calling all captains. drink responsibly.

>> espnews brought to you by: >> i know we all know in the past i've made some mistakesment i've done some terrible things, made a horrible mistake. and now i want to be part of the solution and not the problem. >> michael vick looks to make amends as the newest member of the philadelphia eagles.

he's famous for coming from behind on sunday, but at hazeltine tiger woods began the day as the hunted and not the hunter. and one of several nfl quarterback competitions will be on full display in east rutherford tonight. the jets begin to evaluate kellen clemens and mark sanchez in game situations. captioning by captionmax >> hello, everyone. come on in. a little bit closer. that's good right there. >> not too close. >> this is espnews. if you didn't know, we always help you stay current with the latest news, highlights and scores. linda cohn is here. i'm mark morgan. a very busy 30 minutes ahead. tiger woods and padraig harrington tied at the top as we speak at the second round at hazel teen in the pga championship. >> but first, michael vick has a new home, introduced today as the newest member of the

philadelphia eagles. michael vick will be on the eagles' practice field tomorrow. his first preseason game could be august 22nd. this after he was give an second chance by team located in the city of brotherly love. vick was signed for one year with a club option for another year. >> i think everybody deserves a second chance. you know, we all have issues. we all deal with certain things. you know, we all have our own things in our life. i think as long as you're willing to come back and do it the right way and do the right things and that you're committed, then i think you deserve it, but you only get one shot at a second chance, and i'm conscious of that. >> here's what nfl commissioner roger goodell had to say about the eagles signs vick:

let's get more reaction now from our nfl legend john clayton. john, what are you hearing around the league about the eagles' decision to sign vick >> well, it was competitive at the end because there were three team, including the eagles, who were involved in. if you want to ask who those teams are, they're held in secrecy. no one knows for sure. that's what dove the price up to $1.6 million, about $100,000 more than what the u.f.l. was going to pay. in the end there was market for michael vick. the situation turned out that vick once he heard the eagles were interested, that was a team he wanted to go to. we don't know how the fit will be strategically, but at least from the standpoint of his support, the eagles are there and it's a good organization with a good coach and a friend

in donovan mcnabb. >> good point, john. all right. so how do you see the eagles using him on the field? >> well, that's the baffling part because andy reid loves to pass the ball, and so to go into some running sets with michael vick, that's a little bit curious. it doesn't fit what andy likes to do, so even the wildcat formation now takes donovan mcnabb out of the passing game. i guess what it comes down to, there will be a lot of creativity. i don't think he's going to be used at wide receiver on an extended basis. maybe some plays at running back. it's kind of interesting. mcnabb and vick in the same back field? that could be something to watch. overall the creativity will maybe get him on the field a few times and as the season goes on maybe he'll evolve as the backup quarterback. >> interesting. you just put a thought into my head with the injury-prone westbrook. the guy's always hurt. you're right there. could be an opening there for michael vick, as well. all right. turning to another topic, we'll get to see mark sanchez and matthew stafford in action this weekend. which of these two quarterbacks

appears to have progressed the most? >> well, as far as progression, i have to think matthew stafford has progressed the most because everybody thought it would take some time for him to fit into the nfl. i know from watching him on monday he looks like he's there. he's going to make it a challenge for jim schwartz to make a decision to go with dante culpepper over stafford, but he looks good. he has great command at the huddle. you can see he studies. he has the guys following. culpepper is having a great camp. so is stafford. but also i think sanchez will end up winning the job in new york. >> he's going to be making a lot of dough in new york. other news in the nfl, this you know, sage rosenfels getting the start tonight for the vikings. what are they hoping to see from him tonight? >> just a consistent somebody who can run the offense, complete the passes and just run a good huddle. in the last week he's really picked up his game. now, in the off season there was some concern because he was slow in picking up brad childress' offense, but it seemed like seven, eight days into camp he

started getting comfortable. i caught him right in the middle when he started throwing the ball very well, getting the long passes going. he can run a nice huddle. now he can see when the blitzes come how quickly he can get the ball off and see if he can stay ahead of tarvaris jackson. >> the bears take the field against buffalo tomorrow. jay cult her starting at quarterback, of course. cutler the hottest-selling jersey in the nfl. you knew about bears' camp. you visited bears' camp. what was your impression of how the team is responding to jay cutler? >> i think it's a buy as far as the uniforms and jay cutler. he looks fantastic. he seems to have a good grasp of the receivers and where they want the ball. he has a great ability of where they want the football. his passes are sensational. he has a strongage, but he has the ability to put the ball in the right spot. overall so far i think he's right now even better than the team expected, and he's an exciting prospect for the bears. >> all right. on clayton, thank you. enjoy the games this weekend. >> thanks.

>> the legal future of broncos' wide receiver brandon marshall is much clearer today, this after an atlanta jury found him not guilty on two counts of misdemeanor battery against an ex-girlfriend. the trial was based on a march 2008 incident where marshall is accused of striking his ex-girlfriend, leaving several cuts on her mouth. the verdict was reached less than an hour after the case was wrapped up. >> let's check out the leaderboard, pga championship, round two. tiger woods with a one-shot lead over ross fisher. fisher has climbed up the leaderboard. fisher now tied with padraig harrington. fisher was five under through 15 holes for the day, four under for the tournament. he's playing very, very well. you see lucas glover and also brendon jones and vijay singh at minus three. the projected cut is plus three. that means phil mickelson who is at plus four after a 74 would not make the cut.

tiger woods thus far, check out his round. bogey right out of the shoot, but then the back-to-back birdies. woods then with the bogey you see there to start his second nine of the day. and woods currently in some rough right now. full highlights and also tiger's reaction to his second-round play. all of that coming up around 8:00 p.m. eastern time here on espnews. straight ahead, sage rosenfels involved in the quarterback competition with the vikings. john jensen of the pioneer press up next to fill us in. and once again, poll for the fan, ports nation. log on to espn.com and vote: was signing michael vick a smart move by the philadelphia eagles, yes or no? you vote and we'll have the you vot(announcer) have the what does greatness taste like? a miller lite. (announcer on call) ...he throws it across the field. he's got something! 30...40...50...he's got it!

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>> espnews brought to you by: >> linda cohn, mark morgan. michael vick has received considerable support from fellow nfl players. here are some sweets from some notable players. takeo spikes: jay feely: happy for michael vick that he gets another chance. every man deserves a chance at redemption. shawne merriman. do i hear a wild eagle offense coming -- damn! steve smith: congrats to mike vick. make the best of your second chance. ochocinco has to chime in: mike

vick and mcnabb on the same team, damn. glad i don't play defense. good luck game planning to stop that. this also from ochocinco. >> linda, will you stop cursing. >> shaq-lebron, vick-mcnabb, that is awesome. i know where i'm spending my bye week. i am acting like a groupie. i'm going to the game. we have more reaction. >> kevin negandhi with skip bayless and pat forde. guy, we heard from michael vick earlier this morning. he sound contrite. what's your reaction, pat, to the whole thing? >> i thought he handled it well. he said what he needed to say. he was appropriately contrite and appropriately appreciative of the opportunity. he extended some thankful words to donovan mcnabb, which is vital i think in this relationship. tony dungy, there has been quite a few people that have stuck their neck out for him to get this second chance. now he needs to reward them, put one good day together after

another until he has shown he's capable of making what would be one of the great comebacks of sports history. >> it wouldn't. can't disagree with anything either one of you just said. i liked what he said, but i liked what he said back in atlanta after he got busted. he was very contrite then. he's always very convincing. he's a very good public speaker. he's duped some authority figures before, arthur blank, commissioner of the nfl. i want to see actions speak louder than those words today. they were great words, but i want to see not only what he does with the humane society and other organizations, but what he doesn't do. does he stay away from the strip clubs, the nightclub, the people who are bad influences in his life before? next two, three weeks critical. >> yeah, no doubt about it. >> we'll have to see how long tony dungy stays in his life as an adviser. >> he couldn't do better. >> we've all found that out so far. it's been a good relationship. he can play the final two games of the preseason. we want to remind you, you can

catch first take 10:00 a.m. eastern on espn 2 monday through friday. back to you. >> what to watch for tonight, the preseason opener for the vikings and colts. they square off in indy. the colts look the bounce back after a first-round playoff loss to the chargers. vikings are still unsure of their starting quarterback. sage rosing -- rosenfels will be under center when this game begins this season. sean jensen covers the vikings for the st. paul pioneer press. he joins us now on the phone with more on the advise and consent. sage rosenfels will start under center. tarvaris jackson still not 100% since spraining his left knee on the second day of training camp. how will head coach brad childress divide the snaps between all of his quarterbacks tonight? >> both quarterbacks will get a good look, tarvaris and sage. obviously sage will start out with the starters and tarvaris may have to play with the twos, but then next week that will just flip around and tarvaris will get to start with the ones. he really is giving both of these guys a very fair look this early in training camp and in the preseason. so i would expect probably, you

know, he's not going to lean one way or another until after at least two preseason games. >> sean, you're around this team every day, are you leaning one way or the other right now about which quarterback has the edge? >> frankly, i'm not because neither of them has really taken the job. sage rosenfels had an excellent opportunity with tarvaris missing a few days with the knee injury, and tarvaris had a chance early on before his injury to sort of take the advantage because sage was new to the offense, but both of them have just been dogged dogged wir decision, some turnovers and just an inconsist si in being able to make those routine plays. that's the thing that brad childress is looking for more than anything is just being able to complete those simple passes to the running back 95% of the time, being able to make those simple throws, and neither of those guys is doing that on a consistent enough basis at this point. >> regardless of which guy ends up being the starter, he will have one new weapon to play with so to speak. how is rookie wide receiver percy harvin looked so far? >> outstanding.

his speed is obviously... there was no question about his speed, but i didn't realize that his hands were this good. he just consistently gets behind the defensive backs in practices. i will say, though, he hasn't gotten behind antoine winfield or cedric griffin, but he's gotten behind the guys that would be playing nickel and doing i on a fairly consistent basis. he's also a very tough guy. that's pretty evident. and just really going to be curious to see how they use him because they did a lot of things throughout training camp in terms of having him return punts and kickoffs but also doing a lot of things out of the wildcat offense. so i think he's going to be a big part of this offense. >> jumping to defense now, linebacker e.j. henderson back on the field after missing the final 12 games of last season because of that foot injury. how important is he to this defense? >> he is critically important. he's obviously not a pro bowl guy like antoine winfield or pat and kevin williams or jared allen, but he's right there. he would be the next guy in terms of the most important guy on defense. he obviously plays middle

linebacker, so there is natural leadership requirements there, but more than that e.j. is the guy that takes advantage of pat and kevin williams. he's able to just run free and make a lot of plays, and he's got tremendous instincts and he's a hard hitter. he's a guy that steps up and makes plays. he's not just someone that will make tackles. he's going to step up and make plays. he's really an important part of this vikings defense. >> sean jenson of the pioneer press, appreciate it. >> it was fun, thank you. >> straight ahead, it's in the a reality show. it's buffalo bills camp. that's right. that's where chris mortensen. that's where chris mortensen. is we'll speak with mort next.fy see i told you there were forty shots in there. but you also said there'd be a reverse ventriloquist act here. excuse me guys. (announcer) calling all captains. drink responsibly.

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>> back with linda cohn, i'm mark morgan. again, we're keeping an eye on the pga championship. tiger woods is minus five. he has parred his second hole of his second nine. now, woods was battling padraig harrington for much of the day, also ross fisher has fought his way up the leaderboard, as well. a full leaderboard coming up in just a few minutes. we're keeping an eye on tiger woods and all of the other leaders and also highlights and reaction from tiger woods on his second round coming up at 8:00 p.m. eastern time on espnews. meantime, baseball, the cubs have dropped five in a row and opened a three-game series this afternoon with the pirates at wrigley, and the cubs opened a big can of you know what i'm going to say here in the second inning. >> yeah. >> that's coy hill. that's down the left field line that. is fair. that's a triple.

the next batter is pitcher randy wells. and charlie morton in an inning he'll never forget walks wells. ryan theriot. the next batter, loads the sacks for derrek lee. and morton walked him. randy wells scores, 6-0 cubs. bases still loaded for the next batter, jake fox, and fox rips one to left. oh, boy, is it going to stay in the park? yep, off the ivy, theriot scores. 8-0 cubs. morton would be pulled for chris bootcheck. bootcheck didn't have any better luck facing next batter, kosuke fukudome. that is a walk. then alfonso soriano. base hit to right center. derrek lee scores. it's 9-0 cubs. and it continues. the next batter, jeff baker.

baker single up the gut. fox and fukudome score. 11-0 cubs. after first batter of the inning, corey hill struck out, bootcheck facing randy wells, wells singled to left. soriano scores. 12-0 cubs. i'm running out of energy. the cubs aren't. three batters later, two on, two out rather for derrek lee, that's a double to left. baker scores. wells scores, 14-0 cubs. the cubs score ten runs in the second inning, the most scored by the cubs in the second inning... in an inning, rather, since june 10, 2004. the third time in cubs's hi try they have scored 14 or more runs in the first two innings of a game. derrek lee tying his career high, seven r.b.i. charlie morton, 10 earned runs in one inning of work. ♪ >> when you see that cartoon

character you just saw moments ago, you know it's time for only one thing to, welcome in our very own chris mortensen joining us now. the bus tour has stopped to check out the buffalo bills, but mort, before we get to the bills, we must talk eagles and their newest player, michael vick. and i heard coach andy reid like the rest of the country tell you a couple days ago he's happy with his quarterback situation. what happened? >> well, if you go back and look at the tape, and you can find it on espn.com, that's the way he started his answer, i'm happy with our quarterback answer, and by the way, i really think he is because he's got donovan mcnabb at quarterback. but if you read the rest of what he said, he clearly opened the door. he talked about the support he's getting from tony dungy and how commissioner goodell is standing up for michael vick and how he was hoping for a good result for michael vick. so go read what andy said after that i'm happy with the quarterback situation, and maybe there was a hint there that this door was, in fact, open.

>> and better late than never. we first heard about this story and eagles' interest from you, chris mortensen. all right, you spoke with tony dungy. what were his feelings on vick signing with the eagles? >> he really believes it's one of the best spots possible for him. and michael vick himself did because there were certain things they wanted in place, strong ownership, strong organization, strong leadership both in the front office and the head coach and an established quarterback because mike vick himself knows he's not ready to just jump into football. but it was really interesting to talk to tony this morning because there are two levels there. on one level with andy reid, he felt like andy feels that michael vick can help this team at some point later in a football season, but on a personal level because of what andy reid has experienced with his own son and some criminal legalities or illegalities, he did believe in giving young people, a young person a second chance who wanted a second chance. flip over the michael vick.

michael vick has already spoken to boys and girs clubs in his first couple weeks out of home confinement. it was an eye-opener for michael vick because he had five and six and seven year old kids basically raising their hands and saying, mr. vick, what did you do to those dogs? why did you do that to those dogs? and think about it. there's not a reporter in a world that could ask a tougher question than what those kids asked and it was probably tougher answering those kids than a reporter. >> that's a story, mort. okay. enough with vick and the eagles for now. you're at bills' camp. let's talk about the bills. even though t.o. isn't practicing, why is there a buzz about him on offense? >> listen, they're excited about him. for one, you got trent edwards, the quarterback, excited. it's a bigger weapon. they drafted james hardy to give them a big weapon. he tore an a.c.l.. lee evans is a $9 million receiver with a lot of skills and teams are doubling him up. that's going to free him up. they're implementing the

no-huddle offense. that's going to be something else for defenses to have to fight with. and then i talked to dante whitner, the safety on the defensive side of the ball, and he's been amazed at how hard t.o. practices 359 years old when he does practice obviously. he still practices like a rookie trying to make the team. so naturally there is a honey moon period. they're going through the honey moon period. it will be interesting to see the no huddle offense. they're playing against the bears tomorrow night. the bears with lovie smith had to prepare for peyton manning and the colts' no huddle offense in the super bowl a few years ago. last week they played the titans who play against the colts in that no huddle offense. so it's a good rehearsal first two preseason games for the bills, and terrell owens last week won't be playing this week. >> another guy you had a chance to sit down with was trent edwards, the quarterback of the bills. what's what are some of his feelings on this no-look offense he's going to play?

>> for one getting the communication down is one thing. he loves having t.o. there. they know the weather will turn in late october in buffalo and they will have to run the football with marshawn lynch and fred jackson and dominic rhodes, a former colt who played in the no huddle. the big thing for trent edwards in his third year, and it's a big deal, he's got to move he's durable. in stanford, terrible offensive line, bills in two short years, he's been hurt almost every year. and what do you admire about the greatest quarterbacks in this league, past and present, they line up every sunday under center. that's one thing trent edwards knows he's got to move to the bills in order for him to take the next step up in a very competitive a.f.c. east division. >> you mentioned something interesting with the weather going bad in late october, you have to hope for fans of the bills that t.o. stops complaining about not getting the ball. you have to run the ball. >> here's my line the trent edwards. one good thing about the no

huddle offense is there is no t.o. screaming in the huddle because there is no huddle. >> i love it. use it again. >> all right, linda. >> coming up, tiger woods battling at the top of the leaderboard in the second round of the pga championship at hazel

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 . the following is a masn presentation. >> coming up on or's xtra playing against mis era who is at second base. the angels coming to town for game one of the series as the orioles battle the leaders from the al west. it's the o's and angels up next on masn.   . it's or's baseball. tonight presented by at&t, your world delivered. brian roberts signing

autographs for fans as they welcome in the angels. it's game one of a four game hold offer series. jim hunter, rick dempsey. the orioles yesterday had their first day off in three days. tonight they start a stretch of playing in 20 more straight days. that means the continuing education of the young pitchers. tonight it's chris tillman. he goes against a veteran team in first place. >> its going to be a tough game any way you look at it. mike, second half of every season always has the team ready and the games where the team blows every out he lieutenants them play. i'm glad that tillman is out. i love his outing in toronto. he went out and pitched. he didn't just go out and throw and try to survive a good line up. he moved the ball around, he changed speeds, threw the

breaking ball behind in the count and pitched like a ten year veteran. >> the angels come to town with the second best record in the american league. they are also the top hitting team in the league. let's get more on the task at hand for chris tillman and the orioles. >> reporter: there is no question this is a big for the big rookie. there is a big reason why the angels where they are, they can just out hit. not only do they have the best batting average, tonight's line up is very strong. out of the nine hitters six of them are batting over 300. that's not including vladimir batting 299. veterans, experienced, they will be patient at the plate. it'll be a challenge for tillman. >> these guys will take --

they will run that count out. they aren't afraid to run the count to 3-2, aybar, those guys, they do the same. they -- offensively they have a lot of base hits and score a lot of runs and run the bases at will. put a lot of pressure on you. be a good test for tillman. he will be tested big time. >> reporter: a big opportunity for tillman to show that he can get some of the best hitters in the american league out. take a look at just how good the angels are offensively as -- there is only one battener the line up that's batting below 297. also they have a 308 average with runners in scoring position. the team is batting 306 since the all-star break and they have dominated the east in 29 games against the east. they have batted 304 with 30 homers and 6.17 runs per game. tillman should look at this as a positive opportunity to show

what kind of com petter he is and to battle some of the best hitters in baseball. >> all right. thank you. the angels in town. game one of a four game series. the line up tonight. angels in first place in the al west and figgins in the leadoff spot. he doesn't hit for power but he gets on base and when he does he can make things happen. ceasar's brother at second, guerrero dh, morales at first, aybar at short stop, naopli the catcher, hunter is still on the dl. how about morales? the switch hitter. is he a threat from either side of the plate. >> he is a great switch hitter but mike who always complains about not having enough offense has come up with in man.

left handed he has 22 home runs on the season. right he has three. let's hope the orioles will be smart, they need to make him hit right handed. leads with 25 rbis since the all-star break and put age lot of pressure on a lot of pitchers. >> important piece in the line up. they have an ability because of the line up whatever the strategy is they have an answer. >> mike, he is always looking for something to do. early in the ball game, he lets the teams go head and play. late if it's not a squeeze it's a hit and run or a bunt. he is always moving them. have you to be careful with him. the one thing i have noticed about him. i know what he likes to see in ball games is the squeeze. he is looking for that one run. the orioles have to be on their

toes. >> the orioles, roberts in the leadoff spot, three game hitting streak. 417 during the streak with a couple doubles and two stolen bases. jones, markakis and huff in, chris batting 6th. that's the highest he has batted in the line up since his promotion. mora at third, torres will be at short stop and batting 9th. how about estoris in. >> he hits well here because the orioles have had more left handed pitchers i think than any team in the league so far this year. he is an outstanding hitter hitting right handed. 354 on the season. you want him in the bottom mawf of the line up hitting in front of roberts. not only when he gets on base he is always a threat. probably the second best base stealer on the ball club. > >> he has been consistent since the all-star break.

tonight game one of a four game series. when we come back you will hear from chris tillman the continuing development of the young pitcher. tillman on his own progress when we come back. xw@t@

 . or's extra brought to y by corona, official sponsors the time out. pleas relax responsibly. tonight the angels come into town, only the yankee's have more wins than the angels and they have the top batting average in the league. not only do have you to out pitch them at times you have to out slug them. since june the 15th 17 and 5 on the road. look at the batting average. 11-4 over the orioles and they have one in weaver's last seven starts. he goes tonight despite the fact he has pitched 5.341.

look at that run support. you give him nine runs a game he will win quite a bit and he has won his last seven. tillman to the mound for the orioles. he is coming off the best of the three starts he has had so far in the leagues. no decision in his last start and amber talked to him and asked him what was the difference. >> i think that the fact of establishing my pitches. the first two starts -- one pitch, couldn't get all three of them going. i felt like in toronto being a little sore, having to use all my pitches, going to help me especially with a team like the angels. having to throw the change up more, the off speed stuff more effectively. >> reporter: you have to use all your pitches, is that because in the major leagues you are noticing batters are a lot more p atience. > >> they don't swing at what

you want them to swing at. they don't swing at the pitcher's pitch unless you establish all three of them. once you get all three going they have to respect that and do what they have to do. >> reporter: who have you leaned on for information as far as american league hitters and who knows a lot about them? >> you know, guthrie on the staff -- he has been three or four years now. seen the hitters. it helps having the young guys that have had a couple starts weaver, i have worked him in double a and me and him click pretty well. he has helped me through this process along with the others. >> reporter: do you help by sharing information, what you see from certain guys? >> >> i can't really give them anything. it's third or 4th start. they have been here a while so they help me. it helps in the long run.

>> reporter: you said you were pitching a bit of pain in for ontoo. how does that feel? >> feel ace lot better. want to see how it feels better today. not sore today. >> reporter: good luck. >> appreciate that. thank you. >> chris tillman making his 4th major league start. he has pitched to a no decision in each. he has gotten better each time. did allow five runs in the second start but gave them six innings and then hit his last 6th and two thirds, only two runs on a home run early in the game on four base hits. what have you seen with his progress? >> the first thing you saw in that first game he pitched for the orioles he had a good straight fast ball. the speed was there but the location wasn't. maybe he was nervous so you can't take that first game to heart. what he needed to do was he had trouble with the tigers, he needed to locate his fast ball better keep it down in the

zone. he tried to pitch up in the zone with a great fast ball, guys up there to hit the ball well. small ballpark but they still banged him around. he to learn to change speeds better, keep his fast ball down. if it's going to be straight have you to stay out of the middle of the plate. very good outing in toronto. what a change he made halfway through the game he just locked in with his breaking ball he threw it when he was behind. that's what i was most impressed with is he used his change up well and then his fast ball late in the count and got it by quite a few. that's the only way you can use a straight fast ball. >> can one start like that make a dramatic difference in the pitcher going forward? they are told when they get here same in the minor you get them out. then they have to navigate, you said he pitched in toronto, can that leapfrog him? >> itk. you build on this confidence. you know once you have learned to beat a good line up like the

tigers, also a first place team. you say how did i do that? i used all my pitches. my off speed pitches set up my fast ball. then when you throw the big fast ball high in the strike zone you get a lot of strike outs and pop ups like that. later when he goes to a different ball club that maybe the high fast ball isn't there he can go to the curve ball late in the count. have you to make adjustments because other teams are watching you. that last outing of his was great. i don't care how many earned runs he gave up he pitched that's what i love to see. >> the continuing education of the young pitchers when we come back another alumni night. dave schmidt will visit with us. pxopo

 . the alumni series continuing tonight it was t revisiting of the why not team.

dave schmit and dave johnson, signing autographs what a season. came down to the final weekend. birds finished two games back of toronto. four pitcher was at least ten wins. rookie of the year greg olson. cal ripkinn1989 and dave nice enough to come by and revisit some of the memories as well as tell us about some of the things going going on in his present job. tell us about that year. the year before was a hard year. the 0-21 and then are you a contending team. >> in 89 they brought back a team of mostly young kids and a young pitching staff. i was probably one of the

older guys. we pitched well, played great defense. that goes with the pitching. we got off to a good start that i think was important for that young team. as we won more games we got more confident and it just kind of snowball from there. all the sudden we were a couple months into the season and thought we could play with anybody. it was a fun year. it really was. >> you have had a chance to work with a lot of the pitchers, jim johnson one guy that comes to mind. you kei changed him around, how much do you feel that needed to happen and how did it help? >> actually we did kind of the opposite. we lengthed his stride. he was a guy whose stride was to short. it's unusual. most guys are overstriders if they have a problem. we lengthed out the stride and i think he gained some speed, started using his legs more and the ball started sinking more

than it had before. it helped him just become a little more consistent in his deliver rei. you are the minor league coordinator. everybody has their one pitching coach but you oversee it all. chris tillman is pitching tonight, when you go into triple a norfolk how much detail do you get involved in and how much is mike? >> mike is the pitching coach of the team. i talk to him all the time on the phone even when i'm not there and we talk about the pitchers, how they are doing, what they need to improve on, how they did in their last outing, when i go into the town i don't take over. i like the pitching coach to do his job. i observe, then we talk about what each pitcher needs to do to progress and get better. obviously we are always talking about the things from the

beginning of the year. is he progressing, if he isn't do we have to change the plan to try to get him to do better. it's an overseeing, supervisorring but there are time when's i'm in a town where i will work with a particular pitcher on something. >> dave a guy that's come up and really looked good in the first outing brian mattiace. you had a chance to work with him quite a bit. >> brian was just drafted last year. you came along way in a short time. i think it shows the kind of baseball he played. he played onto west coast, played a good schedule. he pitched a lot against good teams which kind of prepared him for the minor leagues. once he got to the minor leagues he had to learn about pitching in proball and to his credit he took the things we asked him to do and just ran

with them. he has success, he is a humble kid. he doesn't -- he isn't full of himself, no pretense. he works hard and when he is on the mound he has a little bit of an attitude about him which is nice. most good pitcher dozen when they get out there. you can't beat me and you aren't going to hit me. it does happen sometimes. he found out some things in his second outing that the guys are pretty good but i think he will make adjustments and it won't hurt his confidence to much that last outing. >> you talk about brian who came as a college player, this year's number one pick matt was a high school pitcher. won his first game last night. five shut out innings on two hits. when you get a pitcher with that much natural ability, you can teach him the pitch, what is the difference in the coaching mentality verses

mattiace and. >> he is a great physical ability. 6'4'', 240 pounds out of high school and good ability. as a hitter this year he hit 21 homers. he has -- a good athlete. moves around well. fielding his position. you know you just have to look at a high school kid. you know you are going to have a longer timetable. have you to patient. he is a good talent and we look for big thing from him. i like his personality. he is open to coaching already and he had a good outing last night. i'm sure he is happy. >> the orioles four starters in the rotation plus one rookie on the dl. five of the pitchers here. go down, keep working, keep them coming. we are enjoying it. >> we have more on the way. >> that's right.

jake pitching tonight for triple a. he might be the next one. always good to see you. continued success with your role as the minor league coordinator. thank you for joining us. i know in the history of the orioles it's a special place. >> it was great to be here. thank you. >> the why not team, the director of minor league operations for the orioles. he monitors all the pitching going on in the minor leagues. there is the match up for tonight. weaver on the mound for the angels. 12-3 and chris tillman going for his first big league win. scouting report when is we come back.

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new 2010 mustang and there it is. if you are going to be here stop by and take a look. it's a beauty, right by the babe ruth statue at the beginning of utah street. tonight, chris tillman going for his first big league win. what's your scouting report snivment. >> the signs are good. tillman impressed me. he started to pitch. use all of his pitches. change speeds. breaking ball behind in the count. he did everything a veteran would do. he has been outstanding. looking like is he going deep. he had a -- he is very good with nobody out. the league only hits 217 off him with one out. three games, he has to turn that around and get that third out. >> he goes against weaver. >> my key to the game is put

the silver chalice on morales. three strike outs in a game, the silver is four. that's what we need to do to one of the best left hand hitters. >> all right. i'm getting pounded in the or's extra challenge whorks do you watch. >> melvin mora. i think tonight he will rise to the occasion. all of his friends, probably tell him what's coming. >> my pick is matt, the switch hitter. finally a chance to bat left handed against the right hander. if you paid attention 21 hits in 18 games for him. >> i hope it's a battle. i want it to go down to that last at bat. both guy was three rbis each. >> thank you for joining us. stay tuned. gary and jim next. they have the play-by-play. we are back with the post game.

the angels and/or or with a four game series. come on down and join us. we will see you later.