there was moments like that that past. i guess the bill clinton was a moment that past. i guess we have in the middle of the 90's, 1995 a moment during the momentum and the momentum that kept and it passed. so are we going to pass this time or not? i hope the leaders to seize the moment because once you don't seize the moment wait for the next war. >> let's take one back here. >> free-lance correspondent. thank you for coming. if i may, could you tell us about this -- the recommendation to be used along the so-called [inaudible] and what is the u.s. position on

this issue and in order [inaudible] could you say something about [inaudible] thank you. >> dayron? >> no, iraq. >> what he referred to? >> a report being discussed in the following talk. >> but the recommendation and also the turkey position and u.s. position and more important because of your expertise. >> that is a report that is going to be discussed in the next panel on tuesday. [inaudible] >> the next question as you know since you're an expert in this what is the prospect of iraq? thank you. >> iran or iraq? well, i am not an iraqi expert

to tell you what's happening there but i will tell you what i know. that number one iraq is a very fragile state at the moment and when the united states fleet said it will be a sick country in many ways. a sick country because there is already the differentiation between the level of violence there surpassed any level that people can take in any country there is the sense of a ceiling of decency about killing people or doing violence that might affect kids or schools and in iraq the level of secretary and violence reached levels that were unprecedented. without my opinion a serious political reform to the system that's in iraq and i hope that

will happen before americans leave iraq i guess we will have a very explosive iraq. and there is a decision for particularly the majority in iraq to make in which to create a serious federalist state. so far like to you have here in the united states you have a system that gives every state in the united states certain rights to do but there are a lot of mechanisms that keep them to get there as part of united states. mechanisms like the currency, the defense, the foreign minister, foreign policy, like a variety of mechanisms. the senate, the congress having to levels, the senate with equal representation and the house with representation for the

population. nothing like this in iraq. in iraq you have a sense of exchange from a sunni world country. there is a sense of, you know, heavy presence of iran, courage sense of being under separation for generation and tendency to secede so all that together making the country at the end so on less serious political reform and is in the constitution that allows that kind of amendment. but so far i am not seeing this. so i don't think we will get much good news from iraq. >> a question on egypt and the peace process, this gentleman over here. >> al milliken, a and media.

since 1978, 1979 have you noticed any significant change from your neighbors in the way they view each option is really bilateral relations? how much has there been resentment or disrespect in doing what egypt has achieved with israel, not a successor contributing to peace, but weakness and compromise that has hurt more than helped. >> well, certainly those polled thought moment when president sadat went to jerusalem and there was peace. they were hoping at the beginning of a kind of new donner in their region. that did not happen. now 30 years later in the region still the arab-israeli conflict. however, i guess the biggest achievement of that step has been first to create the thinking of peace. before that we were talking about existential conflicts that

each side is negating the other side completely. that was the beginning. it is now tking about borders, refugees, places and when we talk about these things you can negotiate, but about assistance the right to be there in the first place i think that is not in the table anymore. israel is existing. the question is not israel exists or not. it is about what israel will be in existence and and what kind of relationship with its neighbors. so i guess it was intellectually inferential in that direction. second, i guess it reduced to a large extent the possibilities and despite the fact of state actors and terror and countertenor retaliation and state terror all of that is a level of violence different from the level of violence that comes

from states confronting the others particularly if they got involved in to an arms race that reaches into mass destruction with all of its capabilities. so, having a fat out of the picture i guess reduces the level of violence. number 3i guess it is giving for all countries in the region the possibility to look at example in one way or another. egypt and israel both benefited in many ways of that piece, but both now realize the trajectory of the relationship is tied very much to the rest of the situation in the region. so, the results are mixed, but i guess any evaluation of the situation will say that the region is better off with

egyptian and israeli peace than without. >> one last question that we have to wrap things up. [inaudible] >> if i know how to measure [inaudible] that is a 64 million-dollar question. i guess egypt has and the winds. and both countries despite netanyahu got power all expectation was going for more, the relationship and much more hostility because of the past, because of netanyahu. what really happened is that communication between the two

countries are more than any time before. i see that different levels of normalization that is taking place. i think it boils not a coincidence that netanyahu and his staff went to the national day of egypt which is about the 23rd of july evolution which is adamant on removing israel from the area. it was very hostile and in a way i guess both countries in their own way are trying to accommodate their history and as such, i guess cairo is very well to listen to in israel and i guess cairo as well but there is one thing is release note which gave a little bit of a page is that egypt is a serious state in the region. you can make a deal, and you can

implement. you might hear from them harsh talk but they mean it and have a target behind it that is wel explained. egypt bought institutions that you can, you know, deal with and get memos and counter memos and all of that which is not a common thing and many of the political entities. even the most -- once known as -- he came to cairo passed netanyahu time and said you feel that you are in a state, that is a feeling that he didn't get in other places and i think that is quite an asset to be used in israel. how much of that in their relationship to other influence

tirso this really politics i frankly don't know. >> thank you so much for coming. [applause] [inaudible conversations]

the u.s. government. >> private benefactors. >> i don't know. i think some of it is government raised. >> it's not public funding. scaap probably donations. >> i want to say from me, from my tax dollars. >> callis c-span's fonted? america's cable companies created c-span as a public service. she ivate business initiatives -- no government mandate, no government money. now, part of the hearing on a wartime contract to oversight. this commission appointed by congress to look at contracting in iraq and afghanistan occurred at a study on a $5 billion of linguistics contract in iraq. from last week, ts is close to an hour and a half.

>> after we are done if you want to say i want to get this on the record, send it in. we will work with u to do that. our panel is general manager -- people are writing down president general manager, sir. what i youritle? president and general manager? i saw president on one and now i've got general manager of another and those are your folks that did tt one so i am okay. then we have northp grumman with greg smith, thank you, sir, representing and mr. miller, general counsel of l3 communication services group. thank you, gentlemen, for coming up and sharing with us and look forward to the discussions. mr. henke then weil go with mr. miller and mr. schmidt. can you lead? >> no swearing in, sir? >> thank you.

you know, i appreciate that. >> first time a witness ever asked to be sworn in. well done. [laughter] >> can i get you three to stand, please? my co-chair would have had a problem if i missed this one so i want to tell you thank you. raise your right hand, please do you solemnly swear or affirm the testimony you gi before this commission is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? thank you, gentlemen. let the record showhey all answered in the affirtive. now, president and general manager of global linguistics solutions. -- before, mr. thibault. mr. thibault, members of the commission on behalf of the employees of global linguistics solutions i want to thank you for the opportunity to contribute to the goa and to participate in this very important process of approving coingencies contracting. mcneil technologies for global linguistics solutions as a joint

venture in december, 26 for the sole purpose of executing a u.s. army contract to provide interpreters and translators in support of operation iraqi freedom. the company has no other business interests to compete for the attention of the senior management to deliberately build a leadership team whose effort would be devoted to the success with the single critically important contract. fromecember, 2006, when the contract was first awarded until march of 2008 when an uninterrupted performance commenced we continued to refine leadership and management staff, plan for transition and recruit native american earmarks speakers throughout the united states to ensure the troops serving in harm's way would have adequate linguists with the right skills at the right place and at the right time. when the army gave them motion to proceed we accelerated our efforts and executed rapid transition, the first ever on

the link was program in iraq and unprecedented and scaled complexity for services contract in a combat zone. when the transition was completed we focused on providing the higher numbers of enterprise and translators for the war fighters to enable full linguistic keep the bidding for multinational force-iraq and associated commands. a year later, we point to the linguist serving on the ground in iraq and other gulf states with nearly 100% all categories of contract requirements. 200800 of the linguists are native speakers of arabic and other languages. and diavik were born in the middle east and north africa. came to enjoy freedoms and privileges of life in the united states as citizens or permanent residence in volunteering to serve in iraq and the most difficult and dangerous line of work in supporting the troops. 6,600 requests are citizens of iraq or neighboring countries to risk their lives every day to work with american coalition

forces despite the danger of serving in combat and explicit threats against linguists and their families issued by the enemies of the american iraqi people. these dedicated requests american and iraqi are embedded in every unit through iraq from platoon to four-star headquarters and share the same living conditions and risks of body and mind as a soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen with mdrc urging. the price has been high. in the first full year of the tenure in iraq of linguists have been killed in action and 52 seriously wounded adding to the hundreds of other linguists who suffered death and disability since the earliest days of iraqi freedom yet we continue to serve with determination and diverse arab-american communities across the united states hundreds of candidates apply every month hoping to get through the rigorous screening and testing process to obtain the opportunity to support the forces in iraq. the men and women of the team g.

ellis are part of the endeavor. and this demand for the record that you listed on august to the commission i address the seven topics you includen your letter of invitation like our parent, dyncorp to national we are protection which causes us to focus on the warfighter, contract requirements and linguists and staff to perform at the highest quality support on schedule and within budget and to always do the right thing. before the discussions the men and women of the gls work with our men and women in uniform often under very difficult demanding dangerous circumstances. the sincerely appreciate and are honored by the opportunity to provide this service to the nation and perhaps most importantly appreciate the recognition provided by the commission to the service of those military civilians many civilians serving contingency environment and at this point i look for answering any questions you might have. >> thank you. mr. miller. >>ood morning, chairman

thibault. i'm the senior vice president -- i'm sorry. i am the senior vice president and general counsel with the l3 services group which is an organization within the oil three communications. we are proud to be a subcontractor on the team. before we performed the worldwide rehnquist support services or wiltz contract, the largest port timing w contract ever. by the end of three was providing over 8,000 linguists in iraq supported by 200 employees in the u.s. and 190 employees and theater. l3's began with a transition period at that time we support it a weontinue to support tims thout self-interest. l-3's objectives were to ensure the support of the combatant commanders and their soldiers on theround never wavered. numberwo, that the lingutic

not suffer a l o support during the transition and number three, thehia less and the tims perham succeeded. l-value added to the program is undeniable and arises from the ality that the gls wasn't orational company at that time. during the 98 transition per gough, g. alves had to stand up the 600 million-dollar company effectively from scratch that could assume full program responsibility with operations throughout the united states and iraq. to win the contract and meet this challenge, jeal less proposed a novel solution known as the integrated team management approach. under itma the assigned have the administrative staff to work in the jeal less perm offices. in this way, g ellis could possibly build a company in0 days and be eligible for a reward in this contract. l-3 immediately assigned 92 of the highly experienced employees to perform functions for gls in

areas of linker was recruiting pressing, finae, human resources, information techlogy, logistics, operations, security and training. to fulfil its three objectives however, l-3 sport went far beyond supplying itma and power. l-3 also provide substantial value add support in areas of contract and procurement, security and human resources directly helping overcome the numerousbstacles encountered by the start up organization in a diffilt and dangerous environment. indeed, our support was so complete that we transferred l-3 proprietary intellectual property that had been derived from at were experience performing the conact. e details of this support and upfront commitment to the program are set forth in my ten testimony. l-3 came to be a subcontraor because they selected gls in 2006 for the tims were although 3 and estimated costs or

$183 million lower. during theriefing we discovered the proposal hadn't been evaluated in accordanc with selecon criteria and with so much at stake we have little choice in the and to protest the decision by government accountability office. in april, 2007gla sustained i order to read on to read or solicit proposals. twice thereafter the proposals and each time gls was selected in each time l-3 discovered serious errors and protest again. , march 12, 23 during the last protest gls entrance to a subcontract which was approved by. at that point l-3 withdrew its protes i would note that the, and has been made that this was not evaluated in terms of its price, well as a cost type contract number one, but the critical thing to remember is we had several labkr rights established

for all of the linguists that did not vary across subcontractors andrime contractor. we had kept in direct rates as part of the agreement and we were required to provide uniform benefitsor all the linguists suggestis of a price qualification of ret, cost qualification there was not a risk issue for the government. now, the rationale for subcontracting was straighpforwar since theirst proposal gls lowered the cost by 676 million gradually overcoming substantial l-3 cost advantage. we also knew that the could turn to the afghanistan contract in the over provisions that exist there to meet requirements in iraq for gls by adding he incumbent to t team tt greatly improved prospts for successfully performing the contract and the government benefited as well fro the negotiat solution because it reduced the largest ris in the contract. which w the 90 transition period. as a corodlary benefit they also purchased a service for

$667 milli less evaluated and it would have originally paid. we areurrently allocated 777 linguist's f who we managed documentation, contract documentation, ethics and compliance, keeping payroll insurance and other benefits. but l-3 has more value to the magement of linists recruited by l-3. l-3's ability to perform mailing was service contracting contingency operation is rare. there are only three companies with such experience and none other than l-3 has experience with the contract of scope, ze and the brac of the will contract which cover 21 different countries. the u.s. government often spends significant resources insuring at it has a second source for critical defen items to protect against the failure of a single force. lae skilling west support services are no different. i would submit respectfully they are not commodity services. l-3's role on the contract and

shores the continued availability of the competitive second source. further the experience and know how remains immediately available to the gls come to misgernment and l-3 so long as we are a part tims perham for example l-3 is currently preventing program disruption by supporting gls on all top-secret activity while there are special security officerions vacant. we played an instrumental and material role in the program. in conclusion i hope these comments of added value to the commisonfforts. we are proud of our service to the nation and to the world and i am prepared to answer any questions you might have. >> thank you, mr. miller. mr. schmidt? >> goo morning, chairman and other distinguished members of the commission. and he read the invitation to discuss the subcoract relationship between northrop grumman technical services and the prime contractor global

ljungqvist solutions for gls. supporting the army's, iraqi linguist program. in addition i would like to take a moment and explain our obligations and cmitments to gls under the sub contract awarded to us. to begin iould like to provide a brief history of northrop grumman's one wa operations which cover the span of nearly 20 years. northrop grumman supported large-scale request requirements for the dod cince operations desert shield and storm includg operations in somalia, haiti, bosnia, and kosovo name feu. prior to joining the gls team, week ordered subcontractor to l-3 onhe previous iraq to this coract. joining the gls tiemann late, 27, provided the opportunity to retain the position on the program while we assessed future transitional requirements in the iraqi theater in relationship to the long-term cporate objectives. northrop grumman's paramount

offer in principle was 100% commitment to exceptional program performance. we have dca approved business systems didn't with estimating, planning and budgeting, purcsing and internal control. northrop grumman also h a well-defined set of business management process these that are iso 9,001 compliant and d.c. mai approved where applicable. our rates have been approved by dcma and our northrop grumman strong independent auditnd are organization. any issues raised by dcma, dcaa or northrop grumman's internal market are immediately addressed and resolved. senior leadership is personally involved in the detailed by weekly and monthly reviews of all programs with particular emphasis on programs that exceed $5 million in annua revenue. furthermore, the program managers including our iraqi

program manager in power to make management decisions to execute the program in compliance with all applicable policies, regulations and all to the government contract. our program managers have a full support of the company functional areas t include him and resources, program ctrol, finance, lal contracts and pricing. northrop grumman provides a contractor support to the gls under a fixed-price subcontract. under the terms of t subcontract, we provide management control for time reporting accountability and payroll for varying work force of approximately 1500 iraqi national linguists. these results of these include maintaining the records, time sheets, cash disbursement vouchers and tracking data by individualinguists. for the terms of the subcontract, our business operations include the receipt and review of the gls certified

payroll, the receipt and review of the actual time sheets and cast department vouchers and providing gls with a monthly status report to identify any discrepanciesn the time sheets of vouchers or payroll roster. by doing so, northrup grumman inched wasimely payment within three busiless days of the land was monthly payroll based upon receipt of the gls certified spread sheet as well as the integrity of the payroll by providing a monthly data integrity report to allow gls to take action. the gls certified paralympic substance of funds sent via electronic funds transfer to the bank account alsorovides the basis of northrop grumman billin. everything is 100% actual because once we receive the time shee and vouchers we validate the data against the certified payroll. if there areny discrepancies we provide the information to the gls and a monthly status report.

our ability to report problems to the g is contingenupon gls providing critical documents for analysis such as land was agreements, time sheets in a timely manner. it's important to note that all iraqi national linguists decide to northrop grumman are independent contractors. management and daily supervision of the lists is a responsibility of gls country management team in accordance with the gls's and a great team management approach or itma. we are responsible for managing time card validation, payroll processing and auditing of records to ensure accountability. in essence, gls's itma is the concept operations of and for centralized resource allocation among team members. furthermore in accordance with the terms of the gls itma northrop grumman does not have for has not had direct interface with contract and officers representatives.

gls in its role has a responsibility for directing interface with in country units and the course. it's been my pleasure to testify before you today. in regards to northrop grumman iraqi rehnquist subcontracting gls and i am prepared to answer any additional questions. thank you. ..

>> a question of you mr. miller and mr. schmidt, are there any of the functions that you are performing under this contract that are further subcontracted? >> no, sir. >> no, sir. >> okay. mr. houck to you, for the other subcontractors, are there any functions, any functions, that are subcontracted? >> no, sir. >> okay. everyone of these subcontractors is performing all of the functions that they've been responsible for performing? >> yes, to the best of my knowledge, that is correct. >> okay. i would like, i ask for when we visited before and we got some input. but i would like in detail what each subcontractor is doing by

way of admintrator support, payroll, what have you, in detail. and then if there are any further subcontracts, second tier subcontracts, i'd like that stated. >> for my knowledge, there's no third tier subcontractors. they do not provide additional support via subcontracts to them. as far as the functions that are performed by the subcontractors i believe they have been detailed fairly well. gls does provide the recruiting, we require all the prescreening testing, deployment support, we provide all of the onsight, on-the-ground management of the linguist. what still not disturbed is the

risk inherit on operation on the ground. the reasothat gls hashe management that we have is the war fighter. if the subcontractor was to not pay the linguist and the linguist decided to leave the contract, that would have direct contract on the mission and lives are faced with this. this is the reason we've adopted this unique unorthodox management approach is to mitigate the risk to the war fighter on the ground. if you would >> if you could provide to me in detail if you haven't already, a rack of all all the subcontractors and specialically what functions they have performing over and above what gls provides? >> i think that in the interest of time, i'd like to provide

that. >> no, for the record please. go ahead. yeah. >> okay. thank you, commissioner. >> all right. thank you. mr. hck in light of all the problems that were discussed during the previous panel, i don't find your testimony very forthcoming in the full picture of this contract. i'm hoping that your response to these questions -- >> i'll do my best. >> thank you very much. did anyone in your company or somebody employeed by gls talk to anyone or communicate to the military in the theater or to the media about the fact alleging that the government was imposing costs cuts on linguists? >> certainly not to the media. i do believe that individuals that were employed by gls talked to military personnel to try to explain the situation that gls

was faced with. we were in a position where we had to go from a proposal of $1 billion to $765,000. frankly the only cut that level of cost was in linguist compensation. there was prior testimony about a media campaign. that that was not the case at all. we were -- >> so nobody in your company talked to the media about the possibility that linguists salaries were going to be cut? >> the possibility of linguist salaries being cut, yes. the fact that it was due to pressure from -- >> how was it characterized? >> tough negotiations. as was offered this morning, what we were faced with a newly competitive environment. we had to gorom cost, we were

actually, the billion-dollar proposal was developed at the actual cost that we were paying at that time. those costs where because when we first took over, we adopted the compensation levels that the linguists were being paid. we did not want linguists to leave the contract. we did not want to -- want the linguist to leave the war fighter. we were provided the target numbers. the only way to get to those numbers was via linguist compensation reduction. >> did you participate in the decision to the letter head to the military in the theater? >> yes, ma'am. >> can we have copies? >> yes, ma'am. >> can you deliver copies of any document that relates to the gls's statement that it was pressure from ncom under the contract. >> i think you will find the

letters don't talk about that. but we will be happy to provide them. >> okay. >> may i add, there were widespread communications. we were communicating with all of them, and with the customer, and the military and grounds. they were aware of what we were doing. it was full-open disclosure out of the time. >> you never thought about taking it in the overhead to yourubcontractors. >> i don't know that that would have been allowable, ma'am. >> okay. my sense of this contract by the way is that in essence gls is basing leasing the linguist from these subcontractors. you're doing all of the work in identifying them, training them, you said support, you said essentially you're doing all of that work. and these contractors are essentially paying them. and the essence it seems to me if you really cut through awful this is that you needed a lot of

linguists. they had the linguists, and you needed to lease them to be able to perform under your contract. are they gls employees or subcontractor employees? >> other than the 700 plus linguists that are working for l-3 or our other subcontractors, they would be gls employees. proxly 60% of the linguist are employees of the subcontractors. >> i thought you just said they were employees gls but l-3 linguists. >> 60% of the linguists we provide are provided through the subcontractors and they are employees of the subcontractors. the other 40% is employees of gls. my time is up. no, it's not. i have 20 seconds. i want to ask how many direct employees of your company

performed functions under the gls contract? how many employees do you have for l-3? not the linguists but the. >> right. the administrative staff. i don't know the current count. >> give me a ballpark. >> i'd rather not. i don't know the actual count. >> what, 10, 100? >> no, it's much more complicated. plus our finance department is still dealing with the close out of the years from the other contracting. there are two contracts in play for l-3. that's why the number is not something i have on top of my head. it's a separate division from where i'm located at. i know we have contracted substantially. just i don't know what the number is. >> i'm not talking about the linguists. >> correct. as in the ops that have expanded. >> oh, okay. all right. what about you mr. schmidt? >> we have the contract in

addition to the linguists so it's between 4 and 6. >> so the amount of money you've been paid is $2.8 billion up through july '09. so that would be $2.8 million for four to six people? is that accurate? >> ma'am, i guess i'd confused of where you get the exact number? >> the amount of money that is the overhead is not on that chapter. but dcaa showed us. >> it's at the written testimony at the back table. >> of how much you paid for the functions? i'm just asking how many people you employee? >> yes, the direct charge personnel to the contract range

between four to six personnel. in addition to that we also have our indirect personnel which i described as our human resources and support staff. >> and can you give us that statement for the record? >> yes, ma'am. >> commissioner. >> actually mr. miller, you have a distinguished career as a lawyer. and you mention another division. do you have any operational experience in this area? what we're talking about now. >> in terms of -- >> absolutely. have you been in iraq? >> no, i have not. >> you have not. have you been in a line responsibility like these two other gentleman? >> i have not had general manager or property loss responsibility. >> okay. so you haven't listen in a line responsibility. >> i'm puzzled, why are you here? >> i'm here because i get involve involved in the the business level. >> but you don't make business

decisions do you? >> the way our organization works i report directly to our -- >> i understand that. i understand that. general councils usually are. but you don't make them, do you? >> no, sir. >> question for you. >> who do you report to? >> i report to the chief of staff and president l-3. >> names? >> i report to steve post who the general council of the l-3 corporation. >> mr. houck, i want to read something to you and i want a statement one way or the other. this is page six of the testimony of doctor. gls embarked on a media company

linguists salaries were based on the cut. this is not true. gls used this tactic to ruse linguists salaries. is that statement true? it's a statement that gls said something that wasn't true. do you believe it's true? >> i apologize. read it again. >> during the time frame of the ka kuwait side visit, the gls management embarked on a media campaign where by linguists salary cuts were blamed on ncom having reduced the value of the contract. this was absolutely not true. characterize this statement for me please. >> i believe that -- that gls undertook a media campaign blaming the effort was untrue.

>> okay. so this is not a true statement. >> i believe that is the case. >> okay. i have a statement on page one. 2700 linguists born in north african region. the quote, presumably you tested the folks. >> yes. >> north african arabic is different. how do you deal with that? >> we have 40 languages and dialects you're required to provide. we subcontract to a firm called alta. >> spell that please. >> i believe it is alta. they provide the tests for us. and we use those tests every day. >> okay. and the government -- does the government have any oversight in your sense of these tests? or do you simply give the results to the government? do they see the examinations

themselves? >> not to my knowledge. although at any time they would request we would send them results. we have them all open to audit. >> one last question. mr. schmidt, it was you who said you work with dca, you work with dcma, you work with the army. do you get the sense that government speaks with one voice on these matters? all three of you. >> i guess from our limited view of the contract, i would have to say yes. >> also to this contract, i don't see anything by a single voice. >> i would agree with that except for the exception of dcma, we have received very little input. in fact they contact us for the first time last week. >> really? >> yes, sir. >> thank you very much. that was fascinating. i yield b last 30 seconds. >> good, thank you.

commissioner tiefer. >> mr. houck. >> yes, sir. >> on the issue of you having had no choice left you by ncom but to cut linguists salary, would you take and give our staff, would you have some high-level people who know your stuff give the staff a briefing with actual records and figures as opposed to alternative of reusing the ridiculously set up structure which your contracting officer would have done for you and partial termination for the convenience? >> we would welcome the idea to brief your staff. >> great. set it up. you provided us with a grid. i believe it. as to which subcontractors did which functions. and i believe it, but i want to make sure. l-3 did not do language testing,

l-3 did not do functional training, services, and l-3 did not do in country management and leadership and supervision. >> that is correct. we performed those functions currently. >> i want to know because i'm sure l-3 is not so modest about the services they provide. was it the case -- now you know the four i've been mentioning? >> only from your testimony. >> you're kidding me. you mean when forbes wrote an article about your parent company you don't bother to read it? that's an insult to the media. you're not being read over there. you have to work hard. so you don't know whether it's true as "forbes" said chairman

of the board and owns 1/4 of it. >> yes. >> and it helped the contract to boost ncom's revenue. >> i believe that's true, yes, sir. >> okay. well. you don't have to agree with me. i'm just going to say this contract and the taxpayer became a cash cow. it was a big juicy steak. let's get to -- let's get to l-3. and i am far from defending my profession. i totally agree with mr. zakheim that lawyers are a poo substitute of witnesses, a poor substitute to the hands on people actually making the

management. yes, sir you sent us a real executive, not a council. you mentioned two protests that were good and successful. mr. miller, does your figur 17 protests accord with the number of protests you've filed over the four years it took for this contract to be awarded? >> 17. >> 17. >> no it dods not. three, four if you include an agency action during the course of the goa protests relative. >> i'm not talking about that. i'm talking about -- >> there are other protests that took place that l-3 was not a part of relative to the linguist contract. that is perhaps where you're number comes from. >> yes, but the 2004 contract. >> we were not aware of the protests, sir. we were not a part of them. way back in 2004 we didn't have

the contracts. >> okay. so it was just one or two protests. it was part of the consideration that made them make you a subcontractor. was the resolution of the protest, wasn't it? >> i am positive of that, sir. >> just one or two. >> three, sir. two successful and one unresolved because it was dismissed. >> they are easily frightned. >> unresolved but withdrawn. >> yes. withdrawn because of the negotiated subcontracting agreement. >> that is connect. >> you bought it, yes? >> yes. >> and it was tight that have a linguists because of the scandal there. >> it took place, yes, sir. >> okay.

whatbout soap? we just heard you agree with what mr. houck said you don't do those categories. i could read them back to you, language testing, functional training, and in country management. >> that is correct. >> i characterize you as a do-little for the amount of money that you get. >> i'll make the note that all of you give the opportunity to lay a cap stone on anything you might choose. mr. commissioner -- >> i can wait for a minute if you'd like t respond now. >> sure. >> i can wait. >> sure. >> would you like to respond now or later? >> no, sir, there's no need to. >> are you going to respond at all? >> i guess not. >> what to the allocation he just made? >> sir, i don't think it's productive for me to try to respond. i've already made my statement.

>> by surely if the commissioner asks you a question you aught to answer it. >> sir, it wasn't a question. >> put a question mark after it charlie. >> you did in your statement describe your functions. i described the ones that you don't do. what do you think that you are a do-little subcontractor? >> i respectfully disagree, sir. >> following on that fruitful dialogue. >> we're lawyers. >> i'd like to understand some of the numbers that has been tossed around. we have a chart here that says l-3 you employee exclusively u.s. hires. >> that is my understanding, yes, sir. >> okay. so you employee u.s. hires, you have 733 linguists according to this chart.

and northrop whereby you employee local nationals, right? >> yes >> and so you have about 2,000 local nationals, iraqis, -- >> 1500, sir. >> now you're obviously the u.s. hires are more expensive than local nationals. is that correct? >> that's the general -- generally is it what is the business reason for dividing it up between i'll do local, i'll do local nationals and i'll do u.s. hires? >> that's what we negotiated and agreed to with gls. >> why? >> that's one of the things that was offered in the negotiations. so i perhaps gls can specify why it wasn't at the time we didn't restrict it to u.s. hire, but

that was the anticipation. >> is the arrangement with the prime to have 22.5% of the work is it 22.5% of the linguists of the employees? >> it's 22.5% of the value of the contract basically. >> of the total contract value. so it's really more related to dollars. >> yes, sir. >> so if -- you're subcontract relationship for a lot more people is 5% of the total contract value. >> actually, sir, to date we're running about 2% of the contract value. >> 2%, okay. mr. miller the attachment from ms. stephenson's testimony, three large businesses, page two, you have it, i supposed

you're company can there? >> most likely, it's the one with a billion dollars. >> yeah, that's cost plus award? >> that is correct. >> okay. can you tell me roughly and in detail for the record of that $1,45000,000 going to 733 linguists and your administrative staff which is 100 or sob with can you tell you how much of the 1,450,000. >> we have a feeling on our incorrect dos that we bill. if we exceed those, we don't bill them. our ceiling is 9.5%. so i need a calculator to figure that out. >> so your total index is 9.5,

and what's your fee? >> our equal share of the proportion share is that gls shares. we don't have a separate award. we participate with gls. i don't believe they put fee on our fee. >> what is the fee amount? >> there is 1.5% of the estimated, and please correct me if i get this wrong, but as i recall 1.5% of the cost proposal at the start of the contract period is in the nature of a fixed p, and then i believe there's a possibility for an award of up to another 6% for a total of 7.5 if you have 100% award fee. >> okay so your maximum award fee indirect is up to 7.5%? >> well, i wouldn't say it's on

top of the 9.5%. it's on top of total. >> salary based. >> right. >> but it's 7.5%. >> yes. >> okay. so then you pass it to mr. houck who is, what's your indirect rate? >> sir, i'm not -- i don't know my exact rate. >> ask your cfo behind you. >> sir, about 15.6% in indirect plus the 7.5% potential base plus. i'm sorry. if i may correct we do place our fee on their fee. so it is fee on fee. >> right. it's all wrapped in. if i tried to explain to someone

who's not an expert in contracting, i'm not an expert, i would think of it like this. you're payroll is $100. you employee u.s. hires exclusively in 733. the payroll is $100. you'd add to that mr. miller, 9.5% up to 7.5% as an award fee, and add that number to mr. houck who takes the new number adds his indirect of 15.6% and adds possibility a 7.5% fee which includes the fee on the fee; right? >> the concept is correct. i was just corrected. the total indirect including fee is 15.6. >> say that agree. >> the total indirect including fee is 15.6%.

but you have the concept correct. yes, sir. >> all right. thank you. commissioner ervin. >> thank you. i was going to begin my round of questioning with you mr. houck to give you an opportunity to respond to the question i was engaging in on the earlier panel about whether gls would have contracted with l-3. and we'll give you an opportunity. but before doing that, i was reallyrivetted by your testimony. so me you made an eloquent case for why gls had no choice, really, essentially but to subcontract. and a case for why l-3 should have been awarded the contract in the first place. and i understand why gls confirmed the big protest. you said that gls had to set a $600 million from scratch. you were the company in iraq. you had the experience already.

you had $180 million lower price. that's not the question for the panel. it's a ncom question. it's very interesting. and it sets the stage for this. we are where we are. and the question now is for l-3 and what additional value do you provide? we talked about this in the rounds of question we've had, but i want to get into it more. let's go back to the chart, mr. houck, as i've begin to point out looking now at l-3 you provide corporation training, personnel security administration, human sources administration, casualty assistant, financial administration, and that's defined direct deposit. all of those functions are also functions that gls provides. the only function that you provide that unique on this chart that gls doesn't is

advisory in management support. what does that mean? >> i'm not sure what gls was thinking in choosing those words so in speculation. but suspect that what it reflects is the experience that we bought to the program to the tim's program from the prior contract. the expertise that our people have, the support that we give them as we move forward, and as they face various challenges in performance of the contract. that's my guess, sir. >> okay. i'm going to ask mr. houck. before i do that, i want your answer to this mr. miller, at least in theory, gls could provide the corporation training and all these other functions that you provide, in theory? all right. so the only unique thing is as vie remanagement support. mr. houck is mr. miller's

understanding by the advisory and management support you're understanding? >> yes, sir, it is we turn to l-3 and northrop to seek solutions to problems, lessons learned from the team for many years. they are very valuable to us as a team. >> mr. schmidt, i want you to get into this. again, just reading down the list of what northrop does, these were exceptions that gls provides. so what unique advisory management support does northrop provide that gls can't get on its own? >> we have to my knowledge provided some support to gls on certain topics. i could get back with you on the record on specificically what those were. they did fall in the area of some of the processing of time card improvements and some of the activities that was going on

with some of the linguists activity and some of the personnel issues that they were having with the linguists. but i would like to probably get back with you from my team for the record on the detail. >> all right. i'd like for you to do it on the record. then the question seems for me the commission to evaluate whether this institutional knowledge as you put it as to l-3 is worth it financially and whatever background you can give us, mr. schmidt, is worth it to the taxpayer. just a couple of other quick questions, mr. houck, what does mcneal technologies add? what do they do? >> mcneal provides oversight via the board of managers, the group that i report to. mcneal provides in addition to the board -- i'm sorry the board has appointed a committee comprises of the ceo of mcneal, i meet with them and communicate with them daily for

the purposes of contract oversight. additionally, mcneal has a contract to provide management and recruiting support to gls. that is a contract that does not carry fee. >> if i might have just one more minute to just ask the question that i began with. for the record, mr. houck, i would like you to answer the question of whether the protest l-3 went through three times when the subcontract l-3 would have been rewarded. >> i believe we have started with his presence. i believe we would not have made the decision if not for the protest activities. >> thank you. >> well, based on what you just said just now, how much marginal value really is there to these advisory services if you would have been just as comfortable

without l-3. >> i can't give you a quantitative figure. i can tell you there is significant value to the team. >> there wasn't value enough to make you want to go with l-3 in the first place. >> that is correct. >> thank you. northrop and the corporate revenue not this accounting question, everyone just issued their '08 financial statements. can you give me a ballpark on total sales of northrop? >> i'm looking at you. it was a trick question. i'm going to ask l-3 in a second. i had you paused. i wasn't expecting you to answer. mr. schmidt? >> approximately $35 billion. so $35 billion and this is the second half of the question. but i'm looking at you now. about how much of that is u.s. government of all variety and

forms? like 70, 80, 90%? >> ballpark, 90%. >> all right. i can work with that. l-3, corporation sales? >> somewhat between $14 and $15 billion. >> okay. $15 billion. that's a better number. can you give me the percentage? >> i think it's higher percentage than northrop, i think 80s and 90s range. that might be high. >> okay. i'll use 80. i'm going to come back to that. mr. houck you have about 40% of the heads that are linguists. it's about 60% spread through subcontractors. you have a payroll system and you process checks and you do the like. am i reflecting it's a company that has those systems in place that print checks or result in the money or whatever you have to hand out that when it's $3*

,000 or 9,000 people it's a process that you have to follow and that you could do that function? >> yes, sir. >> because if you couldn't, i'd worry about the 3,000. >> yes, sir. >> and i would expect that you could do it. my question then is for mr. schmidt and mr. miller, again i apologize for camouflaging you. my question coming down to $35 million plus 90%, a $15 billion, 80 presidents, and consciousous established government contractor. now it's a big deal. mr. stevenson laid off the deal. we have $470. my question is pretty straightforward as a

consciousous contractor, why wouldn't you add as a consciousous and later l-3wgls, and nts why wouldn't you recommend and due to the substantial savings that qualify that would accrue get out the business as far as this very small to your corporate health, very profitable, i'm not arguing that point, it should be. why wouldn't you just step aside as a defense contractor that's trying to support where ncom got up to saying we are looking for alternatives. why wouldn't northrop step aside? >> we have a subcontract with gls. >> we don't -- the question is really though as a consciousous

$35 million contractor, why wouldn't you say wow, bringing this into focus, i don't belong, they can do it. i come from a viewpoint that we're talking about permitting a fee or permitting of indirect cost or unnecessary cost, we have this real opportunity, $465 million. why wouldn't you? >> sir, all i can say is we have do a legal obligation. >> because you signed a contract you're going to deliver the contract under the contract is changed. >> and if it is deemed, sir, they do not need our services. >> it will be affected. that's a fair answer. mr. miller? >> i have two points to the answer. the first dealing with fundamentals of contracts. >> okay. that's basically the same answer. >> yeah, it's a little bit more

involved, sir. >> okay. professor tiefer, go ahead. >> we have a substantial amount of consideration if you will. >> consideration meaning? >> value. no in the transition period we turned over our company in a manner of speaking numerous key employees spread out across the country to gls facilities to oversee, participate, support the transition, and we participated in that approach until early this year. >> so you brought value to the transition and as a contractor, call it like it is, regardless if you're a subcontractor that lost the award, you were paid. >> to be in a contract. >> but you were getting paid to do this transition. >> sir, we were indeed. and the deal that -- the agreement that we entered into

with gls was that we would be in this position as a subcontractor for five years. in other words we performed a large part -- >> okay. i heard that. we'll take the second point. but that deal is costing you and me, taxpayer, a whole lot of money. what's your second? >> sir, if i could just respond to that. i think there's considerable value right now that anything that the government and the taxpayer is paying they are receiving value for. there is a certain value in having a second source. there is a serious value in having the ability to call upon l-3 and l-3 being there and able to help the performance. >> right. okay. again, you're customer, your previous customer, now your customer is mr. houck, but your previous customer said that he agreed fully and that's why this organization that was up in

afghanistan rem or whatever seized them for competition. my time has been way up. but you'll get a wrap-up session. to me that's the part that rivets me. wouldn't $50 billion companies total do this when there's a need and transition is going on in iraq all over. and organizations are -- kbr was in here. kbr is stepping aside from a lot of work. and that's painful. so we're in the point now where we can pursue and doug, we'll let you go first. we're going to, rather than go around, we're going to get out here on our commitment at 1:00. everyone in the audience is goes, yes, 1:00. we're going to change the process. >> thank you. i want to pursue this more. because if i understand you correctly you were being paid to

transition which is normally the case. so the fact that you did what you were paid for doesn't strike me a big deal. >> sir, we went beyond doing what we were paid for. we went simply working the transition of a set of linguists to gls. which is what normal transition is. in a legendary fashion, i think he will leave. unlike john elway, he didn't have all the retirements previous his final retirement, therefore he came back for that second super bowl and won it. i don't think brett favre would take the roll of the dice again to hit the mountaintop and then potentially come back down in the 2010 season. it's also based on what happens with this team this year. i think he feels he has everything in place as john elway did, a terrell davis, adrian peterson, he has a stronger defense than they even had in denver. i think he's feeling really comfortable about putting himself in a position to go out

there and be the leader of this team. >> so they don't make the super bowl, hypothetically. we could talk so many scenarios, but if they goes past the first round, lose in the second round, do you see maybe him come... brett favre doesn't even know what he's going to do tomorrow. >> right, right, right. >> brett favre coming back for 2010. >> that's a condition called favre-ites. you can't say what you're going to feel now because you don't have any understanding or foreshadowing what you're going to say tomorrow. he's all over the place. we know that about brett favre. the situation is, if they come out and they do exactly the same or worse, i think he comes back another year. if they do a little better, i think he contemplates it but still comes back. they do great and surpass all expectation, go to the super bowl and win the super bowl, that's it for brett favre. what else do you do? we could have said that three, four years ago, what else do you do. he already has a super bowl ring. the next thing he can do is go out with that super bowl ring at the end. i think he wants that dramatic feel. i think he wants the look like

the hollywood set that john elway had. i think he wants the same situation. >> i asked you earlier about who this impacts the most offensively, and naturally you pick adrian peterson, the best non-quarterback athlete in the nfl. how about wide receivers. they have a very young group. and bernard berrian is the veteran. you have sydney rice, percy harvin and then you have a pretty good tight end. who do you think will benefit the most with brett favre throwing balls? >> they got the slow receiver in the league, my friend bobby wade, as well. but you know what, i think it's really going to be bernard berrian is really going to take vack of this because of the deep ball, and i think percy harvin because he's the "x" factor. take a guy like percy harvin and all his skills, he can come out of the back field, put him at the slot position, or he can go deep and stretch the defense. so being a young guy and then getting an opportunity to play with a future hall of famer, i think that's going to show a lot

of benefits towards percy harvin. bernard berrian's been in the league. he knows what to done. he's going to learn more defense of the offense because brett favre has so much experience, but percy harvin, a young guy with a blank chalkboard, he says draw on it. he's going to use this experience from brett favre and i think that's going to help him blossom. >> what was it like when you played against brett favre? what was your mindset as a defensive end and you see this guy across? >> you know what, he was so savvy. he was just a guy that felt so comfortable. you would line up and you're tired or you're looking forward to going out there and making these plays and you're anxious and you're just gritting, and he's just walking to the line of scrimmage, hey, what's going on? hey, marcellus. then he buttons his chin strap. are you playing like this is a real game on sunday nfl or are you playing like you're in the backyard somewhere, one of those wrangler commercials. that's where he always came to the line. i want to say childish kind of personality like he didn't care this was a big stage, big lights.

he always treated it like it was another walk in the park. his play showed it. he stayed intimate with the moment, but at the same time, he felt detached from it. i think a lot of other guys in those situations always felt like, i got to go out there and make a play. i got to do well. brett is like, it's going to come because i'm brett favre and that's what usually happens. >> when that happened, though, that's such a great story when he comes to the line. he says, hello. do you suddenly forget what you're doing and does it change how you approach it for that moment? >> it does for... it catches you off guard because you're sitting there as a gladiator banging your sword and shoes and he comes up there like, hey, how you doing, buttons his chin strap, throws a touchdown and unbuckles it immediately and pumps his first, runs down the field jumping for joy. it makes you understand what this is all about. it's stale game. very few guys can reach the mountaintop like him and that pinnacle of success and still realize it's just a game and treat it in such manner and he's one of the few that can.

>> we hope the hear from brett favre any minute now, stepping to the podium at the vikings' practice facility. he's signed wearing the number four. he practiced with the team earlier this afternoon. when he arrived in st. paul on the owners' jet, brad childress his driver. >> nice. >> took him from the airport to the facility. so brett favre getting the first-class treatment from the minnesota vikings. i mentioned before he's 39 years old. he will turn 40 in october five days after the packers and vikings face off at the metrodome on monday night football on espn. we hope to hear from brett favre. you see this interesting list. and before we let you go the last time, we had sports nation chime in on the best quarterback in the n.f.c. north, and surprisingly to me, aaron rogers edged out brett favre. in one year, this year, who would you have in this list? >> in this list, i would take aaron rogers, as well. just because of the fact that he has another year under his belt.

last year to replace a future hall of famer, a legend, was tough mentally for him, and he still went out there and flourished and did well. so i would say aaron rogers, and also you know what brett favre went through last year. it was tale of two season, first half where he was great, and then the last part of the season where he fell off. i think that impacts his vote, as well, but all indications i'm hearing also is that matthew stafford will be a beast, but at the same time, we have to see that during the regular season as a rookie in the nfl. but i would go with aaron rogers. that's a smart bet. he did a great job last year. >> sports nation, at least to my surprise, just edging out brett favre. i think biggest surprise is jay cutler there at third. you hear so much about jay cutler's rocket arm. this conference, the n.f.c., we've seen the domination coming from the a.f.c. with the powerhouses like the steelers, the patriots over the last few years, as well as the colts and even throw in the chargers. >> uh-huh. >> the most dominant division i

think, you may agree when we talk about the n.f.c. east and what the eagles, cowboys and giants can do and then you throw in the redskins, a team that can surprise many depending on jason campbell. where would you rank this division the n.f.c. north when you have cutler joining the bears and aaron rogers in year two and hopefully this packers' defense turning it around. now the addition of brett favre on a team you think could possibly win the n.f.c. >> i would put it right behind the n.f.c. east. the south, there are some question marks, tampa bay, carolina. atlanta will be good, as well. i would put them a little above that because i think green bay will return to form. and then you look at the situation, you talk about now you have the minnesota vikings and brett favre together and that marriage is finally happened. i just see this team having all the pieces you need. when you have all the pieces you need, there are no more excuses. i played defensive end.

all those years i can look at the offensive side of the ball and you hope you can never point a finger and say, you know what, the reason we're not winning is because of this. this team last year could point the finger at the position of quarterback and say, we did everything on defense, everything in the running game, but we didn't win because of that. now they have no more excuses. that will be the message from the coaching staff and brad childress. no more excuses, guys. go out there and maximize the potential. >> really what could be key is the fast start for the vikings. brett favre got off to a great start with the jets. you mentioned before 8-3. and then that injury and really hit a tough patch after they won that game against the patriots. if we could pull up the vikings' schedule, because there's one thing i find interesting about this for marcellus to possibly address, they start off with the browns, then the lions. then the 49ers. and then you have the packers and rams. potentially you could start off at 5-0 before you have the ravens in week six, and i'm not asking you to go week by week

because the nfl is so different because teams can step up, but the bottom half of this, look at the final three weeks. >> yeah. >> thankers this, bears, -- panthers, bears, giants. we're talking about man who is going to be 40 years old. we're talking about a man who has played so many consecutive games, holds that record, well over 265 regular-season games straight. but he has that rotator cuff injury. are you concerned when you see the bottom half and you have to go to carolina, and you have to go to chicago, and then you have to close the season with the giants. >> the biggest mistake i used to make as a player, and i think every player will attest to that, you see the schedule and start circling it in two different colors and one color is we should win and one is uh-oh, we better prepare differently, this is going to be tougher, and it's never right. look fiement dolphins of last year. i'm sure everyone circled them, oh yeah,, we got them, 1-5, like people will circle detroit this year. the problem with that is your

preparation, you're going to approach it differently because in your mind you're going to say, it's not going to take that extra punch to knock them out. then you get into the game and realize, this is another nfl team, they're going to be great. there are going to be concerns because brett favre in the last five years has had collapses because of injury and also just because of age and durability. so i think it's a concern, as well. we're going to see if those same teams are going to be as good as they look on paper as they were last year. but you're in that dome, so they're going to be eight games for brett favre to say, you know what, these are the perfect elements for him. after that, you know, things are going to have a little look. every team that wins the super bowl has to have a little look, a little love on their side. hopefully he can have that in his health and can go throughout the whole season. >> we hope to hear from brett favre and hopefully in minutes. we keep on hearing possibly it's coming soon, but just like brett favre in his football decision, he's waiting and keeping us all waiting. kevin negandhi here with marcellus wiley as espnews

continues. complete coverage of brett favre joining the vikings earlier today and practicing with the team. so we heard marcellus' reaction. we've heard packers' reaction. we've heard vikings' reaction. what about vikings' fans reactions. here's what they had to say on kfan radio earlier today. >> brandon myless i can, the technical director nor the minnesota vikings radio network was able to get in touch with brett favre and get a comment from brett favre on what it's going to be like october 5th, monday night football, when he plays his former team. ♪ >> and i will have my vengeance in this life or the next. tom? >> awesome. >> yeah, yeah, i'm here. >> what's going on? >> not much. i was just going to comment on i can't understand these people calling in saying how they're just so disgusted brett favre is playing for us because he played for the packers. >> how stupid is that? >> how about you look at it the other way and he played for

them, now he's playing for us. we're using him against them. why don't people look at it that way? i don't get it. >> you can have the opinion that brett favre stinks. when he threw the ball right to bell in the dolphins' game, that's who i think he is and i'm not in favor of it and that's your opinion. but you know what, i'm not... some may think i'm provincial because i want these squads to win, but i ain't from here. i mean, you know, i just have too many friendships within this organization to take it to that level. i mean, i want this team to win the super bowl, and i feel brett favre gives the team a better chance to win the super bowl, as i've said the last three months, so i'm very excited to watch his games, very excited to go to lambeau field, very excited to help him move a piano into the family room of johan santana's place in bear path, maybe get j.g. over the winter park today to show deanna favre the finer points of 50th and france. and list play. >> that was reaction earlier

today on kfan radio. they... you saw the graphic there. the early reaction and one of the things we want to update, it's a two-year deal for brett favre according to chris mortensen, $12 million this year guaranteed if he's on the roster on opening day, $13 million in 2010 if he's on the opening day roster in 2010. that's a lot of money, marcellus, that you're giving a guy who is going to be 40 in just a couple months. you've had the chance to play with some guys in their 40s, a guy like vinny testaverde, whose arm honestly looked fantastic in his 40s. what was it like in the locker room seeing a guy who has to go through the process and prepare differently from a young gun? >> well, the first thing is those older guys got have thick skin because the jokes are flying left and right because you're in there changing and seeing granddaddy over there and you're like, what is going on. vinny testaverde was in the nfl like when i was two years old. i mean, you just... the disparity of those guys and how

they prepare and what they've seen through the game. you almost want to sit around their locker room like you would around your grandfather and his rocking chair and just hear stories. those guys bring so much experience and they can tell you how to prepare. and you watch them and how they prepare, how they affected the backups, vinny testaverde and how he affected a tony romo who was on the team at that time just trying to make the team. you know, you learn a lot of things from guys who have this kind of stature, and what vinny testaverde used to, do i also played with a doug flutie who was kind of a different 40-year-old. he was a 40-year-old that was the 20-year-old. i mean, after practice doug flutie would come up and say, let's play a pickup game of basketball. you're like, no! but this old man just kept churning. they learn so much throughout their experience. they know how the cut the fat off of preparation. that's the best thing about it. how do you go out there and effectively transfer that playbook to that football field on sunday? these guys were so efficient in their production, so efficient in their preparation, it wasn't about when you first are in the

league, you're trying to make every play and impress every coach aúúnd  well, they said it woul come down toty wire, it did just that. this town is buzzing because of the deal agreed to last night just before the midnight deadline with strasberg. no team has paid more for a number one pick than the nationals did for this guy out of san diego state. we'll talk about it coming up here any masn.

allow about this. 11:58:43. went right down to the wire, as everybody expected he would. 15.67 million for four years. i can get along with that, can't you? >> i can, too. and it's structured in a way that all of the money is not paid up front. and the sweet thing about it, we didn't sign the kid last year from missouri, and they ended up, think it was going to taking, like, 4.5 million to sign trope, and if you look at that, take away from that, you're only talking about 11 million, and we got drew if that. the way we're playing now, may not end up with the number one pick, but could. it's just a great situation for this ball club, and they have just gotten nerve the community

so excited, a franchise-type player. and when you think of a guy like that, you think 0 the nolan ryans, the randy johnson, dwight goodens, those type of people, and this kid, from what i've heard, haven't seen him in person, but he is one of the, if notth the best minor league young free agents to ever come out of college. >> one thing, ray knight, you're probably lucky that he wasn't pumping against you. a hundred mile an hour fastball? >> i was a real good fastball hitter, johnny, but i don't think i could handle 102. >> there you see the numbers. 13-1 record. era of 1.32. i've got to tell you, there's a lot of people happy in this city. stan kasten and mike rizzo, the

learner family, and so is jim wriggleman. >> i think just like everybody else, really happy about it. everybody has been points tars this date, and just a great step for the organization, and great commitment by the ownership of the ball club to get stephen strasberg signed and just really happy about it, anxious for the next step for him to get on with his career, and do great things that i know are ahead of him. >> one thing we all know, he wants to play baseball, he'll be playing in the nation's capital with a franchise that's rapidly going up the ladder with nothing but great success anticipated for this guy when he gets here to washington. mike rizzo, you look get for having been up to the wee hours of the morning to get this

thing done. you said right down to the wire, it was right down to the wire. >> it was. literally seconds before the deadline passed. and it's not unusual, but this one was real close to the deadline. so we were -- we're happy it was a good ending to a really long, hard negotiations. >> mike, i want to congratulate you personally. before we go any farther, on the trade for nyger, and the acquisition of bunnette, and weeding people out of here, and just turning the franchise around, naming rig riggleman, a lot of these things it take toes to make a winner, and that strasberg deal. i've been involved in those types of deals, and it is an unbelievable, stressful time, and his has he been dealing with the thing for three months, and i congratulate you for all of the wonderful things of you done and getting this

thing done. >> well, thank you. i have a great support system in the front office. stan has been great, taught me a lot about what's going on, and the people around me make you what you are. so we have a good thing going. >> tony gwinn said this is just a special kid. forget his pitching ability, but he's just a terrific young guy. >> the one thing i learned, this kid is a good person, a good guy, but he's got a little redness on the mound. he's mean, and he's a competitor, and you combine 102, 103 miles an hour with an ornery streak, guys were going to be too comfortable at the plate, believe me. >> no, they're not. just makes me thing of nolan ryan and how he was out there. i'm so excited. i've never been more excited as a part of anything. my question, the timeline or if

you've even had any time to think about when we will see strasberg. is he throwing right now, doing anything? >> his off-season regimen -- he hasn't pitched competitively since college, and may 28th was the last time he was on the mound in a competitive environment. he's been throwing long toss and working out diligently. he's in great physical condition, but hasn't been on the mound throwing to hitters or anything like that since may 28th. we're going to assess where he at. he's coming to d.c. in the next couple of days to meet his new teammates, to be see the city, to see the new ballpark, meet the executives, and we're going to send him to florida to be with our pitching coordinator down there. we're going to assess where he's at in his n his throws program. put him on a program to ramp him up to see if we can get him set to pitch competitively. he's not going to pitch in the

minor leagues or major leagues this year. he's going to probably end up time-wise being able to pitch a little bit in the florida instructional league, and then our plan is to get him out to the arizona fall league for him to compete in that league. >> this guy never walked more than two to batters in any game he pitched. you talk about control. >> yeah, he's got good control. he needs to learn to pinpoint that control a little bit, but, you know, he's got a repertoire of three power pitches and a change-up that he very rarely used in the collegiate level because it was his 4th best pitch, but he has an arsenal of weapons that he can use. he's got life at the bottom, at the plate, and, like i said, he's not afraid to pinch hit, and he's not afraid to dust you off. -- to pitch in, and has not afraid to dust you off. if there's anything we have to work on, it's the tendency to

fall out of whack at times because he has long arms and legs, but he's pretty strong mechanically, he's got a gooded in ting of pitching, and he's got good -- he's terrifically poised on the mound. he's pitched in some olympic events. he pitched against the cubans and dominated them for a long period of time. he's a bronze medal winner. he's the only collegeiate player on that professional olympic team. so he's been battle tested already a little bit, and there's nothing like this league up here, so we'll see where he's at when we have more time tie six him. >> mike, wale ways appreciate you. thanks so much. >> my pleasure. >> the deal is tone. now we sit back and await the arrival finally of stephen strasberg. we'll tell you more about stephen coming up in a couple of minutes. time for the hold of the day. bruce storm, minor league career numbers.

era of 2.51. five saves, a couple of holds. he's been in potomac, and now at harrisburg. you, too, can stay in the game with just for men hair color. what do some of the national players think about the signing of the agreement last night just before the deadline of midnight? debbie will get a sampling of the nats players when we come back and continue from nationals park in a minute. ♪

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 stephen strasberg, whol town has been talking about this all day long. , we you come to a new ball club, you have to blend in with the guys that you're blending if with -- blending in with. the same holds true for stephen strasberg, and debbie taylor

caught up with some of the nats players and got the saming of their opinion. >> if he pitches anything like he's been talked about, i think he'll fit in well. the players are ecstatic. let's begin with ryan zimmerman. >> that's the whole point of the draft, and to get a guy like that, showing that we're go being in the right direction, and we're excited to getting better and spend interesting money and doing things like that. >> and there's some excitement. i know he hasn't played a major league game yet, but is there some excitement if he's as good as anybody says, he can really help. >> i think anytime you have a talent like that, everybody is excited, obviously, bit i don't know what his plans are for this year, if he's going to play or not, but anytime you have that highly-touted prospect, it's always exciting. >> well, i think it's a fantastic thing for our organization. it doesn't just show our team here that we're serious, shows 0 our fans that we're serious

and the free agent class, that we're very serious, going to be competing the next couple of years. since the all star break, we've been playing good baseball, smart baseball, everywhere doing their job, be and being able to sign a guy like that who has done fantastic at the college level, hopefully he can translate that to minor leagues and build up and become a major league force for us. >> what does it say about the commitment that the lerner's have put into this team? >> well, they weren't shy about getting a guy like adam dunn in the off-season, ryan zimmerman, and getting the top player in the draft. they know it's an investment for the future, they have put a lot of money out there, and hopefully he can provide this team with a lot of wins and excitement for the fans and players for years to come. >> i think it's great. i think it's a step in the right direction. kind of knew it was going to happen, but you knew it was going to come down to the wire, and it did, but, i mean, he's supposedly one of the best draft picks in history, so hopefully he can help out as

soon as possible. >> it says a lot about this organization. this afternoon i ran into ted lerner, the owner of the nationals, and he said he was excited about the signing and looking forward to the day that stephen strasberg arrives here in washington d.c., which should be later this week. guys, back over to you. >> good sampling of the cross- section of what these players think. they're all feeling pretty good like everybody else is. >> they're all a team. they all care about even other. anytime you can add this type of quality to a team and the stamp that this organization is going in the right direction, they said from the beginning we're going to build from the bottom up, acquire young players, build from within the organization. they've they've done that. this closes the book on the aaron crowe situation last year, where it wasn't feasible to get him signed, he's not this type of table. but they came to the table. stan kasten has been involved in these things so often, and not enough people realize what he's done, as the president of the atlanta hawks and braves

during all of those years thigh put 14 years of winning together, he was there. so he knows how to win, how to put together a top organization. rizzo, and certainly the lerners, and what a great day it is. >> the entire lerner family, it's a major commitment. they're putting out the money, and now we await the arrivele of stephen strasberg. >> yes, sir. they've stamped it down now. >> well, we have baseball coming up tonight, the rockies and the nats in the first of a free-game series. we'll come back to take a look at the line-ups for both ball clubs when we return at nationals park. coach edwards! the coors light silver ticket promotion is back.

how do you play? you play to win. right, so you start with some cold coors light, - you play to win the game. - then you? yes, yes, agreed. ( chuckles ) we were just wondering, do you go online? do you enter a code? hello! you play to win the game! look for the official entry code inside special packs of coors light... for your chance to win nfl tickets. do you ever play to lose the game? get out! you get out! ( laughs ) thing's busted. downloads okay but the uploads take forever. uh, actually that's not your computer. that's cable. with fios uploading is as easy as downloading. it's fast both ways. (sighing) you can just leave that.

really? yeah i'll take care of it. (announcer) is your internet two-way fast? only verizon fios has the fastest uploads period.

 let's take a look at th line-ups today for the colorado rockies. todd helton will be hitting third today. the rocks first baseman struggling of late. he's 0 for his last 14, but he's a career .392 hitter, 25 home runs against this franchise. and in august, he's lights out.

a career .365 hitter.    let's go back and get m

this series, a preview of what to expect from the sports jinkies back at our masn studio. >> welcome back to the junkies from the fan. let me introduce you to our nashs expert, -- to our nationals expert. we've been doing this show for a long time. we love being on is 106.7 the fan. now on an all sport is station kicking it off in accordances. >> we lover it. never had real jobs, don't tell fib. >> we love sports, talking about the nats, orioles,

redskin asks ravens and more. now to break down this series let's take a look at the rockies. nats are in town for a three- game set. rockies at the nats, 7:00 p.m. tuesday, wednesdays, thursday on masn 2. when you think about the rockies especially on offense in carses field, when near on the road, todd helton is the guy that offense is built around. he's way down this year, maybe he's one of those guys on that list when it eventually comes out of the 104 guys who tested positive. >> possibly, but he's a borderline hall of famer. but this year rockies are doing it more with their pitching than offensively. holiday traded to house is, and now doing withs we cook, key, and jimenez. so it's kind of a different look for the rockies than in years past, certainly, when they went to the world series a couple of years ago against the

red sox. >> all right. that's our look at rockies- nats, back to you fellas. >> i know you love to post on masn sports.com. >> you can also check us out on twitter. >> and if you haven't checked out 108.7 the fan, we lead -- 106.7, the fan, we lead things off in the morning. >> now we'll go back to nationals park. >> the sports junkies. you have to be a guest there some morning.

we'll talk about craig samen taking the field coming up. we'll continue with more in just a minute. 

 back here at nationals park.  craig stammen tonight will get the start and try to get things going for this ball club. >> five quality starts in his last 8, throwing that nice sinker and curveball right there. just as good a as anybody in the league. he's working on his change-up, getsing better and better every outing. >> one good thing about craig,

ray, he has allowed only (indiscernible) an inning. >> yeah, and he doesn't walk anybody. this kid has electric stuff. >> one thing about this guy, he has one his last three straight starts. 4-0 in this last six starts. the guy can pitch. >> well, he can pitch. he used to overthrow. this year he is down to 60 walks. a real good fastball he can ride up in the strike zone. a curveball that gets around sometimes, and that change-up is almost like a crew screw ball. >> we might see a new face

tonight, logan ken sing designated for assignment, and mike morris brought up. >> he was acquired last year from seattle. more of a utility type player. played a little bit of outfit, but was hitting .326 in syracuse. >> this should be a good series against a deal, the colorado rockies, very much in the pennant race and leading the national league wildcard by a game. >> a championship caliber team. they're going to probably be in the playoffs. good pitching, excellent defense. >> well, thank you very much for joining us here for nats xtra pregame. fans continue to pile in. could be a good crowd on hand this evening in a day that's very exciting here in washington d.c. for the official signing, coming to terms of stephen strasberg with

this ball club. enjoy the ball game. bob carpenter and rob dibble coming up next for the first pitch right here on masn. 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.

 . >> bob: the nationals have been on a roll in recent weeks, good offense leading the i way to victories in 11 of their last 14 games. tonight the challenge gets tougher. they face the wildcard leading rockies in the first of three from nats town.  

 well, you come to t. shirt  tuesday, it might be shady martin posing for a picture and giving out some f shirts. maybe next year stephen strasberg will be giving out a view. it's been a fun time in nats town since 11:49 last night. a great day and sequence in the history of the franchise, and welcome in a good young ball club in the rockies. >> rob: definitely. and just shows you how important pitching is, the player that weren't in the first round, and being able to sign stephen strasberg. here are some things about him people may not known. the golden spikes award this year goes to the best player in major league baseball.

mark lerner told me after they drafted him, that it would probably take everyone going out to see stephen strasberg to get this deal done, and that's exactly what happened about a week ago. >> bob: debbie taylor now hears from mike rizzo on strasberg. >> we specific through will not rush stephen strasberg. we tonight rush any of our pitchers. and he's too vital to our organization. very unlikely we see him in washington this year. >> bob: one guy wire seeing plenty of is josh willingham, three for four with the big home run on sunday, and then as ryan zimmerman got a big hit, josh pulled the base running ploy of the year againstny reds to win a game for the that ins. the hammer let's the catcher have it. ? @x@0@p@0@6p)@)@)p,

 . >> bob:  willin' with all t hoopla bout strasberg, haven't told you allot about the rockies. you'll meet them now. troy tulowitzki has been in the middle of everything, hitting behind a suddenly slumping todd helton. still 5th in the league at .318, and he's on his way to 900 extra base hits. craig stammen pitched one of his best games of the year in a 1-0 loss to the rockies, and jason marquise back on july 6th.

he pitched seven innings. >> rob: yeah, and hopefully he has more of that stuff tonight. he has been throwing the i ball a little bit better. tough luck loss up there in colorado. seven inning pumped, an earned run. -- pitched, an earned run. >> bob: rockies have some good young talent on this ball club. one of them is carlos gonzales who takes a strike. a threat of rain, 92. it is an oven in our nation's capital tonight. >> rob: 92% chance of rain, or is that 92 degrees? >> probably both. lightning and thunder are in the area, but right now it's off to the east of us, and the wind has really kicked up in

the last few minutes, blowing in from left field. gonzalez is one of the players they got in a four-player transaction that sent matt holliday to oakland and brought houston street, the closer to the rockies. a 2-1 pitch, stammen misses low. that's got a advanced scouting by the nashs. that ball was pulled hard to where he was playing. rain falling atth the ballpark.

they have pretty much their starting 8 out there. just depends on who the catcher is on a given night. it's will nieves tonight. and right now the rain is just a sprinkle. >> rob: it is also difficult to be a pitcher in this, or a player, because you're expecting tight rain, and if it doesn't, you might rush a little bit. >> bob: stammen facing another young budding star possibly in dexter fowler. he's out of that talent rich area north of atlanta. out of play to the left side, and the count is 1-2. some of their young guys are really warming it up here with the weather. >> rob: oh, yeah. he's got a lot of speed. right now rockies, as bob told you, number one in the wildcard in the national league by a

game over the giants, so nationals can be the spoiler with the strikeout right there of fowler. >> bob: stammen get this strikeout. his 41st of are the year against 17 walks in 90 innings. >> rob: well, stammen, when he's on, right here on the pitch track, has a 12:00 to 6:00 breaking ball, a very hard sinker. into and here is todd helton hitting .318. >> rob: the thing is, the third strip through the batting order, that's where he has to make adjustments to what the hitters are trying to do against him. >> bob: todd helton's on base average .397. coming this this season, his -- well, this is about his 13th, 14th year, and on base percentage career, amazing,

.428. and he has worn out nationals pitching, 25 and 55. >> rob: well, and as natural a hitter as you'll ever see at this level. can hit anybody, anywhere, any field. a lot of people say, well, it's colorado. no, you don't have a .328 batting average unless you hit as well on the road as you do at home. >> bob: and a 2-2 pitch. >> rob: also backed up peyton manning at tennessee, all around athlete. very good quarterback. >> bob: yeah, that is how it eventually worked out, and at one time, a kid named jerry was their number one quarterback, and todd beat out manning for

the backup spot. well, then we know things kinds of turned around after that. craig stammen, 17th start, and that's what he did at coors field. you put up a line like that in that paul park, that's pretty impressive. jason marquise was just a little bit better in that 1-0 game, and a line drive right at guzman. here come the hard-hitting nationals. computer problems?

thing's busted. downloads okay but the uploads take forever. uh, actually that's not your computer. that's cable. with fios uploading is as easy as downloading. it's fast both ways. (sighing) you can just leave that. really? yeah i'll take care of it. (announcer) is your internet two-way fast? only verizon fios has the fastest uploads period.

 . >> bob: a 2-1 base hit. nyjer doesn't pull the ball a whole lot, but at times, he's quick enough. he's on base. >> rob: morgan shoots the gap between first and second. good job. >> bob: guzman went to cincinnati, and suddenly went cold. he's 0 for 13. into morgan is running. pitch down the middle. throw is high. safe is nyjer!

his 39th steal of the year! and since coming to the nationals, that's his 21st.    . >> rob: well, kind- arm delivery by ubaldo jimenez. doesn't give his catchary lot of time, and a great jump by morse -- morgan to beauty. -- to boot. the pitch was a strike. >> rob: you'll see how jimenez will drop that arm way behind him. >> bob: 12-12 for the rockies in 34 starts a year ago with an era just under 4. he's improved that bay bay half run a game this year, and career mark of

26-25. guzman now in protect mode. rockies are one game up in the wildcard race over the giants, two over the marlins. >> rob: and they have really played well. >> bob: since jim tracy took over as their manager. 12 games over .500 at the moment, and that's a breaking ball low. interesting that both ball clubs have new managers, and both playing really well after the changes. >> rob: well, a lot of times -- >> bob: and guzman gone. >> rob: there's the strikeout

of guzman by jimenez. you're going to see a lot of those. but a lot of times, the managers set the tone, they take on the identity of the manager, and here you see the 1- 2 pitch right there. just high heat. 97 miles an hour. maybe because of that late break, he get this call, but bottom line is, jim tracy is kind of a guy like jim riggleman. no nonsense, very fundamental people, and the bottom line is they have taken on the image of jim wriggleman and jim tracy. and it isn't about what the other managers did do not, it's about what these managers do. >> how about 47-25 under tracy? dexter fowler on the move for an easy out. and zimmerman who doesn't first pitch swing very often is out on one offering here in the first. that will bring up adam dunn.

>> rob: jimenez will bring the heat. almost 95 plus on any pitch. one of the hardest throwing pitchers in the nationals league. a knee buckling curveball, and he has control issues sometimes. thus 13 losses for the rockies in his 24 starts. >> bob: the shift ondunn. rockies are 6th in the league in team defense. it seems like they're among the best in the league almost every year. fastball inner half right by adam dunn. >> rob: three starts in august

have been outstanding. 8 innings, 6 and 2/3. >> bob: that's his changeup. >> rob: that's a fork ball at 89 miles an hour. that's how hard norm charlton used to throw his. that's unbelievable. >> bob: adam dunn sitting on 86 rbis. out of play, left side. the rookies have two of the best defensive players in the league in shortstop troy tulowitzki and right fielder brad hawpe who was among the league leaders in assist foss are a couple of years, and now basically teams don't run on him anymore. and it's interesting, because he's a left-handed throwing right fielder. not many of those around.

adam dunn takes one inside. 2-2. >> rob: 99. we're hoping stephen strasberg throws his hard when he comes up to the major league. >> bob: for strikes. >> rob: for strikes. >> bob: and a 2-2 to dunn. he went off-speed again, ball three. >> rob: i know a lot of people are expecting strasberg to come up immediately. talk to tommy hanson, the 22- year-old phenom from plane today. he had a lot of innings pitched in the minor leagues before the braves called him up. >> bob: sounds like he was ready. adam dun fouls it away. didn't you fell he me was a low round draft choice. >> rob: he was, but he also fold me he doesn't have that kind of velocity strasberg has

right now at 21. he said he developed it in the minor leagues, gotth bigger and stronger, and now the 92 to 96, 97 mile an hour range now, but when the got the big velocity, that's when he got the curveball and change-up down, and was able to repeat his delivery. >> bob: nationals get a lead- off hit and is a stolen bus by nyjer morgan. that's it. it's... no, not yet. it back that way. it's on. ( ding ) book now at southwest.com. what is it to lead? at pnc, it's doing what most benefits our customers.

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 .

>> bob: tulowitzki is  absolutely on fire. >> rob: and as likable a young man as you'll ever meet. i think that's what we're getting about strasberg. he's a very laid back west coast boy. >> bob: 18 home runs since june 8th for steckel. 11-year vet region doug hennings has the plate tonight. right into the glove of zimmerman! >> rob: just reacts, boom,

catch it, throw it around. >> bob: here is brad hawpe, hitting .304. brad hawpe is right up there with the best right fielders in the game. going into the season leading national league right fielders in rbi this ball high in the air out to center. morgan chaschasing, chasing, and 's go! ho run foha 1  

 that one got a little  stayed airbornfor a long time. >> rob: that tch has too much of the plate, doesn't third quarter. almost looks like a change-up to me. i'll have to look at it again, but too muchof the plate, and hawpe killed it. >> bob: the last three hitters have killed the ball. next pitch is hit up the middle. guzman to his left, he scoots and fires and throws out garrett atkins, two outs. >> rob: if you're going to make a mistake out and away, make sure it's down. if they get those arms extended, that's where the power comes from. >> bob: i'm telling you, there is some nasty-looking weather, but it's off to the east of us now, things are brightenin up behind the ballpark here.

clint barmes is the second baseman. and this player is hitting for as much power as anybody at his position in major like baseball. that's a pop-up out to center. goes out -- gonzalez out, morgan calls everybody off, and that will do it for the second. rockies have the 1-0 lead. so, how does the iphone make traveling easier? well, if you'd like your own personal tour of paris, there's an app for that.

or, you'd like to figure out the metro, there's an app for that. or you'd like to send a postcard home, there's an app for that too, because there's an app for just about anything. only on the iphone.

 . >> bob: joshh willingham has been nothing short of amazing. he's been on fire now for about two and a half monthst. >> rob: well, and getting to to hit behind adam dunn, he has been great protection for adam, made even adam more deadly. he's at .308, but once he consolidated and took over left field, he's been amazing. he's getting the proper reps. and even that heads up base running, he's coming home and goes josh, what are you thinking and and takes out the catcher, bit he's one of the most likable men i've ever met, and you can't help but be happy for a young man like this. >> you sound like joe girardi who once told the nationals when he got josh willingham he

was the favorite player joe ever managed. he's hitting .331 now over his last 80 games. fastball is up and in. they respect him in the field, too. everybody is straightaway. send baseman shades up the mid- al little bit, but everybody else is right about at a normal position defensively. >> rob: well, you will see jimenez from time to time rush out front, open up the front gate, the front hips and fly towards first base, leave the arm hanging behind him with that big long delivery, and that's why it goes low and if on a righty. >> bob: willingham breaks the bat, and a soft liner out to tulowitzki. so josh willingham gets two of his bats broken in the same at bat. that's probably a fine in the kangaroo court, don't you

think? >> rob: no, but will not make anybody happy losing a lot of his game wood right there, just snapped off at his hands by jimenez's 98 mile an hour heater. that's that running fastball. >> bob: and dukes goes up swinging and misses. >> rob: one of the things that makes him throw a few balls also makes it have great late break and run in on righties and away from lefties. he will break an awful lot of pats in his career. >> bob: 1s-1. elijahh hitting at .244. has 45 rbis. into there's the big breaking ball. when you're worried about 98 in on your knuckles, he drops that big hook on you. >> bob: the giants are in cincinnati tonight.

they followed the rockies east, and theory throwing tim lincecum, who is 12-3, against bailey of the reds. good eye by dukes. >> rob: you see that miss match, bailey versus lincecum, bailey will probably win. >> bob: on any given night. >> rob: that's the way baseball is. >> bob: jimenez works quickly. another broken bat! to tulowitzki, and that will be a base hit for cubes. the bat was near tulowitzki, but i think what bothered him more wars the ball seemed to hit the grass is just get strangled by it. it slowed down considerably right in front of the shortstop. >> rob: this ball had so much spin on it that i think it just, first of all, does a chainsaw through the bat, and then it's a flying saucer, and just dives in the grass right there. there you see it stop, and

elijah has an easy infield single. their people were not kidding when they said this kid had some of the top five stuff in baseball. >> bob: throw broken pats in the last two hitters. alberto gonzalez is only hitting .232 against right- handers this year. >> rob: what better guy to face than a guy who throws like this. >> bob: nothing mysterious out there. >> rob: no, gonna bring it. occasionally mix in a curveball or a fork ball, but he's long and line. does kind of show the ball. we talked about that with that left-hander from toronto, where he brings that delivery way behind him. there you see it step off, bull the ball out of your glove. something you are work on a lot with that pfp in the spring training practice, bob, is that basically you want to see what elijah is going to do.

>> bob: tulowitzki charms again. really good play to get the lead runner. hanging near the bag was barmes. goes 6-4 for the second out. you can secure your seats for 2010 right now. place your deposit for the 2010 season and for season tickets by calling 202-675 nats. you will enjoy guaranteed seating, savings over single game prices. discounts on merchandise. access to exclusive events and a whole lot more. place your order, become a citizen of nats town today. >> bob: here is wilnyjer. nieves. >> rob: chainsaw. he's going to grind up your

bats, boy. what a moving fastball. >> bob: not gonna catch up with that. 96 elevated. 0-2 to wil, who is five for his last 8 in the two games he started in cincinnati. oh, my! >> rob: ouch! >> bob: an 0-2 fastball up, and nieves able to get around and absorb some of the shock of that one. >> rob: well, we hate to see this right here, but we do know our own wil nieves likes to dive and hit this ball the other way toward this first base side. that's to try to counteract that diving across the plate. >> bob: and along those lines, it was good to see david wright at citi field yesterday. he said she feeling much better and he is expecting to play again this year, when some thought his season might be over. two on, two out, and chance for

craig stammen to get the nats back even here. >> rob: what shows you the mettle of a david wright is he says i'm ashamed to go on the disabled list, after taking 95 in the head. so he was not happy with the decision, but he did say that, you know, the medical staff, the mets, they say it's the best for me to not run back out there there, and take a couple of weeks off. but what a kid, huh? >> bob: i think david wright shares a lot of ryan zimmerman's traits. they're sort of different players, but personalities are similar between the two guys from the tidewater area. a 1-1 to stammen. craig stammen is a big strong guy. if he can put the bat on the ball here, he could tie this game. he has five hits and 3 rbis this year. >> rob: well, jimenez is supplying the power.

so you just try to make contact and put it somewhere out in the field. >> bob: 2-1. little bit late. nice recovery by that gentleman after the ball got him in the bare hands. >> rob: he'll be paying for that the rest of the night. >> bob: oh, yeah. 2-2. stammen, and that is a fair ball! one run scores! over to third is nieves, and craig stammen's fourth major league rbi has tied this game! you called it rob, he just got the bat on the ball, and the velocity of the pitcher made it a line drive. >> rob: well, and stammen is a very good athlete. he did foul it off, so that made some contact, little bit

of contact, and right here, straight fastball, just lets the pitch are supply 95 miles an hour down the right field line. couldn't place it any better. gonzo scores easily. >> bob: here is nyjer morgan with a couple of runners out there in scoring position. he has driven in 36 on the year. and the umpire, the home plate umpire, will not even need an appeal. doug will say he weren't around, strike one. same pitch. porken's career average coming into this season .296. guzman is on deck.

he's at .308 right now, and another base hit! has to hold the pitcher at third. nationals lead 2-1 on an opposite field hit by nyjer morgan. and for nyjer morgan. his 43rd multi-hit game. >> rob: is he takes that 95 the other way, shoots the fan, and nieves will score easily. nyjer could steal second base and get into scoring position easily here with two outs. >> bob: a hit bat we are be a double by the pitcher, a bass hit for an rbi by the lead-off man, and now christian guzman with the runners at the corners, and morgan could be running again. they throw down to second base,

this could get very interesting. with that in mind, the look to third and look to first look by jimenez. >> bob: this could be a good time to break out of an 0-14.

>> 1-1 the count. and guzman goes fishing up stairs.

and a breaking ball that guzman lays off. the count is pack even. >> rob: that's something we talked about in the scouting report on jimenez is the mechanics get a little bit off. he's worried so much about nyjer, and the pitch count is now up to 45 in two innings. and once again, these great at bats by the national as hitters, putting pressure on the pitcher.

>> bob: and an early break! and a hot shot to short for tulowitzki! nyjer morgan was of and run being that pitch even got delivered! debbie taylor and stan kasten, more good news straight ahead for the nats. pa announcer: final boarding call... all passengers... each with an average speed of 590 mph... almost as fast as you. nothing's gonna hold you down. grab your bag . it's on™west so our low fares stay low. ( ding ) book now at southwest.com.

 . >> debbie: welcome back to nationals park. nats on top. as we move to the third inenning. i am joined by team president stan kasten.

what a great couple of day the washington nationals. just tell us what the last 24 hours were like for you. >> well, the end of it was great. the time before that was not so great. it was a lot of work, a lot of pressure, but a a lot of good dialogue back and forth, some not so good dialogue. didn't get serious until the last 40 minutes, and then it got real serious for a short amount of time. what we knew we had going for us, how much we wanted this kid, and how much this kid wanted to play baseball, so with all of those things happening, i thought we would get a deal, but wasn't sure until the very end. >> debbie: what does the signing of stephen strasburg peen mean the organization. >> i morning it's more valuetation of the pledge that we made when we got here to build thors from the ground up, to build by focusing on young pitching. we went all in to get it done. he's not going to transform a

franchise himself, because nobody since babe ruth ever has. >> debbie: over the years, you have seen some great pitching talent. how would you compare stephen to some of that talent. >> in my life, the only, i've had who had similar skills was maybe john smoltz who had above average intellect and competitive juices. deceive. has that pope tential, but a lot has to happen between now and then. the hype has been too much, though one could possibly live touch to his hype, but fortunately, we don't need that, we just need him to fulfill some of his athletic pope tential, be a front of the order rotation, we will be happy with that. >> debbie: mike rizzo said he won't be pitching this year, but what would you like him to take away from washington d.c. after being here this week. >> i just want him to have a blast. it's the greatest city in the world. he's a public affairs major. it's a great city for him, and

i know he's be real excited to get back into a baseball variety. he hasn't pitched since may. he's going to hang around the team, meet our players, work out with our time, and get ready to get into his professional career. it. we have heard how these negotiations were so tough, and you came out on the winning side of it. what does that mean for mike rizzo and his candidacy for this spot. >> i tonight know what you mine by winning. we just gave away the most money that was ever given to any draft pick. i don't know how that's a win, except that we got the player we wanted. so mike ran point on this. he did a superb job. i haven't that's it? >> yeah, i mean i don't have anything more to say for tonight. ever since march when we needed make to step in, he's done a great job with every assignment he's been given, and this was no exception. >> debbie: bob, back over to you. >> bob: congratulations to stan and mark and ted lerner,

and mark rizzo, and scott boras. it took all parties to get the thing tone. anybody who might have seen my blog on masnsports.com today, i thought it was significant that some of our fans gathered on a watering hole by capitol hill last night and mad a watch party for the possible signing of a draft choice. that's how much our fans care about this baseball team and how much they wanted to see stephen strasburg sign that dotted line. well done all involved. one pitcher gets a hit off the other pitcher twice now tonight. that went up the middle by ubaldo jimenez. >> rob: and i think it was well said by our president stan kasten, the potential, too much hype, allow this kid to develop into where he is going to be at the major league level, and you don't need to bring him up here until he's definitely ready. jimenez just takes this ball right back up the mid-. stammen cannot catch it. he's besides himself, because

he know his probably should have had it, but back to strasburg, let the kid develop, let him be himself. you hear the blog. that's all nothing to me. he can be anything he wants to. he was great at the college level, but this is a lot different, and listening to mike rizzo today talking about it, talking to mark lerner about it, listening to stan, he's a ways away from being here, so don't rush him before he's ready ting here and contribute, and it's not going to take one kid to make this organization a championship caliber organization. >> that's a fastball that appeared to be up and in. >> rob: but he is one very valuable piece to the puzzle. we also these all of the other draft picks to develop.

>> bob: that ball hard hit. force, yes! guzman! close at first, and gonzalez, who is very speedy, beats it out. but the nationals do a good job of getting the lead runner on a nifty play from gonzalez.

>> rob: what happens to young guys at this level is once you go around the league, they development scouting reports on you, and they're going to test your weaknesses. if you don't make adjustments to your weaknesses, they'll continue to exploit them. that's why elijah dukes went down to the minor league foss are a month. they were egg mighting the breaking ball away from him. he's now hitting it.

adam dunn plays behind the runner at first. you have to against todd helton. >> bob: power numbers down a little bit.

one ball and one strike. two on and two out. nats lead by a run. stammen continues to leave the ball up tonight. >> rob: he holds it in the change-up phone figuration. >> bob: target in on 1-2. stammen with a change-up, thes it in there, misses, ball two.

tomahawks the walk tabule center. nyjer morgan is right there, the nationals hold on to their lead. big guns are coming up. zimmerman, dunn, and willingham. lood pressure... and you have hi cholesterol. you've taken steps to try and lower both your numbers. but how close are you to your goal there may be more you can do. only caduet combines two proven medicines... in a single pill to significantly lower... high blood pressure and high cholesterol. in a clinical study of patients... with slightly elevated blood pressure and cholesterol, caduet helped 48% reach both goals in just 4 weeks. caduet is one of many treatment options, in addition to diet and exercise... that you can discuss with your doctor. caduet is not for everyone. it's not for people with liver problems... and women who are nursing, pregnant or may become pregnant. to check for liver problems, you need simple blood tests.

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2-0 to sometime.  second in runs86. 3-0. green light. can't swing at that. four-. walk. >> he took something off of it to try to get it over. that's stills the worse thing a pitcher can do, lit up on the pitch.

that's a three-pitch strikeout to adam dunn. >> rob: good morning, good afternoon, good night. >> bob: dunn fanning twice tonight, and 133 times this year. >> rob: right after a four- pitch walk to zimmerman. comes right back, figures it out. gets his mechanics together.