they have got a big series, it's a wrap around series, guess who is coming in, the giants who trail them by a game and a half. >> rob: but how ow about the rockies are start to go real in the dodgers, 3 1/2 today at the start, 3 1/2 behind the dodgers. >> bob: yeah, they just lost a series at home, two out of three, to st. louis. and the rockies keep on taking care of their business. wildcardrd race.   giants lost today. marlins, braves, cubs, and you'd have to call houston way out on the horizon somewhere.   nine back with that many cl to pass, pretty tough to do in 5 1/2 weeks. >> rob: and the marlins and braves play each other 10 more times down the stretch. >> bob: yeah, that will help the rockies because they will be beating each other every

other day. ryan zimmerman struck out swinging first time, it's 3-0, you would think the green light is on for a fastball here. you would take it high, walk-on four, let's see if adam dunn gets a little more aggressive after striking out looking his last two at-bats in this series. the nats finally get their first base runner.   adam struck out for the 136th time two innings ago.   torrealba, dan hamell.

just beyond the 8:00 hour in a warm and muggy night in our nation's capital. nats park where the nats are 26- 5 this year, bob carpenter, rob dibble, debbie taylor here on masn2.   take care of that fast, buddy it's going to be melting. >> rob: i scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream. and the rockies and giants have 10 more against each other also. so the top four teams in the wildcard will be battling each other out. >> bob: there is adam dunn, reaching outside of his zone, singling to right field and the nats have their first base hit. so, just like the rockies in the fourth, a base hit and a walk, and it will be a big spot for 1-9 in this series josh willingham. >> rob: well here is the xmo showing you dunn getting out over that ball and top-spinning it into right for a hit. 

 so adam dunn getting on the board here with a knock. that puts josh willingham, to get a big two-out hit, to put the nationals up on the scoreboard.   . >> bob: it says hammer time the scoreboard here. >> rob: no way. they are catching onto the hammer? so the big hospital hoss gets a hammer, now to get them in.   what a nickname for zim? >> bob: well we decided if he was on the, that cowboy show, he would be the virginiaan. >> rob: the virginiaan or we can call him gq. >> bob: gq zim? >> rob: like he just stepped out of a gq. >> bob: his numbers have been a bonanza. looked like a good hit. ian stewart couldn't get a hand on it clean so the nats have the bases loaded for elijah

dukes.   . >> rob: well don't hurt him hammer. now he has to get out of there electricity tee split and, no, ian stewart cannot come up with that one although, last night, the rockies defense was ridiculously good.   . >> bob: huge spot for dukes is only 10 for 39 over 11 games but those 10 hits have driven in 13 runs.   the pitcher hamell will go of the full wind up here.   you don't mind seeing that fr a pitcher if you're the guys behind him or in his dugout. that shows that he has a singular focus and hats not worrying about the base runners but just the hitter.

>> rob: well, but the base runners should be able to get bigger leads, and if nyjer morgan was on third he would be probably three quarters of the way down the third base line trying to disrupt the pitcher and maybe possibly force a balk. >> bob: elijah dukes. hard breaking ball, couldn't reach it, one ball, one strike.   you see elijah talking with torrealba, asking him "was that down?"   . >> bob: that's a bat as qui as anyone, so when he makes contact he can do big-time damage, and for the second time he is tired of wasting for hamell and steps out. >> rob: he doesn't like what torrealba is featuring, when he says roll it over he means "start over." >> bob: and dukes takes the fastball upstairs, 2-1. 

 they get dukes out by getting ahead of him and then giving him hard breaking stuff away. nowow that they are behind with the bases loaded this next pitch may be the next one after that will be really inning. it is a fastball. he hits it. left side. and out on a close play is josh willingham. thehe rockies defense does it again. ian stewart and with the pitcher working off the full wind up you wouldn't think a runner could be out on a play like that. no peanuts or nothin'. and then if your bag wants to bring one of its little bag friends for company, they charge another $25. that's just plain mean. why do they hate your bags? at southwest airlines, bags fly free. grab your bag. it's on!

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 . >> deb: we're still scorele in the fifth and we're covering the bases with sean burnett. now the reliever and his family got quite a scare when his dad was diagnosed with a brain tumor and had to have surgery when he was in high school. >> to be 17 and have your dad go to surgery like this it put things into perspective, the draft was right around the corner, i had things going on in my life, it was on the back burner compared to my dad and family. but fortunately everything was okay and worked out okay. >> deb: sean wears a tattoo on his back that says "against all odds" to keep things in perspective. >> bob: that was back in 2000. he became the 16th player taken over all by the pirates.

top of the fifth inning. what an outstanding play by ian stewart to keep this a scoreless game. oh, he has got the old left- handed thing goin' from the golf side. >> rob: fish. >> bob: well dunn eden, florida. >> bob: off-speed pitch well done by mock, 1-1 to stewart.   and sean getting ready. i hope he doesn't expect to pitch in the next inning or so. >> rob: no, he just knows that we're talking about him. >> bob: good. >> rob: 2000. . >> bob: right off the end of the bat.   . >> bob: sean will have a birthday in a little less than a month, november 17th will be his 27th birthday. 

 high gats from garrett mock a he blows away ian stewart. he has six strikeouts, and four of them are against hawpe and stewart, both left-handed batters in the 5 and 6 spots.   . >> rob: starting to look fo change-ups here, north republican grum man, he offers the fastball, no shot for stewart. if you made that great play in the field you deserved that strikeout.   . >> bob: you and i were surprised that somebody could be called on a play that took that long to develop because the runners should have all had great leads. >> rob: it's just unfortunate, sometimes, that, you know,

things don't workout in your favor and maybe you can go back and try to retrace where things may have gone wrong.   say, eh, listen, the guy is working from the windup with two outs, he is kind of giving you a few more steps on your lead. >> bob: at least two steps, yeah. >> rob: and that play was bang- bang. >> bob: two balls and a strike. garrett mock misses well inside to the number 7 hitter. clint var miss, 7 of 10 with a pair of homers in this series. change-up and his second walk of the game. one on, one out here in the seventh inning. watch your brewers this saturday. get her early. they receive the first frank

howard bobblehead, complete the collective bargaining tore's set. to purchase tickets 888-632- nats, nats.com or stop by the nationals box office. what a night for shruggers, frank howard, adam dunn, prince fielder, ryan braun. and the milwaukee brewers, who have a day off today, they are four games under .500 and on the 21st of august that's a surprise. but when we were there, what, about three weeks ago, rob, you and i saw that that ball club had some pitching issues. they have all the offense you could want. >> rob: bill hall who was there the last time we were there was picked up by the seattle mariners. >> bob: sent their shortstop j.j. hardy to the minors leagues. >> rob: they have made some witches, moves. >> bob: throwing a lot of off speed pitches here.

torrealba, you have to retire these two hitters. the number 8 man and then the pitcher. if he does, he is half-way, more than half-way through his game. joe blanton just gave up two runs, diamondbacks still batting, and they have tied the phillies up north of us 3-3. the braves have scored again, they lead 3-1 at new york, brian mccan is at number 15. he homered last night. >> rob: i think that's kawakami santana, isn't it? >> bob: it is. >> rob: once again, kind of a mismatch, those two pitchers. >> bob: but they are playing on turf, not paper. >> rob: that's true.   1-1 to torrealba.    oh, that's a good breaking

but it just stayed high. 2-1. the he had the hitter buckling. . >> rob: well, let's see from our pitch track right there, ah, i think it nipped this the top of the pitch track box. >> bob: yeah, it could have been called a strike. >> rob: that's a good pitch. >> bob: it didn't even make it to the bottom of the letters and that is considered high. plapap var miss an adwressive lead, he has stolen nine but he has been caught eight times. holding on a 2-2 and mock goes

long in the count again. as i mentioned earlier, this is a catcher who came in with only 103 at-bats. mock has had the strikeout touch going lately, better than 1 per inning. but he has been nibbling. torrealba helps by striking at ball four.   once again, the rockies far fewer pitches to get their job done than the young nats.   3-2, runner goes again, and that is trouble.

right center, it will fall next to dukes. another step or two would have been a double play because the runner, var miss, was frozen at second base. now they'll have a chance for the pitcher to bunt two runners ahead. >> rob: well you're getting into trouble here at the bottom of the order, seventh hitter, you walked him, give up a jam shot to your backup catcher in torrealba, on a 3-2 pitch, you're just -- you're giving them way too much credit in the bottom of the order. we talk about that all the time. >> bob: a former pitcher told me that they can complain about bloop hits but they all come on pitches that are up. so here is two on, one out, and the pitcher, hamell, who was called out looking the first time. zimmerman wants to stay home at third for a forced play unrest guzman wheels over that way, and he is, and the pitcher

tried to bunt that ball, which almost hit him, and it's a strike. >> rob: well he is giving you an out here and helping you get out of the inning and nearly hit him, it was a foul ball. got to control your emotions, pitching a very good game, don't want to let it slip away from you. >> bob: and now zimmerman letting mock know what play is on. of course when we talk about the wheel play that's when the third baseman charges aggressively and the shortstop tries to beat the runner to third. clint var miss runs pretty fast. doesn't like like he is going to do that. that was really an interesting bunt. it went out in front of the plate, then it had backspin and came spinning back in the batter's box and a foul ball. >> rob: tried to make a great

play, tried to get that before it is called foul by hunter wendelstedt. hunter bends it, backspin, foul. would have been a nice play to get the lead runner right there and get two outs and keep the pitcher out there running. >> bob: here is 0-2, give him something hard to bunt, and he does and he's out.   that's a long way for a 6'6 guy to reach with his bat. now carlos gonzalez with two outs, two on.   . >> rob: one of the things t teach you is try to bunt a strike. that was not a strike goin' out of the strike zone into the dirt. >> bob: gonzalez with a strikeout and a ground ball to

short.   garrett mock has only given u two hits. a couple walks in each of the last two innings, lots of base runners. two straight innings of stress and his pitch count is up in the low 80s now.   then he comes with the heat over powers gonzalez, strike two.   well, that's a rookie havin hard time delivering in clutch situations. up and in, down he went, on a 90 miles per hour fastball. 

 more importantly, this is an - 2 pitch and he doesn't throw it anywhere near the strike zone, and at the same time gets a beautiful effect on gonzalez that you desire. and the logical thing here would be change-up down and away so let's see how he follows it up. it's's a change-up down, it looked like a swing and a miss, and the batter is out. it took hunter wendelstedt a while to decide and jim tracy wants to know why. the manager is out of the dugout. now wait a minute. maybe the inning is not over. >> rob: they are saying foul ball now. >> bob: they are going to change their mind after some real uncertainty by the home plate umpire.   jim tracy out of the dugout a hurry and now jim riggleman wants to know what's goin' on.   hunter wendelstedt is evide showing him the ball where it was hit by the bat. and this is not --

>> rob: no, it hit the ground. >> bob: a casual conversation. >> rob: but he said it hit the bat and one of the umpires said it was a foul ball.   . >> bob: jim riggleman is an >> rob: he should be because i think this is a strikeout. i don't think he is anywhere near fouling the ball off. here is the xmo. let's see where the ball hit. yeah, he is nowhere near hitting it. the mark is made from the ground. he is out.   well, do it again, same as 0-2 pitch. set him up on the inside fastball, 0-2. come on, you got another good change-up in there.

  . >> bob: trouble, a little blooper to left, and two runs are going to score, pardon me, one run scores and the run tore third, the rockies take the lead after the umpires blew one, and colorado takes advantage. what a tough break that is on a ball hit like that.   . >> rob: well, after the 0-2 change-up that they said was a fouled ball he comes back with a fastball, jams him, and gonzalez gets a double. second and third. now you're still in a bit of trouble. >> bob: the thing about that strike, if he missed it by that much, how did every umpire not fail to see? you could almost complain, you could almost see where the home plate umpire who is blocked out

a bit, but the ball is not even in the frame yet. >> rob: no, that's -- it doesn't change direction. it was a change-up at 81 miles per hour that he threw perfectly in the dirt. brob. >> bob: a horrible break for the nats and the rockies lead 1- 0. >> rob: it's seven strikeouts and most of them off change- ups. he has got a beautiful change- up working tonight and that was not a foul ball. >> bob: and sometimes pitching coaches will wait for the umpire to get there.   that was the sound of the bal hitting the ground into josh bard's mitt. ryan spilborghs is the batter. now runners at second and third.   first pitch change-up misses.  

 well the nats have had thei moments with wendelstedt the last few years, he has been here since his debut in philadelphia.   this works out that way sometimes.    and a breaking ball 1-2.   . >> rob: blow up, still got score to win. here comes another nats pitcher, pitch number 90 is coming. that's a wild pitch and it's 2- 0. 

 well you're way ahead of the hitter, don't need a perfect breaking ball, overthrows the breaking ball, right up bard'sy equipment and over his head and torrealba can walk home.   . >> bob: and a breaking ball the strikeout we think.   top of the fifth inning is over, the rockies on two hits, a walk, and a wild pitch, and a missed call lead 2-0.

  . >> bob: this fall on masn brought to you by southwest airlines. book on southwest.com. by jaguar, experience the thrilling performance of the 510-horsepower jaguar fxr. and by mcdonalds, feeling

thirsty, try a refreshing mickey d's sweet tea. i'm loving it at participating mcdonalds,   got a score to win rob dibb says. maybe time to get sophie fence going. but first of also trivia. bard, gonzalez and mock scheduled to bat this the bottom of the fifth.   aflac. >> the rockies record for  batting in a single season. >> rob: that guy right there, larry walker. >> bob: larry walker. >> rob: a canadian. larry walker. >> bob: yeah he was a batting champion, didn't he hit like .372 one year, something like that? something crazy. >> rob: larry walker. if you brought up coors field he would really get mad as a reason for good hitting. >> rob: really. >> bob: yeah, he didn't like

that criticism at all. yeah, you play half your games at coors.   . josh bard bounced out to  second baseman first time out. onon a night where covering the bases with sean burnett, he could be the nats new pitcher in the sixth inning.   rob running back favorite movie, "lloyd and harry"? friendlyly guy.   ryan, stu we. >> bob: is there anything about tv or cinema you don't know? >> rob: ah, i'm a product of, what was it, the x generation, is that what they call us, gen x.

>> bob: josh bard gets jammed. i don't know where i belong. i think i'm too old to be a again ex-er, and too young to be a baby boomer. >> rob: you're good where you're at. we got to get ion the twitter page there. >> bob: i really don't know what to do now because my phone started working again today. so who knows. here is alberto gonzalez.   jorge padilla in the on-deck circle. evidently garrett mock done for the night.   rockies 2, nats nothing, jaso hamell pitching well, only one clean single on him tonight. that was by adam dunn.

that baby bounced way out in front of home plate. >> rob: you were right. .379 on larry walker. 372 on helton, larry walker .366, 363, helton .358.350 on walker.   . >> bob: wow.    .379. well that was higher than i thought. i had the .372 but that was todd helton the year he won the batting title. it was an interesting dynamic in colorado as larry walker's time came to an end and todd helton's time was just beginning. there seemed to be some sort of obsession out there about, well, this was larry's team and now it's becoming todd's team. i thought the team belonged to the fans and the owners but, evidently, players figuring prominently. gonzalez lines out hard to right and two outs, bases

empty, here eh padilla will be the third out for the nats here. we're at nats park on a thursday night of nats/rockies baseball, bob, rob, and deb oo. and a 2-0 lead here.   and padilla in the first co weeks of his major league career 2 for 8.   hard hit. third base, rockies ian stewart, and he got him. this team has played unbelievable defense against the nats right now. that's a fast base runner and ian stewart doesn't even play

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 . >> deb: sean burnett now into pitch. i was a youngster growing up in dunn eden, he loves watching baseball. >> my dad used to take me to watch the dunn eden blue jay games, especially spring training, that's where the dream started, you want to be on that field and be one of those guys. even when i lived and went to the man a tee games, i thought

they were great, those guys were legends, those guys were special baseball players, i thought that was the greatest thing in the world. little did i know they were only a ball players and a far way from the big leagues, but hopefully i could be in their shoes one day. >> deb: and sean also credits both of his parents for supporting him throughout his career. >> bob: interesting he made his way down to mel syringe on the. here is todd helton, tulowitzki, and hawpe to follow in the sixth inning. 2-0 rocks as they continue to take runs away from the nats with their gloves.   rockies box as we go to the t of the sixth here.   and a little tapper. charged pie bard, plenty of time, and he gets todd helton.

kind of unusual, the pittsburgh pirates are still the highest rated defensive team in the league tied with the phillies. then the dodgers, astros, and colorado. we have seen all of those ball clubs, i don't think anybody has played the nats better defensively than the rockies.   their infield is just spectacular. >> rob: gobble up stuff, dive, throw from the seat of their pants. great these last three days. >> bob: troy tulowitzki, only three hits, two walks, it's a pretty good line. >> rob: a very good line. >> bob: eight strikeouts but the pitch count 91. and, rob, hopefully there will be a day when garrett can get through seven innings with a similar line. 91 pitches, 61 strikes. >> rob: we talked about the second and third-trip through, not just for garrett mock, but

a lot of our starters have trouble the second and third trip through the lineup and that's just making adjustments.   . >> bob: guzman takes care o tulowitzki. sean purchase net in the 2000 draft, the pirates number 1 pick, born in dunn eden, made his major league debut just over four years ago with the bucs in a 4.43 e.r.a. >> rob: learned a lot of his mechanics by watching video of tom glavine, won over 300 games at this level. pretty good guy to pattern yourself after. plapap brad hawpe, two strikeouts tonight.   sean burnett doesn't pitch at

this stage of the game very often. he is usually a later guy. but with helton and hawpe the two left-handers around tulowitzki, jim riggleman wanted his most effective left- hander right here.   phillies have scored to ret the lead 4-3 against arizona. the batter waited and waited. . >> rob: well not only did sean burnett have tommy johnny in 2004, in may of 2005, he also had an impingement repaired on his shoulder.   . >> bob: pretty good zip on th heater, 92, and he just missed.   . >> rob: northrop grumman ri here, 92 on the black.

>> rob: works from the third base side, throws that across the plate and brad hawpe gets a little piece of it.   and the rockies, by the way talked about their good defense. their pitching staff seventh in the league with an e.r.a. of 4.22. but their starters, right now, are hovering right at the 4 mark. their bullpen about a half run a game higher. but they are thriving on their starting pitching right now. that's their front door breaking ball that strikes out brad hawpe for the third time tonight. sean burnett puts a zero on the board in the top of the sixth. we're covering the bases with him. nobody reaching base against him. 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)

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 . >> bob: sean burnett gets a score list top of the sixth inning. our performance is legendary. nats, rockies, thursday, july 19th, 2007. and d'angelo jimenez gets the walk off base hit. austin kearns had singled, ryan schneider sacrificed him and ryan jimenez gives the nats a walk off win, 20573 screaming nats fans at rfk. >> rob: all right mr. score book. what was the weather that day? >> bob: clear and 82.   . >> rob: it's you pulling out

your score books. >> bob: history. we don't have much history. we have to recognize that which we have. d'angelo jimenez. >> rob: do you have to carry them around, though, when we go to dinner. >> bob: no, no rob running back just in case the waiter asks the question. >> rob: that was d'angelo. >> bob: that's when we make up stuff. morgan 0-2, couple of ground balls, 2-0 count. fastball misses. in this situation, getting him to first base anyway is as good as a hit.   as jason hamell continues to effective. two hits, one walk. it was all in the fourth inning. now the nats have their lead- off man on for the first time tonight. join us at the ball park here this weekend. our ladies will have their first annual back to school drive. you can drop off new school supplies from the opening of the gates through the fourth inning. all of them donated to d.c.

public schools, 262-075-nats, or visit nats.com. our kids here in the district of columbia go back 0 school next monday.   . >> rob: i got a tip for you kids that are listening. bring your teacher an apple? >> bob: does that still work? >> rob: still works. sucking up is very accessible. i got the nod from the teacher. >> bob: mrs. deductible nods in agreement. i would have thought that by 2009 something more sophisticated, you know, like an eye pod shuffle or something. >> rob: if you can afford an eye pod shuffle bring that to your teacher. brob bob or a granola bar. >> rob: granola. >> bob: new thishous though. >> rob: new fibrous. they had morgan leaning a bit. nyjer has been caught 17 times this year, but he is second in

the league with 40 steals. michael bourn of the phillies 46.   . >> bob: that was a head-long dive. >> rob: most base stealers like to get off so they have to dive back. that means they are getting a decent lead. >> bob: morgan likes to run when guzman is batting left- handed. it's one more thing close the right arm of the catcher. torrealba, by the way, this year, 3 for 25 against opposing base runners.   he is holding. guzman takes a high strike. ryan zimmerman on base once tonight. 

 that's a swing and a foul a the count 0-2.   jayson werth has homered ag tonight, 28 on the year for him, and the phillies lead arizona 6-3 in the fifth inning.   marlins got a fifth inning ru at houston, leading by one in the third. behind 12-2 josh johnson.   here in washington, 2-0 rockies, bottom of six, lead- off man aboard. guzman much better when pitchers are going off the stretch.   ho ho ho. >> rob: ho ho ho. the old statue of liberty play

with todd helton. >> bob: faking the throw. >> rob: faking the throw.   . >> bob: his front foot is a little farther out than it was before. he is right even with that cut of the grass. he is holding. off-speed pitch and a change-up makes it 1-2.   morgan holding again. guzman, right side, bar mess gets the lead runner. 

 the rockies continue to play brilliantly on defense. >> rob: guzman takes an outside pitch, he ground it to second base, barmes, you see him sliding to stop his momentum and a very solid throw to get the fast nyjer morgan goin' into second base. >> bob: one on, one out. >> rob: tough to get a ball by. >> bob: they sure are. plapap ryan in this series 3 for 8, two walks, 3 r.b.i.s.   middle of the order here in t sixth. if they don't score here it's going to get late in a hurry and then you're looking at huston street again. 

 what a pitch, up and in, ryan fouled tipped it. give hamell credit. he hasn't gone to many long counts tonight. >> rob: side view of ryan. >> bob: came into this inning averaging 11 pitches per frame.   . >> rob: we talked about tha before the game that hamell loves pitching at sea level, mile-high, gets banged up a bit when he is up in colorado. >> bob: the o0-2, pitch up, runner going. guzman is in there. hands-first. with his fourth steal of the year in nine attempts. and that's a good strategic move, rob, by jim riggleman because he knows ryan zimmerman has bounced into 18 double plays this year. >> rob: well we're having trouble getting guys to second

base tonight, tory realba makes a strong throw but the great jump by cristian guzman, you see the xmo play at the finish. he doesn't steal like he used to but still has wonderful speed, can steal a base when you need it. even albert pujols last night in that dodger game stealing bases. >> bob: zimmerman brakes his bat, looked at the runner for one step and throughout the hitter. so guzman is at third base with two outs for dunn.   if the ball is behind you r to third, if it's ahead of you don't go anywhere, and guzman did get the nats 90 more feet.

adam dunn singled to right field last time, they do have the shift on here. and if he hits the ball up the middle or is late for one he has a great chance for a hit. that is outside.   . >> rob: torrealba reminding batter there's one on third, when he is going for the wind up. >> bob: he has told us in the past he would consider a wouldn't down the third base line in certain situations. this is not one of those because you're down by two. if it's a 1-run game look at that you will room, he could lay one down over by guzman and guzman could trot home. but they are two down and they need their big fella to come up with a big swing. that's up and in, 2-0.   rob running back i just watch

this wonderful piece on mickey mantle. he used to lay down bunts and use his speed. >> bob: he was really fast. >> rob: yeah. >> bob: behalf his knees went bad. >> rob: when you get a guy that has only allowed two hits, maybe take the bunt. >> bob: a sprinkler head in the outfield at yankee stadium was the culprit that eventually ruined mickey mantle's knee. he was as fast as strong as anybody who has ever played this game. >> rob: and he was just a country boy from oklahoma. >> bob: yeah, a little town called commerce. adam dunn rips one to right field. the nats are on the board, dunn will have to dig for second, hawpe has got a great arm. >> rob: hoo. >> bob: and he in there safely. adam dunn, 87 r.b.i.s. 

 . >> rob: hawpe, maybe hamell i tiring a little bit, only his 72nd pitch, doesn't hit his spot. you saw torrealba setting up inside, down the middle. and hoss gets a huge double right there with two outs. >> bob: his 57th extra base hit of the year. seventh most in the national league.   hoss    i think bob appeal a  reading him the riot act, first and second base open with two outs and you feed one of the most dangerous hitters in our lineup a pretty fat fastball. would be bob here is josh willingham. 

 sitting on 50 r.b.i.s. outfield just about dead straight away. and that one misses. the nats need a base hit that's not right at one of the outfielders here. adam dunn is not fast, they have good arms in center and right and that's gonna be a fly ball, easy for gonzalez. the nationals never seem to be able to get back even with the rockies but they get a run and they are down by one into the seventh.

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 . >> bob: all right buddy, tr smile your way to another run or two somewhere along the way. top of the seventh and the rockies lead the nats 2-1. let's pay off our aflac trivia. larry walker, did you say .379. >> rob: .379. the other guy pretty damn good though, that helton. .372. >> bob: then the big cat and then matt holliday.   evidently some rosin bag confusion on the mound and they'll exchange them.   and as pat list tash told u wired wednesday, the rosin bag

has to be in the back of the mound. >> rob: i never liked the rosin on the dirt, that was one of my superstitions. >> bob: uh-huh. they brought out a bigger one than the other one, and on a really hot muggy night as the pitchers kind of tam happen that up and down their arm that dries off a larger area. >> rob: it does. and it will also help you when you're sweating an awful lot you can smack it around your wrist and power undertake down on your hand to make the ball vic. st. louis on a muggy august night. atlanta. >> bob: yeah. >> rob: and now washington. did. >> bob: did you see that atlanta has now become one of the hardest home run parks in baseball? what happened # to the launching pad. >> rob: they have some very good pitchers, vazquez, lowe. >> bob: mr. sinker himself. >> rob: i think tim hutchins is

coming back. the burger meister monster burger. >> bob: and a breaking ball to ian stewart. 2-2, lead-off man, 1 top of the sevth. >> robreaking ball from sean burnett. in the dirt. stewart letting go. >> bob: hunter wendelstedt showing us that was a foul tip. >> rob: yeah. after the -- >> bob: he didn't signal that way back in the fifth inning. >> rob: nothat wasn't even close. >> bob: the fact that the nats were half-way off the field when they changed the call, then carlos gonzalez doubled in the run d got a wild pitch for another. strikes out ian stewart. hawpe and stewart are 0-6 with si strikeouts tonight.   . >>obllare being dominated by pitchers getting ahead and then using off speed stuff to just put them away. stewart, you can see the

disgust on his face after the swing.%%- >> bob: ian stewart, 93 strikeouts on the year, and he is a part-time player. bob. >> rob: well i methat ball is on e ouhalf and he is swinging with his butt going into our dugoutnot going to hit it that way. >> bob: he walked, struck out and scored. his walk was the tough part of that fifth inning to take until the missed foul ball call. >> rob: once again, i mean, the hit to torrealba and the walk to barmes, it was the bottom of the order that did th damageht agaithe ck theattack the strike zone. 

 . >> bob: he has him swinging missing right now and a 2-2 to the right-hander barmes.   yorvit torrealba next. their pitcher has only had 86 pitches, we may have another rocky pitcher going deep. looked like he was going to go deeper but the nats got four hits off him to wear him out a bit in the sixth inning, but jimenez, 8 insurance the night before. sean burnett on the night we're covering the bases with him. he has got the indians gear on there.   . >> rob: oh, team u.s.a. >> bob: that's whose uniform everybody wants to wear.   . >> rob: i thought about open-

wheel racing for a time. >> bob: he was an equestrian. >> rob: a jockey. >> bob: what a versatile guy. >> rob: oh, i'm too tall. >> bob: too tall, too heavy. >> rob: yeah. what are jockeys, 119 pounds or something, 117. >> bob: the big ones. >> rob: yeah, the big ones. i think one of my legs weighs 117 pounds.   i've never told you horse stories, have i? >> bob: no. >> rob: horses, every time i get on a horse to go horse back riding the horse tries to bite me. "get off."   . >> bob: horses are smarter th i thought. >> rob: yeah, the horses are very -- >> bob: ha ha. oh, that's funny. >> rob: hamell looks like he

may stay in. >> bob: a close watch on him in the bottom of the seventh. >> rob: ooh. >> bob: hit off an empty seat over there. right-hander matt daily. in this series we have only seen three different rocky relievers. street both nights, morales and betancourt last night.   and a little chopper that guzman can charge and he just simply droops the ball for his 14th, 15th error of the year. with a catcher running, i'm not sure he -- what the hurry was there.   . >> rob: i think he was trying to get it in between hops, takes one more and short hops him he might have more trouble, but comes up, hits him on the heel of the glove, actually he closed his glove early. >> bob: yeah. >> rob: great job of the xmo.

>> bob: the xmo misses nothing. struck out twice. he'll be swinging. >> rob: safe to say the shortstop may miss a ball but the x mo won't. >> bob: we don't have any errors this year with the xmo but the nationals have 68. by contrast the rockies 65 errors and they are playing their 122nd game.   . >> rob: they are just show off.   . >> bob: but after finding o that the mashers and bad pitching didn't work they made a conscious effort in their scouting, their drafting, to bring in fast players, good defensive guys, with some pop in the bat as well. it's really improved their ball

club over the last few years.   strikeout number 3 by sean burnett. the error does not hurt. it is seventh inning stretch time at nats park. rockies 2, nats one. 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: nats baseball on ma brought to you by southwest airlines. book your next trip at southwest.com. and by corona and corona light. kick back and relax with a nice cold corona and lime. relax responsibly.   . >> bob: beautiful night, hot night, muggy night in our nation's capital. another good tight one-run ball game with these colorado rockies. bob carpenter, alongside a man who will never be a jockey after he retires from broadcasting, rob dibble. kind of a frustrating game and at the same time here are the nats right at it again. >> rob: on a day when you hire

your general manager full-time and you're looking at pitching and evaluating, hamell on the colorado rockies, but you're still in the ball game and you got to win these one-run ball games, we keep guess beat wii the rockies, 8 strait and five pie one run, this would be one game you would want to win, would be uplifting for the entire squad. >> the colorado starter who might be tiring just a bit, elijah dukes to lead off bottom of the seventh, and the nats would like to win one for the new general manager senior vice president of baseball operations, mike rizzo. quite a title. >> rob: yes, quite a title, gets a better parking spot, probably a bump in play. couldn't happen to a nicer guy. turned this team around, in the three years he has been here, the drafts he has been involved in. there you see our club president, stan kasten right there. they look nice today. >> bob: well, rob, we wanted to

break the news generally to you, but your parking pot is a little further from the gate than it was yesterday. and a breaking ball to elijah dukes. . >> rob: no worries, no worries, i have been doing lots of cardio. . >> bob: eh, you're in lot a, that's all that matters. elijah dukes in this series 1 for 5, hitless tonight, only 6 hits in this ball game. inin the three games against colorado the nationals have only given this high-powered offense 18 base hits. johnny beimel has now joined matt takely.   and the 0-2 to dukes. front door breaking ball that he lays off. >> rob: so far the only work that huston street and the bullpen is getting is a lot of throwing on the side. tyler clifford. >> bob: yeah. the nats need four batters

where they can bat sean burnett, and he could be done after two innings anyway.   and dukes didn't really try that hard to get out of the way and the ball just missed hitting him and the count goes to 2-2. >> rob: no, i think you know, sean burnett can keep pitching as long as we have more pictures of him as a kid, so we do, and hopefully he'll stay in the game.. >> bob: and dukes takes a big hack at a 77 miles per hour breaking ball. and that is the first strikeout for hamell since adam dunn back in the second inning. if, if,   . >> rob: well one breaking bal almost hit him, gets it together, throws a really nice breaking ball there 12-6, and he strikes out elijah dukes.

  . >> bob: next up will be jos bard and then alberto gonzalez.   some of our friends from dy corp. are here visiting the booth, one of our outstanding sponsors. hopefully they can get it some runs. >> rob: maybe they are good luck. >> bob: we bring them in every inning, if it's one-two-three out they go. >> rob: out they go never to be seen again. >> bob: no, we love having them in. >> rob: yes we do. >> bob: fastball away, one ball, one strike. >> rob: interesting. a lot of the players i'm sure aren't liking all the baby pictures we pull out. i met josh bard's parents the other day and they said "don't tell josh, he'll kill us."

would be upon makes his head in cherry hill high school. the. >> rob: the parents used to live in connecticut before they moved to denver. i -- my wife and i have a lot in common with josh's parents and where they are from.   . >> bob: always good to know where your parents live in case you get lost. >> rob: not everybody knows that their parents may live here or there. >> bob: that's nice. >> rob: where they met. >> bob: you talk about a change of culture, denver to lubbock, texas to play at texas tech. a 2-2 count, it's a change-up outside and the count is full. >> rob: my father passed away 12 years ago and my mother is telling me things, still, i didn't know. things they did when they met, etcetera, etcetera. >> bob: deep, dark, deductible

secrets. >> rob: no, but just interesting stuff. >> bob: that's wonderful. i'm sure he left a wonderful legacy. and bard hoping it goes foul, but it will stay fair right at the bag, an easy play for todd helton. two outs. >> rob: my dad did leave the deductible boys, three girls and two boys. i don't know what kind of legacy. his fifth-youngest child is kind of strange. >> bob: here is a story, about a man named deductible. >> rob: yeah, we don't want to hit the ball to the infield. let's try working the outfield for a little bit.   . >> bob: alberto gonzales is 0- 2, lined out to right last time out.    and a breaking ball pulled of just short, to tulowitzki. the nats go in order, quiet night with the bats. top of the eighth coming up, top of the order for the

rockies who lead 2-1. 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: we go to the top of t eighth inning, 2-1, colorado rockies over the washington nationals, freeze dried freeze cam, brought to you by coors light. a couple times tonight ian stewart has been challenged, once bay josh willingham, he failed to pick it up bare handed, but this time elijah dukes broken bat, from behind he gets out of a huge jam,

bases loaded and made the play at second base. so the coors light freeze cam catching the action at the hot corner. >> bob: that stab may be the defining moment of the game if the nats can't come back and tie this game or take the lead.   carlos gonzalez damaging r.b.i. double last time. that ball sitting right in the batter's box and a foul ball. >> rob: well the defining moment could also be the strike three missed call by the umpire. >> bob: yeah, yeah, that's true. that led to two runs. . >> bob: he drags a bunt. burnett, yes, coops, yes. well done to adam dunn from sean burnett. >> rob: well the man warming up in the bullpen for the rockies

hurt his hip flex or muscle. >> bob: joe beimel. >> rob: joe beimel, got over there, bare handed it, they call the this the tough play. great job by sean burnett who will pitch 2 1/3 scoreless baseball, did not give up a hit, struck out three, and on a night when we're covering the bases with sean he did a fantastic job, 35 pitches getting seven outs, and he'll give way to clifford here in the eighth inning. looks like bergmann coming in. 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: on a hot night in nat park, one out, top of the eighth, really good relief job by sean burnett, bergmann takes over. may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form and the accounts and descriptions of this game, including ball one up and in, may not be disseminated without the express written consent of the washington nats. ryan spilborghs is 1 for three. well the roof fell in, it's 11- 3 philadelphia, after a five- run sixth inning. 

 the marlins just gave up three.    at houston.    carlos lee and hunter pens hit homers against johnson, for pens his 19th.   2-# to bergmann. had a hitter reaching. guzman plays it on the hop and two quick outs here in the top of the eighth.    next up todd hilton 0-3. 

  the nationals have have a lea- off pinch hitter. so all the big guns will bat again in this game.   and bergmann goes 2-0 on todd hilton. 20 appearances since his recall july 4th, and jason 2-0 with a 2.41 e.r.a.   got a good fastball, runs t the corner.   20 strikeouts and six walks that time.   . >> rob: he has definitely com back with a sense of urgency and has pressed the issue, force four-seam fastball, clocked as high as 85 or 86, sometimes throws too many breaking balls but can live with it as long as he is

effective. he has got excellent stuff.    that was a change-up, very nice.  . >> bob: #-2.    . >> rob: 3-1, looking fastball or something hard, droops in 85 change-up. speeds up the bat again now with 93 heater.   tulowitzki,. >> bob: knock on wood, 1 fo in this series, with a walk tonight.   and bergmann took a stab at with his glove but it's clean up the middle and todd helton has his third hit of this series. but he has been on base eight times, the nationals walked him five times in the first two games, including four last night. >> rob: that's why he is such a good hitter. 3-2, fastball, 3-2 again, gets

a change-up, looking fastball, he keeps the hands back and drives that ball back up the middle. 2,089 hits for to the helton in his ninth year.   troy tulowitzki 0-2 with a  walk.   that was late for a breakin ball and the count is 0-2.   rockies are warming up rafael

betancourt who pitched a scoreless eighth inning here last night.   and joe beimel has not appe in this series.   . >> rob: he has teased us a times. >> bob: yeah, he has warmed up. joe still had a whole bunch of stuff left here in washington. and when i saw him this afternoon he had his truck all loaded up and it's about to be shipped to colorado.   2-2 to tulowitzki.   too low to tulo. the count goes full. helton will be running on this full-count pitch with two outs. 

 and that ball rifled right toward right center. that's gonna two to the wall and drive in todd helton. troy tulowitzki, only his second hit of this series, but with his two hits he has driven in three runs. and the rockies lead by two again. . >> rob: well, with two outs, helton gets a huge 3-2 hit and, right there, another hit to the opposite field on a breaking ball by tulowitzki. and he said he has laid down a breaking ball before, it was almost like he went looking for a bergmann breaking ball. >> bob: double switch coming. left-handed batter coming up, but it's not ron villone. it will be tyler clip ard.

   well the rockies have been opportunistic. they haven't scored that much, but the timing of the runs devastate to go the nationals. ♪

♪ tell me who's watching. ♪ i always feel like somebody's watching me. ♪ (announcer) it's right here. it's easy.  >> bob: our nextel vision gam will be a different ball club. prince fielder, mike cameron, and power to spare at corey hart. and it will be a tough assignment for jd martin. he'll be making his seventh major league start, 2-2 with a

4.61 e.r.a. he has faced the brewers this year, made a pretty solid start against them. braden, the looper, 10-6, against washington career. gets going at 6:30, johnny and ray here at the ball park with "nats extra."   willy harris will lead off in the eighth, he is playing second base. and the new pitcher is tyler clippard.   something about the eighth inning every night the rockies have scored a run to go ahead by two.   and, rob, that's about the time of the tight when your bullpen has been pitching for a while. >> rob: well on the last couple of nights the nats bullpen has been pitching an awful long time by that time. last night from the second out in the fifth inning, the

bullpen took over, the same inning the bullpen took over tonight. >> bob: in three starts 12 2/3 innings total by the nats starters. >> rob: saul rivera did an excellent job and allowed one home run. great work. >> bob: yeah, he pitched almost four innings last night so we're not at all surprised that he is not available this evening.   right-hander-left-hander match up, clippard to hawk and co is 2-1 to a dangerous batter who has struck out three times tonight.   somebody in the big usa chopp wanted to have a look down into nationals park tonight. they just about circled the stadium there a moment ago. and a 2-2 to hawpe.

instead, clippard wants to speak with bard.    this all started with two outs, helton's base hit, tulowitzki's double, hawpe stays alive.   ian stewart three strikeouts tonight but doing lots of damage with his glove and his arm. >> rob: that's not the kind of hat trick you want there.

>> bob: that is a base hit to right field. >> rob: another change-up. >> bob: dukes boots it, that will be the nats' second error of the night, and the opportunistic rockies lead 4-1. three consecutive hits with two outs. >> rob: well three consecutive hits off of second and third- best pitches by relievers. right there you saw the change- up. stewart was able to -- excuse me -- hawpe was able to stay on that a little bit longer. goingng to second base on elijah, trying to charge it as hard as possible. >> bob: both of those runs charged to jason bergmann.   this inning started with a bu out but a good play by burnett.

he was pulled. bergmann got spilborghs on a ground ball quickly to third, base hit, double, base hit, error. for   who would have thought the rockies would send 6 or 7 men up in this inning. >> rob: and sean burnett got the first out of the inning too.

. >> bob: and a change-up, 2-2.   . >> rob: spoke to your forme partner, don sutton, in atlanta he told me the only time you throw change-ups when you get' head in the count is from the middle down. from the knees down. >> bob: you don't throw it to make a strike do you. >> rob: certainly not. tulowitzki took it to right field off of bergmann, that hit right there was a change-up that was up to hawpe, so those

are pitches, you're not not trying to strike guys out in the strike zone with a breaking ball or with a change-up, it's supposed to be in the dirt. now mock got a ton of change- ups early on in the game, did a great job working the fastball and getting ahead. but every time he threw a change-up it was down in the dirt, exactly where it was supposed to be.    .  >> bob: fastball right by stewart. the rockies get two huge runs in the eighth inning on three hits and an error and the nats are down pie three with six outs to go. aflac. the one ya' really need to have if you don't have it. that's why you need it.

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 . >> bob: nationals baseball masn brought to you by southwest airlines, book your next trip at southwest.com. and by dine corp. international. we serve today for a safe tomorrow.   well, when we looked at this series we thought that these three games might be an old- fashioned shootout between a couple of really good offenses. low-scoring games, relatively speaking, rockies have won this series with defense. carlos gonzalez has hit some home runs, garrett mock was

good tonight, but he only was able to pitch five. then jason hamell of the rockies gets through seven innings on 85 pitches. they are going to turn it over to rafael betancourt who pitched a scoreless eighth with one strikeout here last night. let's see what hitters he faces. he got morgan out on sacrifice, guzman, intentionally walked zimmerman and then the big play of the game when he struck out adam dunn looking. pardon me, that was in the seventh. and that was morales and then betancourt got willingham, dukes and harris, who leads off here, in the eighth inning. so willy harris already in the ball game as the second baseman. and a totally different ball game than it was 1 half inning ago.   . >> rob: chip away, try to g one, maybe two this inning.  

i think we have worn street o well enough. i think we could get a couple against him. >> bob: betancourt has one save this year, that came with cleveland. so they don't really have a pitcher with a save other than huston street. joe beimel had one here, manny corpus has one, he is on the defensive line and he is what you might call their erst while closer. it's all street now. 0-1 right here. >> rob: betancourt coming in, bringing the cheese at the knees. see if willy can get one back through the box or kick one out of the yard. . >> bob: they have been getting willy out on fastballs up rather than getting ahead of him. >> rob: that's the toughest think about not batting a lot. at that seed your hand-eye coordination is going to be a

little bit slowed. see the catcher back there shaking, he'll probably get another fastball. >> bob: and he is gonna be punched out on a pitch that willy thought was up and away.   . >> rob: well the catcher has him shake his head like he is coming back with a fastball, rings him up, sit him down. >> bob: home plate umpire not doing the players any favors tonight. >> rob: no. >> bob: now do we have a switch to turn cold water on in their showers? that might be welcome on a night like this. the foul tip call that he missed a cost the nats two runs back in the fifth. that cost mock a lot of

pitches. there is no telling. he might have pitched six innings or more. but garrett mock ended up with a 0-pitch fifth inning after wendelstedt and the rest of the crew missed the strikeout on carlos gonzalez.   and this guy is throwing hard >> rob: are you noticing anything here about betancourt? >> bob: power. not nibbling around is he. >> rob: not nibbling. waiting. >> bob: willy harris gives it to the umpire. >> rob: he has a three-run lead right here, going to throw strikes until the hitter does something.   . >> bob: all right nyjer. two strikes, if it's close you better be swinging. >> rob: betancourt a lot of guy

rations there trying to keep the shoulder and arm loose. he is a bit older than our youngsters. >> bob: 34. swing and a foul tip, two outs.   . >> rob: very simple, throwing his fastballs off the outer edge, seeing if anybody can hit it. and, if they don't, he won't even throw a breaking ball.   . >> bob: guzman 0-3, stole a base on the last time. 

 . >> rob: a little respect. started him off with a slow breaking ball but it was still for a streak. guzman hit it off the end of the bat. you know, mitch williams had a great saying about relieving, it's like pitching with your hair on fire. and what i mean by bringing that up is that you're out there, you're not trying to trick anybody or anything, you're just trying to get outs as quickly as you possibly can and get out of there. your job is to hold the lead or hold the one or two-run deficit, not add to it. you're not out there trying to pitch through the batting order three times. you're trying to get three outs. >> bob: uh-huh. >> rob: so your job description is way different than a starter. a starter has to have three, four pitches. reliever? sometimes you only need one. soso far betancourt has thrown

two off speed pitches and struck out two hitters, two hitters that i consider pretty good hitters. . >> bob: betancourt used to be a middle infielder in the minor leagues back in the early '90s, i betty caused a couple of sore hands over at first base, made him a pitcher, 34 years of age, still throwing. veryry close with his former battery meat, victor martinez, who is the godfather of his two children. 

 and 2-2. guzman serves one,  left field line, and the ball false right on the line. rightht in front of ryan spilborghs and the nats get a 2- outhit with zimmerman coming up.    . >> rob: another fastball here on the outside. throws the bat head out there, gets a little help right here by it staying in fair territory on the line, you see the chalk. spilborghs makes a good play keeping that a single. 

 ryan 0-9 with a walk tonight,- 0 for the series.   flags are barely moving on th hot and muggy august evening. heavyvy air hanging in the ball park. andnd this is zimmerman trying to get something done to get adam the plate here in the eighth inning.   nats are down by three. he just keeps attacking with the 94 miles per hour heat.   >> rob: here it is, hit it if you can. plapap [ applause ]

well ryan was sitting in the dugout when willy harris got called out. >> rob: i think betancourt is a free agent at the end of the year.   he would be a nice addition t this bullpen. >> bob: he had a cleveland club option for next year before they traded him to the rockies. oh, man, he looks like a real good set up man right now. he throws harder than the closer. >> rob: street? >> bob: 0-2 to zimmerman. 

 and he strikes out the side, gives up a flair, and we go to the ninth inning. the rockies are dominating the nats in the late innings of this series.

  . >> bob: onto the top of the ninth inning, bottom of the order for the rockies, lead by four, an inning away from a three-game sweep and a two-game lead in the wildcard. follow the nats on your iphone

and i pod touch. featuring play-by-play, video highlights and audio video. visit on your ipod touch to purchase. tyler clippard misses upstairs to clint barmes.   barmes tonight, 0-2, a walk a a run scored. got it right by him, a foul tip.

and upstairs for a strikeout. two in a row for clippard and the first out here in the ninth inning.    . >> rob: right there, rears ba and lets it fly.   . >> bob: yorvit torre al a ba.   and there is another third baseman the rockies have, big powerful atkins. to his left, on his left, he gets torrealba. and atkins will get a bat, a

chance to bat here, with a three-run lead.   this guy has power to burn. his playing time curtailed because of his low batting average.    so another scoreless eighth inning, rafael betancourt, who gave up a hit that struck out three nationals. 

 and two pitchers warming up, but it will be street, because it's a three-run game. matt daily had the score and huston street will be trying to save his third game in this series. in the dark. no peanuts or nothin'. and then if your bag wants to bring one of its little bag friends for company, they charge another $25. that's just plain mean. why do they hate your bags? at southwest airlines, bags fly free. grab your bag. it's on! ( ding ) is if you run into a friend and you want to share a photohone, with a flick, there's an app for that. if you want to share contact info with a bump, there's an app for that. or if you just want to share some downtime, well,

there's an app for that too. because there's an app for just about anything. only on the iphone.  . >> bob: well we head to the wait a moment of the ninth, johnny holiday along with ray dmieght, they trail this one by three. they have made small rallies to close it within one, let's see if they can tie it up in the ninth inning. >> ray: that would be sweet. the rockies are playing as well as you can play. that's why they are in contingent for the pennant and that's why we have two balls hit not very hard. don swinging the bat. garrett mock through the heck out of the ball tonight. >> johnny: yes he did. let's go back upstairs to johnny and bob. >> bob: thank you johnny, thank you ray.

huston street has blown one save this year. there has been a ford drive of the night tonight and it was adam dunn with the nationals only r.b.i. back in the sixth inning. a big two-out double for the hoss, fourth drive of the game, would be the only run in this game that the nationals could score. good hustle there because brad hawpe has a cannon on the left side of his body.   adam dunn two for three tonight, 87 r.b.i.s.   so look at that. 31 saves, only one blown, all year long. way under a hit per inning. and the strikeout to walk ratio 5-1. that's's a closer getting it done.   his second career 30-save season, he had 37 with the a's

three years ago. soso here is adam dunn, then josh willingham and elijah dukes in the washington ninth.   the nats have touched street for a run in each of his ninth innings in this series and dunn goes up pumping and fouls it away. josh bard got him for a homer last night. and cristian guzman with an r.b.i. single tuesday.   mets are bat being in the bottom of the ninth trailing atlanta 3-2.

phillieses winning big, astros trailing by -- pardon me, marlins by three at the astros in the seventh inning and that's the rest of the east as the nats trail 4-1 here.   84 on that pitch up and in.   . >> rob: the change-up pie street, pulling the string after a few fastballs that were moving around the zone. >> bob: yeah, the bat was gone before the ball came in the frame. and a 1-2 coming. adam dunn gets under it, hits it a long way to left center, it is flirting with the bullpen. >> rob: get out. >> bob: and it is caught by ryan spilborghs.

  if they get to it they catch it.   . >> rob: well it's a sinker do and away, he gets extension going the other way, the ball park just holds onto it. spilborghs makes a nice catch up against the wall.   . >> bob: you hate to sit up he in our own ball park and harp on the other team too much but their defense has won this series for them already and now they are trying to use it to sweep the nats. and it will be willingham with one out, josh 1 for 3 with an infield hit. his little dribbler down to third dropped by stewart's bare hand, maybe the only play they haven't made in this entire series. >> rob: any time we have been able to try to mount some kind of offensive their defense saves the day. can't say we haven't been hitting the ball hard.

. >> bob: this will be the first game in which the nats did not get double-digit hits and outhit colorado. only four safeties tonight. andnd willingham over matched on breaking balls, two outs. >> rob: first couple of the evening street didn't throw more breaking balls. a little more tired, doesn't think he can get outs with the sinking fastball. dunn hit that one all the way to the wall and he stays with breaking balls to get willingham.    . >> bob: elijah dukes 0-3. >> rob: notice the location of those breaking balls all down towards the dirt. >> bob: yes, sir. >> rob: make a mistake, make it down.

. >> bob: and, as we mentioned last night, this guy is only 26 years of age and already has 125 saves. youou like what you see of him, of his mechanics and all that, that indicate he could do this for an extended period of time? >> rob: well, he has battled some different issues over his career and i think he is trying to simplify his mechanics, so yeah, i would say right now he has got everything figured out. >> bob: he has got that little leg kick similar to trevorhoff man's when he brings that knee up and cox it. and he is 2-2 on elijah dukes >> rob: everything is down, his change-ups are down, sinkers

are down, the worst thing really you're gonna do is give up a lot of ground balls when they put it in play.   . >> bob: johnny and ray told y a few minutes ago and they are coming up with nationals extra presented by verizon fios. two starts, although the colorado guy went a lot deeper than the washington guy. jim riggleman thoughts, and the peruers coming in for a series that will extend to monday afternoon. >> rob: he threw 75, mock through 91 over five. >> bob: this game is over. check swing by dukes. the rockies don't beat your brains out, rob, the way they used to with offense but they are a solid ball club with good enough pitching and very good d. >> as long as those starters continue to go deep in the ball

game they are going to be tough on any opponent. >> bob: they did not make one record in three games in this series. they sweep the series. the nats and the brewers for four, we'll get you goin' at 6:30 "nats extra." visit masn sports.com for all the latest news on the nationals. this has been a presentation of nats and stay tuned, "nats extra" postgame coming up right now from johnny and ray. from the booth. on a disappointing evening again against colorado, so long for just a while.   . >> johnny: and as they said, disappointing to lose to colorado. colorado came up with the clutch hits, the nationals could not, and the pitching,

the relief performance for the rockies just a little bit better than the nationals as jim riggleman pounding the guys on the back with his condo threneses, i knowy holiday and ray knight with you for "nats xtra" postgame. so the rockies come in, they get the broom out, they win three in colorado, win three here, they have now had the number of this baumgartner club eight consecutive going back to last year. >> ray: i don't see a weakness in the ball club, starting pitching has been great, hamell, he is a guy who mass has not won 10 games. he throws the best game have the year he has thrown. four hits, three against 10, dunn doing most of the damage. then their defense, as bob and rob talked about, goodness gracious, they catch everything and it doesn't matter where johnny. that's why you win ball games. that's why they have four guys who have won 10 games and not strike a lot of people out and make plays behind them and keep you in the ball game. >> johnny: that's why they have

got that national wildcard lead of a game over the san francisco giants. defining moments, there were a couple ray and i looked at tonight, mostly ray, because in the fourth inning dukes grounds into a forced play and then the fifth inning, the controversial check swing by gonzalez. >> ray: yeah. this play here is just a ball that i don't think the umpire has to do anything with at second base. sometimes you create problems. that ball wasn't even close. they thought he fouled it. somebody said he fouled it and that it hit the ground. but he never touched the ball. then after a tremendous job pitching, to gonzalez, the ball hit to left, bloop, he does everything he can to block that heart breaking ball and they end up scoring two runs. he didn't get what he was worth. riggleman had to pull him out after the fifth inning, but that at-bat to gonzales was unreal. he went away with change-ups, fastballs in, jammed him, struck him out legitimately, the umpire at second aid that the ball hit the ground, which

it did, but he didn't touch the ball, called it a foul tip, and as a result he gets another shot. hits a little gork112 feet over zimmerman's head to left field, that allows the rockies to basically win the ball game. >> johnny: yeah, the r.b.i. double puts him up 2-0, as you see in that fifth inning, the two colorado runs. gonzalez goes 4 for 12, two hrgs, two driven in, in the series, garrett mock, best performance of the year. couple of walks, eight strikeouts, 91 pitches, but that was tough. a couple of walks, hamell was tough, they lose it 4-1. let's go upstairs to bob carpenter and to rob dibble and when you look at that eighth inning, a 2- run ball game until colorado pushes across two more in that eighth. >> bob: well johnny it was a familiar theme and story throughout this three-game series.

in the seventh and eighth innings they got 5 runs against the nationals bullpen. rob, that's what happened and i think you know about why that happened. >> rob: our relievers continue to anybody in certain situation beings, right there you need to come in, get two outs, sean burnett did a great job as did rivera last night. you can't be giving up two runs, it's a one-run ball game. you got to hold onto that one- run lead. jason bergmann gives up a 3-2 off-speed pitch to helton and tulowitzki takes another off- speed pitch away. they are too much of the strike zone. if you are going to go for strikeouts got to be that pitch. up high in the zone, two runs come in and make this, instead of a 2-1 game a 4-1 game. then betancourt comes in, 95, 97% fastballs, just challenging our hitters, gets a call on willy harris with a strikeout. strikes out nyjer morgan, strikes out on a high fastball to ryan zimmerman, so sometimes

you know, it's your job, bob and ray and johnny, comes down to just getting one or two outs, you don't have to try to trick people, get beat by your second or third-best pitch, get a couple outs and keep it a one- run ball game, that's what the job is supposed to be, not adding fuel to the fire. >> ray you take this one step further as a hitter. until you prove you can hit the fastball, keep pumping those number 1s in there are. >> ray: i agree with that. rob has always said that. there is no way you change to something else when you're pounding the fastball. i envy you guys, the strasburg situation coming up tomorrow, everybody at the ball park, bob, rob, just, i know rob you got to be excited because he is the only guy that i have seen that throws as hard as you did, but how excited are y'all about being able to interview him tomorrow and basically introduce him to everybody? >> rob: well it's very exciting, ray. i mean i would be lying to you if i didn't. the kid has done an awful lot in a very short time. you heard stan kasten, our club

president, talk about it a couple nights atboa after he was signed, sealed, delivered, and said "listen this, one guy is not going to turn this whole thing around." yes, he is one of the best parts you can add to the equation but you need a strong bullpen, you need a great defense, you know, it's going to be a team effort that puts this organization into championship play. so strasburg and many other pitchers and players are gonna be needed down the stretch and now you have a full-time gm and senior vp in mike rizzo, stan kasten and the lerners, the guys still have to go out and execute. >> reporter: i think it was cool that the scout caught his 95 miles per hour change-up on the gun. >> that was awesome. >> tomorrow's program will be a one-hour program from 2 to 3, we're going to carry it live here on masn, i'll be hosting down near third base, there will be a stage set up, fireworks, strasburg is going to be introduced to the crowd, there's going to be a little

theater involved in this whole thing tomorrow. tickets available starting at noon. i think it's going to be quite an afternoon so come on down, hang out with us, go have dinner and come back for the ball game. >> johnny: bob, thank you very much. bob carpenter and rob dibble upstairs, don't miss it, it will be an experience i think forever nationals fan. if you can't be here at least be watching here on masn at 2:00 tomorrow. >> ray: we're coming, aren't we're? we going to get out here early. i'm as excited about it as everybody else is. johnny i know i want to get on the line and tell steve in case he has some extra cash, throw it my way. >> ray: in case? in case? that boy is packing one of those big letter-carrying things with cash >> johnny: well garrett mock had what appeared to ray and i and upon and rob one of the best performances of the year. >> ray: the change-up was phenomenal. stewart change-up no chance.

there it is to hawpe. hamell a big breaking ball, sit him down. he is able to come back in the fourth. spilborghs singles on a little blooper, then pops up. helton to center. hawpe strikes out swinging on another change-up, just couldn't have thrown it any better, in a better spot. barmes walk, that's the one mistake he made. those walks kill you. hit a blooper to right field that they held up on. nothing you can do about it. then there is the deal, struck him out. no question about it. did not touch the ball. way out in front of the change- up. he comes in, artis riggleman says that. jams him on the fastball inside, wish we could have gotten a pitch by pitch deal on that, weren't able to put it together. but bloop to the left field, a hard breaking ball, might have gotten a little excited, the only pitch he wasn't near the play it with, pitch gets away, the second run of the ball game. he fired that breaking ball, fired that fastball, fired the

ball in and out, did not make a pitch fat over the plate all night long. 91 pitches, as effective as any pitcher we have had all year long. >> the three hits they got off of mock tonight as you see his numbers right there, all of them bloop hits. nobody hit the ball solid off this guy. >> nobody hit the ballen the nose. the best hits traveled 280 feet to the outfield. but he was just in and out. great command of the change-up, and his fastball, and he actually knocked down gonzales which i like because of the fact that gonzalez was hitting the big home runs. then gonzalez gets a little gork to left field after striking out. listen, johnny, you would ghetto base hits if they gave ow four strikes. >> think so? i know i would. 62 strikes for garrett mock and gives up six hits in five innings. we'll have more of "nats xtra" postgame here from nationals park. a disappointed crowd, and a good crowd here tonight, but colorado heads out of town with a three-game sweep.

we'll be back with more right after this. ♪

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 . >> johnny: "nats xtra" brough to you by verizon fios, the fastest internet. this is fios and this is big. let's go downstairs where jim riggleman talking about this game with the media. >> you know, as i said, just about every time we're gonna play now is competing for the playoffs and the way you do that is with good pitching. so, tonight was a good example, this whole series was a good example with jimenez, marquis and hamell. that's probably as good a three days in a row as we have seen, jimenez being as good as any one day we have seen and, you know, that's, i think it's going to be a great growing experience for our ball club to see that and to realize this -- that's what it takes.

you know. if you look statistically all through colorado's lineup you're not gonna see any individuals at the top of too many statistical categories but they play defense and they pitch. that that's where i feel like we have made a lot of improvement, we have pitched pretty good, our bullpen has been good and we have really daughter the ball well. we know we can hit but when you get pitched that good it's going to stifle your hitting a little bit. >> reporter: how much does that affect mock. the bloop is a bloop hit but then he uncorks the wild pitch. did any of that have any effect on him. >> i don't think so. i think the flare hit, that hurt. but, you know, that's baseball. guys get hits like that. we get hits like that. and, you know, he made a quality pitch and they got a

bloop hit. mock, his stuff can be pretty electric, he is gonna throw one of those every now and then and it got away from bard. >> reporter: what is your idea of taking mock out after 5. >> you know, i felt the most we were going to go with him was one more, so knowing we were only going to get one more, let's see if we can get a base hitter and keep the top of the order going and see if we can. stewart made some good plays. he made some good plays, as did atkins when he played over there, the third base guys, both of them really stifled us again there. but mock could have gone one more, i felt like with who was coming up we let burnett pitch the next couple innings and he did a great job so that part have the game we were fine. >> reporter: you have a bit of a history of getting to the fifth inning and fading at that point. is it fatigue or hitters starting to figure him out.

is there anything that stands out there? >> garrett is, you know, he is a big guy and it's hot and humid, he throws a fair number of pitches to get to that point in the game. for him, generally, he is gonna be at a fairly high pitch count in the sixth inning range so that's where he has kind of been finishing up lately. again tonight with his spot in the order coming up i felt it was probably gonna take him 110 pitches to get through six so rather than do that we would just go ahead and pinch hit. but, to answer your question, he's -- guys who have really good stuff, they throw a lot of pitches, and that fatigues you in this hot weather. >> reporter: and gonzalez tipped that ball before it bounced. >> yeah, he tipped it and then it hit the dirt. so it hit the dirt which makes it a foul ball. >> reporter: you couldn't tell. looks like he missed it all

together. >> oh, i see what you are saying. he tipped it. i thought i heard him tip it and so did bard. so our question was whether it hit the ground. >> reporter: if he caught it? >> he caught it but it hit the ground before he caught it. >> reporter: is sean burnett okay because it seems like after that bunt play he was like stretching and bending and stuff. >> you know, i didn't see that. we wanted him to go out and face that one hitter and then we were going to turn it over to bergmann to face spilborghs so that was predetermined that that was going to be the last hitter he faced. i -- at the end of the day, or at the end of the night in the clubhouse, he was sitting there icing his arm, as our guys always do, and you know, he seemed fine. >> reporter: for a young starter like mock what is the number 1 difficulty, the number 1 challenge for a young guy? >> i would think goin' through

these major league lineups three times, four times. you know. guys see you on that third at- bat and they have seen pretty much everything you have and now you got to try to play a little cat and mouse game with them as to what you are gonna throw 'em and by then maybe you have lost a little bit on your pitches. so, you know, it's just a great credit to the guys who do it you know. the big-time starters in the game, the halladays and carpenters and those guys, santana, all those guys who go seven to nine innings and, you know, they are facing lineup after lineup and then, you know, you got guys who are in the league 10 years, you know, that's what mock wants to do. he wants to be in the league 10 or 12 years pitching and he's

gonna face lineups 23 and 4 times through every time. they seen what you have. you have to compete and get them out that third and fourth time in a game.   . >> well nats manager jim riggleman talking about this loss. tonight the final is 4-1, as colorado sweeps the nationals, a three-game set at national park. which still, this month of august, the nationals 11-7, four wins shy of their first winning month since september of 2007. let's keep that in perspective. they'll try to bounce back tomorrow night with the beginning of a four-game set against milwaukee that comes n one interesting think about tonight and bob and running back were talking about it and we saw it ray, the fact that the nationals in the fourth image, again in the fifth inning, looked like they had something goin' but all of a sudden that rockies defense tightened quickly. >> yeah, they did. zimmerman walked and dunn singled, hit the ball hard, to right, he hit the ball hard

twice tonight. willingham hit the ball off the end of the bat. they are start to go throw willingham more change-ups and slow ball games, he turns to throw to second, willingham out just by a tad. i didn't check his lead or his secondarily to see if he could have gotten a little more, great play there defensively. going away, jump up, throwing like joe montana here and to make it a perfect throw, and running decently just barely gets nipped there, the defense playing great there, in the sixth, led off with a walk, a ground ball by morgan, ground ball to second, another nice play there. they -- we steal the bag, safe at second, zimmerman then grounds to short, and then doubles down right field line by dunn, plate to the run, and then willingham flies out to center field. this was really our only chance. but ran the fastball in on him there after throwing him a lot of off speed and breaking balls throughout the series.

>> well tomorrow is a very special day here at nationals park because it's gonna be a big day coming up. stephen strasburg will be in town but also on saturday a chance to join picnic in the park fans for all the season ticket holders. that will be 1:00 to 4:00. activities include you can throw a pitch in the bullpen. you can visit the nationals dugout. you can run the bases. you'll be able to get some player autographs and photographs, plus a q and a with the nats broadcasters and all so specialty guests. that will be on saturday. picnic in the park, 1:00 to 4:00. and we'll talk about stephen strasburg who just did meet the deadline monday night by agreeing to terms with washington. the number 1 pick in the draft. we'll touch on him when we come back. it's... no, not yet. it back that way. it's on.

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 . well tomorrow is a very  special day here at nationals park. you can be part of it, bob carpenter mcs, "nats xtra" pregame for a 2:00 press

conference. tickets are on sale for $1 for the game and the press conference. that will be on sale noon until 2:00 tomorrow. so we hope you'll have a chance to be part of a very, very personal day in washington. let's take a look at the xmo ray and take a look at the pitching of garrett mock. >> fastball there 92 miles per hour located on the outside part of the plate. choke change there, watch how far out in front is this. he is on that pitch there as he strikes out gonzalez. another choke change, circle change as he throws that ball, johnny, and sitting behind there he killed that ball to 80 miles per hour and it faded away from those left-handed hitters, seven of the eight strikeouts were left-handed hitters. to be able to do that shows you have great deception and movement on the change-up. >> we have got a chance to watch the brewers in town for the weekend, in town for four, split a series earlier in balk. saturday also at 7:00 and masn2. sunday afternoon at 1:30 on

masn2. that's the three-games of the four-game series. what does nyjer morgan think of tonight's game? we'll talk about that when we come back. 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.

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for both your goals.  . "nats xtra" postgame sh brought to you by verizon fios. over 100 hd channeled and the fastest internet. the nationals faced some pretty tough pitching here in this three-game series against the rockies. nyjer morgan admits, boy, those guys were tough. >> yeah, and they got a good team over there and just hats off to them you know. they have -- they pitched good, got timely hitting when they were supposed to and it's one of those things that we got to keep bouncing back and keep our heads up. >> deb: jim said too that he thought playing teams like this that are in contention can help you guys. how can it help you guys is this. >> because you see the intensity. we just want to be spoilers and like i said before we want to play hard for 27 opts and you know we're basically doing that and the ball is not bouncing our way so we have got to keep

our heads up and keep going out and battling. >> battling. >> deb: through day tomorrow with milwaukee coming in. >> milwaukee is coming in. we can definitely put on a show against them. we hope we get the ball up, he is a good sinker ball pitcher, use the whole field with him. to be. >> deb: thank you. >> yes. >> he brought him to washington, mike rizzo today named the senior vice president and permanent general manager. hats off to mike once again. >> ray: another great day, second only to the strasburg signing getting mike rizzo tied up with his ability to evaluate talent and just shows the stability of this organization now heading forward, signing all these young guys, spending that kind of money and making that kind of commitment. >> johnny: well they met, milwaukee won the first two, and braden looper, start are for milwaukee tomorrow night against j.d. martin. >> he went 573 innings before

he ever got a start. now he has been starting for the last couple years, 10-6 this year, throwing the ball well. j.d. martin only an 0.90 average his last two outings. >> he is 2 for 2, 6.21 e.r.a. don't forget tomorrow, 2:00. very special press cons friends introducing stephen strasburg. bob carpenter will be your host. for ray knight i'm johnny holiday. we'll see you tomorrow here from nationals park. good night.

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>> coming up on "espnews," another insane performance from usain bolt. how the world's fastest man rewrote the record books, again. when plaxico burress accidentally shot himself, he hurt himself in more ways than one. why his lawyer says being a celebrity also hurt him. plus the nfl preseason continues. how tom brady and donovan mcnabb did tonight, and the bengal may

have found themselves a new kicker. hi, and welcome to "espnews," always available in hd. i'm j.w. stewart. two preseason games for the nfl on tap tonight, and one of them is in the books, the patriots and the bengals. we'll show you the highlights. no carson palmer for cincinnati, out with a sprained ankle, tom brady playing in his second straight preseason game, he missed the preseason all of last year with that mysterious foot injury. look out, brady sacked by robert gathers. brady said last week he wanted to get hit hard to test the knee. he got it, 4 for 8, 57 yards, carson palmer's replacement to chris henry there in the second

quarter on fourth and 16, it's a touchdown, but the story is chad ochocinco kicking the extra point. bengals' kicker shane graham out with a groin injury for this game, so ochocinco going to handle the kickoff duties, and a real good kick, 60 yards, fielded at the 9 yard line, and i guess it's good that they did not score more because had they ochocinco would have hand a lot more of the kicks. o'sullivan 10 of 13, 141, brady played the one quarter, and the patriots got wes welker back, he missed the preseason opener last week, he was back, one catch for 32 yards. back in november plaxico burress shot himself in the thigh. in reality the former giants' wide receiver shot himself in the foot.

carrying a concealed, unlicensed weapon altered his life and career. rather than face a jury trial where he could have gotten three and a half years in prison, burress took his chances with a plea deal today. kelly knocky was there. >> in 18 months plaxico burress has gone from super bowl hero to convicted felon. on thursday burress sat stoically in manhattan criminal court for a half-hour before pleading guilty to one count of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree. the plea agreement calls for a two-year state prison sentence and two years of post release supervision. >> he is sad, he's disappointed, in himself, unhappy because he's a good man who's facing prison, but to his credit, he has understood that he did something wrong, that he violated the law, and that unfortunately in this

case it comes with a very, very steep price. >> burress' attorney says burress agonized over the decision to accept a plea deal, but realized once he was indicted, there was no way out. >> being a celebrity hurt him. if he were a stranger, there probably would not have been an arrest. >> he'll be sentenced on september 22nd when he's also expected to address the court. brassman says he expects burress to begin serving his prison sentence on that day. with good time release he could be out after 20 months, in manhattan, kelly knocky, espn. >> this all started when burress suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound at a new york nightclub. he was charged with criminal possession of a weapon and us a spended by the giants, he was released in april, and charged

earlier this month. >> it was clear from the beginning, the facts weren't in dispute. if he'd have gone to trial, he would have been convicted, it could have been a quick trial. rather than put up a defense and perhaps go to trial and have some judge give him more time, at least he took two years. everybody knows what happened. he took a loaded unregistered gun to this nightclub and it went off. there was no disputing, shading, nuance. it was what it was. so for him to throw himself on the mercy of the grand jury which is what he did was a shot, it didn't work, and here's where he is. >> the nfl released this statement. his former teammates are

saddened by the news. >> it's been a very, very tough situation since the beginning, and all i can say was plax was always -- i'm speechless. >> our concern this whole time is about him, his family, he's a friend of mine, a great teammate, i won a championship with him, so just -- saddened by the news, two years, and i wish the best for him, his family, and try to support him any way we can. >> from the beginning we just wanted the best for him and his family, and this situation has come down today, and it's news that no one wanted to hear, but it is what it is, and we understand that this is going to be a tough time for him and his family. >> he's a man that made a mistake, and i think every person is worthy of redemption, and he's taking the proper

steps, and i'm just going to be praying for him and his family. >> angels going for the three-game sweep of the indians, john lackey trying to avoid his 100th -- or i should say trying to get his 100th career win, travis hafner brings home s shin-soo choo. later in the inning matt laporta, two-run double for laporta, and the indians go on to win big time 11-3, so john lackey winning number 100 is going to have to wait another start as he takes the loss in this one. the angels, just their ninth loss in 33 games since the all-star break, their five-game win streak is over. justin masterson getting his first win with the indians, the red sox one game over the rangers, big night for j.d. drew, in the third off brett cecil.

home run. cecil's allowed seven home runs in two starts against boston this year. in the fourth drew gets cecil again. this time a two-run home run. now, 15 on the season, the red sox win 8-1, victor martinez also homered for the red sox, his fifth for boston, 20th of the season, red sox sweeped toronto since 2007. jon lester wins for the first time since july 25th. the rays three back in the wild card, taking on the baltimore orioles, bases loaded for brian roberts in the sixth. a grand slam for brian roberts. his 12th home run of the year. also his fourth career slam. in the seventh, nolan reimold, two-run home run, his 11th of the year, orioles doing it with the long ball, rays actually

came back, they got two outs for evan longoria, see you later. os hold on. tampa bay's four-game win streak is over, baltimore snaps a five-game losing streak. the rockies and the nationals, bottom four, bases loaded, two outs. how about this play by ian stewart? from his keister, the forced out at second, and the rockies get out of a jam. in the eighth, troy tulowitzki, that's a gaper, todd helton scores, and the rockies win 4-1. the rockies in a four-game win streak, they're 50-25 since jim tracy took over. the giants came in a game back

of the rockies in the wild card, they played this afternoon in cincinnati. in a tent, drew stubs who struck out three times in the game took this one off the foul pole for his first major league home run, and it's a walk-off home run, so the reds take it 2-1, and with the rockies winning and the giants losing, the giants two out in the wild card, and there's a huge four-game series between the giants and the rockies at coors field starting tomorrow. forget the 2009 season. let's talk drafts. the big board is out. which quarterback reigns supreme and which one is m.i.a.? hear how the university is reacting to the latest sca

>> usain bolt broke his world record. the jamaican sprinter winning gold in 19.9 seconds. larry rawson on where he ranks among the all-time track and field greats. >> as far as where he ranks, all-time on the hit parade so to speak, i would say that he ranks at the top. it's hard to compare in the sense that he has the best times, he's the all-time great sprinter, he's still 22 years of age, but he is intent on making his legacy last a long time, and i think he will do that. over the years i think this icon status will grow even more. he is running so much faster than anybody else does achieving a speed in the hundred meters halfway through of almost 30 miles an hour, and his last 40

yards as i mentioned before was covered in 2.95 seconds. nobody in history has come close to what this man is doing, and i think there is a great deal more to come from the great usain bolt in the future. >> we're a long way from the nfl draft, but mel kiper jr. has released his first big board ranking the top 25 college player. he has sam bradford at number one. he says the heisman trophy winner has an underrated arm, great feel for position, and is superaccurate. take a look at the top five on mel's big board. it is full of underclassmen. strange no running backs in the top five, but there are two sooners, sam bradford and defensive tackle gerald mccoy. colt mccoy was the runner-up two sam bradford in the heisman last year, but the texas quarterback is not in mel's top ten. he's got him at number 11.

where from the world is tim tebow? >> tim's still to be determined. quarterback. is he going to be a an nfl signal caller? he's going to tweak that long delivery. if he goes down to the senior bowl and shows the passing skills, he could be a first round pick as a quarterback. if there's talk of position change to fullback or tight end, then he's that second, third, fourth round possibility, but first or second round is viable. is he a quarterback? we'll know after the senior bowl in mobile. >> he won it in 2007, bradford one it this year. colt mccoy could win think it year. this is the first time the top three heisman vote getters from one season came back to school the next. updating you on the colts and

the eagles, 23-7, peyton manning, 10 of 14 and two touchdowns including a long one to reggie wayne, donovan mcnabb, 77 yards, highlights of this game as soon as it goes final. for the memphis tigers the 2007-2008 season was the best in history. it never happened. the ncaa stripping the program of its record 38 wins and final four appearance because of an ineligible player believed to be derrick rose. rose is accused of having someone else take his s.a.t. test for him. rose said he did nothing wrong. memphis will fight this ruling. >> we will appeal their decision. specifically we disagree with ncaa's decision regarding a student athlete's s.a.t. test score. we did our due diligence. the student was cleared by the

ncaa eligibility center twice. >> we feel the ncaa findings are extreme given that we did our due diligence on the eligibility side, and the travel issues were more administrative in nature. i assure you there were no deliberate violations. we have the opportunity -- they said they took all their money from us, from the ncaa tournament. so we'll appeal that. that's also one of the things we're going to appeal. if they say no, you're going to pay all the money back, then yes, the rose money will come back. >> the university followed all of the rules regarding eligibility, and we think the penalty is unfair. >> of course this happened under john calipari's watch, but he's now at kentucky. he released this statement today.

espn.com on what this ruling means for calipari. >> what lies ahead for the university of memphis and kentucky after today's ncaa sanctions report? really nothing tangible. the memphis tigers have to put some asterisks in the record book, they have to suffer with the taint of their best season ever now being officially stricken. they can at least keep the memories. if you're kentucky, you got the coach you wanted, he does bring some excess baggage. he's had two final fours vacated, the only coach to have final fours at two scores to be vacated. if you're kentucky you have to wonder are we number three, but the excitement is overwhelming about the team john calipari will put on the floor immediately. just have to hope what happened at his last two stops doesn't happen there. >> so to recap memphis must

vacate all the wins from the 2007-2008 season. conference usa will get all the money memphis earned from that final four appearance, and the ncaa will get fly money from that trip going forward. more nfl news on the way. only preseason, but the saints and texans are showing plenty of fight. shocking, or shall we say shockey? plus what the washington redskins should be concerned about as they prepare for the 2009 season.

>> to update you on some of the late games going on, the rangers are going to win, they remain a game behind boston in the a.l. wild card, the rangers head to the trop, the rays lost, the cards up on the padres 4-1, brendan ryan first career grand slam, and the cubs and dodgers not enough, fukudome's 11th home run of the year.

>> it was a tale of two seasons in washington last fall. the redskins were one of the hot teams in the league after 6-2 start, but they lost 6 of their last 8. dan snyder shelled out the big bucks landing albert haynesworth with a seven-year, $100 million deal. >> here's my biggest concern for the washington redskins this year. it's not about albert haynesworth and his injured knee and the $100 million. it's about that intangible that you can't measure. it's about competing, it's about that toughness, that inner fire to be the best you can be. i'm talking about the washington redskins as a team. who's going to be the leader that says enough is enough? their first preseason game very disappointing, 500 yards put up

on you to look very pedestrian as an offense tells me a lot about their willingness to compete. they have to improve themselves. it's about bringing your lunch hat or your hard hat and lunch pale to work. if you can do that with toughness, i believe you have a chance in the nfc east. are you looked for a fantasy sleeper? here's matthew berry to help you out. >> a lot of people think chris cooley had a down year. a lot of people are wrong. from a fantasy perspective, the lack of touchdowns was concerning, scored only once last season, but prior to last year he'd never scored less than six touchdowns, he's increased his receptions and yardage for three straight seasons, and look al cooley compared to other tight ends. the only concern is the scoring,

and, again, four seasons of six or more, one season with one. cooley continues his yardage growth this year and gets back to six touchdowns which is why he's my redskins sleeper. tomorrow jason taylor dances his way back to miami where he finds himself on a contender. can the dolphins take another step this year? then on thursday, september 10th, "the blitz" preseason countdown special will look at all 32 teams, leading to up the tennessee titans and the pittsburgh steelers at 10:00 a.m. eastern time. things getting heated in the scrimmage between the saints and texans today. jeremy shockey mixing it up with demeco ryans, and then a few other texans pile on. coaches love when this happens except when it's the starting

quarterback. on the final day of training camp, ben roethlisberger injured >> guest: i was going to say you but now we are talking about eight leader. >> host: i am not saying to agree with him or her but just is their anybody who is -- >> guest: i'm scared even to bader this because i will get in trouble but i think reagan brought qualities of leadership under how, had a bigger -- he was elected 1980 if i were writing this from a conservative point of view it would be hard not to have reagan has one of the pieces in the 1980 election. when you look at the election, the primary, not barack, barack

obama in the primaries of ronald reagan had a different kind of election that bill clinton. >> host: that is a good place to close. i don't want you in trouble but i want all of the republicans out there concerned about reagan nostalgia to hear about the international polling strategist group. thank you. thank you, who book lovers, whatever your party. thanks for watching.

now thursday's white house briefing that included questions on the budget and health care. this is a little less than 40 minutes. >> just one quick announcement to read before we get started. presidents and how the u.s. and jordan can work together to achieve this goal. the president and the king agreed to launch israeli-palestinian negotiations as soon as possible. they also agreed all parties israel, the palestines and arab states should take steps simultaneously to create a context in which these negotiations can succeed. the president underscore a strong support for jordan's efforts to work with other arab states to reach out to israel and undertake gestures that would demonstrate the meaning of the arab peace initiative.

the president said special envoy michel what follow-up with the parties in the next few weeks to finalize the steps to take and lay the groundwork for the resumption of negotiations. and with that. >> now that you have brought it up, the king abdullah agreed in any way with the president to call for the wider arab world who showed some good will? >> in many ways that is the role king abdullah has played in helping to foster an environment where peace is possible. i hesitate to characterize their side of a conversation we are always a little leary to do that. but the president is hopeful the meetings he has had here this week and in the