>> bob: it has been a busy week. gaining ground on a bright future. they signed stephen strasburg. yesterday, mike rizzo was given the permanent gm title. today finally we welcomed our newest addition to washington. ♪[music] ♪ 

 >> bob: now it's time to some success back down there on the field. it has ban rough week between the nats to sweep. with the milwaukee brewers and the last time they got together for a four-game series 53 runs were scored at miller mark. let's talk pitching it is your thing. how about jd martin they need him or someone to start pitching deep near the games. >> rob: he has had a lot of success didn't start out that great. he is getting with it. he is getting more used to the major league level. you see the first four starts. now he is 2-0 below 1 e.r.a. he is starting to throw a lot more strikes down the zone and if you are getting 12 runs that

helps. but you know jd martin is like a lot of the other pitchers. they have to continue to progress. when stephen gets here, they are fog toe same hate. looper on the other side, he has not done so great. o-2 a 736 in the last few starts 367890 homeruns allowed. most in the majors though. it could be ugly or a fight. looper. >> bob: looper was a reliever. he has been a parter a tough transition to make at any stage. he has done a great job. when he came out they went out and did a great job. set him up for the market. and milwaukee and one of their top five starters. he hads done a great job. winning games. 14-10 in looper's start. that's the ultimate thing how many wins they have and looper's start. >> bob: if you like offense this is your weekend. we mentioned 953 runs in

milwaukee. they score 3-d 0 of those. dew point hit one a mile. nats had 41 hits in splitting with the brewers. across the country every day. pa announcer: final boarding call... all passengers... each with an average speed of 590 mph... almost as fast as you. nothing's gonna hold you down. grab your bag . it's on™west so our low fares stay low. ( ding ) book now at southwest.com.

 nationals baseball on m brought to you in part by: >> bob: some of us would like to have a 64-ounce sweet tea pours over our heads after the day it has been here in the nation's capitol. a friday night sizzler with the brewers coming to town. this he have offense to spare. and lopez and then come the big guys, braun, prince fielder who worn out the nats. and brown having a great year.

.318 average. it is a tall task for jd martin making his 7th start. lopez a mixed reaction from the nats fans as he is announced to lead off the game. he has done okay for milwaukee boughting .333. 28 games, 26 starts. this he have undergone some interesting changes since the nats last saw them. the first pitch fastball hitter. he pops a little ground ball. 88 degrees. rob ras the scouting report. >> rob: who wants to be a millionaire. we saw stephen strasburg. if you want to make a the who of money. solidify your spot. a 111 batting average and runners in scoring position. last three, much better against

right-handed hitters. 200 average. 290. lefty though, 404, 424 on base percentage. not that good. >> bob: strike 1 to counsell. with jj hardy demoted on august 12th. counsell goes to short. he was one of the corner stone players. om the same day they designated hall for assignment. that was a very interesting day in the recent history of the brewers who let their manager go in the middle of september last year. >> rob: 12 games to go last year. >> bob: and matt yos. it had been there for six years. what it amounts to their executive vice president is not afraid to pull the trigger. they are not playing well. they gave up a lot of offense to the pirates.

now they're ten and a half hypothetical st. louis in the central. 9 behind colorado. they're 7th in the wild card. that may be way too many teams to leap-frog over the next six weeks. in fact two teams in the wild card race ahead of milwaukee are in their own division. >> rob: i talked to ash after that the assistant gm of milwaukee. he said that that was two weeks in the process. strikeout counsell. and they pulled the trigger after two weeks. they tried to let them go longer. hall and hardy they could not let it go. they made the move. >> bob: 2-2. beautiful fastball there. throws it at that hip. moves it right over the edge of the strike zone. that was a strike 3 right there. >> bob: when the nationals -- nationals level milwaukee at thend avenue four-game series.

hardy was in the 230s. bill hall was lower than that. so, whom plate ump diaz punching out counsell. braun 7th in the league. 4th in r.b.i.s. he is all over the national league statistic leader sheet. 4th in hits. 2nd in runs. he is no the that big but he has big-time power. they list braun at 6'1", 200. rookie of the year two years ago. and now at two-time all-star. he is at the back of that box. his food is planted. right on the back line. >> rob: i was -- his foot is planted right in the back line, maybe he will wait longer and see it longer before he pulls the trick are on the swing.

>> bob: they don't bother to erase the lines any more, do they? he with ill goet a base hit. and the reason that he let it go. he didn't think he had a play. it is base hit 146 for ryan braun. >> rob: he has better speed than you think. 11 stolen bases. out of the box. martin knows i'll have to make a great play when you see if it goes foul. i don't thinkky get him. and. >> it never got to the lip of the grass. now you have to deal with prince fielder. he is hitting safely in the last 10 of 11 games. i was visiting a while ago with areson and bill schroeder, a former catcher, they are the milwaukee broadcast guys. remember the homerun that adam dunn hit in our park. >> rob: yes. >> bob: he hit one farther i know you know the one i'm

talking about. look to dead center. prince field are hit one high off the score board in milwaukee. a laser shot over the center field wall here. brew ares have two on the board. this his 33rd of the year and leading r.b.i. total up to 110. >> rob: hitting 327 slugging percentage. lefty 791. and this is part of that 719 slugging percentage that prince fielder get as fat fastball and crushes it. >> bob: that's the first ball i have seen go in between the two walls out there. theynd up in the red seats he just got it over about 398 feet. >> rob: could be one of the big of the vegetarians i have ever seen before, too.

>> bob: moms all over the country should say see, he can do it. fly ball by casey. there is a breeze blowing. that doesn't matter. the ball gets up in the air and will keep going. we're in for lots of offense this weekend. 1-2. wonder if he hurt himself. he is lumping. he is a left-handed gary sheffield when it comes to bat speed. this is an interesting player. casey mcgehee. they got him last october. he drove in 92 run as aaa iowa

for chicago. and they didn't keep him. they gave him 24 at bats last year. he turned into the regular third baseman now. he shared some time with counsell while hardy was there. >> rob: they the homerun by fielder. and looks like he is running okay. he was running really full speed then he slowed down when the ball went out. i bond he if he hurt himself. mcgehee bounces out. brewers blast their way to an early lead.

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 >> bob: a hot, muggy night. a lot of people purchased 1 dollar admission tickets. >> rob: coming off, watch he grabs for the leg. ouch! something is bothering him there he comes around 3rd. he will grab it again coming around 3rd he is like man something is grabbing that maybe in his knee. first base the same thing. maybe he popped it maybe it has been bothering him. >> bob: maybe morgan should brag a bunt there. see how the defense ising to; you want to see if he can field

his position. >> bob: we're sure they will not play as well as colorado did here. >> rob: don't say that too early. [ laughter ] >> bob: that was a clinic that they put on. looper. >> rob: their defense is unreal. >> bob: up and away. looper was a starter last year. two years ago, pardon me. 30 sarts with st. louis. 33 last year. he was 12-26 in the two years. with an e.r.a. of around 4 and a half. morgan left field line. he is already at 2nd base. >> rob: holy cow. >> bob: how quickly did he round 1st; i think braun thought he had a play. i thought he. he is flying out of the box. someone came ready to play. right as braun picked it up he

was almost on 2nd base. >> bob: hmm... >> rob: a lead off double for morgan. getting things back the way we need it to go. >> bob: here is guzman 3 for 26. he had some wild fluctuations in his hitting. three weeks ago he was cold then he embarked on a hitting streak. that came to an end. at the end of the series he has been struggling for the last week and a half. the 11-year veteran. 33 years and we have never seen at the major league level is at 3rd base. guzman will lay county down. that moves the runner over.

you have to a chance to get a run back in a hurry right after the other team got two. zim areman and dunn. >> rob: if they give it to you, you know you have a first baseman that's injured. bunt it. looper does a great job fielding the position. fooledder at home. >> bob: the all-star third baseman. all star 1st. this should get the run in. >> bob: yes, sir. ryan has 80 rin rib -- rib are -- r.b.i.s. one behind morgan in hits now. zimmerman 140. scored 86 runs. he get as huge gap. they think he is going to this to right center if he hits it

out that way. >> bob: that's off the plate 2- 0. that's an interesting configuration against ryan. we have rain falling at the park suddenly. off and on day with a few showers here and there. zim areman hits it hard. and the run scores. ryan has r.b.i. number 81. and dunn to follow here. 2 outs in the bases empty. rest of the lineup. dunn, willingham, harris. belliard and nieves in front of martin.   dunn hitting 370 over the l month, elevating his average up to .287. and just in case you don't remember when i dropped this on

you during the road trip. that's 40 points above the career batting average. last into the's game an illustration of that. he had a couple of singles. a single, double and r.b.i. played a lot against milwaukee the big numbers. and there is another one. see you later! this is tied in the first inning. wow! let's keep an eye on the first baseman in the series for the next four games. looper leads with homeruns given up with 30. this is 31. we'll leave the building.

and that is a monster blast off the bat of dunn. and the big hoss does the fielder. i'll spot you one. see how good you are. it is farther than prince's. >> bob: it almost hit the concrete in the upper deck. josh willingham has hit 19. >> rob: i think he likes having them protecting him. and the scouting report on looper. before it is later. >> bob: he gives up a lot of homeruns, doesn't he. >> rob: yes, he does. the scouting report. final one serving up 30 homeruns just like starting over. 9 years in the bigs before' start. 103 career saves in the

bullpen. 83 from 03 to 05. >> bob: willingham strikes out. nats strike back quickly. a double, sacrifice, grounder and dunn moon shot. 2-2 in the rain after 1. it's on. it's... no, not yet. it back that way. it's on. ( ding ) book now at southwest.com. what is it to lead? at pnc, it's doing what most benefits our customers. whether that's building more certified green buildings than anyone on earth. creating online banking tools for the next generation.

or making a 10 year, $100 million investment in kids. it's how we've always done business. and will for a very long time to come. pnc. leading the way.  >> bob: mike riley was the first ever ump ad they just

finished. they bring a pda out there and look at the radar, they must feel there is a cell to pass through because is coming down hard. ground crew on stand by. now the game has started is mike rile riley's call. go you seeman. belliard. nieves and morgan up and down the middle. harris and willingham and dunn at the corners. leading off the veteran top of the 2nd a 2-2 game. >> rob: the team got you that 2 runs back and now it is time to stick it to the brewers and shut them down and get a doughnut. >> bob: hits one up the middle. >> rob: that's not the answer. a good hitter. at the edge of 36. three of the last four batters

hitting safely. >> rob: taking the pitch here. a breaking ball that is saved up. puts it through the 5 hole. shoots, scores. great action. >> bob: and frank catalanotto is next. he is 35 years of age. brewers and built their organization around the young players and braun, fielder, hardy. they thought hall but right now they are on the fringe of the playoff race and having to rely on the veterans. mike catalanotto does not play every day. over the last 35 games he is hitting 355. in his 12th year hitting 10 points high are than that.

two tours of duty with texas. a tiger and a blue jay. >> rob: as i said, doug mel lin and ash did not want to pull the trigger on hall. he moved from every position to another. 2nd to out field to 3rd whatis to 2nd to the outfield. they were hoping that jj hardy would turn the seasons around. when it did not happen they pulled the trigger. >> bob: there is another player that failed them. th player of the future. a power and speed combination. on the dl now a taunt 272 average. played 37 games. they had to gelo anfly ball to center. camen didn't make any effort to tag. he didn't think it was tep enough. first out here in toñbñappq

and looper to follow. they have another pler whis fast they callesbar f we see hi front of lopez he has always been a lead off guy. but he didn't get the start tonight. >> rob: like tony la russia where he was the speed. to be a true leadoff hitter. some it will be the guy or the 9 guy. 9-1-2. >> bob: tony did that 1998 to add another hitter between the pitcher and mark mcgwir there have a couple that % tinkered with that. >> rob: more ducks on the pond.

>> bob: i can see carlos zambrano f the cubs. >> bob: 1-1. runners off and going. that is well hit. and harris to the gap. heúqnpit straight across route then out a bit to get it trying ken macha trying to make things happen. now it is looper. he does have 9 hits this year. >> rob: very good contact guy. you see them wait on it. drive it into left field. harris is there. some good speeds. interest center and left. >> bob: 39 strikeouts this year. 341 at bats. he has always about mr. contact. looper to bouncer that zimmerman will cut off. nats out of thenning. martin gets a battle of brandywine he needed. zero on the board. 

 >> bob: we had quite a day on masn. i asked ryan if he had any advice for young mr. strass berg. >> rob: you. you are here for a reason or not tacken you if you were not good.

don't worry about what people think. people should not put pressure on the kid. he is talented and going to do great things. have fun it is baseball. listen to zimmerman talking about this kid. it is like the relationship on the pipching with john lannan who is mentoring some guys who are older than him because he has more experience. the impression i came away with strass berg today. he is low key, smart a bit of a sense of humor that catches you off guard. if he is like zimmerman and those ways, they are on to something special. >> rob: i have a as soon as he is confident. >> rob: he is going to try to do the same thing in college.

he has winning ways. if i talked to kids i would say who is the best kid in the room. i want all of them to raise their hands all to believe that and think that. they will go out there and work hard and be the best always and get up here. we didn't draft you if you weren't good. >> bob: and handling a bet ball. plays it well. i don't think willie caught him. casey mcgehee off guard at all. and used to play 3rd base. he is in left. mcgehee playing shallow to start with. they're waiting on speed to use that wet grass to deaden the ball. and now and nice job; they don't use the glove when they know it will be bang, bang.

here is well yard. >> rob: now the fun starts. stephen goes down to florida and go to the arizona fall league. making the way back up to the majors. >> bob: out to the shortstop. counsell. two quick outs. >> rob: i wrote a blog on masn.com today about, you know, tim lin lin was in the big leagues -- he was there to stay. reportermy hanson. 7 5 starts 430 innings to stay. i don't believe it is an age thing, i think it is a developmental and mechanical. you are protecting your arm well. you should be in the majors pitching. >> bob: i noticed something that will nieves did that usually only lead off guys do batting after a pitcher. he is batting before the pitcher but hess guy jd martin has not been to the dugout

because of the outs. will took an extra 20 seconds. he was trying to give him a blow as martin has to get set up on deck. looper has a hard sinker. he struck out willingham with it. and strike 2 to nieves. looper is 34 years of age. 6'4", 230. major leaguer i know of that ever came out of mangum, oklahoma. lives in the chicago area now. 1-2 pitch. nieves reaching. not even coming close. so looper gave up the double to morgan homerun to dunn he is right at his night. we go to the 3rd each parch

weir a scoreless 2nd. pxopo 

 >> bob: nationals baseball brought to you by:   >> bob: there is a mobi hang above your crib. the showers have gone away. we go to the top of the 3rd

inning. there he is, folks. stephen strasburg. he is everywhere. he is everywhere. i asked stephen if he had a whirlwind after he got into town. he said i haven't done that much yet. they got in late. >> rob: at 1:30. >> bob: here is lopez who swung at the first pitch and toped a bouncing ball to the pitcher. and he will swing at the first of a game. a fastball. he doesn't like breaking balls. that's a good sinker by martin. he just missed. 2-0. lopez in the 7th spot tied with morgan. >> rob: that's right in there. >> bob: lopez 29 years of age. he is over achieving this year.

his batting around is .262. nationals released him august 3rd of last year. he signed three days later with st. louis. hit 385 there. that's in 43 games. started in arizona 34eu9 01 in 85 games. he is o-2. second strikeout for martin. >> rob: 2-2 here. martin takes something off it. nicely done. 72 in the dirt. nice rotation. >> bob: he's not a foul tip? >> rob: it was last night. >> bob: okay. diaz and here is counsell called on strikes the first time up. a bad foul tip cost them. counsell who struck out

looking. hitting .290. i noticed when they were in milwaukee, he doesn't hold the hands up near as highly as he used to. he almost looks lick a regulation hitter now. today is his 39th percent tay by the way. this is his 13th year. kind of guy you would like to have on the team. that's a good fastball on his hands. dunn is under it the first base coach's box. 2 outs. now ryan braun. two outs. bases manity in the first dribbled a base hit. fielder followed. line drive home town center.

breaking ball, yes. he made the move from 3rd base to left field during the rookie of the year season. quite a thing to ask of a young player. he went out and played airless ball for a couple of months. he was not that great at third but the outfield move was very, very beneficial to him and his club. he was the second major leaguer to hit 30 homers each of the

first two seasons. only albert pujols had done that before. zimmerman has it. nats at the present time want to see fielder batting again with a man on base. ryan takes care of that one. 6234 a row for martin. it helps to be 63 lite sometimes it he hot corner! 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. you have high blood pressure... and you have high cholesterol. you've taken steps to try and lower both your numbers. but how close are you to your goals?

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he will be more excited if mom and dad bring him tomorrow it is bobble head night. frank howard first 15,000 fans. the frank howard bobble head weren'ted by pnc. get here and get your pictures. nationals.com the box office here or 888-632-nats. martin 3 for 10 as a big league hitter. a strike to lead off the bottom of the 3rd. jd getting things settled down. he is averaging 1 # pitches -- 13 pitches per ininning. followed about i martin and guzman. he was swinging from the heels

there. the fastball again and radio shack. our friends call us the shack. 271 low on base average before july 3rd and rob with morgan here looking like a lead off scenario. >> rob: the on base percentage that means there are ducks on the pond. more r.b.i. for zimmerman. dunn, willingham and they paid off. the game games in milwaukee. you have to have guys on base to. to for the grand salami. they have to worry about him.

everybody behind him has benefited from that speed. morgan was 10 for 19. 11th for 21 against milwaukee pitching. and back to the pitcher. nats go very, very quickly in the bottom of the 3rd. 

 >> bob: fans are decked out f this a 2-2 game. we have trivia. the only two players to receive first place votes for the rookie of the year. braun is one of them. was he rookie in 07 >> bob: no he was a lookty in 2006. >> rob: hmmm...

>> bob: top of the 4th and fielder. that's interesting two players got votes. the year before was all the marlins and zimmerman. that was fractured. dunn takes care of that. top of the 4th is underway. fielder was rookie in 06 as well. he was 7th that year. you talk about names. ramirez, skim zim, fielder. then 2007 the field narrowed we're trying to figure out who it what was. mcgehee he bounced back to the pitcher. and he get as lot of that one. it's not coming back. milwaukee leads on a homerun

over the bullpen. his tenth of the year. >> rob: and throwing it back inside. and just crushes that. the perfect pitch for him to take a hack at. down and away and hard. down and in and hard. another homerun the guy cable of hitting them with cameron. >> bob: as we mentioned mcgehee had 24 at bats last year. so he is now hiding 10 homeruns at milwaukee in 77 games. the batting average is thirding with 300. a single up the middle and jd has him 02. that's up high. >> rob: what did you say 53

were scored in that series. >> bob: nationals outscored 234e78 0-23 in those games. >> rob: whoa... not a lot of great pitching. >> bob: these are the highest e.r.a. stats. nats at 497. brewers are next worst at 388. leading to this trip to the dl. 1-2 to cameron. reaching. shortstop. guzman. good play. >> rob: the thing is that looper will give up runs the last couple of starts. he has given it up. 31 homeruns to date. gets him reaching on a breaking ball here. cannot pull that if you are a right-handed hitter. hits it on the ground.

>> bob: frank kate kate next. -- frank catalanotto next. we have a lot of suits in the booth. it is the president that's here or stephen strasburg. >> rob: one young man is tired at this point. >> bob: you will get to chat with him. >> rob: a thrill of a life sometime what else can one guy do in one day. we'll look forward to that. we love having them get together and have chats. a 1-1 count to catalanotto. takes the fastball outside. >> rob: he got to a man i used to battle of brandywine was tony gwynn. one of the toughest i had to face. no one for any pitcher. left field.

harris will get it. he is there. night of homeruns. think i got that insurance? what insurance is that yogi? aflac. the one ya' really need to have if you don't have it. that's why you need it. need what? aflac. well, if you get hurt and miss work it won't hurt to miss work... aflac? and they give ya' cash which is as good as money. aflac. we've got you under our wing.

start your three-course meals with a shared appetizer. choose two entrees from over 15 chili's favorites, then share a decadent dessert. chili's --  . >> rob: i am joined by the pi in the draft, you look kind of tired how is the day. it has been a whirlwind.

you know i'm loving it. this is amazing to see all the fans here and just to see this coming around. this is cool. they say the game is a lot faster at the highest level. you have been watching it out of college. what do you think? you know it is the same game obviously you are playing with extremely talented athletes. tough take care of it but be ready for success. >> bob: ryan zimmerman just missed getting one flying to the base. dunn and willingham to follow. >> rob: he is great young guy like yourself very soft spoken. a lot of pressure there is too

much hype. i said the same thing let you progress. would you rather hit 200. there are things you have to deal with. ad. >> rob: you 250 pounds. what is your and 225. my upper body and the 230, 235 range and be, you know very in shape and pitching. what did you learn from tony. did he teach you. i learned from guys.

ken griffey, senior. have you learned not only about pitching but hitting? a lot of the things i learned from the coach was the game is mental. what hitters think, that was all the coach. and listening to him talking about hitting it. >> rob: for people who did not see the interviews. your grandmother was instrumental in your upbringing. she would stir it up. she he had a good changeup that dependent me off balance. a whirlwind you want to get back to baseball. thanks for joining us. thank you. >> rob: stephen strasburg. >> bob: thank you, rob. and the best to stephen t has been great getting to know him

a bit today. dunn walks for the 91st time, 133 or 36 strikeouts go with that. the nats have the tying run here. an indication of how strong zimmerman is the fact that the ball got him near the trademark nearly hitting a homerun to tie the game. and looper getting it inside. it is 2-1. >> rob: the thing before the

game is the 14 wins in the 24 starts. the record may not look that great. the e.r.a. is high. when he takes the mound he is confident they have an opportunity to win the game. for looper stay in as long as possible. the bottom line is that you know that's a very good percentage of wins in in your starts. >> bob: that's a generous strike 2 call. willingham could not believe it from diaz. if he gets that ball tonight he is going to be tough. >> rob: that's lot of movement. breaks out of the zone. but he sees it as a strike. >> bob: willingham to his knees, striking out for the second time. , i know looper throw as forecast ball right there you see him digging in his glove for it.

it is like a knuckle ball. looks like a fastball. off that 92-93 miles per hour fastball looks harder to hit because of the arm speed. >> bob: there is harris. mcgehee plays even with the bag at 3rd. >> rob: a lot of pitchers think that's in the grip. it's in the arm speed. and the change up. you don't have a great grip of it. that's what slows it down. >> bob: and throws one to center. it is right at mike cameron. it dies on him forcing had imto make a shoe string catch. they strand the first base run are tonight into the 5th.