appearances, help charities come see your family be a friend invited book? how would you do that? >> guest: i have no idea. actually i tell everybody i get up at 3:00 a.m. but since mike sichta producers here listg, he knows that one day last week you calle me and wrote me up at 5:45. >> host: to go on the air? >> guest: at six. his exact words where are you coming in today? i said what time is it? he said, it is 5:45. i said, i think that will be there i jumped up and ran and got there. i got there on time actually. think about new york at 5:50 in the morning. you can get anywhere in five minutes, but. >> host: you can read and quickly. >> guest: the great thing is, with blackbeies, i am reading

in all day. >> host: you a reading in the car on the way tre? >> guest: four incented you say something somewhere, there is a great peggy noonan quote, me utt, chris, myself, chronicle, we will all have e-mailed that to each other five minutes after it goes on t wires. the reason why it is not work, we love it. >> host: said the nature of prep for a show has changed. you are not doing two hours of practi for thehow. if youre doing prep 24 hours a day whth blackberry, preps and leaders? >> guest: whatever you colligan bell filet wake up in the middle of the night and this might seem horrible to some people but if you love this, this stuff is exciting and i will roll over and pick up the blackberry i will look can see, is anything happening? what are the people that came in at midnight, what are they digging around on?

i will look at it, put it down and go back to sleep but when i wake up, it is just all sort of the brewing. "morning joe" is brewing 24 hours a day. so we are ready to go when it is the top of the show. >> host: let's start with some facts of the lead. where are you born, educated and raised? >> guest: i was bn in atlanta georgia. it was a suburb of atlanta, doorville, which nowas i the middle of the city but back then was on the outskirts. my dad worked for lockheed. we thought a perfectly normal for people to have paintings of c-5a in the living room. we would go to sunday sool with tie tacks and it was either missiles, planes, or apollo rocket ships, all-- seriously i needed to ask my dad what he was thinking. >> host: was it a private school or a prep school? white are you wearing a tie?

>> guest: when we go to sunday school and sunys b it really was the wonder years. it was middle america. it was the suburbs, and it was a great childhood. we moved around. we live in meridian when he got transferd to mir lydia mississippi and then move to upstate new york for five or six years, also looked upstate new york. then we settled down in florida, pensacola florida where my mom's side of the family was from. went to the public schools for most of my, most of my schooling. one of my bestxperiences was 1969, being the firstlass of an iegrated sool. my parents didn't send us to private schls. a lot of the white flight had gone. 69 was t first year mississippi schools were integrated but it was a great experience. because my mom, said she did not

want m to go to kindergarten kept me out so my first grade, it was 50% white, 50% black and public school that had bee the african-american school the year before. so it was a great experience. i finally went to private school my, in high schl, pensacola catholic high school. i loved the nuns, the lead-- nuns loved me back. they let me get away with things that they would not let others get away with. then i went to the university of alabama undergrad. and, then the university of flora law school. >> host: phil griffin who with an executive producer, i think the executive producer at msnbc, once told me that you came to him after you left congress, and he said to him of television news, phil, get me in the game. you said you were like a hockey player. you want to get on the ice,

get me in the game. i don't know why i always remember tt, but i do. why did you want to get in the game and what is the game? >> guest: i had seen what had happened with fox news hub, which i thought really was something that some executives should have figured out 20ears ago. half the count's conservative than half the country's liberal than you should have a network that conservatives can turn on without screaming at the five minutes, they are biased. i have a lot of people saying you are going to fox. that did not make any sense to me. i wanted to go to msnbc and help bala it out and as you know working at msnbc, through the years there are a lot of frustrations. but, it really is my view of the msnbc in broadcasting the same view i have for politics, where i want to expand it out. i don't mind goinggainst the grain if everybody else is left

of center. i think there should be somebody right of center explaining our world view because the thing i have the guddat i.t. msnbc if through the years of the fact you can sit in a rm of people who all went to the same colleges, not just msnbc, all the networks, all the networks. everybody went the same colleges, had the same world views and their kids went to the same private schools, they all voted for the same candidate and they would sit there and talking you were sitting in the back looking at this going all my god, and somebody would say something so over the top you would just start laughing. wh i noted was the only took oneerson in the room laughing for everybody ee to actually stop and look and say what are we missing and what i've noticed thathe msnbc, forget the prime-time. they are focus just like fox is focused on their own group and understa that. that is our opinion page but what i found to the rest of the da the peopl these people

want to be fair. they want to approach news star go the same thing with nbc news so it has been exciting be a part of that process. coast going bring your own perspective you think? >> guest: not only my own perspective but had a lot of cases the perspecti of a vast chunk of america whose prospective sometimes d't get into newsrooms in manhattan and getting actlly getting e-mails from new executives during this past campaign, saying i want you to know that the news story that ran last night, without me complaing about it, we think it wasiased and we are constantly working to get-- i he that actually from all network executives. and a lot of newspapers so it is nice being a strange man in a strange land. >> host: why is "morning joe" taken off? it has got, it has gotten some wonderful reviews from "the new york times" and from "time

magazine." i know from my experience swapping around him in life that it's a big reaction from people. i have been wondering if part of the, the popularity ofhe show has to do with the fact that the "mning joe" folks have decided we do news and we do politics at a time when the broadcast network morning shows have gone broader with cooking and dieting and exercise and a million other things. you guys go narrow, but maybe you have been goieep also. >> guest: that is a good way to put it. we were told, and every news show was told that the news hole is shrinking. you are going to have to do news that people can use which is why we have our news he can't use. but you haveot to do the news you can use segments and

more paris hilton and more than more that. we decided to go completely against type and we decided instead of a shrinking news whole we are going to expanded tohree hours and weaver going to talk litics, we were going to talk foreign policy, we were going to talkssues of war and peace, economics and what we found very early on is the fact that the deeper the topic, the deeper we dug, the more i thought after i walked off the set, every time i walked off the set d go, god, that was a great segment, that was fascinating, but it is not going to rate because was just too deep, for viewers that to london. those would be the highest reading segments. i can guarantee you, you pick the times you are on the show and whenever you walk up t

show gng, that was it really intelligent discussion, that is going to be the highest rated segment of the day, and it is so different from not only what is going on in morning news shows but all across the tv dial and again in the newspapers. you every but he ringing their hands. aidid kind of like conservatives wringing their hands, where do we go, what do we do? i remember ronald reagan raid conservatives conserve. a radical concept. well, news posts should deliver news. there is just a great hunger for it. >> host: people are starved. >> guest: they are. i just had a long line where i was signing books for an hour and they had to cut it off in every but he ty came up to me said the same thing, just about the same thing exceptor the one lady who said i was cutend i hugged her and thanked her. the other one said thank you so

much. i can't get serious news for three hours or two hours or one hour anywhere else. >> host: or a serious genuine conversation. >> guest: there was the second part of it really quickly, as you know we don't sho, we don't screen. disincent the left versus the right. disincent crossfire. we invite everybody on. >> host: this said is full of people who disagree on things. it is a funny thing. a tone o peacefulness and affection is there. also help in this. i always know the sun tv, some shows there is an anchor and their guests and there's an interviewer. they spend time trying to so theyndermine each other. my sense of "morning joe" is that there is no settlement of money going on. >> guest: not only that, does not allow the. we have guessedhat have come on that it said critical things of other people and i have taken them off to the side an i think

my exact words have been, dude, the want to come back on this show aga you treat everybody up there with respect. if you don't want to come back on the show again, keep his singing. we have had no problem. we don't care who it is. first of all we don't care because we have such tremendous guess that if one person wants tn go in an insult somebody else we c do without them, but it undermines what the show is all about. but no, chris has done that. chris has picked up the phone and it not just a tax. people step over others. one guest keeps cutting off of the guess, chris will call them up a say that is not our sw. do that somewhere else but not on our show. host: do congressman and senators and governors call you to be on the show, or do you guys called them? so, does chuck schumer pick up

the phone are john cornyn and say i wanto talk about such and such, get me in the game? orlikow medea normally hege the, chris and others are calling them in saying please obviouy sotomayor is the issue. >> guest: there are a lot o congressman and senators than book writers and colnists when that call-up and want to be on the show, which is really nice. our problem is the rotation of guess, all these people want to be on the show, where do we put them and sometimes, week cram too many on in one morning, and then you he news that breaks and that is the great challenge and that is when i stop talking and when i start playing train conductor. let me say one less thing. because i've slammed him an awful lot, chu schumer is a guy they would not come on the show because i went after him really hard.

>> host: on scarborough country? >> gue: also on the show on miguel estrada in some of the other judgethe were not allocated specifically because they were african-american. he called up, i want to come on, man to man with joe and he did. we talked in while i disagree with him and probably 90% and he disagrees with me on 90% of the issues, we have the respect it goesack and forth and again i think that is what makes the show work. >> host: joke, what didou learn about politicians and she stard interviewing the monte the? he used to be one of them, few knew certa things as a political figure. us to be the guy in the house it was going f the four men and now you are the guy who was anchoring the guide to end a four minute pop on "morning joe." what have you learned since being on the other side of the table about politicians that you haven't known?

>> guest: i shouldn't say this, but-- >> host: that's the right, nobody is listing. >> guest: thank you very much, just between you and me. dare notable exceptions, but i am surprised by how bad a lot of politicians are at getting their message across. houghland effective they are. >> host: are they ineffective because they don't know how to communicate or than not tha bright or are they not that will read in on their subject or are they in an ideological or philosophical correct? what is their problem? >> guest: i don't know, you tell me. has the quality of the senate gone down over the past 20 years? >> host: has the quality of house i got down in the past 20 years? >> guest: i don't know. i am surprised by some questions that i asked that can't be

answered by leaders of both parties. would i worked with nancy pelosi, a good bit. hih we interviewed her. i was surprised by some of the answers. i was surprised by how terribly she handled the cia issue. john vanner, again these are people likgeneral nightlight, but rprised by and how repuicans have en stammering and staggering and john boehner is aing the press conference are there going to be any more bailouts in his answer is, that is a good question. i would suppose that the head of the republican party and the house of representatives should probably have a world view on whether there should be more bailouts in the future or not. so, i have been surprise. there are exceptions. there are people that ce on both sides that are very good at what they do and d't just talk in these, these clips talng points. >> host: when you think of smart politician right now,

let's pejorative lead smarts, intelligent political figure in america, is there one person you think of right away? >> guest: no. and i think on the house side, the house republicans' side, i think paul ryan is the guy that i'm reallyot impressed with. he is a consvative that doesn't scare the kids. >> host: we know a lot about him. he is having a moment. >> guest: i am a big believer that if we republicans are going to win outside of the sout it might g-- be good to have leaders that don't talk with a southern accent. this is a guy who lives in alabama, mississippi and florida and a southern conservate, but right now, we are getting around the new england, the pacific northwest, because when people think of the republican party

they think of newt gingrich, george w. bush, tom delay, dicc armey,uys with texas twangs. >> host: what is wrong with that? >> guest: well, with ronald reagan and barack obama bh have been able to find the middle of american political life and maybe it is a midwestern sensibilities. i am not exactly surehat it is, but we just can be confined to the self. you know, why did ronald reagan puffin so many people inurope? because at that time, even though he was right, and was proven right and i think he eed 100 million europeans, there was that cowboy swaggert that scare them. even reagan you never saw that in him but george. bush had thatwagger. the sameith the late and sort

of come in it just does not translate well in new england. >> host: let's get to the book. i have a million questions. but, let me preface it with this. when you were a young one coming up, the young man living in florida, at some point he became political. you may decision to be a conservative. he made a decision to be a republican or you started inking of yourself as a conservative. briefly, how did that happen? what went into the making of a conservative in your case? >> guest: i think my case it was a time that i got interested in politics. jimmy carter was president. >> host: you were a young man. >> guest: i was 17, 18, my senior year. we had the iranian hostage

crisis, inflation was at 21%. america was in that and i talk about this in the book were ron dellums, the liberal, i mean the liberals liberal from berley california came up to me and said, do you know what i don't understand? why is t that all of you katsas wahdi said, all you cats with the engy you are all conservatives. back in my dayou would have been on my sid i thought about it and i said you know when you think of the republican party, you think of vietnam, you think of watergate, you see conservatives as opponents of the civil-rights. i understand. if i grew upn your time perhaps it would have been a liberal. when i think of democrats, think of jimmy carter, the iranian hostage crisis, malaise, why the ll wld i want to be a democrat a of course rigging came in here and there had are a lot of us. i played in bands with guys with hair down to their belts, who

smoke pot as much as i drank milk. these guys like reagan and it was because at that time-- at that time we went one d from jimmy carter being president and american not being able to do anything with the iranian hostage crisis to the next day while reagan being sworn in handy every ne saying, take them. we don't want them anymore. breaking caymen and was so confident. that is one part of it. also, i grew up in the shadow of the ill effects of the 1960's. my sister, who is fine and is always find that my sister had a lot of-- she would listen to jefferson airplane and my parents would go downstairs and find different things in her room every night and i would hear the screaming and yelling, which all veby natural this that's things that seemed very

radical in 1971 and 72 and 73. we were very conservative baptist family. but i saw him not in my sister because my sister is doing wonderfully, and is done wonderfully but in all of her friends, some of them getting knocked out by drugs, some of them getting knocked up, getting pregnant. the chaos and you see i was six years younger than my sister. isi everything through my parents' eyes. i saw them looking out the window even at atlanta georgia looking at kids weaponed boyscouts three years earlier sudden with hair down their backs and ripped up clothes and them being horrified and then i saw through them. i did not, my 21-year-old son drinks beer, and we will go out and have dinner and everything and he will order a beer. i will still be ordering iced tea.

he will go, why didn't you ever drank beer? it has nhing to do by the way with me thinking that beer is evil. as you probably know i am very open-minded. i am more conservative politically than i am personally, but i just think there was just sh a reaction against e radicalism, tt again i talked the wonder years, the wonder years change very quickly. >> host: use of the downside of it and you did not love it. a lot of people who were young, the grade school in those days of their older brothers and sisters go a little while for a while and did not have this great impression of the '60s as th older ones did. >> guest: all of my friends my e didn't grow up looking at their oer brothers and sisters and cousins going, cool. ey would sit there going, what losers and then we would go out

and play whife ball. it just was, yeah-- personally it was a reaction to the '60s that i think a lot of parents have also. >> host: alright, let's do the last best hope. wh is the last best hope in that title? is a the america cummins the conservatism, is that the republican party? is it themerican people? what is the last best hope, the title of your book? >> guest: it is conseatism. nsvatism not defined the way we have to find it over the past 25 years but conservatism the way ihas been defined over the past two centuries by edmund burke, by russell kurd, by bill buckley. there's a great line for a quote buckley in 2005 when news of the but george w. bush. he says, george w. bush is no conservative. he said conseatives, whether we like it or not, we conservatives are chained to

reality, which that is out on on edmund burke. if you want to boil that message down, it ishat we are part of our time. we are chain to reality. we came to inaugural addresses-- you risbeck reality. you don't as buckley said of bush you don't go into iraq and say we are going to bring democracy to these people and they are going to throw flowers that us and everything is being going to be okay. you don't give inaugural addresses were you say we are going into tyranny on the globe, the president's words. that is utopianism. that is wilsonian. so, the last best hope. >> host: it certainly is aggressivelso. aggressive. >> guest: as you said the mission ineiationlso but here is the dl.

one of the reasons republicans are having such a hard time right now is they are being told at some republicans are thinking, we have lost power because we haven't been conservative enough. no, that is not the case. it is also not the case that they need to go to the center idealogically. they lost power because they were too radical. they were not conservative, they were radical. when y think a 155 billion-dollar surplus which is what we had when i left congress in 2001 and you turn it into a $1.5 trillion deficit, that is not conservative, that is radical. when you have inaugural addresses where do with the site is the united states arms responsibity to end tyranny across the globe. you have gone so f beyond the doctrine in the powell dtrine that says we come ashore oy with absolutely necessaryo

protect u.s. interests and when we do it, we throw everything that we have got at it, we kill the enemy, we achieve our objective and we bring our men and women serving in uniform home. that was radical. the $7 trillion spent on medicare over the past eight years, radical. that is a program that is going bankrupt and george w. bush and republicans added a 7 trillion-dollar burden to that debt. so, we have got to show restraint. we have got to understand the realities that are in front of us andonservatism is the answer. listen, i believe and i talk about it in this book, we are coming in trust ee, i am right on this, i am right on this, peggy. we are cing upon areat conservative era in american politics. how do i know that? because we have no choice. we are out of money.

we are going do have to make tough decisions in part because of what george w. bush did but especially now because of what barack obama isoing, the spending is remarkable. and he hasdmitted we are out of money. he has admitted that his own budget creates deficits, but even as he admits that, he is talking about spending more ney. it is insanit george w. bush may have been a radical with tax dollars but barack obama is actually making him seem like a flinty new england miser. >> host: you have been quoted as saying george w. bush that he fractured the conservative coalition, damage the replican party, hurts america's image in the world. i think your book party the other night you called it the big trifecta. the pepublican party however it is my impression is not in love with hearing such criticisms of

george w. bush. what is the outcome of what is the positn of bush now with regard to the comeback of the republican party? you know what i am saying. what do you do? how does the republican party get away froi bushism? >> guest: well, i don't know. again, wrote a book five years ago predicting that george w. bush's spending was going to wreck the republican majority and was going to cripplehe u.s. economy. the republicans loathe me for writing that book in 2004. >> host: did they get mad at you? >> guest: oh my god, yes. i kept writing about it in 2006. "the washington post" asked me to write an op-ed giving suggestions for republican congress. how do you you stay in power in 2006 six? you are going to have t tell the truth about your president. ..

but se enough, republicans lost control and at that point george w. bush had his road to the dah ms disease -- damascus moment where he did what i was suggesting. he sent more troops to iraq. >> the serge. >> and then he started criticizing big government spending but it was too late. i think we just have to tell the truth. george -- i personally le george w. bush. and i always have. but he was, boy, h just, he recked -- wrecked the

conservative movement. ifnybody can dispute that i'd le toer that hear tharg their argument always all right w. woelg going to talk about the comeback of the republican party and what mr. obama is up to but we'll break and be right. back. >> host: all right joe scarborough part two of our interview. are we a cter right country? >> guest: we are and we've always been a centre-right country. ways. americans- and there'r

thisreat line and i never forgo it in david stockman's book about the triumph of politics when he was complaining about how the reagan revolution went off track. i've never forgot p it and you know what, stockman was 100% right when he said at the end of the bk americans don't like revolutions. yes the reagan revolution fail aording to stockman. he said americans don't want revolutions. they want evolutions. which was actually paul mccartney's theory of the beatles. he said never give them a revolution. give them an evolution. you don't go fro meet the beatles to sergeant pepper. >> it is very berk yan and it's right. i quote garyills who was writing for "the national revi" in 1968 and he said the morning after nixon won he said the liberal establishment woke up this morning not being needed b middle america.

not being needed by a middle america who is very -- whose very values they had ridiculed in the previous years. the democratic party -- >> it was a turning point 1968. >> it was the democratic party had lurched too far left. not ia logically. they certainly had been leftist in manyespects. >> gotten too dramatic too over the top. >> guest: i remember you talking once about sort of the violent e those of the peace movement. everything was just so innse. >> i remember since i was a kid in college and i remember hey, hey lbj how many kids did kill today was not reall a peace filled question. >> no, no. >> host: small thing but you know what i mean. >> guest: kissinger. henry lies people dies. it scares mdle america. i'm not talking politically.

>> scared some young people. scared some people who were 12 looking at the 20-year-olds. >> right. just like with me later. you could say the same thing about barack obama in 2008 and i talk about this. how in the world did a guy who was arguably the most liberal member of the united ates senate becom seen as the safe choic in 2008? because barack obama temperamental seemed like a safer choice than a cain -- john mccann who some people asked is he too old? is he, does this guy who says on the day that lehman brothers chances and the market's go into a free fall that the fundamental of the economy are sound? whether the were or not -- >> seems more serious than mccain. do you know what i mean. more serious. >> golf swing. >> guest: i think so. only because john mccannas forced i think he believes by his republican base to

take positions he really doesn't believe. drill baby drill. john mccain really the first green republican in the past 25 years in the senateo step forrd and do to make some great steps forwa o the green issue. but barack obama seemed like the safe choice. now, when i say that, a lot of my conservative friends and my mother said how can you say that? again, i'm not looking through an ideological lens this is about temper m. this is berk yan. it is about rsell kirk talking about how conservatives conserve. how conservativesstablish social order and how americans don't want you darting too far one way or the other. >> host: answer this as a guy who works in tv and cares about how things look and seem and the impression

given. sometimes i think the world and america understood george w. bush to be right wing whoa, super conservative as opposed to how you kashgise him that the world saw him as right wing and super conservatism because he seemed like a white male from texas as you were saying who was a little bit chippy. a little bit le this. >> bring it on. >> so that he seemed in his entireicture different from his policies. obama may benefit in the same way in that he seems nonradical. non-sharp. sharp as in too jagged and edgy. not dramatic but very cool in his presentation. very calm and yet he's taken over the u.s. auto industry. spending like crazy. bi things are happening and

yet he doesn't seem like someone dra mat whik is doing huge things. >> who does that remind you of? ronald reagan. >> you going toay reagan. >> who used to drive the left crazy. because they woqld wave their arms. he's rad chasm ronald reagan is a right wing nut. americans could look at him and say no, he's not. >> exactly that's what i'm saying. reagan would sit there and smilend go oh, there they go. barack obama temperamentally is doing the same exact thing he seems cool. temperamentally seems cool down the middle. >> are we going to look back and think of his time -- >> far left. >> yeah. listen, this guy has moved aggressively to take over the auto industry. he fired the ceo of gm. he has passed a budget that racks up more debt over the

next eight years than all 43 his pred ses or thes -- predecessors combined. mbined. he has passed budgets that the director of the cbo says, again who a democrat appointed the director of the congressional budget office says his budgets are unstainable. i.e. they will wreck the economy. wreck it. that the top democrat in the senate budget committee said these deficits will destroy america. whatoes the president do? he pass these budgets. people like me say these are unsustainable. they're going to cripple the economy. everybodon the left calls me a right winni -- right wing nutthe new york times" calls me this is funny the leader of the republican attack squad and then two months later president obama says you know what these deficits are unsustainable. he's asked by c pan what --

c-span. when are we running out of money? the president says we're already out of money. now, let me tell you about the 1.5 trillion i want to spend nationalizing healthcare because i already own the bank. i already own the car companies. i already own vast segments of this society that no president's ever sewned -- owned befr. i spent more money. i spent 5% of the gdp on a stimulus bill that wasn't even a stimulus bill. nancy pelosi drew up a political bill. think about this if you want to uk about radicalism. fbr new bill spent 2 of america's gdp. so what. barack obama's stimulus bill spent 5% of m's g d p. 5%. -- america's gdp. 5%. the spending i wish i could come up with a word other thanadical to describe what president obama has done domestically. there is no other word. it is radical.

>> host: are you more inclined to be supportive than approving of e new president's foreign policy agenda? i know a lot of conservatives criticizhim for going on "an apogy tour". for being too i don't know if it is diff dentr holding back towards the world. heck, in terms of foreign policy, i think so far so good. you know. i thi it is a difficult world. the challenges are most extraordinary. i like his trying0 to put a new face on american foreign policy. he doesn't even have to try. just by swing up he does. but now and then in foreign poli things get too stark noand then somebody shows up and mercks it -- mushgs it up little bit. i'm not against that in foreign policy. >> no, i'm all for america -- mushg myself. our. >> hs realist.

so far. you look at the first five months. he is the opposite of right. you want to talk about a radical foreign picy. george w. promising to end tyranny across the globe. using the united states army and marine corps namely to do that. that radical. th is -- i'm not talking about afghanistan. i'm not even talking about going into iraq. i'm talking about the mission e nebuation that began in 2004. 2005. i'm talking about ignoring colin brown who said in 2003 you need to be careful about going to iraq. but if you go to iraq you better send more troops and being swatted away. colin powell being told in 2004 --. >> what the heck was it. what happened with bush? bush ran in 2000 saying look, i don't want to take over the worl i don't want to go into cotries. >> can i say this really quick. i can do this really quickly. if i can get to the chapter really quickly. i want to read you.

it's not here. >> look at this i can more or less remember. bet listen to this quote by george w. bush and it will be worth all the fumbling i promise. this is what george w. bush said in 2000. >> you keep looking at it and i will cover with these words. it seems to m i have found the years 2001, 2009 innsely painful politically. as a conservate. >> because i saw a great coalition and a great movement fcture dp le a panef glass and splintered by people who had not built that coalition. i saw the guys who built it in the 60s, 70s and 80s. i saw how hard they worked. i saw how hard it was to bring iting to. it broke my het to see it brok and it broke my heart to see that you not allowed

to say that it wasreaking. >> right. >> it was a terrible time. >> guest: i kw. let m read this is george w. bush in 2000. we must be judicious the our use of the military well will fight only when it is in the vital interests in fact -- of the united states. when our mission is clear and when the exit strateg is obvious. >> host: that's the old republican thinking. >> guest: that's what we said every day to the clinton appointees that would come up to the armed services committee. >> when you were in the house. >> in congress. when i was on the armed services committee in congress and we said it throughout the 1990ings what's the end strategy here. are we going to be able to get our troop home. is it going to be another vietnam. is it going to be another beirut. we fget all of our lessons about what a conservative was. what a conservative wasn't. but getting back to barack obama, i don't agree with everything he's done on foreign poly b while his domestic agenda has been radical, his foreign policy

has been measured. in fact, you look athe bush administration and the clinton administration, this commander in chief may end up being if h continues al this path the first realist that we've had in the white house since george h. w bus and one other thing on that, on barack obama's approach on forgn policy. it's similar to ronald reagan's in another aspect. you eke talking -- you're talking about mucking things up. many kinds have tried to claim reagan as their own. despite the fact that they trashed reagan from his first days in 1981 until the time he left office in 198. they said he led trade more than he loved human rights that he dealt with the soviet tos muchhey were enraged he was sitting down with gorbachev trying to strike deals. but reagan ispposite of

obama buteagan knew what we needed after jimmy carter showed weakness across the globe. reagan knew we needed to talk tough. but reagan was a realist. he only sent our troopsore room maybe traverse can carry that stuff too. the all new chevy traverse. america's best crossover. >> the u.s. open is underway,

and serena williams. she's good. she is 3 time championship here. facing a wildcard, and she's 39-0, did you know that. >> that's a lot. >> that's her mommy. >> don't you love your mommy? i miss my mommy. serena is not concerned. if a guy is the daddy, can she be the daddy? >> i'll leave it to you. >> she really, she was my mom. she's now 40-0, i want to hear from serena, too. >> this is the best i've finished in a long time. i was really excited to win, on my first matchpoint for once. i wanted to serve better and just, i was a little nervous because i had that first round record thing going. so, hopefully, i'll play better.

>> five time defending champion, federer, 34 consecutive u.s. open wins. taking on the american, federer up, and, he's not close by there. 6-1. and serving to stay in the set, but his return was wide. federer took the second. 6-3,. >> now, he showed the most spunk in the third-set but it wasn't enough. federer wins, in three. the streak continues. >> it gives me a little bit of confidence but not a lot. this is the grandslam where most players have chances to win this title. just because it is the last grandslam, everybody is in shape, and everybody wants this title. it's tough to win because of the situation here. >> it's great, this team of the year, where new york, u.s. open, it's the best time, and i hope i can reach 6.

but, five is already amazing and i'll give it my best shot. that's for sure. >> james blake taking on hidalgo, from spain. second set-point. here, blake, ripping the forehand up the line. 6-4, took the second-set, and now, matchpoint, for blake. comes up to the net, and the dropshot gets you. he will go to the second-round. >> instead of hoping to improve on an offense that was ranked 9 8th in the nation, right now, rich rodriguez finds himself more worried about his defense. after they launched an investigation, he found himself fighting off allegations from former and current players, that he violated rules, by making them train and practice much

longer than they were allowed to. >> i guess, the think that bothered me the most about, the things that were written or said or maybe, some things in the last 18 months was, the -- the perception, sometimes, that was out there, that we did not care as much for our players -- player's welfare, and that is disheartening. >> to say that, is misleading. and inaccurate. and it goes against everything that i have ever believed in coaching. the truth is, this coaching

staff, cares very deeply about the young men, always have and always will, cares about this institution, and we know the rules and, we go by the rules. and all we're trying to do, everyday, is make everyone, all of our great fans, make them proud. when i have two young freshmen, that are -- that come into my office yesterday, upset, said, what did i do? what did we do? we just said we worked hard. it was harder than it was in high school. and we're committed to helping win a championship. i said you didn't do nothing wrong. nothing wrong. >> well, it hasn't been good so far for rich rodriguez, at michigan ever since he walked

away from west virginia. >> andy pettitte dominates the orioles, 25-6. had a perfect game, going through six-and-two-thirds. and then, well, he had an error at thirdbase by hairston jr, and next batter was markakis, and he has a one-hitter going. bottom of the 8th inning, looking good. yankees rolling, swisher, having a great night . >> meanwhile, football season is coming up, december 1st, and matt cassel may not be there on the field for the chiefs. but, their offensive-coordinator might not be there either.

the head-coach will take over the duties himself. >> i've assumed the role of the offensive-coordinator, here with the kansas city chiefs. very difficult decision for me. i think, the world of chan, as a coach, greatest amount of respect for him as a coach. as a person, there's no better. but, ultimately, the fate of this team, the accountability falls to me. >> barcelona has hoisted one troyfy this season. today, they began their quest for another piece of silverware.

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>> erin andrews has been interviewed for the "oprah" show, first since footage of her being videotaped appeared on the internet. she said, it was a nightmare, and that returning to work is going to help me heal my wounds. it will air on the opera show, friday, september 11th. "what 2 watch 4", tebow and the gators begin their national title against against charleston southern. 7:00 p.m. game will be available on espn

360. tebow, talking about his senior season. >> i think i got 7 more times to run out of the tunnel, every time i'll remember it and just take in those moments, because they're very few and it's such a special opportunity for me and the guys, the guys, who i came in with, and have done so much with. so, it will be very special for all of us ♪ >> every saturday, from 3-8 p.m., during the college-football season. tune in to "espnews". ♪ >> football now, bars a lone na and showing off the super cup

they won last friday. he is right there, in the 18th minute. turned 19 three days ago. happy birthday. >> ♪ >> 49nd minute. heads it into the back of the net. 2-0. >> another kind of football, the one that you use your hands with. brett favre, we'll ask marcellus wiley, how he lives with cracked ribs and everything i heard this bar is crazy.

i know. this is sausage! (men in background) let's go! dude this place is a sausage fest. alright you guys go get a cab excuse me; can i get five pounds of kielbasa? hey, you guys made it! oh look they brought food! (announcer) there are captains in every crew. calling all captains. drink responsibly. calling all captains. it's back to being hit with all the stresses of work. how was your weekend? it's day one of that 3 o'clock lull. and that guy who always asks,

mind if i jump in? but monday night football is returning to espn, where adrian's moves will be making the guys in the booth say . the following is a masn presentation. . over the weekend the cards showed why they were the class of the senior circuit. despite a an unexpected source. >> drilled into right center by pete orr. boy, he is working good. the nats and veteran ronnie belliard backing. >> it's a businessman. >> a good baseball deal. >> it's a first class baseball organization.

new faces on the diamond and a new opponent ahead. the nats and the padres next from petco park. >> and it's a beautiful night for baseball at petco park in san diego, california, temperatures about in the 70s and partly cloudy skies, the nationals taking two out of three from the padres back in july at nationals park hoping to do some damage tonight in this three game set tonight, tomorrow night, johnny holiday and phil wood in for ray knight tonight. one guy not the with the paul club, ronnie belliard, he got to a ball club that is going to be in post-season play. >> most likely. but he is a guy who gives the dodgers some depth off the bench, he is a guy with a little bit of pop in his bat. he is a guy the dodgers have been pursuing for several year

weeks anyway. of course this is the deadline tonight to put your playoff roster together. >> you think that will happen. >> between now and the time we go off the air. >> he'll get a post-season check maybe? >> he hit a walk off home run, so i'm sure they'll have dinner together and talk about that. >> he did a lot for this club in washington, he has some power, 27 home runs, hit for a .281 average. >> anybody who would look at ronnie's time with the nationals, he had a two year contract extension running through this season, so he is going to be a free agent when this season is over and he'll be able to pick and choose. >> and mike rizzo know exactly what ronnie belliard brought to this ball club. >> over the course of this year

and last year ronnie and myself became good friends talking baseball and family and things like that. it's a business, man, also an opportunity for him to be on a championship team and push for another series ring. but at the same time we're losing a great character guy and a good friend. >> you know, it's a good move for ronnie, he'll be a good mix over there, and at this point in the season with ronnie, with about two months left, a month left this the season we have got two good young arms for him, we were happy with the people we got in return and you know it's a good baseball deal. >> in return the nationals got a 21-year-old right-handed pitcher luis garcia. he is a minor leaguer. >> signed as a 15-year-old out of the dominican republican. pretty good numbers this year, pretty good numbers in his career as well. he was not listed in the top 30

dodger prospects. but you have to understand something. the los angeles dodger farm system is exceptionally deep particularly in pitch pitchers so the fact he didn't make that list is really of little consequence. he has to speak for himself. >> but one guy who likes this guy is general manager rizzo. >> he is a pitcher in the midwest league for the dodgers and our scouts saw him on several occasions this year, he is up to 94 with a fastball and got a slider and he has got really good command at a really young age, so we're happy with the results that he has had in the past. her performance has been good and his up i'd is really good and we feel excited about getting him as part of the teal deal. and he is a part of the deal that we fought hard at the end to extract him from the cottagers rather than taking a more seasoned minor league

pitcher for him. >> talking about the this young guy they got in the deal for ronnie belliard. there on the left is byron kerr, he picks the good road trips, a trip out of san diego, all the talk about the number 1 pick in the draft, stephen strasburg and to by ron's left is scott hop good. byron. >> thanks a lot johnny, yes, scott hop good the high school coach for stephen strasburg, you were pumped up talking to me about stephen strasburg, had to be a nice summer to see what happened to steven. >> i'm completely excited for this guy, he worked hard. for him the sky is the limit and this opportunity, it's going to be great to watch. >> take me back to that junior see one when you were at west field high school, you look back and see that 6'4" right- hander. >> i am thinking we have got some big kids here but we'll see how they are on the field. and mentally, not so much, but physically you could see the potential and you know, it took

a few years, but he got there. >> what do you mean the mental part of the game? tell me what you saw that he had to fight threw in those first couple years. >> you know, when i first took over the program, i was asking about guys and such, and you got a big right-hander named stephen strasburg who throws 90, but you can get in his head and once that happens he is a wreck, and so we saw signs of that a little bit in his junior year. but into his senior year really matured physically and mentally and had a pretty good year for us. >> you talked to me about his weight. 245, 250 issue when you first saw him and at san diego state he blossomed. >> he lost about 10 pounds between his junior and senior year. we saw some kind of work. i think he actually just thinned out naturally but he was, san diego state, that program should get a lot of credit for what they did with him physically. >> you look at how he matured

and got into the san diego state and what you saw from him. what gave you the idea that he could be the pitcher that he is today? >> well, for me, being a high school coach. any time you see a guy 6'4", a big strong build, you are shying "okay, in four years this is what this kid could be if he reaches his potential," and so when scouts were asking about him i said"well, he's gonna need three years, i see him in his junior year, he'll be a workhorse, stronger, more mature, i think he'll be throwing 95, 96, you know, and you'll want him then. now you see him, he is throwing 102 and striking out 23 in a game and first overall pick and i can't be more happy for the guy. >> thanks a lot. we appreciate the time scott. scott hop good, the high school coach for stephen strasburg joining us here. back to you guys. >> thanks coach for a little reminiscing about stephen strasburg. every coach would like to have a stephen strasburg pitching

for their high school team. >> he was described as being a little overweight in high school and not really having the fire and really having the mental make up as he referred to pitch really competitive baseball. but he got himself in shape. by the time he was coming out of high school he got to college, but even in college, tony gwynn was. sure he would even make the club. >> only one thing can follow talking the coach. >> what would thabeet. >> that would be talking with stephen strasburg himself. we'll do that when we come back. try to reach him in florida.

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. welcome back everybody. nats extra pregame, johnny holiday along with phil wood tonight in for ray knight. let's go down to florida, we adjusted talked to steven's high school coach, or byron did, now we have got steven on the phone with us, first of all steven thanks for taking the time to join us here on masn, it's been like a whirlwind couple of days for you down there, finally getting a chance

to go out and see the facilities in viera. >> yeah, it's been threat he tee wild. >> i'm guessing based upon what you saw yesterday you're finally getting used to the idea of being treated like a rock star. >> yeah, i guess i have to get used to it but it's big business now. >> jesus florida is down there, some other folks are down there, roger person a dean as, you've got some familiar faces you'll be familiar with as you go on with your career. >> gentlemen definitely. >> you have jesus flores down there, you're not really red ready to cut loose not having thrown a game since the end of may. but i guess you'll spend some time talking about what it will be like pitching in the mayor leagues. >> not yet. i'm down there with spin williams just playing some

catch and getting back into things. >> steven, take us through what exactly did you do yesterday when you finally got over to training camp. >> well you know, i just, they showed me around the clubhouse, took me out on the field and played catch, 90 feet, and then just watched a rookie ball game with the team. >> did you do some defensive drills too? >> yeah, i did a little pitcher's fielding practice but nothing too much. >> when you look at what your daily schedule was when you were still pitching at san diego state for tony gwynn and what you are doing now, i mean is it fairly similar to when the season is about to start in college? >> no, it's pretty light. you know. a lot of this is kind of, you know, they don't really want to rush me too much. so a lot of down time. so just out here in the heat,

enjoying it as much as i can and, you know, hopefully chomping at the bit and ready for things to start picking up. >> and the word is you're not really going to start throwing off the mound until, what, a couple weeks from now, september 19th or around there some where? >> that's what i hear. >> is it so much not having anthony at all? i mean i guess a lot of people had the impression that after you pitched on the 29th of may until you actually signed with the nationals you really hadn't thrown at all? >> no, i played catch, you know, just played a lot of catch over the summer, and you know, kind of wasn't able to do much right around the signing deadline and then the whole whirlwind in dc, so it's kind of just going to 90 feet right now and just working my arm a little bit more. >> you got your contract, everything signed, sealed, delivered, you know where you're going to go, your going

to go out to the arizona fall league in october, have you been in touch with any of your teammates this past season from state. >> yes, absolutely, you know. i consider a lot of them friends for life and they all just had their first day of school today. >> just before we wrap things up here, steven, you're going to be traveling with the ball club fairly quickly, i mean you have to be looking forward to just experiencing life on the road with a big league club. >> yeah, yes, you know, it's -- you hear a lot about it and obviously time going there to get my work in and everything and stay focused. >> the meal money is pretty good? >> yeah, 85 bucks or something. >> no more fast food is right. we always appreciate your time, good luck to you, we'll be touching base with you as we go along through september and october. >> no problem, thank you.

>> stephen strasburg, the number 1 pick of the draft down in viera and getting a taste of what it is like to be in nationals camp. we'll take a look at the starting lineups when we come back if you're like a lot of people, 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? there may be more you can do. only caduet combines two proven medicines... in a single pill to significantly lower... high blood pressure and high cholesterol.

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. welcome back to "nats xtra" pregame. johnny holiday and phil wood with you. here are the starting lineups. for the 5 days third-basemen kevin cues ma november leads the 989, he has committed only three errors the entire season and since the 12th of july he is batting .300. edward cabrera leads off, at shortstop. eckstein at second, adrian gonzalez at first, kevin kouzmanoff in that clean up sport spot. salazar in left, huntley will be catching tonight. tony gwynn jr., tim scoff will be on the mound, a .308 batting average, couple of doubles.

now for washington when you take a look at the lineup, 35 home runs, 91 r.b.i.s, a .282 batting average for the season, since the beginning of july hitting .315 and this is the seventh season in his career he has had at least 100 walks. ad woody harris leads off again in center field for nyjer morgan, then ryan zimmerman, down in the clean-up spot josh willingham, elijah dukes at right, will nieves will be catching and levon hernandez on the mound with an average of 1 á2 at the plate, adam dunn since 2008 against the padres, a .375 average, 6 homers and 19 r.b.i.s. our 2020 series continues and the bullpen will tonight focus on tyler clip pardon.

>> he had thrown in eight big league games before 2009. >> clip pardon blows him away. >> but that number changed drastically that year as did his role. >> tyler clip pardon has had to make the transition from starter to reliever. >> all 6'6". >> his first season out of the pen has proven to be a successful one. offering the club an option in long relief situation gls how about a fastball right down the middle. >> his reputation may be just what they need to stick around washington for years to come. >> so far this year i'm trying to keep the ball rolling, get some wins and, you know, hopefully end out strong. >> there's clippard's numbers for the year, 25 games, record of 2-1, good e.r.a.

>> yeah. you know, he is a lot more confident now than he was when he was first called up. this is the first year he has been a relief pitcher, he has always been a starting pitcher prior to this. he is very aggressive. a plus fastball an average to a plus curve ball, he has real potential to be the setup guy for the closer, drew story, as early as next year. >> back on july 25th he struck out seven padres in that ball game. >> obviously he had great command that night. that has been his achilles, he will occasionally fight command and get up in the zone. the more experience he gets out there, let's keep one thing in mind. the nationals probably should have called him up a month before they actually did. the reason they didn't do that was because they thought the sample he had provided as reliever at syracuse was too small to really tell how he would do at the major league level so they let him spend another four weeks at syracuse.

>> a good live fastball. >> the fastball, and he has a better change-up than i think most people give him credit for. but the point is he can come in there and if he comes in after a starter who has been throwing the ball in the mid-80s, and comes in in the mid-90s throwing the fastball, and sped up a little bit. so he is a ged just with talent, came out of the yankee farm system, i think he understands and now embraces his role as relief pitcher. >> he also gives credit to steve mccaddied tee de. >> he started the year at syracuse and was involved in getting him through that transition. >> he has had them all coming through there just like ba loan. >> we showed an earlier game, 6 pitchers, none of those six guys are still with the club. >> let's go out to san diego. there is ben guess limping in

the hot corner of the washington times. we're talking a little bit of bullpen, as you look ahead then to next year, most of these guys you think fit in the plans for the nationals? >> yeah. i mean it's a little bit of a dicey situation because you've got a young bullpen to try to do it yourself, there's not really a lot that is settled in terms of positions for next year. you got to figure out where mike mcdougal is going to be, where some of these guys like james rug man, who is making faces, they have pitched well but there aren't necessarily roles set for them yet, that's a lot of what you need to figure out for the rest of this year and not to mention if they add a bit to it. >> brought to you by just for men hair color, take a look at the nationals bullpen, they have come out of the pen toes

to 419 1/3 innings with 17 wins, 52 holds, 25 saves, a batting average of .269. just as the relievers from the nationals have kept washington in the game, you too can stay in the game, with just for men hair color. we'll step out and continue with more, first of a three- game set against the padres in san diego. we'll be back after this. ♪ (tucci) only at&t has the best selection of full keyboard phones. like the lg neon, just $29.99 after mail-in rebate.

good to see number 61 back out there, look at the big breaking ball target up and in, perfect. strikes out bradley. he got him on a front door breaking ball. nobody those that pitch better than leave on hernandez. >> and number 61 gets the start tonight for jim riggleman. has more wins against the padres, 12, than any other in the major league. >> 12-6, he has never won a game at petco, so he has that to shoot for second. he did lose a game when he was still a met but the guy changes speeds better than anybody and

his first start with the nationals against the cubs he threw it up between 65 and 87 miles per hour. ly van. you can change speeds over 20 miles per hour it makes your fastball look that much quicker. you saw him strike out 6 cubs in 6 interests, allowed just a couple of home runs. again i make this point about l ai. van hernandez over and over again. this guy knows how to pitch. but he knows what he is doing out there. >> last start he bet the astros. the first will be tim stauffer, a guy 6'1", 205, 27 years old, right-hander,. >> he the still kind of coming back from surgery on his right shoulder to repair a torn labrum. had that surgery in may of 2008. out of the university of richmond, led the nation in

e.r.a. during his sophomore year. >> a spider, 31-1 for the spiders, struck out 362 in college, had an e.r.a. at richmond of 2.16. as far as stuff, mid-90s fastball, big league slider, does not have particularly good numbers but still kind of coming back. >> he is 0-3, never won a ball game at pet could. >> so you have two pitchers looking for their first win at petco park. >> you talked about hernandez, besides being another mike rizzo steal he could be a lot of help to the young pitchers. >> he never wanted to be traded in the first place to arizona, he goes from arizona to minnesota to colorado to the mets and finally back to the nationals. he wants to stay here. >> he was the ace of the staff when he was here. let's see if he can regain that form of a couple years ago. and get this team right back on track. doing a little autograph and

baseball signing for some kids. for phil wood, i'm johnny holiday, bob and rob coming up next. eople about geico - great claims service and a 97% customer satisfaction rate. show people really trust us. gecko: yeah right, that makes sense. boss: trust is key when talking about geico. you gotta feel it. why don't you and i practice that with a little exercise where i fall backwards and you catch me. gecko: uh no sir, honestly... uh...i don't think...uh... >> vo: geico. fifteen minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance.

 the following is a masn presentation. the acknowledges road trip got off to a solid start taking two of three from the fleeting chicago cubs. st.t. louis not so kind. the cardinals completed the sweep with timely hitting and great pitching. tonight, beautiful san diego where the padres are buried in the nl west. can the nats take advantage of an inexperienced starter? find out right now. on masn. 

 . that inexperienced san diego starter is tim stauff beautiful town, pretty new ball park, it's been around since '04 and some fans who thought their team might be better this year than the way they turned out here. bob carpenter, look who is back, good to have you back rob dibble. >> nice to be back bob. >> bob: let's talk about the last two times these teams got together, end of july. 24th through 26th. padres won the first game. some rain helped out the nats and they won the last two games. >> yeah it helped out the nats and they came back and pounded on the padres pitching staff, a grand h slam, adam durn really fell to pieces. austin kearns would come up the next night and prove to be the hero. that afternoon tilt, game- winning hilgt right there, with

some really good hitting, beat their young and inexperienced pichght so they took two out of three from the padres. hopefully they get that back tonight. >> each team has been really interesting since then. the nationals have been right at the .500 mark, the padres have been better than .500, the runs scored and the e.r.a.'s kind of balance each other out so you can see why they would be .500 and both teams fielding the ball well. levon hernandez has seen this organization, 25 starts h his career. >> rob: yes he has not won at petco but 1-6 against the padres on lifetime. >>ly von in that game, two walks and 6 strikeouts, he told me he was happy the way he felt, he just wants a different result for his ball club in san diego tonight.

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 nationals baseball anne masn, book your next trip on southwest.com. and by accura. advance.   . >> bob: pretty typical day san diego, very foggy this mornings, burched off into a beautiful afternoon, temperatures up in the 80s, cloudy as usual, in the evening, and in an hour or so the marine layer will be showing up to change the conditions. had a wonderful weekend in st. louis, six hits, an r.b.i., stolen base, broke up a double play. and i talked to pete this afternoon, felt pretty good about what he did against the cardinals and he still had a bit of a knot on his head after taking a knee to the head-on breaking up the double play. here is tim stauffer who has made only 9 starts this year. first pitch of the ball game, we're under way already and willie harris takes one low and

away. right on time at 10:05 eastern.   willie harris takes the  fastball right even with the hands on his bat. and a delightful cool 74, the padres at home 33-34, they have been respectable on this diamond. their bats came alive on a just completed road trip. they are a better offensive club than they were when the nats saw them a couple months ago. willie 8 for his last 28, takes a breaking ball in the dirt for a 2-2. stauffer in washington pitched on the night it rained. he only through one inning, gave up a couple of runs to the nats and then it was bombs away after the rain delay.   fastball up and away. close, good eye by willie. his on been average is .354,

pretty good when you consider he is batting 226. he is aboard. leading off the game. padres have the third-highest e.r.a. in the league, rob, a r at 4.69 and tim stauffer tonight. >> rob: yeah, tim stauffer the last time we faced him, got rained out, did the one inning, he was done. get to him early, he has a lot of trouble, gives up an awful lot of runs early in the ball game, he has not had back to back wins this season nor has he ever won in petco field. they are 2-7 in his starts previous to tonight. >> bob: born in maine and went to high school in new york. here is pete orr. signed as a first rounder 6 years ago by the padres, stauffer. and pete orr takes a strike. nationals start the night hitting .264, tied with houston, fifth in the league. sixth in runs, tied with

arizona, eighth in homers and the running game has been slowed down sips the injury to nyjer morgan. willie harris has a short lead.   one of the better young pla in baseball. atree an gonzalez, manning first base. 20-year veteran crew chief mike winters has the plate. wally bell, christer, fair keeled on the bases. pete orr gets jammed and pops it out behind short. everett cabrera, one out. padres are sixth in the league in team defense. tony gwynn, jr., 8 errors in center, 8 at center, trevor kouzmanoff, only made three errors at third base, not known as a defensive player. if they go strictly by the numbers he might be a frontrunner for the gold glove even though a lot of people don't consider him a great

defensive players player. but when you've made three errors. >> rob: but it doesn't go to the guy with the best stealing percentage, it goes the power numbers, it's as to up between the two all-star third-basemen, zimmerman and wright. he had a blow to the head sustained. >> bob: we know who is better but ryan has committed 15 errors. from stauffer, there's zimmerman, hitting .325 since the all-star break. here it is the last day of august, the nats looking for a winning month and zimmerman is hitting 354th month.   fastball, held there foreve nick hundred dollarly, the catcher. and mike winters didn't give them the call.

>> well, and you would think they would have good defense, this is a pitcher's ball park, you're gonna have a lot of one- run games and low scoring games. strikes out there before adam dunn. so it's kind of reminisce end, you remember the 80s cardinals, the detroit tigers when could manager ca was built. he powers a fastball by zim. >> one of the few times i have seen ryan take a severe uppercut swing right through a fastball. adam dunn, 61 r.b.i.s. >> rob: since we aren't privy to hitters meetings, we don't know what was shared with the hitters. maybe he was looking for some kind of breaking ball or change- up, so hopefully the second at- bat will be a little different. >> >> bob: the battle of the ec. signs, rick the hitting coach for the nats, david a former

world series mvp out in short right field for adam dunn. david eckstein and i were talking about sliding on the bases today. about the nimminger morgan situation. >> right, right. and how we had said many many times how fast he is and how late he was sliding into bases and you had talked about that pretty much conde getting injured and you never want one of your own players or any player to get hurt but he slides right on top of bag and comes up with a broken hand. >> bob: and david eckstein told me down in the cage, if i'm playing second base in a steal or a double play situation i want the guy to slide head first, he can't hurt me. but if he comes in spikes first i don't want anything to do with that. 2-1 to the big man dunn. he swings through it. adam reached 100 strikeouts for the season over the weekend,

pardon me, 100 walks, struck out 147 times. a slider up and away. >> rob: yeah, he took something off of it, it backed up. that's the second time i have seen one of those breaking balls go uphill. you you want don't want to live up there if you're stauffer.   . >> bob: willie harris making move toward second base any time during the evening. orr has popped up, zimmerman has popped out. has 9 of 10 running, but not getting a big lead. adam dunn got called out on strikes, he knew it,s toes the bat and walks away. nats get a man on base and that's it.



 . >> bob: petco park, capacit 42,000, downtown san diego, beautiful setting. the padres have the lowest batting average in the league going into today. with cincinnati, only .242 and the reds have scored four fewer runs going into this game. david eckstein doing well, hit safely five of his last six games and david eckstein is one of the leading hitters in the league with runners in scoring position. livanan hernandez, second start at a none, very respectable at wrigley field after not pitching for a couple of weeks, he told me it didn't make much difference to him. this is a guy rob dibble who

has never gone more than 5 days between starts because he has never been hurt. >> no. >> rob: and we were told he throws 80 pitches before his starts. >> bob: a bunt by cabrera. getting to the bag but the runner was close and hernandez decided not to let go and a base hit for everett cabrera. >> rob: well you have an older pitcher and you have a big first baseman and cabrera thinks if i can get it by hernandez, which he does not, he has got a possible base hit. he beat or to the bag, so livan didn't even bother throwing it. >> bob: fields his position well, sometimes the guy is too fast. here is eckstein hitting .264, making contact as good as anybody in the league. only 34 strikeouts in 401 at-

bats. he goes over 13 at-bats for every strikeout. it he makes contact every single time. something about him with runners on base, this is not runners in scoring position. but in that department he is hitting .347.   cabrera 20 stoilen bases an for a young player a spectacular ratio. he has only been caught three times. a 22-year-old infielder from nicaragua who originally signed with ... david eckstein dumps one down the line. cabrera goes to third, the ball gets by dukes, the padres lead, and eckstein stops at second base. livan hernandez gives up a little flare, elijah dukes had

to run onto the bullpen mound and with his teammates trying to get out of 2 way the ball got by him.   . >> rob: eckstein chokes up the bat. gets jammed by a good fastball. takes it town the right field line. now look at this, it's our own bullpen. one of our guys gets involved with him trying to field the ball. allows him to go to second, but ... >> bob: it's a double but no r.b.i. as it's ruled an error on dukes to let that ball get by him. >> rob: yeah, out there. >> bob: his seventh of the year, 118th on the nats. and the padres lead quickly. adrian gonzalez who has driven in 77 runs. >> rob: okay, so they put our weapon the field so that they can have a little kiddy sand box out this the out field beyond the fence.

so our bullpen is in play while the kids play in the sand box back there. >> bob: yeah, they change it to an r.b.i. >> rob: yeah, just a stupid error. >> bob: big looping ball. >> rob: that's where our bullpen should be, but the kids have to play during the game, so they put our bullpen right off the field of play, foul territory, down the right field line. >> bob: yeah, it seems a little unfair, one bullpen is off the field, the other is not.   . >> rob: almost like citi fi where they put the bullpen where they can't even see the field. >> bob: i was just wondering if that big breaking ball by livan fooled the hitter and the umpire. first time mike winters had seen that pitch. but a strike is a strike. should have been called. and the count is is 2-1. >> rob: and don't forget, of his six hits off livan, four have left the park.

>> bob: he pitched here august 6th and gave up 7 runs on eight hits in 5 innings of work in an 8-3 san diego win. 12-6, 25 career starts against the padres. gonzalez can't reach it and a big first out for livan hernandez against their best hitter.   . >> rob: the scouting report nerves of steel, obviously he will throw anything at any time, 3-0, might throw you a change-up or a breaking ball, 2- 1, 0-1 in six starts in petco, i shall return like mcarthur said, and live van hernandez is back. was a student years ago here maybe in washington, now he is a teacher of these young pitchers.

>> bob: that ball well-hit, right center, one hopping it in the sand box and the padres have two runs on the board. r.b.i. number 77 for kouzmanoff. tying him with gonzalez for the team lead.   . >> rob: well we know kouzma is an offensive threat. that's why you don't think of him as a defensive player with three errors. kouzmanoff crushes this ball over willie harris' head so hard on a line willie just ran and turned towards the wall. next time walks home.   . >> bob: runner at second ag with one out and will vebl coming up. venable coming up. his dad a former major leaguer. >> rob: that i played with. >> bob: in the minor league organization. will 26 years of age. 

 and he played at princeton.   the padres have two princet players on their squad, chris young. >> rob: who i saw in the weight room before the game and he is recuperating after his shoulder surgery.   . >> bob: livan nibbling at t outside corner, first base open. oscar salazar next. >> rob: did you know that chris young's father-in-law is part owner of the washington capitals? >> bob: did not know that. >> rob: yes. he is a true sportsman. four-pitch walk. >> bob: you get the feeling livan might have been pitching around him, double play is in order now. >> rob: yeah, double play is in order and he wanted to keep that force, if it's around the left-handed hitter, that's a

veteran wiily pitcher saying "listen, i'm not off to the best start but hopefully i don't give up any more than that two and we can come back and win the ball game." >> bob: defense for the nationals, willingham, harris and dukes pretty much the everyday outfield, gonzalez up the middle with orr tonight as kiln guzman has the night off, down at the accordancers with will nieves. maxwell is with the ball club here today. >> rob: no, that's not him, steve mcaddy. >> bob: he wishes he looked in a uniform like justin maxwell looks. fastball upstairs. >> rob: getting back to chris young. he wrote his college thesis on jackie robinson. >> bob: very cool. >> rob: he is a very, very cool young man and we wish him well and getting over the debreedment of his shoulder, when they cleaned it up. he had some frag of his

>> bob: livan is going to need that call on that shoulder. 2-0 after walking the previous hitter on four. oscar salazar, hitting .350. breaking ball in there, two balls, one strike.   petco park and the padres o to a 2-0 first inning lead. double play ball. those of you who have been watching the orioles and the yankees, we welcome you. the first inning is over thanks to a double play ball. two for the pads on three hits. of the plane in the dark. no peanuts or nothin'.

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♪ tell me who's watching. ♪ i always feel like somebody's watching me. ♪ (announcer) it's right here. it's easy.  . beautiful downtown san diego on the last night of august. >> bob: 2-0 padres, sunday, september 6th when the nats come home is dollar kids day. you can purchase up to four tickets for $1 each with an adult ticket in any seating area including the lexus president's club. offer good at the box office day of game only and the children must be with you at the time of purchase. you cannot combine that with any other offers.

the kids get in real cheap on a kids sunday. here is josh willingham, top of the second. josh had a rough series in st. louis. finally got a base hit off the wall in left, his final at-bat yesterday, but in that series he went 1 for 9 and he is one for his last 14. >> rob: good pitching will do that for you. >> bob: they have got that. >> rob: yes they do. that's why they are in first place and going to the playoffs. they are a good team. >> bob: front door slider. 1-2. >> rob: but i thought the nationals played them hard every game. when one team is going to the playoffs and you're almost 40 games under .500 for your record i thought it was a well played series. >> bob: took the best hitter in baseball to win both games friday and sunday. hitting .291 with an on beige average of .401. elijah toques and then alberto gonzalez next here in the top

of the second.   willingham has walked 50 ti struck out 73 times this year. pretty good ratio for a big ng power hitter. big gaps in this park. willingham rips it to short, cabrera gets behind it. guns him out for the first out and that's ourstrai after the leadoff walkto willie @rris. @uirky ball park, 357 not tha far off the line in left. 401, 400 right center, d only 396 sthtaway center field. 

 . a goofy little quirk down right field line where they have the petco section.   and a hard slider. >> can you bring your dog every time or just once in a while. >> bob: i don't know. >> rob: i was gonna bring a dog but i didn't know if it was allowed. >> bob: that one ripped to short. big hop. comes up on cabrera, and the ball gets beyond the reach of gonzalez. they'll give elijah dukes a base hit on that. a ball hit extremely hard and it took the shortstop into the outfield. >> rob: yeah, wanted to see how strong his arm was, no momentum going with this throw, tail tail tail, even adrian gonzalez can't save it. right here he comes up, nothing behind it, no crow hop, and the ball goes, watch elijah dukes out of the box, smelling hit, dig dig dig dig, he is in

there. >> bob: luckily for the padres the ball hit the wall behind first base flush and came out. >> rob: all right. statsic sends us the home runs by bullpen. at&t. turner field and dodger stadium are in front of petco. they are seventh. >> bob: that ball ripped to right field, off the bat of gonzalez, caught by venable.   . >> rob: that's c we talked about the defense bob. you need great defense, a lot of running room out there in those alleys and venable catches up to that one over the shoulder.   okay. everything about this play is  about your jump and your rout crushz by alberto, going over venable's head. he turns and starts running and makes a great catch. 

 break breaks back on the ba and makes a good route to cut it off. for young outfielders, you never take a step inward third quarter the ball. >> bob: easy for eckstein, the nats are gone in the top of the second. a walk, a hit, two runners stranded. 2-0 san diego. 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. i just gave you some at the restaurant. yea i know. i threw them out. they were old so... old! they are rollover minutes. they are as good as new. ya know not everyone gets to keep their unused minutes. and these days we can't afford to be wasteful.

saving minutes... ...saves money. yea. (announcer) only at&t's family talk with rollover saves your family's unused minutes. and saving minutes saves money. for back to school, get the lg neon for $29.99 after mail-in rebate.  . welcome back to petco p byron kerr here as we look at

cristian guzman. he is not in the lineup. concerned about the foot injury with jim riggleman. he talks about the game plan dealing with cristian. ryan ryan. >> he might be available to pinch hit but i'm going to try to get him not in a situation where he has to play defense and stand on it for a long tame. hopefully the trainers can get him ready in a couple, three days, if not we'll just go through the off day on thursday. but hopefully we can get him in before that. >> hope to get him back in, but get back home and hopefully be healthy and ready to go. they have that pinch hitting availability but they want to be careful with him. >> bob: thank you. guzman 2 for 9 in the st. louis series. 0-4 yesterday. the catcher nick hundred dollar leah familiar name in the catching ranks. randy hundred dollarly was an outstanding receiver for the cubs.

a sound rounder. >> so is he the brother of todd hundred dollarly. >> nick's father is a football coach of all things. >> yeah. >> randy would more likely be his grandfather than his father. >> rob: three generations. his dad is a football coach? the kid looks like a football player. >> bob: they list him at 6'1", 205. >> rob: i don't know if you have been into the weight room here. but -- >> bob: impressive. >> rob: it rivals any nfl weight room i have been in. we used to workout in the chargers weight room next to our locker room. >> bob: gonzalez, and alberto

ended up making it a pretty close play. >> rob: well the one thing alberto does have is plenty of speed. there is no momentum going towards dunn. plus the timing hundley is getting down that line quickly, so it is a perfectly made play by alberto but sometimes the runner beats the throw.   . >> bob: we know whose this you's dad is. tony gwynn jr. hitting .269.   played at san diego state f his father. stephen strasburg's alma mater. >> rob: my former nemesis, hall of famer tony gwynn. tony loved the left side of the

infield. he would just knock it over there. but if he wanted to hit home runs he was very capable of doing that also.   . >> bob: off-speed pitch and livan gets a strike on the outside. the count is 1-2. >> rob: you could probably say his dad was probably the father of the video in watching back other pitchers and you're hitting, see that fastball just drop off a pitch.   . >> bob: 1-2 delivery, livan looking for a ground ball but he throws one up and away. >> rob: jr.'s dad used to take the big pvrs with him because they weren't in every locker room back in the 1980s. >> bob: a little bigger than the laptops. >> rob: exactly. but he would have tape on every pitcher he was going to face on that road trip and he knew you better than you knew you.

>> bob: nasty breaking pitch by livan hernandez. he has fanned gonzalez and gwynn. >> rob: right there that's not fair because he threw an 86 miles per hour fastball on the outer half. then he droops 65 right at your feet. i don't care how good you are with a bat in your hand, it's tough, that 21 miles per hour differential. >> bob: did you see the right knee buckle when he started the swing? >> rob: yes. >> bob: stauffer the pitcher laying one down, thought about second, makes the right decision for a 1-4 sacrifice. t-shirt tuesday, coming up in the nationals next home stand. right after labor day. the first 10,000 fans receive a free t-shirt presented by the po tow mac nationals. nationals.com or stop by the box office at the ball park for tickets.

  on the of the order, everet cabrera bunted the first time and set the tables for a 2-run first.   a lot of the kids in this a went back to school today but some teams teens have found their way to the ball park tonight. >> including the little league world series champions. >> chula vista. >> chula vista. >> good for them.   . >> bob: everett cabrera jus 22. built like a speedster, 5'9", 176 they list him.

and then that pesky david eckstein up next.   if eckstein bats in this in we'll talk about something that he does in batting practice as opposed to the game that i've never heard of another hitter doing. 1-22 delivery and that turned way outside. 1-2.   breaking ball and levon has a big hook going tonight. three strikeouts in the first two innings. padres strand their second

runner. livan leads off, a good hitter, and the nats are down by two.

  . >> bob: petco park in san diego. nationals on the road 19-46 after the three-game sweep in st. louis. and a look at the upcoming schedule. right back here tomorrow night. jd martin will go for the nationals against clayton richard who is 7-4. johnny lannan coming off a great

performance against kevin correia. that's a wednesday day game at .335 eastern. >> the nationals are home with the marlins for three. then the nationals don't play on labor day until the phillies come in.   sly van hernandez on the ye 5 for 42. and a .227 career hitter.   wonder if he'll make it to rear home runs before he hangs 'em them up one day. sitting on 25 career r.b.i.s. pretty good numbers. he really rips one up the middle. >> rob: that answer your question? i would say he gets number 10 before the end of the season. >> bob: before the end of this season? nice. >> rob: what do you think. >> bob: i betty hits one in

philadelphia. >> rob: somebody throws him a change-up or something that hangs. look. this ball is effort right here. right back up the middle. >> bob: livan stands up there with the bat it looks like he doesn't care. i think he lulls some pitchers into throwing one rights down the middle or hanging something to him and then he really ripped away right there. >> a very good athlete. i think you might look at him and say he is a little soft looking. >> rob: the guy can field his position, he has always looked like that since he was a rookie, a little bit pudgy, and he can hit the snot out of the ball. remind me a lot of rick russell and don robinson, formerrers that can make or smoke a ball. i remember telling a bullpen meat of mine "do not throw don robinson a fastball" and he hit it second deck at riverfront off the guy. i said did you not listen to me, the guy can hit.

well he is a pitcher. some pitchers are pretty good athletes. not all of them but some of them. >> bob: that's a wild pitch and a breaking ball and livan can still make second. >> rob: just got there. >> hope they didn't have the stop watch on that strip but he is in scoring position with nobody out. >> rob: a big breaking ball with stauffer and hundley has trouble keeping it in front. >> bob: yeah. catchers will tell you when it's that far out in front of you 50:50. that big breaking ball is way outside.   shape up as a nice inning, pe orr next and then ryan zimmerman.

willie has worked the count back even. fastball up and he rips it across. >> rob: by the way, i did catch the highlights of me giving up the fourth home run to mark whitten. i appreciate that to everybody in the truck and you, bob, thanks for having my back. >> bob: they tried to slip that one by you dib. >> that's all right. the heavy hitting mark which had den, he crushed that one. >> and you know what. >> rob: a good strike call right there.   . >> rob: 2-2 pitch right her big breaking ball that stays on the inner half. i see hundley bringing this back in the strike zone. >> bob: brings it back.

>> rob: so, no, that's not a strike.   . >> bob: all right. here is pete or, one out, runner at second, popped up first time, stauffer jammed him, he gets jammed again, this one is gonna fall. livan hernandez reaches and the nats are back to a two-run deficit on pete orr's second r.b.i. in four games. a base hit by the pitcher, a wild pitch, and a flair by orr and the nats on the board. >> rob: once more, talking about livan hernandez, watch livan, real speed, slow up, i'm not gonna score, and then goes into a good sprint. so -- >> bob: you like watching him play. >> rob: he plays the game the

right way, he has fun doing it. does the little things to try help you win. >> bob: zimmerman to eckstein, two outs. >> rob: i truly believe that may be the only two runs he gives up over 6 or 7 innings, that's just what veteran pitchers do, people who know how to play the game. i gave up a couple of runs, still got to get through the lineup but i'm going to try to leave them at two runs. >> bob: then almost single- handedly gets his team back in the game. >> rob: almost single-handedly manufactures his own run. >> bob: let's see if he can get back into it. >> rob: let's see if he can hit at batting practice like the little league teams were oohing and ahing. he was hitting some monster shots.   . >> bob: talking with david eckstein about this ball park, tough to hit homers here, but

not for your guy.   and i don't blame david for playing where he is. that's about where tony larussa had his second baseman all weekend, severe pull and then about anywhere from 15 to 30 feet into the outfield. but, in about the next 15 or 20 minutes here, what they call the marine layer of air arrives from the ocean into this part of town and then at that time the ball park becomes a little more dead and the ball doesn't fly. but david did tell me the funny think about it is if you hit it straightaway center the ball really seems to carry during the middle latter part of the game. >> rob: are we facing away from the shore. >> bob: yeah. it runs along the third base line but basically facing

center. >> i drove down from my house in l.a. and half of the trip was smoke from the fires and the other half was the morning fog, as you will, coming off the bay over the highway. >> bob: yeah. >> rob: i know exactly what you are talking about. san diego is different, the fog rolls in over candlestick. >> bob: when i opened the black out shades this mornings you couldn't see 200 yards from the hotel. it was an invisible world out there, then it burns off about noon. 2-2 to dunn, a pitch appeared to be outside, adam is called out and mike winters has a generous strike zone for pitchers in a pitcher's park tonight. it's... no, not yet. it back that way. it's on.

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 . >> bob: not many balls have metal supply company in the middle of the stadium but that's the left field line here at pelt company park. friday next week roberto clement tee night at our ball park presented by the united states marine corporation, nats, marlins. and before the game the presentation of the roberto clemente award. you can cheer the great number 20 on. get your tickets, get your red on, 202675-nats. livan hernandez, 35th pitch of the game, is a strike to david eckstein who doubled the run home first time up.

now look at eckstein's hands. he chokes up. probably the equivalent of one hand on the bat. great jump by pete orr to grab that ball. but david ec. stone does something, rob, i've never heard of a hitter doing. he doesn't choke up during batting practice, then he chokes up for the ball game, makes him feel a little bit quicker with those hands. he is 3 or 4" up the handle. >> rob: it's got to be difficult to cover the outside of the plate which he did there, he has no distance on it and theodore ran it down. a switch here on adrian gonzalez like adam dunn. >> bob: almost identical. a one-hopper right at theodore. >> bob: that's not the same and picking up a base hit. >> rob: no, that's a one- hopper. watch this right here, i got it. that's got to particular you

off whether you're adam dunn or adrian gonzalez. the guy just robbed you of a sure base hit. >> bob: pete orr is a baseball player and a tough guy. he took a knee to the head in st. louis, breaking up or at least trying to break up a double play on saturday. he has got a markup there on his head. >> rob: a knot. you think you're going to get him out of the lineup, he played five months in the minor leagues and got up here, nothing is going to get him up. >> bob: fires it low, adam dunn saves it, the padres go in order in the bottom of the third. willingham dukes and gonzalez coming up in a 2-run game.

  . >> bob: after the third inn the flyers racing here. they have flyers from different decades, look at those eyes, he is crazed. the guy in the blue trying to hold his pants up. you know what, rob. teddy could have beaten any one of those four guys. >> rob: i think so. they have 70, 80, 90, then the present fryer. >> they call him the swinging fryer. >> swinging fryer. so the '90s grunge fryer one.

yeah, we need to get the presidents out here. >> bob: that was groovy. they don't say that in california? >> rob: you can say groovy any time you want to say groovy. >> bob: úúadrsúúúbyúthe averaging just a little mo in attendance, 24,443, the nats are just below 24, and there is a nationalily attired fan.   stauffer so far, four strikeouts, the benefit fit of a very, very join rouse mike winters strike zone. 

 . >> robthat's a nasty breaking ll. .  >> bob: five of them now. and we had serious questions about the zone last inning. >> rob: as long as you give it both ways and give it to livan hernandez, this is a breaking ball that breaks way inside on willie harris. that's a close pitch. but this one right here, that's a back door breaking ball that veoknethe plate. just give it to livan, we don't care. we do but just go both ways with it.   livan would enjoy that 6" off the plate. >> bob: absolutely. he did quite well with it in the world series one year didn't he. >> rob: against ege the second ronnie belliard takes doug davis deep for his sixth homer of the year. >> rob: get out 0 a here.

that's awesome. >> rob: there is a knock. >> bob: hit hard. dukes has gashed it twice tonight, one to deep short and one clean to right field. elijah dukes is 2 for 2, he had five hits in the st. louis series. he was on base three times yesterday so he is locking it in and he is at first base with one out for alberto gonzalez.   alberto hit the ball well, it was run down in right field by will venable. oh, and he tried to bunt and the ball just smacked him right above his hands. now roberto gonzalez hit by a pitch and hurt and his manager, now assistant trainer, mike ma gown, coming out. >> rob: man when you square around like that you have got nowhere to go. >> rob: yeah, you're squaring around, towards the pitcher, 90

miles per hour, you have really no time to get out of the way. watch, this is coming right into your living room. bang, right in the middle of the chest. and he is going to go to first base. ooh. >> bob: thats that was right up near the left collarbone. >> rob: one tough kid. >> bob: he is at first, dukes at second, a big spot here for the right field shooter will nieves. he hit the ball right have the middle first time, they don't want him to do that, eckstein is really cheating up the middle. there's 85 feet of room between the first and second baseman here. now eckstein will move over a little as the pitch is delivered, a breaking ball that misses.

>> rob: we were talking about eckstein choking up, right on the plate on the midfield line.   . >> rob: gets back to hall o famer frank robinson saying if you want to cover the outside of the plate you got to get up on top of it and i think the smaller the guy the closer you got to get on the plate. you won't have the reach of an adam dunn to get that outside breaking ball. >> kneives drives it foul. byron kerr, elijah dukes now 10 for 21 on this road strip. he had the grand slam in chicago, r.b.i. yesterday. five hits in the st. louis series. he is off to a 2 for 2 start