significantly on his cpa. we think whave made significant progressn 10 of the 12 identified major issues standing in the way of full implementation in cpa. yet he continues to work on two remaining issues. results of the census will be applied to a power-sharing arrangement, called for in the cpa d tactical pvisions fo the 21 referenda on the future state of southern sudan. that is an example of his coinued work to facilitate discsion among parties to reach agreement on these critical iues. .

of the meeting. the primary focus was on the situation in afghanist. obviously with congress's return fr the recess updated among theituation there. it wouldn't surprise me if both of the meetings yesterday and i thk it was a two through cody conversation to read out by senator levin, senator reid, but

is simply to update them howl recent the situation in afghanistan, the current status, the electoral process, and our view as the secretary was outlining what we are trying to accomplish on the civilian side. obviously in the context of afghanistan and pakistan we know there's some important decisions that will be coming up with in the congress on assistance t pakistan in particular. so these are the set of discussions it wouldn't surprise me if they came up. >> can i follow on the levin meeting on wednesday? can you say the secretary was aware of adding more combat troops -- >> i wasn't in the meetinf. i just don't know. on the insho senator levin has spoken about ts issue today. i would refer you to his comments. i would presume it is consistent with what he sd last night.

>> rarding he said yesterday your comments yesterday seem to be focused on the fact they didn't address the central issue of central assistancto the s. which is the nucle program activity. one thing that he five plus one has decided they will tell the iranians they have opted to have talks. i would turn that around first and foremost and recall it was the nations of the p5 plus 1 who made an offer to iran engage directly to address the concerns the united states has, the national cmunity has, united nations council has said it is iran writing paper that responds in a way tthe

invitation there was a conference call this morning of the political directors of t p5 plus 1, and i feel we have continted to study the iran document. at the same time, i believe a short time ago there was a statement made by the e.u. indicating he would be in touch with the iranians on behalf of e p5 plus 1 countries to arrange a face-to-face meeting as soon as possible. >> face-to-face meeting, him and all -- >> the p5 plus 1 was put in place to provide a mhanism to address the concerns e inrnational communityas about iran's nuclear program. clearly the iranians paper hasn't replied to these concerns. it's not covered in the issue. that is precisely why we think we need an early meeting. when i was talking we are

working to see through early meetings should iran be willing. we will be looking to see if they are willing to engage seriously on these issues. but within the context of the p5 plus 1, the full range of issues we have of these countries and iran. >> are you talking about talks about talks -- >> we are finding out -- if you go to the iran documents as the nation is preped to enter a dialogue and negotiation and so on so forth. we are going to come as half a year indicated, we will seek an early meting and seek to test your on's willingness to engage. clearly from the standpoint of the national community, the center which you tha we have is the nucar issue. if we have talks we will plan to brinup the nuclear issue.

we will hope as we said earlier this week that ira will choose to engage in the nationa community to address the concerns we have about the program so we are speaking because ultimately the only way that we feel we are going these issues is to have a meeting but meeting toee if an is, it is a willing to engage seriously on these issues. >>ho offered them talks on the nuclear issue and others. they came back to you and said we are willing to tk, butot about our nuclear program. so what is the point of talking to them if you've got your response? how can you say these are not talks about talks? th demonstrate -- younow, they've shown you through their officials paper eir willingness to enge on th nuclear issue, which is n to engage on the nuclear issue, so why would you want to have talks with them if it didn't? and are you saying you would sit down with iran to talk about

whether they are willing to engage on the nuclear issue or argue not going to sit across the table from iran unless the nuclear issue is on the table? >> we expect it to -- we would hope it would be a substance exchange. we will go into such a meeting should iran agreed to prepare to talk about the substance of the issues and concerns we have on iran's nuclear program as was outlined. we feel they are out of compliance with obligations on iaea, security council resolutions and we wish to have direct dialogue with iran. we believe the president has said repeatedly we feel this is the way which we will be able to and hope we can resolve these issues. our objecve is clear to prevent iran from developing a nuclear weapon. i don't think we can resolve this issue any other way but through the kind of direct

dialue -- negotiations that hoped would lead to -- speegap what about you said we believe there will be substantive talks. what gives you thexpectation? what in tt letter gives you reason to believe you would have subsntive talks in iran? >> that'why we will seek a meetingo see with what iran is prepared to do. we have been waiting for some months for in to respond to javier solana'snvitation earlier this year. we are seeking a meeting now based on the armeniapaper to see what iran is pred to do. and then as the president has said, if iran responds to our interest in the mting we will e when that can occur. we hope will occur as soon as possible. ase head towards the united nations general assembly i expect further meetings within the p5 plus 1 as the president has said we will use this month to assess where we are in terms

of offer of engagement and that would lead to the conclusion by as to what that approach has yielde we've gone through the siduation that has been various public statements over the past few weeks. but ultimately the only way we are going to resolve these serious concepns we have is to have direct dlogue, cd-rom is willing to engage on these issues. if they are not, en obviously that will draw the conclusions. >> it seems you think the door is still open to the talks on the enrichment because they didn expliciy refed in the letter to talk about that subject. is that correct? >> all i can say is our position has not changed. the united states, the other members of the p5 plus 1. weeek engagements wh iran. we seek to have better answers, better information, better

cooperation from iran to simply address the issues that w have. and now it is up to iran to determine what they a prepared to do. they have given -- the ferc provided the paper. it says they are open to dialogue. if the paper itself does not address our nuclear concerns but we will seek a meeting as javier solana indicated today and based on that approach, we will see if iran is willing to have a meeting. at that meeting, we wilhope there will be serious engagement. from that engagent, we hope there will be willingness to address these issues. and th, you know, but through this process we will be able to determine what iran is prepared to do, what it's not prepareto do and that will lead us to make judgments and there will be consequences going forrd. >> let mput it another way. the proposals, are they better

than t public statements wher they refuse strictly to discuss >> the paper itself i don't think broken new ground. it is in a way a warmed over version of the previous speaker that pvided some time ago. >> p.j., why wouldn't you see that as falling? fugate right up to the deadline and ey put these papers out and then you say okay, we are going to go talk to them again. it keeps going and going and coming. >> wwill draw conclusions based on how iran responds to the invitation by javier solana and e e.u.. >> and tir past behavior hasn't given indication? >> we will draw conclusions the past behavio reflects their future behavior. >> i'm sorry, i still don't understand and probably st of us don't. you say you are goin to ask iran for talks based on their response. based on this letter they sent

you. >> we are -- we are -- we are, once again we are making the offer for direct dialogue to year on. it is the constent approach -- >> you made that offer and they said we are willing to talk to you about everything we want to talk to you about and nothi that you want to tal about. so why are you -- are you, like, ignoring this letter or the concept or saying the fact they sent this anything is a good sign and we will see if we can build something on that? because if you are singing we are asking for talks based on this piece of paper i don't see where there is anything to talk about. >> and we seek tdirect negotiations. we want to see iran sit down face-to-fa with the p5 plus 1 countries and address all the issues we have concerned abo including the nucar issue. if we have a meeting, we are

going to bring up the clear issue and see how iran response to that. this i-- >> i'm corry but what about this letter makes you think they are willinto talk to you about it -- >> we will find out, we wl find out again -- >> [inaudible] >> i go back to the -- there is language in the letter that simply say the government of iran is willing to enter a dialog. we a going to test the propition, okay? and if iran is willing to enter into serious negotiations, then they will find a willing participant in the ice skates and the other p5 plus 1 coutries. if iran as it has in the past, then we will draw conclusions from that. but recall we have to attract strategy here. we are willing to engage but we are also going to con to pressure iran to change the path it's all coming ande are willing to do both of those simultaneously but also because these are serious issues,

because we have a strategy that will prevent iran from the coming nuclear-powered we feel the only way it is going to resolve these issues is for direct dialogue. we recognize iran may or may no be willing to do so and as the president said during the course of this month including meetings that we will have at the u.n. general assembly, and tn at the end of tear we will be able to draw some conclusions as to how successful our engagement offer has been. >> [inaudible] >> the second tracking trouble u've got the russian foreign minister saying yesterday new sanctions shouldn't be considered especially on petroleum. that's the same thing the russians have been saying since the process got under way back in 2003 and it seems -- >> these are not mutually exclusive. i wl let the russian foreign minister characterized, you know, s own words.

there is unanity within the p5 plus 1. itsupport of the two track approach that involves engagement and pressure. and we are willing to meet with iran. we hope to meet with iran. we want to see serious engagement on the nuclear issue in particular. within the contextf the p5 plus 1 we are willing to addre any other issues they want to bring to the table. but clearly if iran refuses to negotiate seriously, we, the united states and the international community and security council can draw conclusions from that and then based on that will make judgments in the future. >> -- sincthe announcement happened in here what level with the talks be on? solana and so on, what level of talks would take place? >> i wou say likely of the

political director lel, but again, that will be, you know, part of what will be negotiated depending on what speed's response is. >> will there be others the table or will that only b.c. eight? at the initial meeting solana is requesng all six parties plus him? >> as he indicated in the statement, javier solana will be in touch with iranian authorities and look for a meeting at an earlier date and then we will work those details based on -- >> this is this to be an initial meeting -- >> we wld he there would be a full p5 plus 1 meeting. and a senior level. we will be looking, for a simple, to see from the iranian standpointhould this happen. what level will base and what kind of authority will that person have? but we are looking for a serious engagement b iran, to address these issues we have. if it is there, that will be a positive development. if it's not there we will draw conclusions from that.

>> [inaudible] -- engage on its new wch is precondion for the talks. >> i wouldn't say -- is -- certainly best opportunity for iran a we said at the iaea earlier this week we have made an offer to iran. it's out of the mutual fund trust and mutual respect, but clearly we expect to see iran willing to address the concerns that we have. as we said earlier this week, iran says it has rights but with those rights, responsibilies. so, we will see what happens. but obviously should elon decide to engage, we will be at the table. should iran decided not to engage, thawill have consequences and make judgments based on what iran does or does not do. >> would that ilude iran's views [inaudible]

-- support on terrorism? >> we have great concerns about iran's concern of terrorism and its role on the region. at the same time we recognize we have potentially their common interest in terms of a state law afghantan and stable iraq. as we have said frequently, we are willing to engage iran on the full range of issu but viously first on the list, first on the national community lists iran's nuclear program. >> [inaudible] >> that is a statement from th u.n. united states but we have grt concerns abo iran's rule in the region. it has been partly been a constructive player and we will berepared to talk about that. >> another one of iran fro another angle. every year at the end of the month of ramadan the regime has

become this demonstration in support of the palestinian it's cing next wdek actually. and today, khamenei threatened the opposition if the years that demonstration to voice their own displeasure with the result of the proncial elections that they would be faced with harsh responsend full force and everything. could that play -- this recent comment have any room to play in your decision on the talks in general? >> well, i mean, as have said many, many times, the situation on the aftermath of the election is a matter between thought the iranian governme and its people. clearly there are many within the potical structure, with in the clerical structure that want to see a broad politic process, a genuine political process, t formation of a

genuine political opposition. and clearly the regime is determined and has taken direct actions to visithat from happeninboth in terms of the rest of those who have expressed their views publicly of intentions and these additions given to journalists and so forth and this continues within iran. i think it isn't for us to give the iranian regime advice other than they should continue to take actions will start to take acons to meet the aspirations of their people. >> in the proposal th meioned they respect their right of people to free elections, and they talk about justice and will allow all. >> i would say we think actions speak loudly than words the activitieq of the past few weeks

hardly show a government is interested in having the ee and fair and open political process. >>es? >> on afghanistan, the results of the parliamentary -- of the provincial council elections, whh have been sort of overshadowed by the presidential electis, might be released on monday. and people have risked their lives to stand f those elections, the international community spend billions of dollars. but tse bodies really don't have any power. i am wonring whether the obama administration, which seems to be putting emphasis on getting ouinto the provinces and working with the people themselves. i am wondering whether there is any plan in the works to interdace with these provincial councils were not, whether there

is -- as a broad point, you are exactly right. there is more than one eleion heldn afghanistan, and the development of provincial structures, local governments, regional governments are equally important to afghanistan as the development of strong national government that people of afghanistan can believe in. to be sure. we don't hav -- we have a multifaceted aroach here. we are trying to help central government expand its ability to extend sovereignty to all parts of afghanistan that has been our strategq. but at the same time, all lot of the systems that deputy secretary luas talking about have to be developed at the

local vel. that will require cooperation with local autries so i do think that we will be engaging throughout afghanistan as we are able to stabilize the situation across the country and we wi be working wh the local leaders hopeful those selected through the free and fair means that yes that is a vitally important part of our strategy because ultimately if you are able to strengthen institutions at all levels as you are able to deliver effectivgovernment and services to the people, that's how you build credibili within the untry and that is going to be the best weapon that we have. >> [inaudible] -- many countries are now scheduled speech security by

their people. so what actions are being taken for those countries there to rebuild? >> well,hat we've described repeatly is not just a military strategy but military and civilian strategy in afghanistan as secretary les indicateds he observed in ghanistan we are looking po see increase in resoces that we have a ase extend serity through the country and as we stabilize different parts of the country it is widely important that we be able to deliver the kind of pport to the people of afghanistan, economic support, try to help them deal with these discourage of narcotics. were trying to do all those

thin. ultimately we will succeed if we are able t convince the afghan people that there is a government at the natnal level, the local level. that is working on their behalf dealing withorruption, as meeting the needs of the people, building institutions from schools to health care, you know, creating jobs. these are the way in which you build a stable society and that is the way that you ultimately defeated insurgency. >> ambassador holbroo said in an interview there is no need to be run off in t elections now so does that mean that [inaudible] >> i believe he was asked will there be a freeun and he said there will not be. [laughter] ambassador holbrooke did give intervieyesterday and he basically said look, let's let the process worked out. you've got the ectoral commission, theomplaints commission. they are doing their work.

i think yesterday there were a number of votes thrown out by the electoral bodies. buat ts point in time, i think he indicated he did not e there was any need for a new election. he thinkshe process these are in place we will eventually reached a result the afghan people will support this. >> there was a meeting yesterday secretary clinton the foreign minister to read to you have any readout? >> i don't. i think it was, as we described sterday, it was the meeting of one-on-one mini the minister d here in washington, d.c.. i think that among the topics discussed were ongoing cooperation on terrorism llowing up on the mumbai attacks and deepeng cooperation between the two countries.

speegap is their concern about pakistan on taking action on planning -- [inaudible] >> as we said many times whope pakistani authorities will continue the invtigationnd bring the perpetrators and attacks to justice. >> [inaudible] on the lebanese in israe border with the government of lebanon? >> will obviously we are aware and we strongly condemn these attacks which were clear violations of the secession of hostilities called for in u.n. security council resolution 1701. the instance along with the explosion of hezbollah weapons depot july 14th highlightr the urgent need to bring arm in lebanon under control of the state and need for the community to remain fully committed to supporting unifil which is the

mission. >> [inaudible] -- conversation yesterday since consensus of the mergedlong with the six party partners that the u.s., you know, would be epared to engage north korea bilaterally as a means t get back to the six-party talks. what have you now taken the decision whether he will accept e invitatiowith balls were to go? >> first and foremost, ambassador boswoth has returned as house ambassador kim. we have had conveatimns with our partne in the six party proces and as we have indicated we are prepared to enter into a bilateral discussion with north korea but it's important to characterize properly. it's a bilateral discussion that hopefully within the six party

of context is designed to convince north korea back in the six party process and take affirmative steps towards denuclearization. so given where we are, we, the united stas, other countries if through a bateral process we can bring them back tthe six party process. that is r objeive as we indicated we are prepared to do what we can to try to ing north korea back -- >> -- ort term measure as means to an end giving bac the six party -- >> -- consensu we are prepared to do that -- >> wouldhat include, with that step include sending kim to pyongyang? >> we will be tang some cisions in the next couple of weeks in light of the recen consultation. we arerepared to meet with north korea. when it will happen and where it will happen we have to wai t see.

we've made no decisions this int. we are prepared for a bilatal talk if that will advance the six party pcess. >> you have a mechanism the rth koreans have invited boswoth -- and given the consultations we have, given the invitation was extended we will make some decisions in the next couple of weeks and let yoe know. smithkline a couple of weeks? if you had this consultatioand you decided you are ready to talk to them and bring them ck, he was out there. why didn he just go there? >> obvio the u.n. general assembly will provide an opportunity and a high level for leaders to talk to the countries of the six party pross. ion't know if that wil happen -- it might have bn individually.

but president and secretary of state and others will have the opportunity to talk to all the countries in the six party process. so i would point to that as perhaps the next step. buwe are prepared for dialogu with north korea. >> are you willing to meet with the north korean [inaudible] >> i have -- there's nothing on he schedule that would suggest that's ,- >> i thought your policy was to not talk with north korea unless the six party -- >> to be any discussion we would have with north korea will be in the context ofhe six party process. the purpose of that discussion will be to try to convince north korea to return to a multilateral process and more specifically, to go back to its obligations in its agreement in 2005 to denuclearize. >> recently in rth korea you said the need to say they are

going to return to engage bilateral. this is a significant shift. >> it is not. it is simply bilateral discussion will lead us back to a sixth party process and why would we not do that? >> he said he had to agree to return to the talks befoe you would talk with them bilaterally. [inaudible] [laughter] you can read it. [laughter] >> [inaudible] -- about the five party pcess. could it be north korea supports that idea? >> the idea of? >> five party proceing. >> i do not envision a five party process. there's a sixth party process. there arfive countries on one side of the equation. there's one country on the other side -- >> becse north korea doesn't want to come back. >> and ambassador boswoth and as

per kim's trouble we have the ability to consult with the other parties, but i think -- what we are lookg for is to, you know, what we want which isn't a shift at all. it is a return to a sixth party process. and if a bilateral discussion can lead us back to a sixth party process, we think that is a legitimate means to a desirablend. >> five party talks and bilateral talksetween north rea -- [inaudible] [laughter] >> any comment about the announcementrom slovia a --

>> quite simply we welcome the breakthrough between croatia and slovenia aa part of the broad process of the new well lentic integration and regnal stability. we listen to the parties throughout the process and urged them to continue the path of dialogue. croatia and slovenia, we are a friend and ally of both countries and look forward to productive cooperation. yes, sir. >> was there and u.s. assistance and encouragement in the process so far, and are there any plans to help e negiations between slovenia and catia dn the ad >> well, i don't know -- we have had, you know, said it can conversations with both countries. to work out this arrangement we think is a win-win situation. and to the exten that we helped through some quiet scope for

diplomacy we are happy to play the part that the focus should be on these two countries and steps they' taken. yes? >> next month october 1st, china is having the 60 the anniversary of the founding. is t u.s. planning to send anyone? >> i will take the question. i don't know. >> can i ask on africa please? during the secretary's visit to africaecently, she had promised more weapons were on the way to somalia in addition to what was previously announced. there is connt that isn't at was discovered. >> the consent that government did not represent them. how do you address that attribution? >> to put it in context while she was on her trip to africa she met with the leader of the tse in nairobi. it was not in south africa.

there was a discussion not oy of the assistance the united stes isresently proving the u.n. mission being fulfilled by the african uni. i believe the troops are there. we've provided significant assistance to the t. feg and in the discussion with sheik sharif, she pledged to look at a wide range of potential aido somalia. the discussion itself centered on nonmilitary assistance to help expand the ability to deliver services to the somali people to prove its credibility and gain further support in the country and use that as an effective strategy to diminished poparity of galush bar. she did not talk about

additional military weapons as you said that we obvioly will continue to provide support to the u.n. mission in somalia. if we provide support to the tfg as we think somalia is to have a stable environment in the future. >> general, can i ask about the u.s. state deptment coordination, the department of defense on africom in general there have been reports that it is confusing and that bureau of african affairs hasn't been clear what the mission is. how do you describe -- >> i would refer to my colleagues, africom h a very specific, very narrow mission and what a doz africa. but clearly we havelose collaboration crossing the agency. the white house state department, the defense department, other agencies to try to find ways to deliver the

kind of assistance rican countries need where their assistance is military or particul nonmilitary assistance. we hear a lot coming in the future in food security. a l of that dcuion will be focused on africa. but -- there is a lot of confusion out there about the role of africom but clearly our focus is on the kind of assistance a range of afcan nations need, the work it continues to do in terms o resolving conflict,uilding up the capacity to govern, dealing with issues such as hiv/aids and other -- other diseases which handicap these societies

now an update on h1n1 floor. health and human svices cretary kathleen sebelius is joined by medical officials to discuss their activities inuding the status of h1n1 clinical vaccine tals. this briefing is about 40 minutes. >> good afternoon, and welcome, everne, to the weekly h1n1 iefing. we usually hold a briefing at the centers for disease control and prevention. but day w are glad to hosted here in washington. and i want to start b thanking the three doctors on the stage with me today.

drthony bouchi from the institute of allergy and infectious diseases, dr. jesse goodman from the food and drug administration and dr. ann fm the center of disease prevention for taking the time to join this afternoon. the s efforts to prevent the spread of the h1n1 virus are agency wide as ththree scientists with me indicate, and our efforts to combat the flu are government-wide but we are not going to talk about that effort to date. toda is about dr. fauci taking the lead on updating you on what we s as very encouraging news from the h1n1 clinical trials, and trials that manufacturers haveeen making not only in

this country or around the world. we are very encouraged by the data we have seen both in other countrieand re in thenited states. it appears we m need only one dose of the new vaccine for most healthy adults, and the vaccine we are producing is working extremely well. and that'sritically important news. americans who get their h1n1 ccine wi most likely be immunized and protected against the virus sooner than we thought. based on the previous assumption th everyone would need to go sis, we also thoht even those people who were getting the h1n1 vaccine wouldn't be fully immunized until thanksgiving. and it now appears that most of the folks have a robust immune response and eight to ten days from the date of the first vaccine which is very positive news. it shortens e window of worried and more people n be

protected much earlier. now that doesn't mean that we can let up on the flu prent activities. the flu is hitting many activities and we are seeing a lot of disease spread as schools and colleges have reopened. vaccinatn is an important tool but it's not the only tool to prevent the spread of the flu and we want to again relied folks about and watching, staying home when you are sic for those in a gup sting like colle dorms, isolating the six students from their roommas and classmates is very important to stop the spread of the disease. coughing into a tissue or your sleeve and having plans in place for backup child-car and work somployers and families know what to do whe someone gets sick. the news about the one dose and

adult trials is important because it not only has nsequences f ourverall h1n1 vaccine supply in the country th will impact the supp and around the wobld. the vaine that we have purchased will go further and helpless cover more people. and the good news -- this is good news, but there is still critical research going on involving children, and we don't have the data involving the clinical trials with childrenr pregnant women in terms of the required doses of the vaccine. so in the upcoming days, we will assess the data further and start to make critical distribution decisions. in the meantime, there are things americans can do right now to keep themselvas and their families safe fbom the flu. i.t.oined dckert of individuals and northn virginia and a seasonal flu clinic run by the medical research corporation in t. c.

williams school and caught my seasonal flu shot. and we want to remind everyone that yesterday we kick off the national campaign for the seasonal flu, and that we would strongly urge individls to access seasol flu vaccine as quickly as possible. we would love to raise the number of health care issues to have around 40% in terms of their pickup o the seasonal flu. we think t number should be higher and certainly anyoneho has an underlying health condition or elderly amecans should go ahead and take it vantage ofhe seasonal flu vaccine, which is available right now. children and on the adults are more susceptible to h1n1, and with the seasonal flu, the illness seems to target more seniors. but in the strea either of

these flu can cause severe illness and pregnant women, people with underlining health conditions or people with compromised immune systems. so again, getting the seasonal flu vaccine right away is a good idea. our number one msage to the better proction against the no flu and vaccine for yourself and e people aroundou. thisoday is very encouraging news about the production of h1n1 and the effectiveness of the vaccine thats under way and i want to now turn the floor over t dr. faucind dr. schuchat and dr. gdman will continue the conference. >> thank you very much, madame secretary. during the early days of dhe 2009 h1n1 influenza pandemic

that began last april there was considerable concern whether a vaccine would be in units genic and us in deed would induce what weould call a predictably protective immune response against the virus, in addition it was quite unclear how many doses would be required to induce such response and whether this cou bone without the use of autants. so clinical trials are an trrdinarily important part of the ongoing worldwide effort to develop vaccines tprotect th publicrom this virus and answer important questions regarding vaccineafety and and mutinous city. national instute of allergy and infectious diseas which is a part of hhs is currently implementing a series of vaccine trials, testing 2,009 h1n1 influenza vaccines in various populations including adults, the elderl children and pregnant women among oers.

data from the of trials will helpnswer important qions and inform the development of recommendations for the unid states as wl as global immunizationrograms including the oimal dose and the number of doses for different groups. ad launched peace on august 7th. through these vaccine treatment unit networks the vaccines being tested were manufactured by csl limited. the trl protesting to different dosages, 15 versus 30 micrograms and evaluating the the immune response to e or two doses of the vacne. it important to note these trials reach their target in all my very quickly and we thank the investigators involved for conducting these trials and applaud them for their work a well as expressing appreciation

for the volunteer participants inhe trial. and so recent reports of promising early data from trials being conducted by some of the company's that have devoped the 2009 h1n1 flu vaccine indicate tse vaccines are well tolerad and induce strong immune response and most of the adul when given in a single 15 microbe gramm those without adjuvant. the result of one of these alleged vented vaccine tals post on line by the new eland journal of medicine yesterday even in -- evin. i apleased to tell you the initial results from the nih sponr trials corroborate and reinforce the findings om the companies. preliminary data from the trials indicate that a single 15 micrograms of on advantage of vaccine is well tolerated and induces the immune response in

mostf the adults that is nerally predicted by otection. specifically when we evaluated the blo samples taken from th trial volunteers at the rather early time point of eight to ten days following the first dose the vaccine, we found the following: among healthy adults who receive a single 15-microgram dose of the synoptic vaccine, a drug bust any response detmined by a greathan or equal to what was measured 96% of adults aged 18 to 64, and 50% of adults age 65 and older or older and individuals. similarly among healthy adults, o receive a single 15-gram se of the limited vaccine robust immune response was measured and 80% of the adults

aged 18 to 64,nd by 60% of the elderly. as you can see for adults aged 65 and over the immune response of the vaccine is someat less robust. but this is not unexpected, as this is the case with seasonal influenza vaccines well. in summary, this is very good ne for the vaccination program. both with regard to t sply of the vaccine as well as its potentia efficac niaid will continue these on children and pregnant women which will be done- have begun later than the tals of walz. thank you and i will be happy to answer questions later. thank you. >> i am going to briefly update you on a situation with influenza and the h1n1 and the u.s. and the moderate the question and awer period. the flu season has started.

h1n1, the 2009 h1n1 virus never went away this summer, and right now we are seeing is increase and influenza-like activity. 98% of the viruses were circulating right now are the new h1n1. the levels of the f activities we are seeing right now and september are extremely unusual for this time of year. we have flu activitoccurring in all 50 states in the dirict of columbia there is widespread activity in 11 states, pmarily southeastern states but also including alaska, arizona, lahoma, and maryland. 3.6% of outpatient visits are for influence of recall like activity. that is much greater than he would usually see this time of yearver the national baseline that we hav in fact is also as high as we ever got ding thd last regular flu season.

the increase we are seeing in influence activities mainly in children a young adults. very consistent with what we saw last spring and what is going o through the summer. as we reported in an article yesterday, we are continuing to see a small number of tamiflu-resistant h1n1 strms. there hasn't been a lge change, it is just a handful we've detected but something we are keeping our eye on. we are also tracking school dismissals and there is very minimal school dismissal activity right now, which is good news. we don't think that is the best way to respond to influenza. currtly this week there we only for school dismissals in the whole country. one of them was a small school that primarily serve special needs children and that is quite consistent with the cdc guidanc issued inhe local decion making. just to alert those of you following th details of the

influenza 3-cd si's reports, we are changing our flu view influenza surveillance report, restarting clo august 38 or september 1st. so if you go to th place on the cdc website you will see a lot of details but it's sically starting the new season and numbers will look a little different than they did last week. i just wanted and singing the seasonal vaccine is available. as you heard secreta sebelius has already got in hers. we are expecting 115 mlion doses to be available this season and already 38 miion ha made their way out. we expect there's a lot in doctors' offices and clinics and pharmacies. but we know that as the flu season unfolds there may not be enough aolutely everywhere that you're looking for. so stay informed. people in the priority groups for the seasonal flu of course to incde seniors and we want

to make sure seniors know eventing influen is very importt. we hope u take advantage of getting your seasonal flu vaccine soon. the seasonal influenza will typically last all the way through may but we think this li to take the vaccine now and take it vantage of the availability. i just want to end by staging to the influenza is here mainly with h1n1 but we a expecting seaonal strains soon. let's to the questions. i.t. we can start with a queson from the phone to test the system in case it isn't working. okay. let's start with a questionn the room. it dn here. >> [inaudible] -- these results or a little bit lower than the immune responses reported by t indusy

sponsored studies claims that discrepancy? >> they are not actually -- i balieve the c was 96, a this was 90 something. ere's statiical -- >> i think the csl was 80% -- >> i think when you take 8-10 -- thap's a good question -- when you take and 8-10 de point, you are looking athe beginning of a curve that goes up, so it's entire conceivable that we would be seeing normalization of the doses. and alhe possibility of when you calibrate the amount of antigen and one versus the other there may bslight differences that can account for that. >> can i add o follow-up question to that? >> i would add one tng to that. if youon't want to pay too much attention to small differences in the number of e people that need certain types

across the board these are not -- they are different from one lab to another, and what we really pay attention to is there is substantial proportioof people that yield significant response rather than thectual number. >> there's really no difference. >> could you also discussed the resus in the people over 65 get a second dose if they needed or not? >>ot necessarily. the question here what about the results and people greater than 65, the result we are seeing is essentiay right on the money of what we see with seasonal flu vaccinations. the are no different. eldery indivuals have generally le of a response and there is no plan at this time to make changes in what we will be getting to elderly individuals. we want to study that further because that is an interesting way. can we make that better. but it's right in the ballpark with the seasonal flu responses are in elderly individuals.

>> hi there, sally with hih television. dr. fauci, i was wondering if you could tell have there bn any adverse side effects from the new h1n1? >> good question. there have been no significa adverse defense whatsoever. the vaccine is very well tolerated. thkind of things that you would expect with an injectable vaccine nafisi as the company's as a mattef swelling and read thisround the site of injection that is some clinically significan. so the answer to the question is no there haven't been any red flags of safety on any of the studies. >> to follow uon that, how can you know the long-term effects on the vaccine? >> that's a good question. when you're talking about long-term effects, you're probably talking about a very rare event. an when you look at for aance

there is really no clinical trl that you could possibly do before t fact that would pick up an event that would be one in 100,000, you would have to do a few million people. sohat is being done is the cdc is putting in place a rather bust sveillance program that looks following vaccination to make sure if there are any of these rare a chance that would only be picked up that that would be something we could pick upight away. >> there is intensified established for some of problems and an increasing in the systems th welrea have. so let's go to another question. let's trthe phone to make sure that it's working. is there a question on the phone? >> jn with science magazine. obviously it's good news a sinele dose leads to mmunity, but the president's council of advisers on science and

technology predicted that a pandemic what peaked in mid october, and several leading dels have also pointed to the 1957 pandemic that peaked in mid october when the vaccine didn't do any good. wh are your thoughts about the possibility the vaccine will se to ackley as several have predicted to help? >> john i will take a crack at it and i assure that jesse and ann will want t also. the model that you are referring to is the model in the science miers' thatorrect? >> it's one of them, yes. there's also the peak test model that they used to read >> first of all vacne in the mind of all bosses one of the most if not the most important countermeasure against influenza and protection against influenza. you've got to be careful that the models that are done are based on assumptions not necessarilall ofhich are going to predict exactly what is going to happe certainly we are prepared as

best as we can for the pandemic peaking at an early time. the vaccine, as you know, will be available in the large amot amount of the middle of october. the possibility it may be sooner, we hope. but the timing of things, as you know, that this was just determined and discovered in april. so the amount of time to make the vaccine is really i think que good but certainly there could clearly be peaks before people get vaccinate but there are other ways to mitiga this red, and i will ask a if you want to amplify on that. ..

>> the hanna is very much involved in helping mexico when the h1n1 broke out in mexico. fennell at it looks like le don't need as much maxine perhaps as we thought we might comeff what kind of the implications does this have for developing countries especially countries that could not get contracts with that vaccine maker? >> in general, the fact that you

can t in adults who are althy andlderly a robust immune response with a single dose as early as eight to ten days i think it's good news in general globally for the availability of vaccines so in essence, it mitigates some of the problees that we are talking about when you talk about decrease, not decrease but inadequate supplies for everyone sot is good news in that direction. as the secretary and i mentioned it is helpful with the supply of vaccine so not onlyhe fact that it is in you genetic which we are delighted by that fact but it also ha implications for the supply. >> a question by the phone? >> hi, this is kate with the americanournalis health system pharmacy. thanks for taking my question. ght now the h1n1 virus is the only virus circulating in the u.s. essentially but the only vaccine that is out there is for

the seasonal strength so i was wondering if he could give us detail on the specific clinical benefits this fall of having t cecil vaccine for those drains out there right now? >> certainly i will answer your question and we can have an amplified a bit. the ft that the virus is not circulating now is absolutely no reason not to get vaccinated for the seasonal flu. i would hope he would be vaccinated apropos of the previous question before these viruses start circuting so that by the time they do you will have a very adequate emission response, particularly as was underscored byhe secretary and by ann particularly these seasonal flu vis-a-s the elderly becau we know the are 36,000 deaths each year inhis country due to seasonal flu, the vast, vast majority are wch amo the elderly so we feel if that is

the vaccine that is available, go out and get vaccinated with seasonal flu nowhat the vaccine is available. >> this secretary-- [inaudible] >> i am going to han that question over to jesse goodman because th is an issue that would be involving-- >> ihink as people who have covered flu vaccine and have been involved in the race to get it ready, which really occurs every year and has a special-- i can say there is always a lot of uncertainty for when things are

ready. we are working to get as ch ready asarly as possible b at the same time of the care and its pduction and oversight, the testing of the vaccine in termsf its potency and sterility, these a all critical factors. the bottom line is the vaccine that we are confident in becomes ready we willry to make it available in the goal all along has been to make it availae as early as possible but reprojection might now be on that october 15th continues to look like a reasonable targ for a substantial amoult of vaccines. to g beyond that i would just say we certainly are trying to do what we can to get some available earlier. including decisions that were made as has been mentioned previously to fill and finish and producvaccine even before we have this information about those, so we went with what we thought was the most likely those and fortunately that is looking good. >> back to the phone.

anyone on the phone? >> my name is jennifer and i am with dow jones. i have two questions. just a quick updat i've heard you been using the 40 million those figures are available and i am just wondering if that is still the estimate and the second one i am just wondaring if u can explain biology of why do you may need to doses of the vaccine >> okay, so the first question is that the expectancy for the amount of those that we were predicting would be available in mid october. there is no change onhat. till is on the market t we are expecting. from a broader standpoint, the need for two doses, if there is a need for two doses in a particular group, is nerally due to the fact that the immune system when it is saying something for the first time, that it surely has never seen before as is t case with their

young children who don have the years ofxperiencend exposure to various microbes, in this case influenza, that the immense stem needs what w call a-- getting it ready for the response for the first us and then a boost, which is why we refer to it as the bush sought and that is the thing gets it up to the level of where someone has had experience with the verret virus itself or some cross reaction component of the virus or even some prior vaccinations that should only need one dose because the immune system is already geared up to get you to the level that you need to be for protection and that is the diffarence and the reason why in some populations we need to doses. >> okay, thank you. >> yes. >> hello? i am sorry. >> in the room and then we will get back to the phone. >>endy thank you will have

trial results from the pregnant women and children? >> the pregnant women, the are two separate trials. the pregnant women essentially arted a couple of days ago and as we had mentioned when you are dealing with this you te ia week or so to get people accrued on the trial. you have to it a certain number of days so we will probably be getng, by the time we get enough people on the trial to be able to make an intelligent determination somewhere into late october. th regard to the children, the children are lagging behind the adults only becaqse we started them about ten to 12 days later, so we expect that ten to 12 days later than what we are doing now is going to be about two weeks will get preliminary data on the children. phone? anyone on the phone? >>an you hear me?

jennifer smith of the sta. i have a question and i have a foll-up. this is the very beginning part of this so you were saying something concerning the availability and i am wondering if that is a new surveillance system or ithat enhanced with-- and then i have a follow-up. >> let's answer that question first. there are just to mention that the question was about what is the safety surveillance system and is there something new being done there? first of all safety surveillance for vaccines routinely, theyre probably the most intensely udied approve or products th there are and it is aoint fda, cdc enterprise and youentioned there is which is an important place that providers, tients and parents can rept events to including on the phone and over the internet. that is what we call passive reportin where somebody thinks something might be related to a

vaccine d we investigate a of those together with the cdc. that system is up and has actually been enhanced for this event because we anticipate there may be repor that are important to follow up quickly. we have number of systems some which are true pinneering systems and health care for looking for adverse events. cdc has developed with the number of health plans that follows pple who are on health plans were there are electronic records. that allows us to capture all their help the events and for this, becase of the possibility of widespread distribution of a lot of vaccine in a short time period we are also using a number of other relationships and database some of which are new including by working with health insurerin the private sector, working with other departments, the government cluding the department of defense and cms simply to get as much data as we psibly can. so this is both very important to be able to attract potential

concerns and i is also related to better systems that will help us in the future in gener. >> i just want to add a little bit to that. many people have heard of where neurolicroblemled guillion barre syndrome. that is something that was found in 197 associated with the vaccination at that point and that is on people's minds, so it is a very rare condition but something we want to be ready for. guillion barre system can follow respiratory infections like influenza anit can also follow gonorrheal infections but in 1976 of also followed the vaccination with the flu at that point, so we are setting up a new very active surveillance system for guillain-barre raises some but the number of state health departmel say that we have an eye on tha we may qee more guihlion barre

syndrome because we may see a lot more flu than usual but we wanto know whether the vaccine has any link at all with that. we don't expected because the seasonal flu vaccine does not have a consistent with that condition but we want to be on the lookout for it so th is one of the systems we have set up for the condition. >> io want to add something here that we are all ver consciouof and part of the reason these systems have been set up, which is as a physician we see many people you have many illnesses that devop even in the absence of vaccination so we would certainly expects a new vaccine gets rolled out and we see this every year, even with isting vaccines, that there may be adverse events that occur after immunizatio many of these would occur without the immunization that we want t hav a system that help us detect ones tat are truly related to it so it is sorting out the things that will occur any how from things that could be uneected rare offence from

this vaccine. a very important thing is that in terms of its manufacturing, its quality and the oversieht of those, these a, this flu vaccine and the different companiesaking it are using processes inacilities and products in the hundreds of millions of people over at least a couple of decades. one more question. yes. >> my understanding was in terms of tcking who was, who became sick with h1n1 versus the seonal flu, the testing has ended so when you say 96% of people getting sick right now are h1n1 how do you know that? my next question is since there will be no testing and if this does, later after a peak in the season, if my children or if i, and we know it is the flu how do we know that it is then the

swine flu and therefore is it necessary to go and get a vaccife if we don't know what kind of fluid is because we are not been tested for? >> ann lamps evette. you don't need to test every person when you know what is in the community from sentinel testing so you have to be careful you don't confuse tho two. >> basically run we have really take us inside what it's like to be certain players that are brought in, pro bowl defensive lineman marcellus wiley. again, to really put you in the crease. to start us off, what does it feel like to be a rookie, week one of your very first nfl season? it's the toughest transition because when you're a rookie, you've been on a big stage before and the bright lights. this is the biggest stage and the brightest lights. you're talking about that first drive to that first regular regular-season game and that kickoff when you're just

thinking, i don't know what to expect. trust me, you're not going to know what to expect because the speed of the preseason does not prepare you for the speed of the regular season. so everyone is going to be out there, and they're going to feel comfortable, these veterans. this is just another season, another kickoff, but for you, this is the beginning. trust me, things are going to be flying around, guys flying around. that entire playbook that you spent training camp learn, you're going to forget on that first play and say, i don't know what's going orange but it's always a fun time. >> one of the rookies that people are expecting a lot out of, pat white withfinal dolphins. they have game against atlanta. put us in the crease of john abraham. pro bowl defensive end banged up in camp. you see pat white in the wildcat offense. what's your responsibility? >> you're going to be concerned because pat white is perfectly curtailed for the wildcat offense. at the quarterback position, he is not just a guy that can beat you with his legs but beat you with his arm. if you're john and aham the first thing you're thinking, is this ball is not getting snapped to a normal quarterback. this ball is being snapped to a

playmaker some everything will develop that much faster. the photos you have to take mentally as a defender, you have to develop that much faster if you're going to make play on the ball. so no more handing it off from the quarterback to the running back and giving you time to see how the play develops. no. as soon has the ball is snapped, it's in the playmaker's hands and he's taking off. >> another defensive lineman like you, a sack master, this one in seattle, patrick kearney. 14.5 sacks two years ago, slipped to five last year. he's going to be rushing the passer and trying to stop stephen jackson as the seahawks face the rams. if you're patrick kearney and stephen jackson has the ball, what do you do in >> you don't try the arm tackle him. he's had issues with his shoulder. those bigger, strong backs like a stephen jackson, do not stick your arm out there because it might not come back. the toughest thing is for patrick kearney, obviously he's coming off his own physical ailment. he's going to be mentally preoccupied with, that but also dealing with the rushing attack

of the rams. you got a call on your boys now. dion grant, come down at the strong safety position. be that eighth man in the box. aaron curry, your rookie, low fatah to pew, help me out, guys. i need to rally around this big back because he's dangerous between the tackles and he's fast enough to be dangerous once he breaks into the open. >> seahawks defense fell apart and kearney one of the big reasons why. when help was good, they were good. when he was bad, they were bad. john henderson didn't have jack del rio in the best framed in the spring. del rio got after him for mott being tough enough. if you're john henderson, veteran d-lineman and you're staring down peyton manning, what's on your mind? >> he's a bold guy to tell a 6'7", 330-pound guy, "you're soft." i think that's all behind them now. you see peyton manning in front of you. first thing is you have to be patient because peyton manning will come to the line, order pizza, go on direct tv. he's going to do a lot of stuff

with his audibles and play calling and recognition of the defense. but if you're john henderson, you know you are mammoth defensive tackle, so the first thing you have to do is get pressure, pressure up the middle because peyton manning, he's mobile, but he's not a fast athletic quarterback. so therefore pressure up the middle makes him use his legs and get outside the pocket, where he's not as dangerous as he will be just sitting back there feeling comfortable. so john henderson, put one were to of those big paws up in the air and then just see what happens from there. >> now we take you away from the defensive line. let's say you're darren sharper, strong safety, four-time pro bowler now playing for the saints, who host the detroit lions, who are starting matthew stafford, a look kirk at quarterback. you're sharper, the strong safety, what are you doing? >> you're getting your fishing pole out and grabbing bait. you're baiting this rookie on every single play. you're going out there and disguising coverages. you're making him think it's cover two when it's going to bem two deep. then you develop into a

different coverage and he's going to say, what's going on bi because you're a veteran. you're comfortable in this situation. this is not your first rruodeo,h but it is for matthew stafford.. so matthew stafford is going tot see a lot of things that are going to look one way presnap before the ball is snapped and then after the ball is snapped when he goes through his progression, he's going to realize, they showed me something different, a different coverage, different disguises. all that is going to fall into the favor of darren sharper and the saints. >> put us in your... well, they won't be cleats. they'll be $1,000 loafers. >> yeah, baby. >> it wasn't that long ago go you were playing. when the season is about to start in full on that first sunday, what's going through your mind? >> i'm retired. this is my third year retired. uh always get a little jealous of the guys still out there because you always think you still got it. i don't. i'm al bundy in the situation. i'm always getting to think, that peg, but i don't have it. i am going to be watching to see the emotions of the guys because this is the best time of the year for me when you see a guy that goes out there from the new

england patriots or pittsburgh steelers all the way down to the detroit lions, they're 0-0. these guys are going out there all thinking that at the end of the season they have chance to hold the lombardi trophy. it's not true for every team out there obviously. only one does it. but the this is the best time because everyone is thinking they can. >> more drama around the country for the national football league this week than any other. marcellus wiley, we appreciate you hanging out with us on espnews. >> all right. let's do it! >> coming up, nascar sprint cup points leader tony stewart joins us from the site of tomorrow's race in richmond for

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>> espnews brought to you by:. >> richard seymour is on the clock. the raiders' defensive lineman has until next tuesday to report to the raiders as oakland says they sent their five-day letter yesterday. the nfl players' association is now reviewing the letter sale to seymour to see what each party's rights are. >> a federal appeals court ruled today vikings' defensive tackles kevin and pat william, not related, can play, while they await a postseason trial to overturn a four-game suspension for violating the nfl's substance abuse policy. both tested positive for a

banned substance last year. the nfl has released a statement and it is scathing. "the real losers today are the players on 31 other clubs who no longer live under the same rules as players on the minnesota vikings. as a result of the nfl players' association's failure to stand behind the program, it negotiated with the league, the most respected program in sports has been put in jeopardy by the nfl union's silence and today's ruling." the union yet to respond. >> what to watch for on saturday. it will be a mad dash to the finish in the nascar sprint cup at richmond. only four drivers have secured a spot in the chase. so the final eight spots will be determined tomorrow evening. coverage from richmond begins at 7:00 p.m. eastern on abc. so tony stewart, jeff gordon, jimmie johnson and denny hamlin are the only ones with a spot guaranteed. not even mark martin in tenth

place there and kyle busch in 12th, they both have nose victories this season, four, not even they are guaranteed a spot. so far, of course, after the race at richmond, we will have press conferences right here with the winner on espnews. >> second round of the third leg of golf's four tournament playoffs, the b.m.w. championship at cog hill, about half an hour from chicago, there's tiger woods. you knew he would be in the highlight. you didn't know how well he would play today. he bogeyed his first hole on 18. then he makes the turn at nine. tiger, short third shot rolls up about a foot short. he'd tap in for birdie the move to five under. on 11 in sand, on green. had a run there of four birdies in five holes. now on 17, tiger with another birdie opportunity, and banks it. finished seven under tied for the lead. how about paddy harrington. his whole year was terrible right up until the week before the pga championship. and all of a sudden he has found

his game. but here he finds the green's keeper's hut. he had to replay the tee and bogeyed 18 to finish at six under. so he's one back of woods and former north carolina tar heel mark wilson. good day for the tar heels. michael jordan and now mark wilson. he shares the lead with tiger woods. wilson has only won twice in his ten-year career. woods has won more than that. cubs and reds. top of the fifth, chicago 4-1. not anymore. johnny gomes with two on, brings two home. he's got 19 home runnings this season, 14 since the all-star break. that his only hit of the game. aramis ramirez had three hits in the game. chicago the 5-4 lead. ramirez singled three times, knocked in three runs. bumps his average up to .315. the real highlight of the game comes here with the squirrel

going airborne. look out, reds. final score, 6-4, squirrel won. stay current. the bucs say they won't match the $16.4 million deal ramon sessions got with the timberwolves. two tar heels football players will not play against connecticut tomorrow because they've been diagnosed with the swine flu. chipper jones reportedly considering retirement and the u.s. open had more rain today, so it's all been postponed, both women's semifinals and rafael nadal postponed until tomorrow. top stories coming up on espnews. espnews. it's the basketball hall of fam.

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after a wild finnish dc yesterday, nats fly south looking to build off a memorable debut. >> he gets a breaking ball and goes deep to left! see you later! the rookie hits a three-run homer in his first major league game! a desperate marlins team awaits clog for postseason positioning. september in

florida next on masn 2. september in south florida always calling for late afternoon thundershowers or possible thundershowers. there's a scene outside of the beautiful land shark stadium in south florida in miami. yes, those are empty seats. you can catch a flight and be dowt loudoun in about two hours. the ballgame tonight as the nationals begin a series down in florida. celebrated his 25th anniversary breaking into major league baseball. deep pox, ray knight. how about that win for our guys? wasn't that a great ballgame? >> i'm still exhaling. a lot of things happening. young players performing well, johnny. finally getting a break. ball coming off the backstop back to the catcher not allowing a run to score and then a double play turned as we were able to bring in the left-

hander villone making a move to take macdougal out of the game. great job by riggleman who manages by his gut. >> they do make it interesting, don't they? with an 8-2 win, the nationals come back to win it 8-7. how about ian desmond signed at 17, he's 23 now wait for his opportunity. he came through big time. >> he hit four rockets. first hit ball to center field a double right there to elijah and a big home run on a hanging breaking ball he hit way deep underneath the red porch. that ball was probably 420-plus feet. one of the longest home runs this year. flew out his next at-bat. very energetic kid a lot like nyjer morgan. he hustled all the way from first base on a play, second base on a play and almost scored. creeltd a lot of excitement. there's an air about him i think. >> he also sets a franchise record. nobody in franchise history ever had more than three rbi's

making their major league debut. as you see, ian had four last night. he talked with the media afterwards. yes, it's been a long time coming. the kid never gave up though. >> i felt great. the ball was just crystal clear. i felt like the lights were just -- everything was so clear. i don't know. felt good. >> what do you do for an encore? >> we'll see. hopefully something like that. we'll see. >> were you nervous at all? >> after the first pitch of the game, i kind of settled in. it was good. i played behind him before. i think he was comfortable with me. game kept moving eye guess when you you talk about playing 638 games in the minor leagues, that is paying your dues big time. >> yeah and two operations within a year, i don't know johnny on his ham mock bone. first time they didn't remove it. second time they removed it in spring training. he had just 348 at-bats due to that. what a great year he had. >> a couple years ago, we were sitting here tubing ian desmond if you recall.

he was talking about visualizing himself in the major leagues kind of like john lannan made it up to the major leagues. let's go back and remember that conversation. >> there's always a possibility in this organization, you're right. people just go like john lannan, he was with the -- at the beginning of the year, he was in the big leagues on thursday. so, it's amazing how fast you'll move newspaper this organization. it makes you think if i can break out, i can have a chance. it feels good. >> would i say breaking out is -- he broke out last night big time. >> he made a statement too about seeing the ball better. johnny, my experience in the minor leagues, i never hilt higher than .285 in the minor leagues and hit .270, .268, .280. when i came not big leagues, i became a .300 hitter because i saw the ball so much better. they throw pitches in better spots. they throw more quality pitches and have better command of the changeup. you see the ball so much better. ian said that f you're not

overwhelmed by the big league situation and all the hoopla, you can hit the ball up here better. no question about it. >> i think he found out last night the lights are better at nationals park than the lights are when you're playing for the syracuse chiefs. let's go down to somebody who is always lights out. that's debbi taylor down in south florida and you had a chance to visit with tomorrow night's starter, marco estrada. >> that's right. he put up good numbers in syracuse. he was 9-5 with a 3.63 e.r.a., but now the nationals want to see if he can do that at the big league level. earlier, i did talk to him about making his first big league start. >> i just really excited. i mean, there's really not much i can say right now because i've never started before, but obviously you're excited. you want to go out there and do a good job for your team, give them a chance to win. so, we'll see what happens tomorrow. it's excited. very excited. >> you were 9-5 at syracuse. mike rizzo told me you really earned this start. he really liked the fact you

didn't complain about not being one of the guys called up earlier in the season when they needed some starting pitching. he said you've really handled your job with the right add tuite -- attitude. where does that come from? >> i mean, i always figured obviously you have to earn everything you receive kind of. i go about things that way and really didn't think about it early in the year, but i'll be honest. towards the end, i was getting a little worried because i didn't hear anything. towards the end, i kind of started asking some guys what's going on, what's the deal. starting september, no one has been called up. that kind of sucks. you still have to go out and do your job, you know. >> last time you were up here last time in late august, you came and worked out of the bullpen. now you're going to get the opportunity to start. how much of a difference is that for you being back as a starter? >> well, last year it's pretty much my first time being in relief. to have to do it at the major

league level, it's a pretty big difference. for me, being a starter is mentally i feel much better because i know when i'm going to pitch. i know when i have a bullpen. you know, everything is set out there for you. as a reliever, it's kind of -- it could be any day. any day you can be called upon and it could be back to back days. you could get up and get loose and you might not go in. mentally, i feel much better now. i feel kind of at home, you know just getting ready to start now. >> what do you have to do to be effective as a starter? everyone keeps saying how your stuff so good. >> i mean, you just keep the ball down. the biggest thing is keeping the ball down. obviously, you don't want to get too much of the plate. if you do, like i said, if you keep the ball down, you should be all right. i know obviously these guys are the best hitters in the world. if you can keep the ball down and just try to locate, you should be fine, and just go

from there. i really don't know what else. >> you have faced them before. you faced them last year. does that help you a little bit as you prepare to face them tomorrow? >> no -- i don't know. it's just a different mindset. like i'll have more -- i guess more of a scouting report. we'll go over them tomorrow. i'll know every hitter. i just faced three guys last year, so it's kind of hard to remember what they did and what pitches they made to certain guys. tomorrow, i'll get a good scouting report on them and just kind of know what to pitch. >> pitching coach steve mccatty told me too that he really wants marco estrada totrust his stuff, pitch to contact and he should be ok. i think marco gets into a little bit of trouble when he anybody else too much and tries to be too fine. back to you, johnny and ray. >> debbi, thank you very, very much. time for the stay in the game hold of the day brought to you by just for men hair color. look at marco estrada's

numbers, 11 games, no record of -- noted. 0.0 -- 0-0. e.r.a. of 7.82. he's walked five, struck out 10 and he has three holds to his credit. just as marco has kept the nats in the game, you too can stay in the game with just for men hair color. we'll take a break and come back and talk about tonight's starters. j.d. martin and josh johnson after this. ♪

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the time, but jeed might be the guy to -- j.d. might be the guy to be called on as he's thrown extremely well over the last month and a half he's been our most consistent pitcher. he's gone into the sixth inning at least four times out of his last five starts only giving up six hits and no more than four runs in any start with two runs and two starts, three runs and one, none and one and one run in another. he's been very, very consistent. great command, good krohn control of that curve ball and seems to know what he's doing throughout. >> look at his numbers on the road, ray. pretty good numbers. 2-2 on the road. 3.91 his two times he's faced the marlins this year, no decision either game ealso has a presence on the mound. he's 26 years old. he's had time in the minor leagues. enough time 500 plus innings pitched. he's a guy that seems to be in control of himself out there. doesn't have a lot of emotional ups and downs. just really steady and that's what i think of him. i think of him as a very steady

performer throughout. >> he's going up one of the best in the business joshs 14-4 undefeated in 10 appearance against the nationals. >> josh is in the top 12 in strikeouts, innings pitched, strikeouts per innings pitched, batting average against and wins. he's a kid that comes off tommy john surgery, won eight games last year and can throw 97 miles per hour and dominate with you his breaking ball. doesn't throw a lost off-speed pitches. almost everything hard. he's 6'7", 250 pounds. he's quite a force out there. and really worked himself into being one of the best pitchers in the league. >> josh getting his 29th start. he has more starts against the nationals than any team. there you see his record, e.r.a. 3.04. look at the innings he's pitched this year. strikeouts compared to walks, he doesn't walk anybody. >> doesn't walk anybody. 3-1, good control for a guy who has that big of delivery and strikes out a lot of people. >> we're going to take a break and continue more of "nats

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let's take a look. >> the jim riggleman's lineup card tonight. got a .324 batting average. career high four hits against the cardinals in st. louis a couple weeks ago. he's played 1 games for the nats, six rbi's, 1-5 with a triple last night against the philadelphia phillies. willie harris leads off in center field. cristian guzman at short tonight. ryan zimmerman at third. done dunn in the cleanup spot at first followed by josh willingham in left. elijah dukes in right. theodore, the -- pete orr the second baseman with the .324 batting average and wil nieves catching and j.d. martin. pete orr works out to a .358 average. hanley ramirez for the florida marlins, shortstop batting

third. all-star shortstop for the fish. 96 rbi's. he's on pace to drive in 116 runs for the marlins. batting average, you'll see it in just a moment. leads the national league in batting with .359 average. there's the lineup for florida. chris coghlan leads off in left field. nick johnson at first. hanley ramirez at third. jorge cantu will be at third. john baker catching. dan uggla at second base. cody ross in right. cameron maybin in center field and josh johnson on the mound tonight for the marlins. who says you can't go home? livan hernandez started with the nationalities, went to the fish, came back. who says you can't come back and be productive once you leave a ball club. phil wood with diamond dust. >> the winner livan hernandez was the first in a washington uniform since august 1, 2006 when he beat the giants. livan was traded to arizona a week after that and returned to the club this year after stints with the diamondbacks, the twins, the rockies and the

mets. the old expression you can't go home again never hasn't always applied to baseball. the senators did it with great regularity in the old days. players like mickey vernon, george cayce, seaver, all left washington only to return sometimes to finish their careers. vernon actually returned a third time to manage the club in 1961. going back further, lucky harris managed the old nats. he he won the world series his first crack out of the box in 1924. left to manage the tigers. then the white sox. came back and stayed through '42. he left again and won a world series with the yankees in '47 and came back to manage with the nats. he never managed a full season a total of 18 campaigns overall. luis gozman came and went as well. inbetween stops in dc, played for the browns and tigers. we all know franklin roosevelt

was elected president four times, but newsome did five different turms terms in the pitching staff. he won 61 games in a nats uniform. livan hernandez never wanted to leave the nats in the first place and they finally granted his wish to return last month. whether he comes back in 2010 is up to mike rizzo. we'll see how much desire counts in this game. >> thank you so much. 10 months ago today a-deal involving the marlins and the nationals took place. the nats acquired scott olsen, josh willingham from the fish and the marlins get p.j. dean, jake smolinski and emilio bonifacio. let's go down to south florida at the ballpark. there is our friend mark zuckerman of the "the washington times" levels talk about this deal. seems like the nationals may have got best of this deal. >> yeah, i think it's pretty hard to say at this point they didn't and that's even with scott olsen missing most of the season. look what willingham has become. it's funny when they first acquired him and went into spring training, he was pretty

much their fifth outfielder and he's turned instead a mainstay at left field a long term corner piece as the number five hitter and bonifacio as great as he was that opening day against the nats and really for the first week of the season, since then he hasn't done hardly anything. his average is about .250. his on base at .300. they kind of made him into a utility guy now. if he comes back healthy next year, i think the nats would got the boift that have deal. >> going for one second baseman to the possibility of another second baseman. what have you heard about the possibility of guzman moving to second base? >> well, mike rizzo and jim riggleman met with cristian guzman yet. they told him there's a possibility they would ask him to move to second base next year. it wouldn't happen till the offseason. it's going to depend on what they do otherwise in a free agent market and possible trade market. they decided they need to acquire another middle

infielder. that could be a second baseman. it could be a shortstop if there's nor guys -- more guys available there. if it is, cristian guzman will move to second. they feel like he is in the picture one way or another. they feel like at this point in his career that he might be better suited as a second baseman. he's lost some of the range. guzman was kind of taken aback by it. he didn't want to talk about it today. ultimately as rheaume riggleman said, it's not really his call. if it's best for the team, he'll play second base next year. >> we saw scott olsen yesterday at the ballpark. he was in street clothes and all. what's the latest on his continual progress and how is he getting with the rehab stuff? >> well, yeah, he is throwing some. he's going up to viera after this weekend and keep work out there as the instruction week starts up. it's a tough thing to come back from labrum surgery. in some ways almost worse than an elbow surgery. they feel lyme like he'll be 100% for spring training. the question is do they bring him back or not? he's arbitration eligible.

because of the rules, he's required to make at least $2.4 million. if you're the nats, do you make that investment? i think everything given that happened this year and the younpitchers, they see how quickly they can go. they need reliable guys who can throw 200 innings. scott olsen is a guy like that. i think they'll look to bring him back and hope he fits into the milled of the rotation somewhere. >> $2.24, only a million more than zuckerman makes. thank you very much down there in south florida. cristian guzman works that be interesting. would you sit down and explain it to him whatever is best for the ball club, i think he'll be able to -- >> i think he's a team player. i think it would be a tremendous move to do that. he's got the bat. he can dive at balls at second base and make the throw to first. his problem is his range to his left has decreased. you're not going to find a better offensive second baseman. i think he can be easily talked into making that move and it should be something he embrace.

we do need a better defensive shortstop with more range. >> as we continue with our series of 20 players and 20 road games, we'll spotlight on a guy also from florida down in south florida. the reliever sean burnett. all that and more when we come back after these messages. these bags right here-- they fly free! i wouldn't pay to fly in here. why would these airlines charge for bags? why do you charge for bags? what's a flight without bag fees? about a hundred bucks cheaper. free, free, free, free, free, free, free. we love taking care of bags. bye, bags! we'll see you when you get home. ♪ ( ding ) ♪

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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. welcome back "nats xtra" pregame on masn. josh johnson looking around saying i have to face a pretty good ball club coming off a good win. tomorrow night's game against the marlins starting at 6:10 because of mlb restrictions we'll joint game at 7:05 on masn hd. follow the game live on masnsports.com. our series 20 players in 20 road games, tonight we feature another native floridian, the left-hander sean burnett. just throwing strikes.

i know what i'm capable of. >> in major league baseball, one of the most important elements of a winning team is a consistent lefty out of the pen. jiewj june 30, mike rizzo bolstered the nats bullpen by acquiring sean burnett from the pirates. >> the key was trying to get off to a good start. i was fortunate to do that. >> in his first full month with the nats, burnett spompted a 0.75 e.r.a. and has continued to make his bosses look -- bosses look good all season long. >> got him on the corner! >> so far, so good for the florida native. >> things will be very good leer in the near future. >> 2010 hopes to be more of the same for the nats and burnett. >> i've been getting guys out and putting up zeros. going to keep going out there and trying to keep it rolling. >> ray, when you take a look at the bullets hitting against sean, .165, good number. >> he has a devastating fastball when he gets on top of

it. it's sharp, quick. it doesn't sweep. it bites. when he's had trouble, he's not gotten on top it have. he has a good, explosive fastball. he'll be a late-inning matchup guy. he's still very young. great, young arm after being a starter and really the top prospect in the pirates organization for a long time. they gave up on him. put him in the bullpen and he's been able to shine. >> that's that first really major deal that mike rizzo pulled off to get nyjer morgan from pittsburgh. >> it will go down as being maybe the best trade that mike rizzo ever made for this kid. quality left-hander. you just don't find them and outstanding defensive fielder that can get on base and fly. >> the nats against the marlins, 4--- 4-11. they were 4-5 here in washingtonment down in florida, they're 0-6. they're due to snap the baby tonight. >> you can't lose them all. i think somebody said that one time. you can't lose them all. you can't win them all. time to win one. >> we hope you'll be wuts

throughout the ballgame. joins for "nats xtra" post game. for ray knight, i'm johnny holliday. thank you for joining us. just around the corner, bob carpenter and rob dibble. enjoy nats baseball. ♪ ♪ (tucci) only at&t has the best selection of full keyboard phones. like the lg neon, just $29.99 after mail-in rebate.

but it wasn't what i wanted to do, and i thought, i don't want to do this for the rest of my life i probably don't want to do it tomorrow. i told my dad, "i want to start a brewery." i told him, "i think you're crazy." i started sam adams with boston lager to make rich, flavorful beer. and he went and sold it one bottle at a time. no one had tried an american beer that had that kind of flavor. boston lager really was a groundswell. there's that saying, "do something you love "and you'll never work "a day in your life." i don't feel like i've worked for 24 years.