>> bob: marlins lead the se series 11-4 over the nats. it's a 2-2 ballgame in the bottom of the third inning. j.d. martin, one mistake early in the count to hanley ramirez. other than that, pretty solid. >> rob: i think it's one mistake for each guy. josh johnson made an opposite field mistake to dunn and j.d. martin made one mistake to hanley ramirez. now it's keeping up with josh

johnson. if he throws a zero up there, if you're j.d. martin, try to match -- j.d. drew, try to match him 0-0, try to stay with him as long as possible. try to make him throw deep counts. hopefully, we can get josh johnson out of the way by about the sixth inning. >> bob: johnson is a big, strong hitter. he's hit three home runs this year. >> rob: when i talked to him e- talked about in college he had some excellent aches, former minor leaguers, former big home% run hitters and they taught him how to hit the opposite way. >> bob: you throw one out over the plate, he'll do what he did at nationals park and put it out rip. it was j.d. martin on august 4, rob, that he did just that. >> rob: well, he tries to just put wood on the ball.

he's so big and strong. you see him take off. that ball is launched into the bullpen. i said this before about even our pitches. you have to swing the bat and try to make contact. good things will happen sometimes when you do. just stand there and fall behind, take a couple of strikes and then have him throw the bat out there at a breaking ball or something woe, you're going to be in trouble. >> bob: nine hits this year. three of them home runs. he jacks that ball right pass the glove of guzman. good play by willingham. josh dove to keep that ball from going to the wall for a double. >> rob: don't want to give up a leadoff double to the pitcher. top of the order coming up. we know how tough cohas been on our pitchers. josh johnson, fastball away. it's a little bit up. great hustle right there by willingham cuing it off. getting it back in quickly as it didn't look like josh johnson was going to try and go

for a double. >> bob: top of the order, chris coghlan strowblght swinging. >>: that ball -- struck out swinging. >> rob: that baltimore was hit on the -- that ball was hit on the screws. big boy, 6'7", 260 pounds. >> bob: adam dunn plays behind the runner. the count is even, 1-1. >> rob: big matchup. >> bob: wow.   >> bob: lou how big he is l at jim reynolds between those

two guys. that's ok. reynolds can boss them around anytime he wants. he's the umpire.   chris coghlan is not that big of a guy, but he has been large for this ball club this year. not even on the radar at the beginning of the season. a 24-year-old rookie who goes 6'1", -- 6-1, .190. he took the job from emilio bonifacio who didn't do a lot to keep his job. that was interesting. pete orr stopped. so did the runner. he still had a play at second base, but he got the sure one getting coghlan. not sure why josh johnson paused there because he was behind pete orr. >> rob: well, i'm sure josh johnson is not on the base pads that often. he does go deep every now and then. he has driven in a few runs, but probably not the best base

runner. saw pete orr stare him down, he he stopped. pete decided to say we'll let the pitcher run the bases right now. >> bob: i wonder if he thought he was running into a quick tag and a double play so he pulled up. that didn't happen. pete went to firstment he got be a out -- an out. that's the important thing. nick johnson who walked and scored ahead of the ramirez home run coming up. high in the air to deep center field. account ballpark hold it? dukes will. >> rob: he left way early. >> bob: did he? maybe the nats should appeal. he's at third base with two outs. i don't see anybody point to go second base. maybe there will be someone. wil nieves is looking into the dugout. we'll see if the nats do anything about that. nick johnson nearly missing a home run on the barrel of his bat. let's see if j.d. martin steps up on the rubber and then turns and throws to

second. now, they're going to walk ramirez, so once they've made that pitch, you can't appeal anymore. you cannot pitch to this man. i don't care if it's right- hander-right-hander. i think this is a great sign of respect for a manager who doesn't like putting people on that much. >> rob: i think rheaume riggleman is under the same impression i am. it's the pitcher's job to get them out. you should be able to get anybody out in the batting order. that's what you're getting paid to do at this level. i was never a big proponent of putting people on, but lou piniella made a nice statement with us once. he said you can't get andre

austin out, he's like maybe you think you can get him out now? >> bob: ramirez is a running threat. if he takes second base, so what? this is the guy you have to get right here. orr and guzman look at each other. you would if i go you are orr would cover on a steal right- handed primarily pull hitter in there. >> rob: if you throw a ground ball in the dirt, you have to be confident wil is going to catch it. >> bob: a note last night. the ball we saw hit the backstop went right back to wil nieves, a ball that was identical.

he couldn't score, hurt his shoulder and was never the same. the backstop here is probably closer to home plate than any where else in baseball. and the ball will come right back to the catcher if it hits the right spot. that might have caused -- cost sean hill his career. >> rob: it's a shame. >> bob: 2-1 to cantu. fastball away. left-handed hitter. baker on deck. j.d. martin has walked two, one intentional, struck out two, given up two runs on two hits. cantu left field. he didn't get it. willingham broke back then a little surprise to see how far he had to come in. marlins leave their first two runners. golf bags, small bags.

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 ) ♪

 >> bob: middle innings here florida. 2-2, nationals and marlins. college students can get 50% during the month of september for ballgames at nationals park monday through thursday. bring your valid id. purchase a ticket priced at $10 or more. you get in for half price monday through thursday. check out the fan value corner at nationals.com or 202-675- nats for details and those 'tis tickets are available day of game at the box office on n

street only. three walks already for johnson who has been averaging about three walks per start lately. >> rob: could be a little bit tired. it's late in the year. he's never gone this far as far as innings pitched. you know as well as i do it's hot and muggy at land shark stadium. you have to go out and tow the rubber. pete orr jammed severely fouled out for the first time. >> rob: you going to be ok, buddy? >> bob: yeah, evidently i become allergic to flying. every time we fly now, i get the sniffles. >> rob: you want me to get go

doald coldeeze or something? >> bob: after about 10 million miles of flying, i can't do it anymore evidently. that flight late last week was really a blast. just two hours in the wee hours this morning. nats got to their hotel a little after 3:30 this morning. so did the marlins in terms of getting home. josh johnson overmatches pete orr a hard breaking ball. that will be his sixth strikeout i think the nats were just getting to their hotel here when the marlins landed in lauderdale from their road trip. >> rob: northrop grumman northrop grumman on the inside -- northrop grumman on the inside breaking ball. he starts it almost at the corner -- corner of the plate and it breaks to the backside knee of pete orr. >> bob: wil nieves bounced into a fielder's choice by dan uggla first time. >> rob: there's a cutter he was

cutting underneath. still at 87. >> bob: phillies have picked up another run leading the mets 2- 0. marlins in relentless pursuit of the phills. florida, five games back.   >> bob: the marlins after t series go to st. louis and cincinnati. three, st. louis. four with the reds. then, phillies come in for three and marlins end up the season with three at philadelphia that final weekend. if they can hang close and pickup another game or two in the next two weeks, that last weekend could be amazing at citizens bank park. right now they don't have a real big chance of catching colorado the way they're going. on september 1, obviously just

10 days ago, marlins were 9 1/2 games back of the phills. they've more than made up someroom and the game they lost in washington on sunday was a heartbreaker not that we're feeling sorry for the marlins the way they punished our ball club, but there's the east. in the wild card race, marlins are 5 1/2 back of the rockies a- game back of san francisco. >> rob: yeah, if i'm the marlins, i concentrate more on winning the division than the wild card. rockies, 9-1 in september. >> bob: they're at san diego this weekend. they should win at least two out of that three. >> rob: 40-24 in their last 64 and the only other team that has a better record since the all-star break is the new york yankees. >> bob: yankees have 91 wins. colorado has 81 now. 1-2 johnson to j.d. martin trying to dispose of the pitcher. it will take him at least five

pitches. we'll see willie harris next inning. seven k's for johnson. he's starting to motor through that lineup now. aflac! is that different from health insurance? well yeah... ...aflac pays you cash to help with the bills that health insurance doesn't cover. really? well, if you're hurt and can't work, who's going to help pay for gas? ..the mortgage, all kinds of expenses? aflacccccccccc! it's the protection you need to stay ahead of the game... exactly! aflac. we've got you under our wing. aflac, aflac, aflac... aflac, aflac, aflac

 >> bob: nationals baseball on masn brought to you by

southwest airlines. book your next triple trip at southwest.com. and by wendy's, it's way better than fast-food. it's wendy's. little south beach action on a friday night and to the northwest of there, it's joe robby, pro player, dolphin, land shark stadium. >> aflac. >> bob: which national league pitcher has the highest winning percentage since july 10. >> rob: josh johnson. >> bob: i would have guessed adam wainwright. >> rob: he's 21-5. >> bob: july 10 of 2008, yeah. so, 21 divided by 26 is a winning percentage of .807.

hard to think anybody is better than that. the catcher john baker leads off bottom of the fourth. j.d. martin, 57 pitches his first three innings. josh johnson is at 69 through four. martin has only given up two hits. a towering hanley ramirez homer and then the laser by josh johnson opposite field single. >> rob: you talk how good they've been, colorado rockies, .282 batting average scoring 5.7 runs per game, team e.r.a. 4.2018-4 one-run games, 18-29 at home but 30-14 since the all- star game. >> bob: i bet they're scoring more than six runs a game in

their ballpark. 2-2. >> rob: and they'll be putting joba chamberlain back in theirbullpen for the postseason in the first round at least. >> bob: must be nice to have a lot of arms. i was talking with tim folly today. he managed all year in syracuse. he hasn't seen the new yankee stadium. he said what's it like? i said, no problem for our pitchers. stammen and lannan pitched really well up there. remember all the rain we had. the air was heavy. ball wasn't carrying that much. the nats, one of the few teams who can say they won a series there over the yanks this year. 3-2 on a breaking ball that missed. dan uggla. then, cody ross here in the fourth.

he went off-speed after getting ahead in the count. then, he went off-speed on 3-2 and missed both times. baker aboard. second consecutive inning where the marlins have their leadoff man on. dan uggla next. flied to right fielder elijah dukes first time. uggla has only hit into eight double plays this year. primarily a fly ball hitter. that made last night's inning a game-ending double play so unusual. ryan howard only hit into nine double plays all year before ron villone got him. >> rob: that was as well played

a double play as you can have. the rookie shortstop. a very young shortstop second baseman in gonzalez. a great feed. he stayed at home at second base. then, you have mike morris who was put in there for defensive purposes an inning before. so, nicely done by all. >> bob: well, chase utley was all over ian desmond. >> rob: he was pretty much mugging, he and desmond. checking for his wallet. >> bob: phillies tied the game there, the air would have gone out of the ballpark. i wouldn't have been surprised if they had gone on to win the thing. that's a great slider. uggla drops his bat. he'll walk away slowly. j.d. martin with list third strikeout. >> rob: j.d., 0-2 right here instead of maybe wasting a pitch wastes no time in hitting the black with a slider. a thing of beauty right there when the guy just looks at it and drops his bat.

>> bob: cody ross popped out to adam dunn first time. john baker has not attempted a steal this year.   >> rob: josh hampton got hi

third cortisone injection in his back. that can't be good. >> bob: rangers are five back of the angels. texas winning three in a row. and in that wild card race, they are only two back of boston. they're still hanging tough. >> rob: they've done a great job though. give ron washington, mike maddux, john danlts the gm there, new president nolan ryan dead last in pitching last year. their top five. i think they're fourth in the american league in pitching. that's ahead of the yankees and ahead of the red sox. that's good company. and they're top five in hitting>> bob: they're ahead of yankees, tampa bay and boston next three teams. j.d. martin's pitch count piling up. 13 already this inning. 70 on the game. 2-1 to cody ross. he hits it right off the end of

the bat. nice, easy play by the pitcher. baker down to second with two outs. number eight man, cameron maybin coming up. the dodgers are coming to nats town when the boys get home from this road trip, we're giving you the chance to watch it in style, the thursday night game september 24th. how about the comfort of a private suite with 14 of your buddies? enter at nationals.com/win. i would imagine the web site's gotten quite a number of hits on that one. they may walk maybin here and -- i wouldn't pitch to josh johnson either. wil nieves was standing up for quite a while before he went into his crouch. as we mentioned last night, if you win that, there's a good chance rob dibble and i might stop by for some snacks before the game. willie harris will lead off after the marlins strand their third runner of the night. top of the order, harris a walk and run scored tonight. guzman and zimmerman to follow.

@x@0@p@0@6p)@)@)p,

 >> bob: top of the fifth in coming up. a look at our geico highlights a lot of good pitching in this game, rob dibble. johnson is sharp. j.d. martin at times has had very good command. >> rob: yes, he has. he's been able to keep up with josh johnson. this big man, 7-1 in 14 starts last year, 14-4 in 28 starts coming into tonight. when he's on, boy, he is just

popping the fastball and his slider tonight. >> bob: and here at home against the nats for him an e.r.a. of about 4 1/2 runs better than his games in washington. gave up a couple of early ones tonight on the adam dunn home run, j.d. martin did the same thing on the ramirez homer. >> rob: j.d. trying to stay cool. >> bob: they're four pitches apart on their count through four innings and here is willie harris. first pitch pop-up right side. john roomhere. the ball got away from him. >> rob: that's a shame. looked like it hithe netting. >> bob: too bad. >> rob: it's a shame at net's right there. >> bob: from home plate to the feet and then it's just as close when you get over on the sides where they put in those new box seats years ago. >> rob: you can see that netting over by the marlins dugout. there's a huge wire that runs all the way up to the top of

the stadium holdling it up there -- holding it up there. hot rod, new life, baby. >> bob: yeah, this ballpark doesn't help pitchers in that respect. >> rob: willie came in tonight hitting .350 in the month of september. >> bob: nice. >> rob: oh, we like it third time through .274. pretty much mowing people down. >> bob: 2-2 pitch.

>> rob: i wonder how baker's hand feels after e game -- >> bob: catching this guy? >> rob: catching this guy. >> bob: it's the toughest pitch to catch a hard pitcher? >> rob: yes, it is. the catcher turns that glove in and hits his thumb. you never hit it in the pocket. joe oliver caught more than 12 or 13 years in the big leagues, maybe 15. his whole pointer finger on his catching hand is -- it looks almost black because it's been beat up so bad. >> bob: good at-bat by willie harris. fourth walk of the night for josh johnson. two of them to willie. guzman coming up. then zimmerman as we pay off our aflac trivia. >> aflac. >> bob: about the pitcher with the best winning percentage in baseball since a year ago, july 10th. is it the marlins josh johnson? yes, it is. >> rob: i think the other three

jer gentlemen are probably close. lumsden has got to be -- lincecum has got to be close. >> bob: might win the cy young this year. 16 wins already. josh johnson looking for his 15th tonight. >> rob: looking. we're hoping he doesn't find it. >> bob: and the other guy that's in the hunt, colorado's jason marquis with 15. >> rob: and carpenter who missed five starts, what does he have 16 wins? >> bob: yeah. >> rob: he's got to be up there for contention. i think ryan franklin should get some votes. he probably won't win, but he's done a phenomenal job his first full year as a closerrer as a cardinal. >> bob: how about that guy at the age of 36 in? >> rob: dave duncan helps you reinvent yourself. >> bob: he just got a new contract, too. is dave stewart where duncan started getting the attention? because he really turned him

around. 0-1 to guzman. a swing foul that went down and got guzman. >> rob: in the ankle area. >> rob: getting back to the sinker. if a catcher can't make a nice pocket catch of it and it gets up in his palm, this guy just takes a beating. they come right back. i know a lot of them sometimes put pads inside the gloves. >> bob: he's got a batting glove on. >> rob: he has a batting glove. he's probably got a pad underneath between the batting glove and glove because no matter how much cushion, leather between you and a guy that throws like this, still go the going to hurt your hand. >> bob: when we were kids, we used to that thaib that irregular glove. we didn't have the catcher pitch to play. we put a sponge in a regular glove if you were the guy lucky enough to be a catcher that day. >> rob: that's a beautiful shot. >> bob: target n they've been busting him inside and guzman skips away from that one, ball

one. >> rob: the equipment is so amazing today. just go back about 50 years, they used to have those big pillow gloves. they didn't even wear helmets>> bob: the gloves back in the day when they first used gloves that weren't much better than -- bigger than the batting gloves. big papi's batting gloves are bigger than those things. >> rob: manning imagine not wearing a helmet facing josh johnson or walter johnson for that matter. >> bob: wearing those flannel uniforms in august. guzman takes one outside. josh johnson is having a hard time putting away hitters. he's about to throw his 80th pitch. he has nobody out in the fifth inning. last time he faced the nats,fredi gonzalez took him out after 82 pitches in five innings. ryan is next. dunn to follow. harris aboard. short lead.

find it interesting that willie harris has taken such a short lead against a bill big pitcher who is rather throw is to the plate. nationals are just not showing any signs of a running game at all and a lot of times when you're facing a pitcher like this, you might want to grab 90 feet at a time just to generate some offense. that's a short lead for him. and guzman is gone on a hard breaking ball down and in. josh johnson, eight strikeouts and four walks. that's enough to add up to a high pitch count. >> rob: guzman was fouling off a lot of pitches, a lot of sliders. finally, he bares a slider on the inner half below that back leg. he did the same thing against pete orr. started almost on the edge of the inside part of the plate against the lefty and size behind him. if you do hit it, you're going to hit it foul. >> bob: ryan zimmerman a- strikeout and a walk tonight.

>> rob: i asked adam dunn if the guys are still bore yig his bat. he says he's down to three for this trip. they it to -- continue to take his bat. >> bob: maybe adam can borrow bats from matt morse. >> rob: they're not gamers either. they're just three bats he has left. >> bob: well, he hit a homer with one of them. >> rob: there's the big boy. it's ok. we'll get you more bats next year. some guys would not give you bats like that. you know that. >> bob: yeah, he's a good teammate. zimmerman severely jammed. easy fly ball. cameron maybin, two outs. adam dunn coming up against josh johnson. debbi taylor a-matchup of big men. >> debbi: that's right, bob. johnson can be challenging. earlier today, i asked adam how tough is the big right-handed

pitcher? >> oh, yeah, i think he's one of if not the toughest guy. he has three really good pitches. he doesn't walk anybody. when he does walk people, that's kind of when he gets in trouble. he's definitely one of the best. >> rob: he also said you have to be aggressive and get to him early. >> bob: i thought the nats did that a little bit with a harris walk leading off the game. two outs later, the dunn home run. only one other hit the bouncing ball by elijah dukes in the second. >> rob: the guy who said you have to get him early got him in the first round with a home run. now they've been pretty much shot down. >> bob: josh returned the favor by striking him out with high fastballs. >> rob: yeah, next time, yeah, he's pretty good. i'll take that though. i'll take a home run and a strikeout. >> bob: if you're 1-4 against this guy and do you some damage with that hit, you've had a pretty good night. >> rob: you have.

that would be against like a bob gibson if you got a knock off bob gibson, at least i got a hit off him. >> bob: 30 years later, you're telling your grand children about it. >> rob: i owned bob gibson. i was 1-72 off of him, but i owned him one day. this can be no picnic. let's say he keeps throwing that hard slider in on your hands. >> bob: close. 2-1. 87. that was a straight change. >> rob: he comes with the changeup as bob said you see fading, fading, fading. if your straight change is 87 miles per hour, you probably throw a pretty good fastball. >> bob: adam dunn got around on one. it's coming down sometime tonight. there it is. we're under an overhang here and the ball disappeared for

five or six seconds. >> rob: this is a heater that was supposed to be a little bit out inside to get the bat head out early. boom. that's going to be upper deck behind their dugout. this is just a gigantic outfield. it goes 330 down the left-field line out to 434 in that huge canyon in left center field. >> bob: the only thing baseball has ever seen like this was the old l.a. coliseum when the dodgers first moved west back in the '50s. dunn, a ground ball. that's between some fielders. uggla throws high and gets him as nick johnson pulls it down. nats strand a runner. they've left five in a 2-2 game. ever had much. but now that i'm making more, it's time to be a little smarter about how i manage it.. with the calendar, i can schedule all my payments.

and when funds are low, danger days help me stay out of the red. i can also transfer money with just a click and a drag. so maybe i'm better with money than i thought. introducing the virtual wallet from pnc, a high-definition, online view of your money. pnc. leading the way.  >> bob: nationals baseball masn brought to you by southwest airlines. book your next trip at

southwest.com. and by mcdonald's. feeling thirsty? try a refreshing 32-ounce mckie d's sweet tea. i'm loving it at participating mcdonald's. downtown miami and to the northwest out here off the turnpike, it's land shark stadium. 2-2 ballgame halfway through and a big night for ron villone. he had a grand total of seven major league career saves before taking them out last night rob in very crucial situation. >> rob: did he. he had to get two lefties out. you saw one right there getting a huge growbld ground ball double play off ryan howard. as you we said before, inducing that ground ball started it, but alberto gonzalez over to ian desmond over to mike morse just as impressive. guys don't have a lot of time playing together at this level. >> bob: i can't get over the throw by desmond. pretty much standing flatfootedded when he got the

relay. chase utley in his grill, gaby sanchez bats for josh johnson here. bottom of the fifth. again, johnson only goes five innings against the nats. 82 pitches last saturday. 89 here tonight. rob, i think we're seeing them protecting a pitcher whose at the ceiling of the innings he's ever had in a career. he's now at 188 this year. >> rob: and you also save him for big starts down the stretch. there's no reason. he's thrown an awful lot today. >> bob: so, gaby sanchez pinch- hitting former nat brian sanches warming up. johnson goes five innings, two runs on only two hits. walked four, one intentional.

pardon me no, intentional walks. >> rob: he threw a lot of pitches. >> bob: 89 in five innings. >> rob: obviously, mark wiley saw something earlier in the ballgame mechanically i think he may have thought you don't want this guy going out there and just one off pitch bad mechanically can re-injure that arm. remember, surgically repaired two years ago. tommy john surgery. mark wile yiee saying i'm not going to hurt the big guy. s one of the best in the game. >> bob: rob dibble hoping we'd get josh johnson out in the sixth inning. they got it done prior to the sixth. >> rob: he is scheduled to face the cardinals next wednesday versus joel person. ---pin. -- pinnero. >> bob: that was interesting because when the marlins were at our laift place last week, they were rooting for st. louis. there's a strikeout by martin. they wanted st. louis to have

their division clinched by the time the marlins got there so maybe you get a night off and you're not facing punls or one of their big -- pujols or one of their big guys. >> rob: watch it tie him up. i have no chance on that ball. you take guys arms away from them, it's very hard to get extension and even get the ball out of the infield. i told you i talked to the super scout, former general manager, former manager, former player and thunder monday munson's teammate going all the way back to kent state. ed yesterday, we talked about joba chamberlain why you would let him start the other night to throw 55 pitches and pull him after three innings. they said because they're protecting this kid. they're starting to learn certain things about certain players whether it's mechanical or physical or they don't want to overuse guys, they're just too valuable at this stage. he is right in a sense there's just not that many really good pitchers out there anymore.

>> bob: it sounds to me like this lack of innings things by these young pitchers is only going to get worse. they're protecting them more than they ever have before. josh johnson, five innings, 89 pitches. 51 strikes. no decision. a 3-2 count. no to chris coghlan who is 0-2. -- now to chris coghlan who is 0-2. >> rob: st. louis as you said. then, they got cincinnati. then they go to philly, new york and atlanta. >> bob: guzman to his left! he he got a nice hop. he gets him on a very close play it at first. >> rob: beautiful play. you want to try to rest some of these guys down the stretch. bring you back a couple of years to the red sox. when they rested josh beckett down the stretch, they rested curt schilling down the stretch. those two players alone got them a championship.

they were 7-0 in the postseason maybe seeing that's the strategy you're hoping for a playoff birt and hoping for -- birt and hoping for well rested pitching. >> bob: that's what st. louis will have in the next weir week or two. they're 11 games up on the cubs. >> rob: you still have to watch chris carpenter. he was injured this year. you've got to watch guys like that. >> bob: nick johnson hit. he's on for the second time tonight. nick johnson came into this game as a marlin with a ridiculous on-base percentage of .517. >> rob: going to be on the inner thigh of that back leg. it breaks hard. bang. it looks like it got him in the knee, too. that won't feel good later. >> bob: you don't want to it that ahead of hanley ramirez. nick johnson the man nats wanted retired right there. sheer ramirez who has been

given the chance to swing the bat once tonight and damaged washington with a two-run homer his 23rd. that was after nick walked in the first inning. this guy leads the league. he's not only a power hitter, but he leads the league in hits and multihit games. he has 182 hits. if he gets another hit tonight, it will be his 54th multihit game. miguel tejada led the league in that category most of the season. up and in. >> rob: you can see now after this home run in the first inning on j.d. martin y-his teammates would be upset that he was not in the lineup. saying he had a bad hamstring after he was going 0-14. he's too valuable for this team for him not to play. >> bob: i wonder if rheaume

riggleman wants some -- jim riggleman wants some thoughts on j.d. martin now that the count has gone to 2-0. why would the manager come out now? >> rob: he might want to ask him what's going on here. you hit nick johnson. probably wants to say get pass that. you're going to hit guys at this level. you're going o'-- you're going to give up home runs. you've got to make your living sometimes in tough situations sometimes getting out tough bats and that means hanley ramirez. >> bob: no changes in the phillies game against the mets bottom of the fifth inning, 2- 0, phills behind hamels. the braves have an early run leading 1-0 in the second at st. louis. >> rob: i had a great conversation yesterday with tim foley talking about he had a lot of pitchers down in the lower level. he said what i said. you cannot escape the fact you're going to have to pitch to contact eventually whether you get behind 3-1, 2-1, 2-2.

they're going to be able to swing the bat eventually. you want them to hit your pitch. boilt. >> bob: walked him on four. some of the fans are booing. >> rob: it's not the worst walk in the world. >> bob: i totally agree with you. that would have been a fastball down the middle. you know on 3-0, he has the green light. jorge cantu in a situation just like this in the third in a routine -- hit a routine fly ball to left field. he's 0-2 today and a chance for j.d. martin to get this ballgame into the sixth inning tied. former marlin kensing and former pitcher for 11 other teams ron villone getting

ready. just missing. >> rob: and neighbor of james gandolfini. >> bob: really? >> rob: found that out last night. i was doing recon work in the back of the plane. >> bob: i bet they have pasta bars in that neighborhood. 1-1. i did get a followup to ron villone's cooking conversation with debbi last night. he says he does pasta in the winter when it's too cold to grill outside. >> rob: he laughed because when we mitt meth down in puerto rico -- when we met in preem puerto rico in the early '90s, he was the grill master. we told him we'd buy the steaks, baked to pate -- baked potatoes and you grill them. myself and henderson and ronny gants and some of our friends down there living together and driving to the games together. that guy, he enjoys being around the fire, cooking the

stuff. >> bob: as any reliever would. they live in the fire for six months. >> rob: yes, but maybe he'll have his own cooking show someday. cooking with ron villone, bam! my wife encourages me to watch all those. and then tells me i eat too much. >> bob: got him right off the end of the bat. engineered j.d. martin has thrown two of his big pitches of the night against that man, cantu. me, t. how sick is the web browsing ? all the apps, gps, video... yeah... you didn't get your blackberry with the verizon network, did you ? no. sorry. so it doesn't work here, does it ? no, but... paperweight mode. all right. now get a blackberry at our lowest prices ever,

like the storm, for just $49.99, plus get another free. blackberry runs better on america's largest 3g network. verizon wireless. is my favorite because it has so much flavor. so i wanted to design a glass that would enhance the taste of boston lager. we did a laser etch on the bottom. it releases the hops aromas this bulb is for collecting aromas. there's a little ridge on the inside. and that allows you to sense the hops as it enters your mouth. the way this hits your tongue, you really get the full flavor

out of sam adams lager. having a boston lager in this glass was like tasting a boston lager for the first time again.  >> bob: time to bring you up to speed with the at&t r57d rewind. a couple of big swings early in the game by big men adam dunn against josh johnson and j.d. martin couldn't get ramirez. since then, nothing but pitching. >> strike three! >> strike three! >> bob: 2-2 ballgame. you're up to speed with the at&t rapid rewind. at&t, your world delivered. >> rob: the fish were biting early. now not even a nibble. >> bob: not a nibble. he was -- he is done, evidently. there were hand shakes. here is 33-year-old brian

sanches with a 7.36 e.r.a. all he's is show up here and in 39 games has a 1.45 earned run average. >> rob: and a 0.89 at home and 2.33 on the road. three earned runs in 30 innings pitched here at land shark stadium. >> bob: a guy originallydrafted by the royals in the second round in '99 traded to san diego, phillies. signed with the nats as a minor league free agent. he's been a major contributor to the florida bullpen. former marlin josh willingham here in the sixth. quiet box score other than one swing by adam dunn. looks like kensing and villone were the men to put out a fire. once j.d. martin did that.

now tyler clippard is throwing. randy knorr, watchful eye in that bullpen. >> rob: you and mr. knorr had a nice billiards game the other night. >> bob: we had a little eight ball matchup over at the crystal city sports club after our crew club. >> rob: what are you missouri fats? >> bob: they call me missouri slim. >> rob: oh, missouri slim. randy "north of the border" knorr. >> bob: it gets lonely at the top. willingham fouls one back. i told him, i said, "hey, you think i'm a nerd." which he does. i spent most of my teenage years in the pool hall. he said you? >> rob: under the table doesn't count. >> bob: no, no. >> rob: i know. you put yourself through

school. >> bob: no, actually that cured me from ever wanting to gamble. it was a great education. 3-2 to josh. he'll take a walk. the nats ben fis fish ryce of their fifth -- fifth walk of the night. now they need hits to go with it. t-shirt tuesday coming into town next tuesday. it's a free screech t-shirt. what's better than that? screech 00. nationals.com, 202-675-nats. stibls tickets always available at the ballpark. you can drive up. parking on the street nearby. here is elijah dukes. >> rob: i'm going to tell you what's better than that. screech on top of the 10th stand part of the stadium after the game.

>> bob: i tell you how we duped two of the phillies fans into sitting up there. they thought they were getting upgrade on their seats. >> rob: that's. >> easy to do to phillies. >> bob: dukes, did he get enough it have to get to the scoreboard? no. right off the end of the bat, coghlan grabs it and willingham has to retreat. off the bat it looked good, but could you tell by the sound he didn't get it. >> rob: well, it's setup outside. the ball travels back inside. he just misses this ball. coghlan goes back. he's blowing a bubble. i've got it. you see charlie in the background. >> bob: spinning the knuckle ball of the '97 world championship. marlins have been to the playoffs twice. '97 in 2003 both times as the wild card and both times world champions and then both tearms dismantled by. mr. hissinger. >> rob: the 2003 onship

ring bigger than any ring liberace ever had. >> bob: that's big. i've seen them. >> rob: the 2003 marlins championship ring, the biggest world series ring ever made. >> bob: it's bigger than any super bowl ring i have ever seen. >> rob: it is. i wish i had one. >> bob: super bowl rings are huge. here is josh beckett celebrating that final out at yankee stadium. along the way, steve barton and the cubs. they beat the giants on this field to clinch the first round. i'll never forget i was a reporter for that game. i got to interview pudge rodriguez seconds after the last out and he held up the ball and showed it to us. that was pretty cool. he still had the ball in his mitt and was not about to part with it. that was some team they had here. jeff conine threw a giant out at the plate to end that series. >> rob: it was a shame in a thank mr. hizzinger because of

the low fan support pretty much had a fire sale. >> bob: he did. other than the world series, they just don't draw anybody here. he's a businessman. 0-2 and pete orr a little befuddled in the batters box right now. he got nasty pitched a couple of times by josh johnson tonight. i'll tell you you. this player sanches is throwing the ball better than when we saw him with the nats last year. he looks like a different guy. turned one over for ball one. >> rob: he was here earlier in the season. >> bob: target in. and pete will get jammed and pop it up behind shortstop.

chris coghlan calls off hanley ramirez. three outs. livan hernandez, a big part of the '97 team that beat the indians on the infamous edgar renteria base hit in game seven. >> rob: and he had it working in the nlcs and the world series. he was the mvp of both series. >> bob: striking out his coach now marquis grissom. >> rob: yep. matt williams, bye-bye.   >> bob: livan hernandez, ha to believe that's 12 years ago. >> rob: he still has that great smile. >> bob: he was real pleased the way things went last night when i claitd him on the ballgame. first thing he said was, that first inning wasn't very good. let's see. in '97 was livan's really first

full year in the big leagues. he had only pitched in one game in relief for the marlins the year before that. he was pretty much a rookie. he had a 2-2 e.r.a. in that division series against the giants. 0.84 against atlanta, 2-0 in the lcs and in the world series he won two more games. e.r.a. was up there, but a couple of times the marlins outslugged that good, young cleveland ball club that had jim thome, manny ramirez, omar vizquel. >> rob: i think any of the players that have had to defect from cuba leave their families behind i don't think pitching in baseball games is as life or death, yeah. not as much pressure. >> bob: big spot here for wil nieves. looks like mike morse is on deck to hit for j.d.

martin. nieves will line it over the glove of hanley ramirez. i was just thinking i would like to see that big boy morse standing in this ballpark with that cozy left field area in the batter's box. here he comes. >> rob: wil nieves hits this one on the screws just gets it over even with the top spin on it for hanley ramirez' head. i'm sure he's going to marcis, i hit that good, poppy. officially, j.d. martin out of the game. >> bob: he'll go five innings, two runs, two hits, four walks, one intentional. four strikeouts, 97 pitches here at land shark stadium in miami. capacity for baseball, 38,560. maybe 2,250 on hand with us. rob dibble, bob carpenter, debbi taylor, masn 2, first weekend of the series.

first three of the road trip. this the first of the three- game series. on to philly and new york after this. >> rob: i think mark wiley does this on purpose. it's like trying to freeze out the kick her in football. did he that in washington. just go out there in the middle of a rally. >> bob: mike morse as a pinch- hitter, 3-10, three rbi's. two of them last sunday of to put the nationals in position to win that game against the marlins. he's a big man with a lot of strength. he has 40 major league rbi's in parts of four major league seasons. >> rob: after one you can handle. rip it and rip it -- grip it and rip it. >> bob: he's among the best in the league with some closers

like franklin val verde heath bell on that list. interesting turn of the glove by baker. he didn't go backhand with it and he managed somehow to get that little finger around the outside of that pitch. >> rob: that was more of a digging it out of the dirt like a first baseman. these new catcher's mitts are almost like first base ones. >> bob: see what morse has in mind here. it's 2-0. he thought he was getting a fastball e didn't. a late breaker 82 miles per hour. two balls, one strike. willie harris on deck. he's been on base twice tonight.

  >> bob: fights off a fastba.   >> bob: 2-2 ballgame to sixth. threw him a changeup. that thing really came floating inside. mike was ready to commit and he spotted it just in time. >> rob: 2-2 pitch and this is a money pitch right here. a changeup. look at that all over the strike zone and then it dives right at the end. >> bob: 3-2. runners will be on

the move. sanches delivers. morse goes deep center that. ball still going and it's off the wall! >> rob: yeah! >> bob: two runs will score! morris will stop at second and the nationals lead 4-2. mike morse now has five pinch-hit rbi's, four of them this week. >> rob: the kid can flat out hit. >> bob: that ball was hit about 415 to straightaway center. >> rob: it's one of the toughest things to do. sit around. sit aroundment take batting practice and just wish for that one at-bat. he gets it, goes over. cameron maybin's head. maybin almost makes a great play. then two runs come in. he winds up with a two-out double. another huge hit. >> bob: that brought the dugout alive. here's harris. willie has walked twice. he's 0-1. first pitch changeup

outside. nats rough up one of the best e.r.a. relievers in the league. >> rob: i hate to see that. >> bob: i know you do. half the time. >> rob: it's their guy. not ours. >> bob:% by the way make his living up the middle. his hit on sunday right up the middle to drive in two. that's a big guy who can hit the ball a long way. another changeup a lot of junk from sanches here. >> rob: i thought -- if you throw 2-2 changeup, you should throw the same pitch on 3-2. i thought he would come back with another changeup 3-2. elected to go fastball e paid the price. that ball was hit so far even

this ballpark couldn't hold it up for a double. >> bob: and willie will pop it up to the left side. hanley ramirez as morse circles the bases. he does his job in the sixth bringing home two with a double and the nats lead 4-#. ♪ (tucci) only at&t has the best selection of full keyboard phones. like the lg neon, just $29.99 after mail-in rebate.

 >> debbi: we are back at la laidz. nats on top by a score of 4-2. mike morse with a big two-out

rbi double to give the nationals the lead. we're talking about world series rings. here is a look at. they this is the '97 world series ring and the 2003. this one right here, the biggest ever in major league baseball. a lot of diamonds on this. let me tell you. these are owned by one of the team's photographers. epd he has been generous giving them to a lost people not just the players and coaches. this is what they're working on get thairg own. >> bob: yeah, livan got the smaller of the two. it's a general practice of teams getting world series rings, they usually give them to the staff. sometimes the staff will get replica rings, the ladies in the organization will get smaller rep qlaik rings. -- replica rings. those 2003 things, i don't know how you wear those anywhere. >> rob: i don't know how you don't wear them. that is one ring i would wear every day. >> bob: well, you are -- >> rob: i'm not a showy person

at all. >> bob: you liej like the bling. here comes guzman. he couldn't get the ball out of his glove and he still gets the call from jim reynolds. i, for one, am pretty amazed. i thought that runner was safe after guzman probably doubled and triple pumpt pumped. >> rob: yeah, fredi didn't come out. let's see what the camera has to say about this on the replay and bob said it took him forever to get rid of the ball. i think he got him. it was close. >> bob: it looks closer on the replay than the naked eye -- >> rob: i don't know, front of the bag. you see the last replay? nice job by our camera people. >> bob: he had had a hard -- guzman had a hard time getting handle on that thing. he had to go a long way. that's a left-handed batter. here is dan uggla against tyler clippard making his 31st appearance. >> rob: what are the phillies

doing in their game? >> bob: still 2-0. they've scored two runs without hitting a home run. that's enough to stop the presses in philadelphia. clippard roughed up for two home runs in the eight -- eighth inning. wednesday night by jayson werth and pedro feliz. great fastball. painting the outside corner. not a whole lot for the marlins to show either. they only have two hits. the josh johnson base hit. they only have one position player with a hit tonight.

  >> rob: doubt it's intentiona but uggla is a huge diver. there he goes first step. towards home. only way to stop that, you see him stop that in mid motion. >> bob: i'm surprised he's only been hit by six pitches this year. >> rob: under the numbers. >> bob: it's 9:11 p.m. straight up. they will stop the ballgame. >> at this time we ask you please join us for a moment of remembrance.   thank you. >> bob: 9:11 p.m. on 9/11. [ cheers and applause ]

  >> bob: they did it during th at-bat just as the 9/11 time came up on the scoreboard. now it's 3-2 from clippard to uggla. got him on a foul tip. a high changeup not the location you would draw up. >> rob: yeah. 3-2, uggla is looking heat or a breaking ball. he gets a straight changeup in the zone, but probably the last thing he was thinking of getting 3-2. works out to be a good pitch. >> bob: bases empd empty, two out. cody ross coming up. >> rob: i wouldn't recommend that location. >> bob: ever again. >> rob: not ever again, but

nine times out of 10 at this level. >> bob: that sounds like ever again to me. >> rob: hey, it's a great pitch when they don't hit it. it is. i got away with my share of them. >> bob: i hear you. >> rob: bad location, guys swinging through them. >> bob: right-hander there is brendan donnelly. and the lefty is andrew miller. donnelly was just about to come off the d. l. when they were in washington last week. the 0-2 pitch. clippard goes up and in to cody ross. >> rob: and andrew miller was supposed to be the gem of all the pitchers gotten in the miguel cabrera, dontrelle willis trade with detroit. that kid is supposed to throw mid-90s, left-handed, 6'7"- 6'8". >> bob: he's walked 38batters

in 76 innings and 4.81 e.r.a. >> rob: that's not going to make it. >> bob: clippard to ross, 3-2. >> rob: he beats, he beats, get it in. >> bob: had him reaching. he couldn't reach it and clippard had a good changeup going tonight definitely mixing up his speeds after giving up those two home runs to the phillies. 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 ) ♪ boss: come on in, i had some other things

you can tell people 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... boss: no, no. we can do this. gecko: oh dear. vo: geico. fifteen minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance.

 >> rob: next tv game on mas will be masn hd tomorrow. first pitch at 6:10 here. we will be joined in progress at 7. 067895 on masn -- 7. 067895 on masn. -- 7:05 on masn. marco estrada, his first start, 12.2 innings pitched. anibal sanchez just faced him the other day. 3-0 with a 2-7. unable to fwrod cast till 7:05 due to the major league baseball blackout restriction. >> bob: john lannan, rick vandenhurk on sunday, day off monday and then on to philadelphia for a three-game set. here is that left-hander. he is 24 years of age, andrew miller, former first-rounder by the tigers number six overall.

that was just three years ago. he actually pitched in the major leagues eight games in relief after signing with the tigers that summer. all told 11-16 for detroit. 50 games. starts over three years with a high e.r.a. he has yet to turn the great arm into major league success. guzman, zimmerman and dunn. right off the end of the bat. it's got a chance. uggla will get there. good reaction off the bat by the second baseman. cristian guzman is 0-4 tonight and now 4-31 last. >> rob: excellent play there by uggla off the end of the glove. miller jammed cristian. he fought it off. you have to take off as soon as it's hit if you're uggla. he made a nice play.

>> bob: here is ryan zimmerman who is 1-15 his last. since his walkoff homer sunday. nice, easy motion. this kid is 6'7", 210. >> rob: you call that a tall drink of water? >> bob: yes. decisive at the glove? is that legal? he's a big guy. look at the size of that thing on his right hand? >> rob: i don't think there's limits on pitcher's gloves. he's a big kid. what did you say? he's only 21? >> bob: yeah, turned 21 in may. don't hate comebacker. that glove will get it. >> rob: plenty of time to figure it out. you've got receive those mechanics, keep that showed her in. >> bob: if you get a young player like that in a deal,

he's under your control for a while so you can be patient with him. anticipates good veteran pitching coach oversatisfying the -- overseeing the operation. zimmerman jacks one to left center that. ball has serious carry and it is off the top of the scoreboard and out of here! ryan zimmerman with his 29th and the nationals lead 5-2. >> rob: zim-inator. zim-inated that ball. >> bob: rbi number 24 for ryan. >> rob: fastball trying to get it over for a strike. he throws it down and in. that is the most big balls hitters at this level. zim loving t look at this. it's a bomb. >> bob: you and i were talking about this last week. ryan said, yeah, i got a homer. >> rob: it's a homer, guys, if you didn't see it. >> bob: zimmerman in some ways

reminds you of a young tim wally who has a montreal third baseman was one of the best low ball hitters for a right-hander you would ever see. >> rob: i have talked with teammates on numerous occasion, they can't believe how at that lent he is and he's still only 24. >> bob: continues to add to his career high in home runs. his next one will get him to that 30 plateau. this is a brave new world that ryan zimmerman is stepping into. he may have 100 rbi's by the time the road trip is other. his career eye in that department, 110 back in 2006, his first full big league season. >> rob: i asked brooks robinson the hall of famer three years ago who his favorite third baseman was. he said ryan zimmerman. >> bob: wow. i think the kid's got a world of talent. i think it's been nice to have adam dunn take a lost pressure

off him as far as being a power guy and the go-to guy in the mid of the lineup. >> bob: it looks like livan may be -- >> rob: i don't think it did. it looks like there are seats that are turned in because it's a football stadium. i think it hit over the scoreboard and came back off of those field beams. >> bob: where that ball went out right below there is about 400 feet. then, you have to elevate the thing 20 feet or so. that's a big man's home run out there. >> rob: yeah, that ball was crushed. >> bob: nats have hit their 135th and 6th here tonight with dunn and zimmerman. adam takes changeup, 3-2. one out here in the seventh. >> rob: that shows you the kind of power that hanley ramirez has because his went over that one and up above into that alleyway. that kid has got some pop.

>> bob: they should be -- >> rob: for a long time. >> bob: and playing alongside each other in the all-star game for years to come. adam dunn walks for the 103rd time this year. get it right. let's see where it hit. right over the e of national league. you're right. it's behind the board. >> rob: are you questioning me again? >> bob: no, i know the reason for this. >> rob: get out your binoculars. >> bob: no, i'll bust your chops here. you're good at seeing home run balls. >> rob: yes, i am. >> bob: you didn't give up that many. josh willingham hits into a 6-4- 3. the nats have a three-run lead now as ryan zimmerman goes deep and i mean way deep. his 29th of the year.

three-run washington advantage. 

 >> bob: it's the bottom of seventh at land shark stadium. our game summary with nats on top 5-2. it's a power show tonight. done dunn, his 37th in the first. mike morse, a 400 plus double off the center field wall. j.d. martin good pitching stands as the winner pitcher of record for the moment and then we add the asterisk of the ryan zimmerman home run, his

29th. so, zimmerman and dunn have now tiepd combined for -- combined for 66 home runs and they're approaching 200 rbi's collectively. it's the bottom of the order for the marlins. tyler clippard still in the game. he'll face cameron maybin brett hayes, their third catcher who will bat for andrew miller and then the tocchet order, chris coghlan -- and then the top of the order, chris coghlan. >> bob: we're not going to chronicle to the nationals bullpen late in ballgames this year in this stadium. that's ancient history. nats haven't been here in a

couple of months. maybe here in september it's a whole new thing we can only hope. no lead has been safe in this ballpark suffice to say. cameron maybin, 0-2 tonight. then the backup catcher hayes. clippard, great slider. he's throwing three pitches pretty effectively tonight. you and i remarked, rob, that his fastball was looking pretty straight the other night when the fists took him deep -- the

phillies took him deep. that's cristhian martinez. he's really mixing up his pitches tonight as well as we've seen them had year -- this year. >> rob: you don't want to ovovermatch and overpower guys with a 91-mile-per-hour fastball chest high. no, you spot it on the black. spot inside outside. then, work in the chout lineup. you usually only do it once. most of the time, face these guys one time. >>bob: wil nieves wanted the pitch up. that's right where clippard gave it to him and he has fanned three straight batters. >> rob: he started them off slow and pitched in reverse. slider, changeup, fastball up. northrop grumman shows you that's not the pitch you want to swing at. that's right by maybin. >> bob: you geahead 0-2, you can do so many things. >> rob: well, it puts the

hitter on defense. when you put him ondefense, he's waiting a little bi longer just to make contact. he's not free swinging. he's not hitting for a home run. you can just do so many more things to him because mentally you've got him where you want him. >> bob: here is 25-year-old catcher brett hayes. 1-5 withpinch home run. foul ball straight back.   >> bob: how about questions tonight. things are going well. masnsports.com. >> rob: even if things aren't going well, they can still ask about the nats. hey, things are going well. give us a holler. >> bob: clippard striking out everybody in sight, two outs.

>> rob: well, he'smade some kind of little adjustment and he's getting ahead and when you can get ahead of hitters, you elevate eye level right here. it looks like, hey, i want to dhail ball and it's by him. look at this. no chance. >> bob: that's a taking advantage of a free-swinging ball club. top of the order now, chris coghlan, 0-3. this guy has been quite a story out of ole miss taken in the compensation round back in 2006. he was hitting .344 at new orleans this year when they called him up may 8. that was about the time that emilio bonifacio experienced a total cooling off period after his hot start and the marlins needed a leadoff guy and this guy has been very, very good.

only 24. >> rob: good changeup. >> bob: yeah. couldn't hit it fair. >> rob: 1-0 pitch, he threw a fastball on the blackout side about 92 miles per hour. comes right back. as well as his inside changeup. i'm not in love with with lefties. so much of a differential and coghlan was way out in front. now you're so far ahead, throw something in the dirt or throw something up. >> bob: off-speed. coghlan flies to right. elijah dukes is there. when he squeezes this one, 19 consecutive batters for the marlins sil since their last bathe base -- since their last base hit. at pnc, it's doing what most benefits our customers. whether that's building more certified green buildings than anyone on earth. creating online banking tools for the next generation.

or making a 10 year, $100 million investment in kids. it's how we've always done business. and will for a very long time to come. pnc. leading the way.

 >> bob: announced crowd of better than 15,000 on hand tonight. 5-2 as we go to the top of the eighth inning. only two hits tonight. opportunitistic, timely hitting. >> rob: you get that good pitching, j.d. martin was outstanding. came out a little early. could be tired. could be getting up there maxing out his innings pitched for the year count where they don't like this and you have plenty of bullpen. plenty of help to get the guys out there. clippard is throwing the ball w it's a very well-played game at this point. keep it up and take home another victory. >> bob: nats trying to win their first ballgame in this ballpark this year and trying to make it 5-7 last for the

martin luther kingn 't. >> rob: wouldn't be the worst thing of the year for the nationals to get hot. think about next year. some of the guys are auditioning for a spot on the roster. there's talk about what you might do with guzman and desmond. that's the kind of stuff you want to hear going into an offseason after a year like this. >> i have to admit i kind of got this thing going when i asked jim riggleman is there a chance nationals would see cristian guzman and ian desmond on the field at the same time. there's a fly ball launched by dukes. i guess i was thinking maybe desmond at short. guzman at second and jim riggleman said there's a chance they'll be in the game together, but more likely desmond at second. if they're going to consider a move with cristian guzman to second base, that probably wouldn't happen until spring training. >> rob: if you've list continued to mike rizzo, he knows they need another infielder up the middle. could you probably use another couple of starting pitchers to

move forward, but that takes time. you saw some stories today. not a lot of great free agent pitchers out there. you're almost hoping a guy like tim hudson hits the market. do they have an option on him and atlanta for $12 million and other guys are like randy wolf and lackee and piniero. there's not a plethora of great front line starters out there. >> bob: pete orr 3-4 on a fly ball. i thought riggleman's answer to my next question i guess i just had to find out. i said to him, how does guzman feel about this because we were told there was a conversation with him about it involving. mr. riggleman, mr. rizzo and mr. guzman and jim riggleman said it's not his decision. it's the ball club's decision. i think everybody was pleased to hear that. you know, nats want to do what's best for this team and what's best for the roster and for our fans next year to get

to that next level. no one player's ego or feelings is going to stap in the way that have. >> rob: -- stand in the way of that. >> rob: well, guzman is not better than michael young and michael young in the all-star shortstop from the rangers was asked to move to third base this year to make room for a rookie shortstop. >> bob: riggleman cited that. he cited the move eventually of khryapa to -- cal ripken to -- >> rob: how about alex rodriguez who just won an mvp award in texas comes to new york and by the way, you're playing third base. >> bob: the other player he cited was david eckstein who was a world series mvp as a shortstop and reen reinvented himself as a second baseman. it's been done before. >> rob: a a h, so nice to seaman love on the bench. things are great when you're winning. >> bob: it's lovely. >> rob: i'm going to miss you

when it's over, man. >> bob: come on. you're going to get me all choked up. >> rob: you're going to get teary i'd? no, oklahoma is not that far from l.a. >> rob: i'm sure you have critters i can hunt down. >> bob: yeah. wil nieves is on base for the second time tonight drawing a two-out walk against christian martinez who came into the game. evidently, the nats are happy with the way clippard is throwing the ball he's going to get an at-bat here. wow. clippard as a hitter is 0-6 this year. that's a pretty good number at- bats for a reliever. that indicates there have been some games when the guys came in and mopped up and had to stick around for a while. not tonight. >> rob: when there's about a thousand fans, you can always hear like one heckler more than

anybody else. >> bob: clippard goes up hacking. the catch and this game goes to the bottom of the eighth. johnson, ramirez and cantu, good hitters straight ahead. choose your three dippable favorites, like our chicken crisper bites, big mouth bites, and classic southwestern egg rolls. nine craveable options to choose from. build your perfect meal, only $9.99.

 >> bob: nationals baseball masn brought to you by southwest airlines. book your next trip at southwest.com. beautiful, friday evening in september down here in south

florida. and the nats on top 5-2. tyler clippard has been impressive. he gave up a ground ball out right after he trotted in from the bullpen to john baker. uggla gone. ross gone. seventh inning, maybin gone. pinch-hitter hays. -- hayes. see you. chris coghlan didn't make contact quite out. gets some of that ammonia refreshment on a warm evening when it was 81 and very muggy at gametime. this will be a big inning a- good test is for -- good test for him's faces nick johnson, hanley ramirez and jorge cantu. this copyrighted telecast presented by authority of the washington nationals and may not be reproduced or retransmitted in any form and the accounts and descriptions of this game may not be disseminated without the express, written consent of the washington nationals. nick johnson 0-1. he's been walked and hit by a pitch.

fastball just right by his hands. changeup right in there. a little bp fastball. 78 right down the middle. >> rob: nick also got into one out in right field. he hit a long fly ball. >> bob: nick is still a very fine major league hitter. he's a line drive guy. not a true home run hitter. i'm wond federal government that wrist injury from last -- i'm wondering if that wrist injury from last year affected his power. bergmann and macdougal. nats lead by three, it's a save situation. that ball is really hit hard to

center. it will stay in the park and one-hop the wall. nick johnson's on base for the third time tonight. it will probably be bergmann against hanley ramirez. it would be unusual for jim riggleman to go to macdougal this early. there's another right-hander coming up. he could stay with clippard against ramirez. >> rob: i think you let clippard stay in there. >> bob: right-handed batters coming up. >> rob: that's why we're not managing. >> bob: he wants bergmann leadoff man aboard in the eighth. clippard faces seven. marlins get six of them. here comes bergmann.

now that college is a few years behind me, it seems i've got three times the bills i used to. and they're getting in the way of things i'd like to do. with the money bar, i can move my money around instantly, so when there's more bills than usual, it's no problem. and i use the wish list to put any extra money aside for anything i want. being in control of my money feels good.

introducing the virtual wallet from pnc, a high-definition, online view of your money. pnc. leading the way.  >> bob: tyler clippard gives one hit. he's gone in the eighth. bergmann will take over. it will be against hanley ramirez. visit the official on-line shop of the nationals at nationals.com. brows all the authentic team gear caps, t-shirts, jerseys, collectibles. get your gear straight from the source nationals.com shop. hanley ramirez, a homer and two walks tonight. the good news is he can't tie

the game. bergmann with a first pitch slider. 4646th ballgame and big-time setup assignment for jason right here.   target in. totally missed his spot. that's a wild pitch. wil nieves was setup inside and bergmann threw something really software outside. >> rob: i think they're going to have a little discussion here. looked like he was crossed up. >> bob: you see that target, rob, and you think wil nieves wanted a fastball. >> rob: he wanted a sinker down and in and he gets something

almost like a knuckle ball. >> bob: only thing i can think of is runner at second and they were no in sync on a sequence of signs. that's a costly mistake that could give the marlins an easy run. ramirez with runners in scoring position hitting .382, third highest in the league. >> rob: i think in the offseason, bergmann is going to have to figure out what he's wants to be. he cannot try to be a starting pitch her in a relief role and use more -- it's not possible. you have to come hard. you have to throw strikes. you can't work from behind. you can't pitch away from contact. those are all things that a starter can get away with because he's going to face the

lineup three times, maybe four. you're going to face a guy maybe once every day. >> bob: even though it's cozy here in left field, you cannot pitch your way from contact -- away from contact here in this ballpark. unless you walk people and now the tying run will come to the batter's box. bergmann did not threaten the plate really with any of his pitches right there. first and third, nobody out. jorge cantu, who is 0-3. double play is in order here. bergmann has the good sinker. >> rob: and steve mccatty is going to come out and have a little chat. >> bob: i think he ought to invite the catcher to come and join him.

>> rob: what you are trying to do and what you're actually executing are two different things. you may be carefully pitching to hanley ramirez, but you still use your best pitch. if it's a sinker, throw a backdoor sinker. run it back from the lefties back over the edge of the plate. maybe hanley reaches out, pops it to the right side. you know, totally going away from him throwing it in the dirt or throwing it neck high, that's not the approach you want to have at this level. >> bob: old bud yits, old teammates at third base. -- old buddies, old teammates at third base with the batter coming up after jorge cantu, john baker. ron villone is warming again. this could be bergmann's last batter.

this at-bat may determine the rest of the evening. that's a hard breaking ball for a strike. villone up earlier when j.d. martin was struggling to get out of the fifth inning which he eventually did. another breaking ball. softer that time. >> rob: i told you what steve jaeger told me yesterday. he doesn't care what you throw. just throw it with everything you have. put everything you have behind it. put everything you have into it. if you're going to throw a curve ball, throw your best curve ball. if you're going to throw a curve ball for an out pitch, throw it down and in the dirt. he'll block it. that's his job. three pitch 86, 77 and 80.

clippard responsible for nick johnson at third base. >> rob: you saw what cliff did tonight. he -- clippard did. he made adjustments after getting beat up the other night. started soft and then went hard and went hard up in the zone. as a pitcher, if you're going to get a guy to offer at those, that's in your favor most of the time. he'll pop it up and miss it. >> bob: target away on 1-2. the lefty catcher baker next. each team, of course warnings full complement of bench players. with villone, we might see somebody like helpless helms into this game -- wes helms

into this game. that's a pop-up on the infield. adam dunn has it. a big first out. >> rob: coors light freeze cam brought to you by coors light most refreshing beer. john baker, hack. cristian guzman cannot get itout of his glove. thru see the coors light freeze cam, safe, you're out at first. >> bob: bergmann is going to leave after walking ramirez and

getting cantu. and the nats aren't going to lander here -- left-hander here. looks like macdougal is coming in. i'm here on this tiny little plane, and guess what...

i've still got room for the internet. with my new netbook from at&t. with its built-in 3g network, it's fast and small, so it goes places other laptops can't. anything before takeoff mr. kurtis? prime rib, medium rare. i'm bill kurtis, and i've got plenty of room for the internet. and the nation's fastest 3g network. (announcer) sign up today and get a netbook for $199.99 after mail-in rebate. with built-in access to the nation's fastest 3g network. only from at&t.  >> bob: this could be a defining moment of the ballgame. it was a 2-2 score. pitching off the glove off the wall knocked in two. >> rob: his opportunities have been few and far between. he's maift made the most of them. got 3-2 fastball. he unloaded on it. this is not an easy ballpark to hit it where he hit it.

two more rbi's. >> bob: that hit the difference in the game right now. zimmerman tacked on a homer. here we are in the bottom of the eighth. two innings after morse's hit -- >> rob: we're hoping morse gates start here and there. >> bob: i think what rob and i have concluded from this move by jim riggleman is that he likes the right-hander macdougal better against the left-hander baker than bringing in a left-hander, rob, and then facing a guy we know is very reliable off the florida bench. >> rob: well, you've got wes helms sitting over there. you have paulino sitting over there. i think in jim riggleman's mind, he's saying i'd rather see macdougal with that 97 that moves away from a lefty than ron villone throwing his breaking balls and fastballs in to the righty in this left field. >> bob: exactly. mike macdougal has to throw strikes and he gets a double play ball! pete orr, cristian guzman, adam

dunn, 4-3-3, inning over -- 4-6- 3, inning over. three relievers combined to shutdown the marlins. to the ninth, nats lead 5-2. 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.

 >> bob: well, clippard, bergmann and macdougal. mike macdougal still in theballgame. doesn't get any better than a one-pitch double play ball and as we go to the top of the ninth, coming up on "nats xtra"

presented by verizon fios, inside the pitching duel with johnson, thoughts with the manager after the game. estrada-anibal sanchez tomorrow night. they start the game here at 6:10. because of a post-game concert. we cannot join you until 7:05. go to masnsports.com. live game log, stats and then if you missed any highlights in the first 55 minutes of the game, we'll roll them right in for you at 7:05 tomorrow night. only thing you might miss is what shirt and tie rob dibble is wearing. we'll get you caught up with that a little later. >> rob: top of the ninth. >> rob: all my shirts and stuff are in the cleaners. you might see this shirt. what is it a nine-day road trip? you might see it seven times. >> bob: if the nats win tonight, you better wear it tomorrow. >> rob: that's fine. % get some woolite out for you. >> rob: it will walk to the field on its own.

>> bob: willie showed bunt. evidently, pulled the bat back. 2-0, ninth inning under way. martinez gets on. harris, guzman and zimmerman in the ninth. ball three. sure would be nice to pickup a little insurance policy here. >> rob: starting to get heated down there in fandom. >> bob: they're not used to seeing the nats ahead in this ballpark willie harris walks for the third time tonight. this year he's struck out 51 times and now walked 48 times. second walk issued by martinez. don't forget about the upcoming home stand. dodgers, braves, mets.

we'll be back home a week from tuesday. 888-632-nats, nationals.com. if you drop down on n street, you can always park on the street. take a short hop over to the box office and pickup tickets. strike one to guzman. cristian 0-4 tonight. a pair of strikeouts. he's 4-31 last. >> rob: i think the fa should e-mail where they're sitting to us and we'll mention them in the broadcast or you will. >> bob: wow. like seat location? >> rob: yeah. >> bob: we could do all of them here tonight. >> rob: i was going to say when you said 15,000? there's not 1,500 here. >> bob: guzman pulls it. nick johnson picks it. a 3-6-1 attempt. cristian beats the relay. well played by nick johnson. here come the big boys, rob.

both homers tonight. >> rob: well, dunn started off the hit parade early in the ballgame and then it went about five more innings before another couple of runs scored. opposite field home run two days in a row and then zim just puts a charge into this andrew miller fastball. bye-bye. he had -- that ball did leave the stadium. >> bob: ryan is thinking don't you dare replay this. by the way, year derek jeter got the record-setting hit for the yankees tonight. he surpassed lou gehrig in yankee hits. >> bob: he hits it hard.

double play ball. 6-4-3 and this ballgame goes scooting into the bottom of the ninth. for the marlins, uggla, ross and maybin coming up against macdougal. [ crowd noise in background ] [ music booming, crowd cheering ] [ music booming and crowd cheering continues ] [ crowd cheering ] ( ding )

hi, everybody. johnny holliday along with ray knight back with "nats xtra" post-game in a couple more minutes. nats have a nice little two- game win being streak going. >> i could get used to this, couldn't you? >> i sure could too. >> adam dunn a home run. ryan zimmerman a home run. mike morse, a big double. clippard grairkts job in relief. >> everybody does the job. back to bob and rob in muggy south florida. we'll see you after this ballgame in a couple of minutes. >> bob: nothing would make us happier, johnny, than to throw it back to you with a friday night's here's johnny in a matter of moments. the hitters that macdougal faces here in the bottom ninth, dan uggla, cody ross and cameron maybin combined 0-9 and

tonight with five strikeouts. justin maxwell brings his speed to center field and willie harris goes to left. >> rob: we go with our all speed outfield, maxwell. >> bob: you have hot rod max and dukes. >> rob: there you go. >> bob: pitcher for the nats batting fifth. and maxwell in the number nine spot. dan uggla, 0-3, two strikeouts. macdougal after struggling after his fifth -- trying to get his 15th save last night and then villone came in to take care of business trying to make it number 15 here.

uggla, bouncer. deep third foul. remind are we will join live tomorrow night at 7:05. can't be wut with you for the 6:10 first pitch. >> rob: we'll be thinking of them while we're doing the game. >> bob: rob and i will be announcing the game live to tape. here every night. right now, the first order of business getting dan uggla to start the ninth on a friday night. high drive, left center. that's not coming back. it's a 5-3 game.

roilt. >> rob: he's a little better than matt stairs. he does not get cheated. he will swing for the fences every time up there and he just unloads on that macdougal heater. all right. it's one run. still up two. need three outs. i like the odds. >> bob: cody ross is next. fastball whistles in there. >> rob: bring it. >> bob: mike macdougal has now given up. >> rob: ross gload. >> bob: yeah torques hit for maybin next. slider, base hit.

what is it about these ninth innings? and gload will be the tying run and nobody out. >> rob: why do you think they make pettitteo business molina and tums -- petobismol and tums and roleades. >> bob: and helpless helms is swing the bat to get ready next. interesting it's not jeremy hermida who has been struggling. looks like ron villone sun for the second time tonight. here is macdougal to gload.

ross gload, 16-56 this year pinch-hitting with a homer and 13 rbi's. respectable .28 268 as a pinch batter. >> rob: this won't make you feel any better about last night's grand slam. matt stairs had one hit between july and august. >> bob: wasn't he like 1-39 or something? >> rob: 1-33 with one home run and one rbi. >> bob: some would say he was due. >> rob: yeah. he's on fire in september 1-4. >> bob: phillies have won their home opener against the mets 5- 2. right now marlins are 5 1/2 out. if the nats take care of business here, they will lose a game in the standings tonight and the phills would be six up on the marlins, but a lot of work to be done ball two.

adam dunn playing behind the runner at first. that run doesn't mean a thing unless there's a chance for a force play at second. 2-1. >> rob: i think, you know, steve mccatty hopefully he said that gload has been sitting around all day. hasn't hit since 5:00 in the cages. they didn't take batting practice out on the field. they had the tarp out. challenge this guy.

>> bob: the thing you can't do in the ninth inning is walk people and give them runners on. >> rob: i agree. make them earn it. cody ross got that hit up the middle on a slider. uggla earned a home run off the fastball.   >> bob: now the tying run i base. >> rob: got another lefty coming out. >> bob: will now bat instead of helms and they'll also pinch- run brett carroll at first base.

take away what he's done against the nationals this year. emilio bonifacio had a pretty bad year. against the nats, he has at times been excellent in hitting, running, bunting. zimmerman already on the grass at third as is dunn at first. he goes stabbing at a pitch that probably would have been ball one. on the year. so he has a homer and five rbi's against the nats. that's his only homer in 5-27 of his rbi's. all that came in the first series of the season here.

macdougal overmatches him, strike two. >> rob: you can't try to stab at the ball when a guy is throwing 95. you've got to give yourself up. rear around. put the bat out in front of you in front of the plate so that that ball is bunted into fair territory. he's not trying to bunt for a hit right here. he's just trying to move the runners up. they're way ahead right here, 0- 2. basically throw a chin-high fastball to see if he'll swing at it.   >> rob: trying to slap it i left field.

>> bob: swing and a miss and macdougal comes up big with the first out in the ninth. >> rob: that is not getting the job done there by bonifacio. pulled back wes helms to bring him up there to sacrifice the runners ahead with no outs first and second and emilio bonifacioswings and misses right here and that's just an ugly at-bat. >> bob: here is the thing. the nats have to get two outs either against this hitter or the next two hitters or hanley ramirez bats again. so, coghlan 0-4 steps in.

i had. >> rob: you've got villone up. you've got the two lefties like last night back to back. >> bob: perfect pitch tailing out outside corner. nationals lead 5-3 after the dan uggla homer. a base hit, a walk and a strikeout. >> rob: good pitch. >> bob: tim welke had a little body english going. i thought he was going to pull up that right arm. >> rob: not high. outside.

>> bob: and a bouncer should be two. should be the ballgame. it is! guzman turns it. nationals win. macdougal and villone the last two nights, their best friends have shown up on three occasions, the old double play. >> rob: he put everything into that fastball. it's tailor made to cristian guzman as he starts to throw to first. steps on the bag. follow through right to first. good night. >> bob: and the nationals win in this ballpark for the first time this year. it didn't come easy. it was a story of good pitching, timely hitting and a look at our ford drive of the

game. it was a mike morse off the bench double. >> rob: nobody more clutch tonight than mike morse. 3-2, two outs, dead center field and those two rbi's proved to be the difference in this ballgame and mike morse last couple of at-bats, bob, very clutch in big situations. the fortunes of the nationals go in a positive manager. >> bob: each team playing errorless ball tonight. the nats win it 5-3. they've now beaten the marlins 5-7 last times. these two teams have gotten together and it's about time. for rob dibble and debbi taylor, bob carpenter. nats win it 5-3. hits even at 5- 5. join us tomorrow night joined in progress at 7:05 and anibal sanchez and marco estrada. log on to masnsports.com for all the latest news on thenationals. this has been a presentation of masn and now from the booth,

"nats xtra" coming up so. so long for just a while. the nationals ended last night's ballgame against the phillies with a double play. they end tonight's ballgame with a double play. they beat the marlins 5-3. should be a nice next 30 minutes here on "nats xtra" post-game brought to you by verizon fios. i'm johnny holliday along with ray knight. nice effort for the ball club tonight and they needed that one. they get two straight in the win column. >> they did. macdougal a little scary there, but that fastball can be dominant. when it's sinking, they'll hit it on the ground. they did double play, game is over. a little nervous for a while. had it all the way, didn't we? >> in the bag. that's my boys. defining moment in this ballgame. you saw it. let's show it once again. 2-2 game in the sixth. willingham, walks nieves will get a hit. >> and then morse, mike morse

pinch-hit hits a bullet to center field. his fourth pinch-hit as maybin trying tries to get this ball. gedz gets caught up against the wall. misses it. two runs score. put us ahead and we were able to hold on to that score and only scored one run when uggla hit the bomb in the ninth. >> you glue up in fort lauderdale. debbi will talk to mike in a couple minutes in our "nats xtra" post-game. there you seat numbers. big hitting game. only 10 hits the entire ballgame. nats 5,-0. marlins, tied. macdougal gets the save, his 15th. sanches takes the loss, his second. adam dunn with a homer, zimmerman with a homer and ramirez with a homer for the marlins. big win for the nationals. they have thed not won a gym there this year in south florida. you have to go back to last year when they won a game. >> they put the heel on our

throats. it didn't make a difference whether we scored early or scored late. they found a way to win ballgames. hanley ramirez doing the damagement he started off with damage early in the game. very well-pitched game. he has a penchant so make those pitches when he has to, johnny. 97 pitches on the night. five innings and only two hits. another very solid out ago mike morse had the game-winning rbi, the double that drove in two to put the nationals on top for good. debbi taylor standing by with mike in florida. >> ok. thank you very much. mike, of course, coming off the bench to pinch-hit for j.d. martin, what is your mindset in that sixth inning? >> get a good pitch to hit and have a good at-bat. go up there ready and just try to have a good at-bat and put the ball in play. >> you've been very successful as a pinch-hitter so far with the nationals. who has helped with you that? >> you know, me and eric have been working a lot especially the mentality of going up there and this is the one at-bat i've

got and i've got to make the best of it. it seems like it's work ago you seem very comfortable too with runners in scoring position. you're now 3-3 in that situation. >> it's fun. it's part of the game, man. it's -- i like being in situations like that when the game might be on the line or if you have a chance to change the game. i kind of like this. >> finally, playing here in miami with your family, you're from fort lauderdale, how nice was that for you? >> it's great. it's great. especially getting to play them seeing me play with the nationals and it's always good to come home. >> thank you very much, mike morse doing well here at home. guys, back to you in the studio. >> thank you very much, debbi. thank you, mike. nationals also ending a six- game road losing streak with this victory tonight as well. >> yeah, and, hey, nice for us to play well the rest of the year and mount up some wins. it just is a tough as the

season has been topsy-turvy to say the least. give the guys a lot to build on. the acquisitions, players, not just the players that get to play every day, but the role players. i think morse will be here for a long time. he's a man who can do so much u see him come in there with the pop. he's 4-11 pinch-hitting, 3-3 with runners in scoring position. you just look at pete orr. he's done a tremendous job. esure has. >> last night, we were able to go out and hit the ball hard, get decent pitching. hold on and md it's two big wins in a row. >> you're not kidding me. win tonight down in florida against the fish. back to the booth in south florida. rob dibble and bob carpenter. when you got a couple of guys like adam dunn and ryan zimmerman in the lineup that can give you pop like that, it makes the pitcher pretty comfortable out there on the mound. >> yeah, you know, johnny, for the last couple of years, nats had sort of a one something punch. they do have a 1-2 punch now. it's diswim dunn. adam has done a wonderful job

protecting ryan in the lineup this year. it's no secret why zimmerman who is gifted is having his most consistent season over i think what you're talking about is ryan zimmerman can be a little more particular what he swings the bat at and he's done a great job. he's picked out a lot more balls he can drive the opposite way. he saw a fastball tonight he could really drive. adam dunn got everybody started with an opposite field home run early in the ballgame and together they drove in 3-5 runs that the nationals scored tonight. when you have a 3-4 punch like this, it's just very tough for a pitcher to get one out and not the other whether it's a lefty or righty starter on the mound. you can go after dunn or zimmerman or you can go after both and you can lose some of those battles. tonight, josh johnson, who only gave up 12 home runs, gave up his 13th to adam dunn and then later in the ballgame, ryan zimmerman. combined, bob, check that out. that's awesome. >> yeah, i think they have a chance to end up somewhere around 75-80 home runs. they will be over 200 combined.

it's a wonderful combination, 3 three-four, skim and dunn for the nats. timely hitting and good pitching tonight. what's on your mind? >> just wanted to ask rob he's not impressive velocity wise. seventh straight start he's been able to keep the ballgame in close, so your thoughts about j.d. >> he throws a lot of strikes. when he does work ahead, he can throw breaking balls way from people down and out of the zone or he challenges people up and in with fastballs and that's imawses because they start looking for breaking balls. it's all about comafnltd he has excellent command. when he's on, he repeats his delivery. he's excellent at that. when he's on, egetting ahead of guys early in the count e ties up their hands e does a great job. it's not about velocity. it's about location. if he can put it in there 87- 88, sometimes 90, it doesn't matter. as long as he works ahead, he'll be successful up here. >> you're going to give up home runs to hanley ramirez. it's how you handle the rest of the marlins that really makes a

difference. guys, by the way a-thought just occurred to me. nats swept the marlins at home a couple weeks ago. this might be only the second time this year other than that when the nationals have won consecutive games inside the eastern division. it's been a tough year in the division. nice to win a couple against the phillies and now the marlins. >> bob carpenter, rob dibble down there in south florida. back with you again tomorrow night. thank you gentlemen, very much. we'll see you tomorrow night right here on masn. when you look at ryan zimmerman, 29 home runs, 94 rbi's. adam dunn 35rbgs home runs and 98 rbi's. that's a pretty good punch there in the lineup eye love you, but he's got 37. >> 37 home runs and 98 rbi's and that's why they're such a -- i love you, man. >> he's hitting them so quick, now he's hitting one every night. they're mounting up. it is nice to have an offense that can do that. we just haven't had that here the three years where you have punch in the lineup. let's not forget josh willingham.

he's struggling a little right now. he has 22 bombs. he's got those a little over 350 at-bats. so, elijah sitting right there behind him. the makings of an offensive unit that can actually -- we saw last night when we went in and cincinnati reds in '75 had 134 home runs and we've already passed that. so, very powerful ball club this year and just growing offensively. >> and the nice thing about the nationals now, you have a two- game winning streak w all these teams coming up with the mets and marlins again, the if i was, they can do some damage and if j.d. martin continues to pitch like he did tonight, we'll take a look at his outing. this team can do severe damage down the stretch. >> he was actually able to -- we're looking at strikeouts here where he was throwing that fastball down which he does soeffectively and then a slider. just a little cutter. had a couple of guys. uggla dropping his bat looking. sanches pinch-hitting. another pitch on the outside corner. that's a fastball. he was able to locate.

he throws more balls on the corner seemingly than any pitcher that we have. fastball running in. you see everyone of these -- every one of these dots seems to be on one of those blue lines on the edge of the strike zone. threw a lot of pitches tonight. i said the first time i saw him kid knows how to pitch. he has a feel for knowing how to pitch. mixes up his pitches well. throws the pitch around the strike zone. looks like to me he's in control all the time. >> you see the pitches 97 by j.d. martin. that's the reason he was taken out after five innings. his pitch count was kind of high. gives up two hits. good effort by j.d. martin great effort. when you have a guy that's a finesse type pitcher, a lot of times it takes while to get to the pitch that he wants for his out pitch because he has to set hitters up because he knows he doesn't have the re slos --velocity to get people out. he's throwing harder. 89 tonight. he's had outings where he's tops at 88. he will be a part this have rotation next year i believe. >> it was a little home run

derby for the nationals tonight as adam dunn got his 37th of the season. >> thank you, johnny. >> ryan zimmerman also connecting long ball. we'll touch on that when we come back. nice work, everyone.uranc. exec: well, it's easy for him. he's a cute little lizard. gecko: ah, gecko, actually - exec: with all due respect, if i was tiny and green and had a british accent i'd have more folks paying attention to me too... i mean - (faux english accent) "save money! pip pip cheerio!" exec 2: british? i thought you were australian. gecko: well, it's funny you should ask. 'cause actually, i'm from - anncr: geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. so you can record in one room and watch in up to six others. you can do that with cable! living room. bedroom. kitchen. thank you. (announcer) get the amazing multi-room dvr from verizon fios free for 3 months.

you can watch recorded shows in up to seven different rooms. plus get all three fios services, tv, internet and phone for the price of two. hurry, this offer won't last. call the verizon center for customers with disabilities at 800.974.6006 tty/v 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.

welcome back, everybody. "nats xtra" post-game show brought to you by verizon fios. verizon fios. over 100hd channels and the fastest internet. this is fios. this is big. >> oh, yeah, i think he's definitely one of if not the toughest guy. he has three really good pitches and he doesn't walk anybody. when he does walk people, that's kind of when gets in trouble. he's definitely one of the best. >> adam dunn, the profit. -- the prawf yet. he spoke and -- provette. he -- prophet. he spoke and boom, they're up. >> they're up early walking willie harris. the guy who took him deep, adam dunn. this ball ekes over the wall.

that ball extends there right to the 300 mark just goes over the edge. adam, his ninth home run to the opposite field this year, johnny. he may hit 50. he may get hot and hit 50. he's capable of hitting 15, 16 home runs in a month. you've got quite a few games left and i wouldn't be suppliesed to see him hit 45 plus -- surprised to see him hit 45 plus. >> 35 of the season, his sixth home run against the florida marlins. >> that came out of the top of your head eloves to play against those florida marlins. i tell you that right right now. nationals win by a score of 5-3 today and the offense, that wasn't all the nationals put on the board because they add add couple of runs in the sixth and one more in the seventh. >> willingham walked. there's sanches on the mound. nieves singles over shortstop. line drive. here is mike morse going deep to center field coming up there and maybin going back, back. can't get to the bull as it hits off his glove. caroms scoring two runs willingham and nieves to put us up 4-2. in the seventh, zim,

29th home run, johnny. dheak. 94th rbi. check that, johnny. i think i'm right. anyway, a lot of big numbers for the kid. >> and just in case the umpire did not see the ball t-did go other over the fence. zimmerman helped him out making sure that is a home run. inside the box tonight for the nats, not a lot of hits. only five. they came when they counted. ryan gets a base hit, homer. dunn with a home run. elijah dukes with a base hit. also, wil nieves and mike morse had that big rbi double. -- two rbi double. the bullpen, tyler clippard coming in. he's find that go strike zone. his k rates are going up like crea crazy striking out batters. >> he has a great curve ball. he elevates his fastball and he has the changeup. uggla there on the changeup. ross there on the changeup. maybin there on the cheese high fastball. able to put the ball in spolts. hayes comes back with another high fastball. he has the ability to put the ball in spots with the deception of the changeup,

elevation of the fastball, the four-seam fastball, he'll punch a lost people out. >> clippard goes two tonight gives up on the one hit, strikes out four. bergmann went 1/3, no hits, hasn't walked. macdougal getting his 15th save saves goes 1 2/3. we'll take a break and continue more of our "nats xtra" post- game here on masn brought to you by verizon fios. johnny holliday, ray knight, 5- 3. washington beats florida in miami. new blackberry, huh ?

yeah. me, too. how sick is the web browsing ? all the apps, gps, video... yeah... you didn't get your blackberry with the verizon network, did you ? no. sorry. so it doesn't work here, does it ? no, but... paperweight mode. all right. now get a blackberry at our lowest prices ever, like the storm, for just $49.99, plus get another free. blackberry runs better on america's largest 3g network. verizon wireless. what is it to lead? at pnc, it's doing what most benefits our customers. whether that's building more certified green buildings than anyone on earth. creating online banking tools for the next generation.

or making a 10 year, $100 million investment in kids. it's how we've always done business. and will for a very long time to come. pnc. leading the way. and bouncer should be two. should be the ballgame. it is! guzman turns it. nationals win. >> nationals win 5-3. can keep in mind tomorrow ate night's game, starts at 6:10. because of mlb restrictions, we will start it at 7:05. you can watch it live on masnsports.com. with a loss tonight, marlins drop six games behind the

phillies in the national league east and when you talk about the wild card, they're fighting to stay alive in that as well. they're now six out in the wild card. >> i don't think you have they have a chance. they're in the playing the leaders of the wild card which are the rockies and giants. it will be really interesting. giants play three against the dodgers leading the division, three against colorado who is ahead of them and three against the dodgers their next nine games. something is going to break with the giants. they're either going to be at the top of this thing or buried. if the rockies play them well in that one series, rockies are going to end up being the wild card. >> you know what jim riggleman said about the fact he's going to play these games because he owes it to the integrity of baseball to put the best guys out there in the felled every time the nationals take the field they have two more with the marlins. they have three against the phillies, six against the -- against the mets, seven games against the atlanta braves. they would coe really do serious damage to the rest of the contenders. >> they can, johnny. it's something you have to do. you also get a memo at the beginning of the year and even

in spring training you're supposed to take three or four of your starters to the visiting cities just to make sure that those fans there get a quality baseball team. you take your triple-a club down there. at this time of the year, that's why desmond probably won't play a lot. maxwell probably won't play a lot because you've got to play those players that have been here all year and give you the best chance to win. >> how about tomorrow? new comer on the mound for the nationals. marco estrada gets the major league start. >> he's got some pretty impressive -- impressive starts. 91 minor league starts. he's 18-11, compiled 476 innings and he's done very well as a starter. his big league experience has only been 14 innings. he's not done real billion in that role. he likes starting. anibal sanchez had a guy who has great stuff. he's been injured all year long. two months, nine starts. he's only gone six innings the max this year. his last three outings, however, he has a 2.61 earned

run average. >> anibal sanchez anibal sanchez, 2-6. you see his e.r.a. compared to marco who also pitched at long beach state, one of those guys that came out of a great baseball program, estrada out in california. >> look at his arm action today on film, he has a lot of live movement, good action on the ball. seems to have one of the arms that's almost elastic as he let's the ball go with a lot of late finish. i know this team is very high on him. he's kind of got lost in the shuffle with all the young guns coming up namewise, but in the back of everybody's mind here, he's still a guy that figures in the future of the ball club. >> you saw debbi taylor talking to mike morse a few moments ago about his friends, family and relatives on hand tonight. they saw this. a double off the wall drove in two runs. they nevada gave up the lead and win it 5-3. jim riggleman coming up next. [ crowd noise in background ]

[ music booming, crowd cheering ] [ music booming and crowd cheering continues ] [ crowd cheering ] ( ding ) ? at some restaurants when you get boneless wings... what are you really paying for? whoa! ha ha!

i say "happy," you say "birthday!" happy... birthday! who's hungry? why pay for flair when you can get all the flavor for just $3.99 with wendy's new boneless wings. tender, juicy chicken, hand tossed in our signature buffalo or bbq sauce. it's waaaay better than fast food. it's wendy's. "nats xtra" post dpoim show on masn brought to you by

verizon fios and the fastest internet. this is fios. this is big. still to come, two more games remaining in the series down in florida. join in progress tomorrow night at 7:05 and masn hd. sunday afternoon at 12:30 and then the nationals on the road at philadelphia for tuesday night ballgame at 6:30. wednesday, 6:30. again, on thursday, 6:30. that's when "nats xtra" pregame hits the air. we hoal hope you'll be with us and all those except the sunday game and masn 2 down in florida against the marlins. jim riggleman just a couple minutes ago was talking with the media. he knows the fact the nats have struggled in south florida. tonight, they beat the fish 5- 3. that's their first win over the marlins in miami this year. >> yeah, you know, i hadn't really thought about that that we hadn't won a ballgame here, but it was just a good ballgame. i really feel that we played a lot of real good baseball. you know, again the record doesn't show it, but we've really played good baseball. we've played compleen cleanment we're turning some double

plays. we've gotten key hits. as you said, we pitched good. martin gave us a chance. you know, he got us into a point in the ballgame where we could use our bullpen effectively. clippard was outstanding. macdougal was outstanding. you know, that was a pretty good lineup over there. those guys are getting outs. again, very proud of them. >> mike morse has stint consistently been helping you out, too. can you talk a little about what you're seeing from him as a pinch-hitter? >> he's gotten a lot of hits for us. i shouldn't say a lot, but he's gotten big hits. that's twice he's driven in two runs. he's doing it against reasoned pitching. it's tough to go up there and pinch-hit. he's gotten two two-out hits now both against right-handers. you try to match guys up versus a left-handed pitcher, but those situations haven't been coming up and mike has found a way to stay sharp through his batting practice and his work with rick. you know, he's pleepd. he's ready to go and he's given

us great at-bats. >> talk in the past how hard is it to find a spot for him in the lineup? could this be his ultimate calling? it's a valuable thing to have. >> certainly, there's guys who evolves into that. there's guys who, you know, have good at-bats and they've got ability. they can play some positions. through the years, there's been guys like that who just turns out they're actually more valuable to come off the bench and give you a good at-bat. i don't want to pigeon hole him that way, label him that way yet. he's a young guy still. it's a valuable asset that even if gets to a point where he does play more regularly to be able to come back and do this, he will have had the experience doing it. >> these are guys morse, j.d. martin, clippard even who were with syracuse for a large part and now showing a little here and there. how important is even the final month they're never going tore

starters, but guys need to fill out a roster with to see that. >> i think clippard hand martin has been here a lot. they spent a significant time in syracuse. they've been with us a lot. what they do i think you can really evaluate because what happens in september we've seen good things from them and august and july. so, they're just -- they're making a case for themselves for the future. you know, they're -- the game is so well scouted and everything. i mean, these guys are impressing us, but nobody misses anything. you know, you're out there auditioning for every club in baseball. so, they're trying to fight for a spot on our club for the future and they've impressed us. so, they're going to make some tough calls for us. >> we're thinking as roil riggleman is thinking -- jim riggleman is thinking about tonight's win over florida, adam dunn is three home runs away from a sixth consecutive season with at least 40 home

runs. that's incredible. >> it is incredible. babe ruth i think is the only other guy that's done that. i'm not sure did he that. i know he and adam had five and only two had done that. >> you came up a little short because you were hitting consistent home runs for a while. >> it took me 10 years to hit 40 i think. yeah, about four a year. >> when you look at the -- >> is that funny to you, johnny? >> what's that? >> is that funny to you? eye want to ask you one question. how many have you hit? >> none. >> when we talk about this ball club doing damage, they can make it three straight tomorrow night if they can knock off florida in miami. >> something i hope that happens is this team learns to win. they haven't really learned to win. they can do that in the last month by putting together a winning streak starting to feel that they can learn to win. >> we will see you tomorrow night after the ballgame. picking up in progress 7. 067895 tomorrow night. with rob dibble, bob carpenter

from florida. for the silver fox, ray knight, johnny holliday. the win in miami. 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.

and we're out of cold coors light. - what do we do? - go get it! great idea but we've only got ten bucks. what do you want, eleven? what do you want, eleven? - we need more than that. - ditka's wallet! and we got it. we just found your wallet. we'll just use a credit card for the cold coors light. hey! hey! hey! hey! frost-brewed coors light. official beer sponsor of the nfl. coach, i just bought a coors light t-shirt. what do you think? ain't no stretch there, baby. no stretch there.

it's a little snug. >> you see all the great players. it really is amazing. >> hitting fifth, yogi berra. >> yogi connects and it's another homer. >> gives jeter 2149. >> holy cow. >> he did it. don mattingly has done the unbelievable. >> number 2,154. >> joe dimaggio is next with 2214. >> here's the hit that makes it for joking joe. >> jeter js past joe dim imagine yoa. >> home run. >> everytime he gets a hit he's

going to make some noise. >> bernie was watching. you can turn the set off. >> the great number 7, mickey mantle. a home run for mickey mantle. >> third place on the all-time yankees list. >> i can't go on forever. somebody's got to take myyyy sh. i won't play until i drop but i'll play until i i damn near drop. >> next stop lou gehrig. >> the captain's fearful trip is done. derek jeter's joij began on may 30, 1995. it all started with a single to left off seattle's tim belcher. the first of more than 2700 career hits. tonight the captain's ship sailed into unchartered innings. jeter inside out opposite field single to right, became the

yankees' all-time hit liter surpassing lou gehrig. his 2,722 hit. single later in the game we will so now two ahead of gehring. yankees leading the birds, 4-3. they're in the top of the sixth. a-rod has also homered in this game. andy pettit in line to win it for the yankees. lifetime entering the game he was 26-6 against baltimore. >> toronto a 4-1 tran did i ruiz kiss that one goodbye. a two-run shot for him. his seventh of the year. the bluejays victorious. adam was 1-3 with an r.b.i. single. 16 ribbies in the last 13 games. detroit has now lost their fourth game in a row. ryan rayburn 7-12 in his last three games. if you're looking for a bright spot if you're tigers fans. >> phillies and the mets,

scoreless. bottom 2, jimmy rollins up with two on. >> pedro feliz scores. phillies up 1-0. they go on to win 4-2. by the way, just to throw this out there, the phillies on their roster have four players with at least 30 home runs. gary sheffield leads the mets with ten home runs. just saying. >> major power. >> phillies have nine of the last 10 against new york. >> to the links, round two of the b.m.w. championship from cog hill. tiger has won here four times. he was three under in round one. this his third shot on nine. a par five. that gets you close enough. tying wor birdie. move to five under. on 11, tying from the sand. sand web pons work. that was also a par five. that was also his third shot. he would bird di. his fourth birdie in five holes.

tiger six under. another birdie on 17. he would finish four under for the day, seven under for the tournament. paddy harrington was also tied for the lead and this tee shot on 18. that's right. took a mulligan? >> took a few mulligans. >> we don't count the shots, they do. they pay for money. he had to retake the tee shot. he would bogey. >> we know better than to play for money. >> tiger tied with mark wilson for the lead. wilson's home course happens to be cog hill. the two will be paired tomorrow. >> a federal appeals court ruled today vikings defensive tackles kevin and pat williams can sue the nfl in minnesota state court. since the case won't go to trial until after the season the players do not have to serve a four-game suspension. the williams say the testing practices violate minnesota law. the suspensions for the williams

and three other players were put on hold for the first week of the season though the case was before the federal court. the rulingas is significant because they will be allowed to play as they are on trial in minnesota. released a statement saying, quote, 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. the result of the nfl players association's failure to stand behind the program it negotiated with the league and for which it has properly claimed credit with fans and before congress. the most respected program in sports has been put in jeopardy by the nfl union's silence in today's ruling. charles grant and will smith are allowed to play sunday but still face a four-game suspension next week as does mcallister if he does sign with the team. >> the steelers won the season opener but they're all pro troy poll

palmolive sprained was injured. >> take a look at the medial collateral we have the knee. looking at the front of the right knee and this is the inner side of the knee where the medial collateral ligament runs. when the knee gets hit from the outside which is whached to troy palmolive, it will bow or bend, stretching that m.c.l. and potentially tearing the ligament fibers. he's having an m.r.i. to assess the degree of injury to the o knee. but typical rehabilitation will involve bracing to allow the tissue to scar done followed by gradual range of motion strengthing and getting him back to the football field t. challenge is he needs to cut and stop and start and run all over the place and all those activities will stress the ligament. so that time frame is likely to be on the outer end of the three to six weeks. >> in a letter the raiders told

richard seymour he had until tuesday to show up. he could be put on the suspended list, couldn't play and would forfeit his salary. >> todd mechanic shea here. i've locked myself in the room trying to figure out who will be trying to figure out who will be the x factors in saturdaygreat. but put a ring of cheese in the crust and...jackpot! (anouncer) introducing pizza hut's new stuff crust pan pizza. your favorite pan piz with a jackpot of melted cheese in the crut. a large one toppinis just $10.99.

>> angels with a 2-0 lead on the white sox, top three. padres up 1o 0 on the rockies. that game in the third. and the dodgers leading the giants 2-1. san francisco scoreboard watching but that colorado-san diego game, they need to win and the padres need to beat the rockies. rockies also eyeing the dodgers in that n.l. west race. >> two legendary programs meet up in the horseshoe as u.s.c. and ohio state square off in prime time. buckeyes signal caller terrell pry your leads the charge for the fifth straight year and pete carrell turns to matt barkley with another national title run in mind. u.s.c. and ohio state, tomorrow at 8:00 eastern on espn. >> take ago look at x factors today in the film room and when you break down ohio state in the first game against navy, the impressive thing to me was durr

ron carter. carter obviously well coached coming out of the high school ranks. but watch here. a couple of things. first of all, settling down on the quick sand route and finding that soft spot, giving himself a window to the quarterback to terrell pry your. this next play, getting out of the break and also has the presence of mind to get down and keep his feet inbounds for the reception. i know he only had three catches against navy but he is not the type of player that's going to be afraid to play in a big game and i also saw a great rapport between he and pry your, the quarterback. don't be surprised if he has big numbers against u.s.c. on the flip side, joe mcknight could be the x fact tomplet one player ohio state cannot match up with in any facet of the game. patience, setting up his blocks, the vision in the open field and bang, cutting back and using his speed to get into the end zone. mcniect has gone from a great talent to possibly a great

runningback, showing a lot of patience as a back. here you're going to see running inside, finding the outside lane and yeesing that flat-out speed to run away from defenders. that could be a problem for ohio state and so could the passing game. the linebacker match-up against mcknight, there's no chance. san jose state, ohio state, there's not a linebacker in that buckeye defense that can match up with his one on one on the passing game. mcknight will have a big game running the ball and catching the ball in columbus on saturday night. >> still to come here on espnews, he's the veteran j.w. stewart. >> more on the captain derek jeter making