in too many instances raw soothe flowing into them, streams which were vital parts of our scenic rivers, our scenic waterways, places for hunters and fishermen, where people would like to swim and boat but could not. but we've seen even more instances of bad earmarks. irthought it wai thought it wase pentagon earmark to award a a project to a european company which since has been subjected to review and will cost thousands of missouri jobs if undertaken. fundamentally, i see this as a role of congress and one that should be transparent, self-limiting and subject to scrutiny. we get that scrutiny and i accept it. i am happy to argue with anybody who disagrees with my views but at least we do so out in the

open. when earmarks are made in the executive branch, nobody knows who did them f. you don't like a decision, you don't even know who to yell at because it's somebody who's not appointed, not accountable, not obvious to the people that we're supposed to serve. now, a lot of people criticize me for putting out statements, news releases when i get some funds for the state, which was another way of saying i was too transparent. i use this process to help empower local people who have local ideas on how best to improve their local communities after they have -- having set their own local priorities. now, if the senator doesn't want to request an earmark, that's fine. some people request earmarks and then vote to strip them out. i think that's a little bit self-contradictory but i'll leave that to the senators wh who -- who choose to request them and then move to strike them.

but if it's -- if the senator thinks it's inappropriate or does not trust himself or his local leaders to establish priorities and petition congress for funding, that's his or her business. but i do trust local officials who answer to their voters and neighbors, as i do, and who invest theheir money and their x money at the local level and understand their own conditions better than anyone else over the geniuses at o.m.b. who may or may not have had the privilege of traveling to missouri, to washington state, to pennsylvania, to minnesota, to wherever the senator comes from. in short, someone earmarks discretionary money. i'm glad that a small fraction of that earmarking is reserved for those who can be questioned and disparaged and voted out of office if people disagree. i disagree that earmarking and making all spending decisions should be a responsibility

exclusively to the typically anonymous executive branch people. i ask my colleagues to ensure the bureaucrats and politicians in the executive branch are not the sole source of power when it comes to setting the spending priorities. in this case, local citizens outside of washington who live with the project, purposes, and are not agency officials should have a stronger voice in setting local priorities. not a weaker voice. mr. president, i urge my colleagues to support this bill and to oppose efforts to take away from congress not only our constitutional power and authority over the purse but what i view as a high responsibility of someone who holds an office and carries out the duties of a united states senator. mr. president, i thank the chair and i yield the floor.

a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the chair recognizes the senator from pennsylvania. mr. casey: mr. president, thank you very much. mr. president, i rise today in opposition to an amendment proposed by my colleague from south carolina. the amendment is number 2410. i believe this amendment sets a dangerous precedent for a number of reasons. first of all, it singles out one airport which happens to be an airport in southwestern pennsylvania in cambria county in the southwestern corner of our state. it's important to note about this particular debate on this amendment that none of the funds in the underlying bill we're talking about here provides for direct funding to this airport. and in my view, the decision as to whether this particular airport should receive funding should be left to the federal aviation administration.

as it should be. the senator from south carolina noted that the airport received funding under the american recovery and reinvestment act. we know it as the stimulus bill. let me read you something from the spoke person for the united states department of transportation. this spokesperson said -- and i quote -- "the bottom line is that it" -- meaning this airport -- "deserved the money based on the merits." meaning -- and the quotation goes on further to say, "it" -- meaning the funding out of the recovery bill -- "is not an earmark." the essential air services program, which, as many here know was created by congress in 1978 to help small airports -- we've got a lot of them in pennsylvania and we need them -- helps small airports to survive after airline deregulation. that's the primary source of federal funding for the airport in this case. not an earmark. not a congressional -- not

congressional earmarks. according to "congressional quarterly," more than 150 airports across the country qualify for this assistance, and many of the 150 airports have a higher per-passenger subsidy with lower passenger loads than the airport that we're talking about here, the johnstown airport. let me finally just say this, in conclusion. this is a -- the city of johnstown but the wider cambria county and the region, but especially this country, as so many places have been hit hard in this recession, but historically this particular community has been hit very hard. in the 14 labor regions of our state where they measure unemployment, very often the johnstown labor market, that region is the highest in the state. and if it's not the highest unemployment, it's often in the top three. this is a community that has suffered tremendously over many decades.

job loss, and when we consider what happens when people go to an airport, sometimes it's not just civilians. a lot of military personnel leave an airport like this. johnstown, pennsylvania, cambria county, pennsylvania, has provided on a per-capita basis as many or more soldiers in iraq, for example, than almost any place in the country. so this is it a community that has contributed mightily to the success of this country under adverse economic circumstances. the least we should do is not target this community and target this airport in the midst of a debate on such a significant transportation appropriations bill. so we're grateful for this opportunity, mr. president. i would yield the floor. mrs. murray: i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll.

quorum call:

quorum call:

mr. specter: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from pennsylvania. mr. specter: mr. president, i ask consent that further proceedings under the quorum call be terminated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. specter: mr. president, i have sought recognition to speak on the pending amendment relating to the mount washington community development corporation. there has been a -- an effort to

leak an appropriation o of $200,000 to help the mount washington community development corporation to clean up, renovate hazardous waste and dangerous vocation to prepare the site for future development. in phase one there will be a cleanup of asbestos and hazardous waste at a total cost of $1.200000. on phase two there will be construction of a total of $90 million to $100 million. the project is the brownfield redevelopment an site preparation for the -- and site preparation for the future construction of 1 grand view avenue in the city of pittsburgh. the site currently includes a blighted structure in a state of total disrepair.

the building has been dilapidated since vacant. the dilapidated building has been vacant since 1979 and. historically the property has been a part of -- a hub of illegal activities. since 1989 there have been over 30 documented incidents of assaults, vandalism and theft at the location. the residence of -- residents of the area have signed a petition in favor of the grandview department development, which resights the chaotic history of this particular low-cal. -- locale. and reads in part the 300 people have signed on urging that the development take place and the petition reads in part "since the summer of 2008, the

developer and his representatives have attended countless meetings with the development project." and goes on to recite the details of what is needed here. the hazardous waste with thi this $200,000 will be designed -- to be designed is really, arguably, a responsibility of the federal government for failure to take steps to avoid the kind of contamination or once the contamination occurs to take remedial action to improve it. the total cost is going to be in the neighborhood o of $1.2 million. the federal contribution, which we're asking for on this earmark is, i would submit, a very modest matter and good reason for the federal government really to undertake greater responsibility than $200,000.

the request in addition to the citizens -- the request has been made by the mayor of the city of philadelphia, and i would ask consent that a letter from his chief of staff be included in the record, been supported -- the presiding officer: without objection. mr. specter: supported by senator casey, by congressman mike doyle, in whose district it is, by the al containy county, county executive, by the county council, by the mount washington community and by two representatives in the pennsylvania general assembly, senator wayne fontana, and representative wagner. hard to envision a more appropriate use of $200,000 than is present here. clear-cut matter of looking to the federal government to fulfill its responsibility on an

area which has become blighted, a waste site which should have been cleaned up a long time ago under federal law. mr. president, in addition to the considerations on the mount washington community development corporation, i am opposed to the amendment number 2410, which would prohibit the use of funds for the john murtha john istown -- johns town airport. it was defeated in the house of representatives by a decisive vote of 263-254. this airport supports 45,000

takeoffs and landings per year. the cambridge county airport receives federal funding from the air service, a program run by the department of transportation on a formula basis to rural regions. the recently passed stimulus also provides funding, but on a purely competitive basis. the johnstown airport is one of many airports across the united states that receives essential air services annual funding. current subsidy is $1.4 million or just over $100 per passenger. there are 152 similar regional airports around the country including a number in my state, altona, lancaster. johnstown airport ranks only 40th in the passenger

subsidies. the majority of the $150 million was funded for military purposes. there are over 1,000 guard and reserve troops stationed at the airport, and they use its facilities daily. these troops have been involved in over 19 overseas deployments in the last five years alone to iraq, afghanistan, and other areas around the world. the upgrades funded in previous years were essential to keep these troops in a proper state of readiness to sustain a high rate of deployment. the national guard lieutenant colonel christopher cleaver had this to say -- quote -- "the airport is a vital part of the guard's strategic appointment plans in today's climate of warfare, it's extremely prudent to be able to move fast." cleaver said, "we have a commitment to mobilize in 96

hours, it's a great advantage to a runway at your doorstep to quickly move anywhere in the world." on the basis of this, i think the appropriation is entirely warranted. i ask consent, mr. president, that my remarks be separately captioned as to the john murtha airport and separately captioned as to the mount washington community development corporation. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. specter: i yield the floor.

quorum call:

mrs. murray: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. murray: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent to set assad the pending amendment. -- set aside the pending amendment. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. murray: we have a managers amendment at the desk. it is amendment 2402 as modified, 2405 modified and 2415. i ask unanimous consent the amendments be considered and agreed to en bloc and the motion to reconsider be laid on the table. the presiding officer: without objection.

a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from arizona. mr. kyl: i ask further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. kyl: i ask unanimous consent to lay aside the pending amendment for the purpose of sending a motion to recommit with instructions to the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the motion.

the clerk: the senator from arizona, mr. kyl, moves to recommit the bill to the committee on appropriations with instructions to report back the same to the senate forth with -- mr. kyl: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that further reading of the motion be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. kyl: thank you, mr. president. i'll take just a moment to explain what this motion is. it's very simple. incidentally, i want to say at the outset that because of the way it reads, as the clerk just read, "forthwith, there is no intention in this phoegt to delay the bill whatsoever. it requires the committee to report back forthwith. although i believe the discretionary spending in the bill, 23% above last year's level is far too high, my motion does not touch spending in this appropriations bill. let me repeat that. this amendment does not change in any way the spending in this

appropriations bill. my motion simply instructs that the bill be sent back to the appropriation committee so that it can be amended and sent back here forthwith to provide for rescissions of any amounts that are unobligated for the fiscal 2010 stimulus bill that are not highway spending accounts. in other words, whatever hasn't been obligated under the stimulus and relates to the spending in this appropriations bill is duplicative of that spending and doesn't relate to highway spending would be rescinded. why is it necessary? the stimulus, i don't believe, has provided what was promised, namely, jobs. a report at the end of august issued by the president's chief economist christine romer, found only 151.4 billion of the original has been spent. the real total cost is over $1.1

trillion. that is less than a quarter of the total package. in other words, a majority of this funding will be spent over the next several years by which time the recession, hopefully, will be long over. the administration claimed that the spending would halt the unemployment level at 8%. of course seven months after we passed the stimulus, unemployment levels are now 9.7% and growing. we've lost over 2 million jobs. i know the administration likes to say that the stimulus has saved or created a million jobs, but most people recognize that there's no way to measure saved jobs. in fact, christina romer stated recently, "it's very hard to say exactly what the jobs effect is because you don't know what the baseline is." end of kwaoet. my -- end of quote. my point is this discussion is important to this bill because our nation is about to hit its debt ceiling of $12.1 trillion in october. this congress will have to again raise the debt limit after having just done so through the so-called stimulus.

the public debt level is currently $11.8 trillion. this motion will lead to more than $11.6 billion in savings, which is less than 1% of our nation's debt level. but we need to start somewhere sometime. and so i urge my colleagues to support this amendment which, just to reiterate, does not take one dime out of this appropriations bill. it simply says that the committee should go back and rescind from the stimulus bill any funding in the stimulus bill that's duplicated in this transportation and housing bill as long as the money hasn't yet been obligated and does not relate to highway spending. save about $11 billion. that's a good thing to do, and i urge my colleagues to support this motion when we're able to call it up and vote on it. mr. president, i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

mrs. murray: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from washington. mrs. murray: i ask that the dwoarm call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. murray: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that except for the amendments provided for in this agreement, no further amendments be in order to h.r. 3288 and that the following be the only first-degree amendments and motion to recommit remaining in order to h.r. 3288 and that second-degree amendments which are relevant to the first-degree which to be offered but not prior to a vote in relation to the first-degree amendment and that the listed kyl motion to recommit be the only motion to recommit in order except motions to reconsider votes or motions to waive applicable budget points of order, that a managers' amendment that has been cleared by the managers and the leaders lbs be in order and that if the amendment be offered, the motion to econsider be made and laid upon the table,

landrieu amendment 2355, vitter amendment, demint amendment number 2410 pending, mccain amendment 2403 pend lings, as modified, kyl motion to recommit with instructions pending. that upon disposition of the amendments and the motion to recomirkts the substitute amendment as appeared, if amentded, be agreed and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, that the bill as amended be read a third timed and the senate then proceed to a vote on passage of the bill, that upon passage of the senate insist on its amendment, request a conference with the house on the agreeing votes of the two houses, and that the subcommittee and senators inouye and cochran be appointed as conferees, and a quarter if a point of order is raised against the substitute amendment, it be in order for another substitute amendment be offered minus the provisions but including any amendments which have been agreed to prior to the point of order that no further amendments be in order, that the new

substitute as amended, if appeared, be agreed toontdz motion motion be made and laid upon the table, the remaining provisions beyond the adoption of the substitute amendment remain in effect, on thursday, september 17, following a period of morning business, the senate -- the senate then resume consideration of h.r. 3288 and proceed to vote in relation to the amendments and motion as specified above with two minutes of debate equally divided and controlled prior to each vote and that after the first vote in the sequence, the remaining votes be limited to ten minutes each. further, that the cloture motion be withdrawn. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection, so ordered. mrs. murray: mr. president, with that, i would like all members to know that what we have just agreed to is the fine 5 amendments of this bill. if any senator whriek to speak on any of thernlg they are welcome to come to the floor to do so. with that agreement, all of those amendments will be voted on tomorrow morning -- will be

announced at the end of the session today. if there's no other senators who wish to speak at this time on that i know a number of senators are waiting to speak as if in morning business w that i ask unanimous consent that the senate move to morning business, with senators allowed to speak for up to 10 minutes each. the presiding officer: is there observation? -- is there objection? without objection, so ordered. mr. lieberman: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from connecticut. mr. lieberman: i would yield back to the the senator from washington. mrs. murray: if the senator would just allow me to let senators though that with this agreement there will be no further roll call votes tonight. i naingt senator. dsh i thank the senator. mr. lieberman: mr. president, i rise and soon will be joined by my colleagues from arizona and south carolina, senators mccain and graham to speak about the war in afghanistan. mr. president, for the first time since 9/11, a national debate is under way about the future of our fight in

afghanistan. this is appropriate. whenever our nation sends our brave men and women in uniform into harm's way, it is both natural and necessary that we should have a vigorous national conversation about why we are doing so. whether it is necessary for our national security and what the right strategy is to achieve our objectives. the truth is we have not had such a debate since the decision that we made unanimously to go into afghanistan after 9/11 to overthrow the taliban, which had given safe haven to al qaeda, which planned and trained for the attacks on us from afghanistan. the most direct answer to the question of why we are fighting in afghanistan and why we must succeed there is exactly that: afghanistan is where the attacks of 9/11 originated, where al qaeda made its sanctuary

under the taliban and where the same taliban is on the offensive today in afghanistan and has seized the initiative with the clear aim of gaining control of all of afghanistan or major parts of it and once again providing sanctuary for al qaeda. it remains self-evidently a clear, vital national interest of the united states to prevent this from happening. it is also because although afghanistan may seem geographically remote, we found out on 9/11/01 in this modern technological world when great spaces are passed over quickly that it is not remote when it comes to the safety and security of the american people. afghanistan is in the heart of a region in which we have critical national interests.

the fact is afghanistan and pakistan are today at the epicenter of global islamist extremism and terrorism with which we are at war. this is the test of our age insofar as our security is concerned. i'd be glad to. mr. mccain: could i ask my friend, is it true yesterday when we had the hearing with admiral mullen for renomination as chairman of joint chiefs of staff, who i think we would all agree has done an outstandestang job of serving our country, wasn't it pretty clear that admiral mullen felt a sense of urgency for us to act in afghanistan because al qaeda and the taliban are -- especially the taliban -- are making inroads and we, in his words, are not winning, so we are -- we

are at least not seeing the progress that we want, that we are losing basically in afghanistan? and said things like -- to you and senator graham -- that the important thing is to -- the time is not on our side and we needed to get troops over there as quickly as possible, in keeping with the strategy that was devised in march of this year. and agreed to by the president. that was my understanding. senator graham said, okay now as to the civilians, i just got back from a visit. i appreciate awful our civilians who are over there from different agencies. they're very brave but quite honestly, they can't go any wmplet and admiral mullen said, right. graham said, you could send 10,000 lawyers from the state department to deal with the rural law programs butter in a signature on the base because if they leave the base, they're going to get shot.

admiral mullen, right. and then graham said, the only way they get off the base is if they have a military convoy. is that right? mullen said, right. and admiral mullen then went on to say, senator graham said, so i just want our colleagues to know that the security environment in afghanistan from my point of view will prevent any civilian success until we change the security environment. how long would it take to train enough afghan troops to change the momentum in your view if you did it with just afghan forces? and he said, two or three years. and then senator graham said, what will happen if that two or three-year period in terms of the security environment while we're training. mellon said, if it's just training? graham said, yes. mullen said,, i think the security environment will continue to deteriorate. doesn't that i ask my friend, lend urgency, which is certainly

not apparent in the president's statement today? after meeting with the canadian prime minister basically that he's going to go through a long process of evaluation and another strategy, claiming that he didn't have one before. that's what's disturbing is the total lack of urgency in the president's statement today. mr. lieberman: mr. president, i say to my friend from arizona, i was surprised and puzzled by that statement of the president today, particularly because the president i think has been very strong about afghanistan. he has calle afghanistan a war of necessity for the reason that i said, because we can't allow al qaeda and the taliban to come back into control of afghanistan. forgive the analogy, but any more than after world war ii if the nazis had somehow reassembled and attempted to -- to retake control of part or all of germany, we would have sat

back. we simply can't let that happen. also, we know that afghanistan falls, if we accent defeat or for some reason retreat -- accept defeat or for some reason retreat afghanistan, it will profoundly destabilize nuclear pakistan and encourage the islamist extremists throughout that region and the world. so my friend from arizona is right that there is a sense of urgency that he and our -- our colleague and friend from south carolina, senator graham, who's on the floor, saw when we visited with general mccrystal and as miller ike barry and the afghan security leadership a month ago. but admiral mullen just yesterday that said we have lost the initiative in afghanistan. it's why president obama deployed the additional 21,000 troops in march and announced this new strategy.

mr. mccain: will the gentleman yield for one more question real quick? mr. lieberman: i would be glad to. mr. mccain: isn't it true -- and this is what where the contradiction is, and really so paradoxical it's hard for me to comprehend, admiral mullen, in a question -- i said, admiral mullen, didn't i say "time is not on our side?" admiral mullen, "no, sir, i have a sense of urgency about this. i worry a great deal that the clock is moving very rapidly and there are lots of clocks as you know, but the sense of urgency and i, believe me, share that with general mccrystal, who, while he's very focused on a change which includes partner, focus on the afghan people, he is alarmed by the insurgency, he is in a position where he need s to retake the initiative from the insurgents who have grabbed it over the last three years." and then you contrast that with the president's statement today where he said, "i'm absolutely clear, you have to get the strategy right and then make the

determinations about resources. you don't make determinations about resources, certainly you don't make determinations about sending young men and women into battle without having absolute clarity about what the strategy is going to be." he said, "my determination is to get this right and that means broad consultation wan consultay inside the u.s. government but also our isap partners and our nato allies and i'm going to take a very deliberate process in making these decisions." i don't know what to make of that. mr. lieberman: well, i think the statement by our -- our top uniformed military officer, admiral mike mullen, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, reflects what general mccrystal and everybody on the ground in afghanistan has said, this is an urgent matter. the president recognized that when he sent the 21,000 additional troops. and, you know, most everybody in this chamber and in the house

will accept the fact that it would have a devastating effect on america's national security and the security of the world if we lost afghanistan. but then comes the -- and, dins incidentally, president obama himself said this in a statement he made awhile ago. he said, we cannot mulgd through in afghanistan. it requires a decisive effort to aachieve victory. we learned that in iraq. counterinsurgencies, such that we're involved in afghanistan, is manpower intensive. and so that's the question the administration ask we here in congress have. if you agree that it's in the vital national security interest of the united states to succeed in afghanistan, then you've got to decide how we can best do that. and to me, the answer is clear: we need more troops there, american troops, while the afghans are being trained to take over themselves. and they can't just be trainers,

as admiral mullen made clear yesterday. they need to be combat troops, and they need to be combat troops because without the security that the american combat troops will singularly and uniquely provide in the short term, there can't even be training of the afghans. there certainly can't be governance as we know it and there can't be a prospect for economic development. so we need make this decision soon. weather has an affect. a senator: would the gentleman yield for a question? mr. lieberman: i would to my friend from south carolina, be glad to. mr. graham: as i understand the situation in the last couple of months, casualties among the american forces are at an all-time high since the invasi invasion. do you agree with that, senator? mr. lieberman: that, unfortunately, is the truth. mr. graham: and it's also my understanding that i.e.d. attacks by the enemy have gone up about 1,000% and in reaction to that, secretary gates has sent 3,000 people over to deal

with the i.e.d. problem. and from my understanding of the testimony yesterday, admiral mullen said that the force structure we have in place between the combination of coalition forces and afghan forces are not enough to reverse the trends and to regain loss mentum. i thought it was pretty clear that he was telling us something has to change beyond training the afghan army. and would you agree, senator, that the longer we put people -- leave people in that environme environment, where the momentum is on the enemy's side, we're doing a great disservice to the 68,000 people that are there? and if you're going to send troops, send them while it matters, send them in enough numbers to save lives and get the job over sooner rather than later. that is what i think all three of us are saying. mr. president, we appreciate your commitment in afghanistan, sending troops to get the election conducted was a wise

move, understanding that afghanistan is the central battle in the overall war on terror now is a deep understanding on the president's part. only thing we're saying, the three of us -- and i think others -- is that our military commanders have told us we've lost momentum and the only way to get it back in the short term is more combat power. and every day that we wait makes it much harder for those who are in theatre and they're dying at levels and being injured at levels we've not known before. and that's what drives our thinking. would you agree with that? mr. lieberman: i totally agree with my friend from south carolina. this, in fact, is the lesson that we should have learned -- and i think did learn -- in iraq. when did the number of american casualties in iraq begin to go down? it was when we sent more american troops there. because the addition of american troops stabilized -- and a new

strategy. not just the numbers but a new strategy, a strategy quite similar to the new strategy we have in afghanistan: protect the civilian population, give them the confidence that we're not leaving. and when you do that, something really significant happens. it happened in iraq and it will happen in afghanistan. when we commit more troops, the people in the country decide we're not going to cut and run. the afghan people despise the taliban. the -- the progress that the taliban is making in controlling more land in afghanistan is totally the result of violence and intimidation. the afghan people, however, are watching us and wondering, are we going to begin to pull back? should they hedge their bets? should they be careful not to join the fight against the taliban? if we begin to sound an

uncertain trumpet -- do you remember that phrase from scriptures? if the sound of the trumpet is uncertain, who will follow into battle? and i'll tell you one group that won't follow into battle if an american -- if america begins to sound an uncertain trumpet in afghanistan, it's the people of afghanistan. we have a desire now that most everybody here shares. let's break some of the taliban away, the ones that are not zealots, the ones that are -- that in a sense are foot soldiers who are not believers. they're the comparable group to the sons of iraq in anbar province. but when did the sons of iraq decide that they were going to turn against al qaeda? when we convinced them that we were going to stay in anbar and protect them. in fact, how did we convince them? by sending more troops. and it was after that, that the iraqi security forces grew in capability, that -- that the american casualties went down. and i would say to my friend,

he's -- he's touched a very important point here, that the only way we will reduce american casualties which are now going up and to -- to create an environment in which more afghans will join the war against the taliban and al qaeda is for us to give them the confidence we're not going to leave, and the best way to do that and provide the security to do that is by sending more troops. and, incidentally, final word -- and then i'll yield to my friend from south carolina -- there are those, including our dear friend and respected chairman of the armed services committee, senator levin, who is focused on sending more americans only for training purposes, not combat troops. but here's something else we learned in iraq. the fact is that you need more than trainers to train afghan -- the indigenous forces. one of the great tactical

breakthroughs in iraq that general mccrystal wants to put into effect -- in fact, has begun to in afghanistan -- there's no better way to train the afghan forces than to partner them with american and coalition forces in afghanistan. it's not just sending somebody to a school run by americans to train them. it's having the afghan units out there in the field side by side working with, fighting with, living with american soldiers. that is the best source of training. so i couldn't agree with my friends from south carolina and arizona more. the situation in afghanistan is a vital national interest. everybody agrees with that. i think you can't listen to admiral mike mullen yesterday and decide that the initiative is ours now. it's not. it's slipping away from us. and the best way to regain the initiative is to send as many troops as we can, listening to

general mccrystal. they have to be -- a lot of them have to be combat troops, and to do so as quickly as possible. i say the weather a moment ago. when -- the winters are harsh in afghanistan. that's not to say that all conflict stops, but there is a fighting season in afghanistan. and this year we didn't really have adequate forces there until that new wave that the president, president obama, deployed got there. they didn't get there until june. we were together in helman province with general larry nicholson, extraordinary american marine general, a patriot, a great soldier, a great fighter, a great leader. those marines are turning back the tide against the taliban there because they've got the numbers. and that's exactly what we have to do throughout the country. i thank my friend and i'm glad to yield the floor to him at this time. a senator: madam president, i would like to be recognized for five minutes.

i'd like to pick up where my colleague, senator lieberman left off. the question is to ask is how have the taliban regained momentum? mr. graham: how in the world could a bunch of fighters who don't have one tank, not one airplane, no navy, no heavy weapons to speak of, how could they have regained momentum and began to reoccupy parts of afghanistan? the only answer that i can come up with is that a vacuum has been created. and that vacuum has two components to it, the lack of governance and not enough troops to prevent the taliban from coming back in some areas of afghanistan. i would submit this: if we wait to train the afghan army as the only way to stablize afghanistan, we're going to waste two or three years and it's going to get so bad we can't stand the casualties and the american people will not tolerate a two or three-year

period of where we're just training the afghan forces, sending them from the training cycle into combat. they're going to fold just like they did in iraq. you cannot train an army and have them fight at the same time. you have to need a little bit of apparent contradiction or difference in view about the sense of urgency that exists in the conflict in afghanistan? mr. graham: well, the one thing i can tell you is that admiral mullin is going to be reappointed probably with every person in this body voting for him because he's gained our trust. and it speaks well of the president that he would renominate him. so he's obviously gained the president's trust. so he's obviously gained the president's trust. i'm not ait did you know fios has a multi-room dvr?

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 this broadcast is real time captioned by carrie o'brien.

flores. >> flores was seen by andruws today. and he was diagnosed with a tear of his labrum. so, he is going to have surgery with doctor andrews tomorrow. it should be a 3 to 6 month rehabilitation. should be ready for the middle of spring training. >> welcome into "nats xtra." we are getting ready for game 2 from philadelphia tonight. the nationals falling 5-0 in game one. and bad news from jesus flores. >> it is a torn labrum. in this particular case, my perception that it isrinally, building off the injury that he took the foul ball off of his

shoulder. this came more from trying to overcompensate from the pain during his rehab when heert springing a bat. it better happen now then in spring training. >> jim riggleman. >> everyone says he is a good catcher. a good leader back there and can hit. those intangibles we get that from the other two guys, too. but the reason that he became the number 1 catcher he could do those things, but separated me from the other guys because of his bat. >> there is jim riggleman from the washington nationals. it has been so long since flores. it has been bart. >> that is true. jesus played 29 games. and you added up the raul

ibanez totals and that is 68. 68 is not bad. but the point is, flores came out of double-a ball. and backed up snyder that first season. got the job on his own and shown great leadership for a young man. the idea is that if he is healthy next season. and one of the guy is the backup, or they go after snyder as a backup. >> so, let's stay in the battery and talk about the pitcher from last night. garrett mock, 5-0 the lost. most of the damage was done early on. >> that is true. and the first and second innings were a little rocky. but he didn't give up hard hit

balls. there was a double, not hard hit. the car lose double here down the left field line. and again, not hit particularly hard. but obviously, when the bases are loaded you have to be careful. you would be better off walking the guy. you know, mock settled down and got him out. >> it took the 8th loss of the year for garrett mock. but afterwards he looked on the bright side. >> doctor jeckle mr. hide. and say that because of the 2nd inning the runs came across. you look at the way that the guys get on base. it was just good hitting. i made my pitch, felt fine with them. and they just -- you know, hit the ball where we weren't. so, then i guess, i -- for

whatever reason i felt i was doing the same thing. just kept attacking them. and they ended up getting themselves out. >> and as we get ready for tonight's matchup we head out the citizen's park and check in with debbi taylor. a little about mock and a lot about the pitchers. >> >> debbi: that is true. steve is a positive guy. a good influence on the young pitching staff. and we talked about a number of things. we begin with mock's performance last night. >> i thought that garrett through the ball better then the results that he got. he got him in the 2nd inning and gave up four of the runs. they were pretty good pitches. but the sequences allowed them to have better swings then they

should have. but abons i a good pitch. and a breaking ball. blooped in. and then walked a guy. and the ball that was like jumping off cement and down the line, three runs scored. the pitches were not that bad. but he allowed himself, especially the first two guys to allow themselves a better situation then they should have. that comes from not getting ahead. and we talked about this in the past a number of times. garrett has great stuff. she has to trust himself to play hardball and get ahead. the hitters will have a lot of different swings in the situations. he is a young guy who is still learning and threw the ball well. i was disappointed that the inning happened. but i thought he threw the ball

better then the last couple of things. >> debbi: he was able to get them to hit balls and line drives, not home runs. >> when i went out to the mound the last time in the 5th inning. i'm saying if you walk this guy you're out of the game. so, you better make up your mind you're going to throw it over the plate or lose him and your out. so the decision is up to you. he throws four strikes and gets out and then gets through the next inning. that's the thing that garrett understands. you know he is trying to do it. but you have to trust your stuff. and throw your balls over the plate. and your breaking ball over the plate. guys want to make sure breaking ball did you know fios has a multi-room dvr? 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

 >> "o's xtra" is brought to by corona and corona light, the official sponsors of the time out. today verizon wireless. during the game, gary and jim visit with dave trembley that is wired wednesday tonight here on masn. here is the rays' lineup, each team with a win in the first two of this series. crawford, lone go i can't, zobrist has a .386 career batting average here at camden yards. what a break-out year for ben zobrist. buehrle will d.h. with aybar first. and zaun will catch and i what mara. >> right behind longoria and pena, score bris has become one of the strongest hitters on their ball club. he is somebody who you really cannot take for granted. he has gotten better and better the last three years with this

ball club and is now one of their mainstays in the lineup aguy whoa is going to drive in probably another 100 runs before the season is over with and certainly making himself one of the better hitters in the american league. >> and it certainly helps that he is a switch hitter because joe maddon can put him anywhere in the lineup. here is the orioles' lineup for tonight as the birds are trying to make it back-to-back wins. pie is first, and roberts, again at that three spot. mark ma, roberts and scott. matt wieters, .333 over the past 10 games. he had a huge game last flight. wigginton at first and jeff fiorentino at left field and melvin mora moves up to the five spot. all of a sudden late he is finding his stroke. >> you've got to have confidence in this guy when he starts swinging his bat, especially with men on base. a very, very slow start this year. tampa bay seems to be a ball club he lights up against them. once you get him back in a groove, he is that kind of a guy. melvin mora has 25 career home runs versus the rays, most of

any opponent that he plays against right there. one guy that the tampa bay devil rays do not want to see come up with a game on the line. >> tonight rick here at oriole park, the orioles are honoring their minor league award winners. jim howard has been named the scout of the year. we talked with him. and some of the players. for more on that, we'll go back across the field an welcome in amber. hello. >> this year we saw eight orioles make their major league debut and with that fact you'd think there is nobody left in the minor league system. that is not the case. there is is a lot of talent down there. brian a pla touse won the organization's pitcher of the year. we did see zach britton win the carolina pitcher of the year. also getting an award was brandon wearing, a corner infielder with double-a bowie. he won the organization's top player of the year. and also cay remember joseph. he is a catcher in frederick. he won a community service award, the el rod hendricks award. when i talked to these guys,

they were very flattered that dave trembley had nice things to say about them and he gave a very good scouting report about all three prospects. >> it is a big honor. obviously you don't think the manager mays much attention to the minor leagues. i guess he does. it is exciting. he has some good things to say. >> what did this year do for you as far as confidence and just proving that you can pitch and be recognized within this organization? >> it is a confidence booster. going into next year i'm going to have a lot of confidence and hoping that i can take the brian matusz track and get up here sometime in the year. >> it is definitely a big honor to with be the top guy voted by the front office. just coming into the year with a new organization. i just wanted to get my feet wet and get my name out there and i was fortunate to stay healthy all year and put up some good numbers. >> the manager, dei trembley, said today that this year, the year that you established yourself as a prospect.

what did that mean to you to hear that from the manager and coming into this year, did you feel like you weren't really on the radar and you needed to? >> sure. we have matt wieters. enough said. so when i was drafted last year, i just kind of wanted to step in and just maybe be a stack up one day. when they said you have moved kind of special a prospect -- a prospect position, i was thrilled. you want that opportunity to be a prospect. >> look at the numbers for all three. very impressive. zach britton had a 2.70 e.r.a. at frederick. brandon wearing, he had 96 rbi's in single a frederick and double-a bowie and call remember joseph had 60 rbi's and 12 homers in frederick. what is so exciting about this young call errant -- talent is the fact that they have seen what brian matusz and matt wieters are able to do and breeze through the minor league

system and encourage them that there are holes at the big league level and they may have the opportunity to play here earlier as expected. >> thank you very much. you look at the 27 home runs by brandon wearing. that leads the entire oriole organization, even the big leagues. it is minor league affiliate appreciation night that looks like a shore bird. yes, there he is. we saw the key-oh-tee. is he out there? the minor league mascots are here as the orioles honor their top minor league players of the year and affiliates. when we come back on "o's xtra," we auto going to look at the night of matt wieters. roberts had a record-setting night. ♪

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 >> fans, log on to masnsports.com and play fantasy baseball for a chance at weekly prizes and an opportunity to have brunch with dave trembley.

register for free and use a virtual $100 million salary cap to select your fantasy roster. you can play on your own, form your own league and also invite your friends. play masn's maximum access fantasy baseball on line today. last night here at oriole park, matt wieters had a career night with five rbi's, but he also had to nurse jason berken through some tough spots early on in the game. following the game last night, the amber talked it over with wieters. >> it was like two different pitchers out there. he was a little wild early. he was able to get runs deep in the ballgame. >> what made him turn the coroner the last four start ? >> i think it is location. he started to move his fastball around a bit and get ground balls. >> a big game for you offensively. >> let's go through the home run. chad bradford is not an easy pitcher to see. take me through that at-bat. >> you try to pick it up off

the rubber. you look at the mound and try to pick it up from down there. >> we're seeing a lot of popular -- positive things from your rookie teammates, nolan, tillman, matusz, how encouraging is it to see this group stepping it up in september? >> it is always good to get good outings from these young pitchers. nolan has been doing it all year, and we just keep working hard. >> so last night matt wieters 3- 4 with a three-run home run. he had a career high five rbi's on the night. over the past 15 games, a .309 average with a home run and 10 rbi's. this season every time he has stepped on the field, but really he is calming down and just being himself. >> the feeling is so high with him, jim, it is just hard to really tell exactly how good a player he's going to be. it totally depends upon how much work he puts into it. offensively i don't think there's going to be any

problems with him. she going to get bigger. he is going to get stronger. he the going to hit more home runs. already what you see is a very, very good swing. he stays inside of the ball. he can go the opposite way. he can hand the outside corner. that is one thing you love to see about a young play their comes up. he can hit the off-speed pitches. where most of the work is going to be is right there in defense. he has to learn the new answers of catching back there behind home plate. a little quieter, lower target. these kind of things are going to come very quickly with him, how to land l that major league staffer and lead these young pitchers to championship- quality kind of baseball. i think he is there. he is very start. he has already showed the intelligence that you need behind home plate. the whole package is there. he is going to be one of the big stars in all of baseball, not just in an oriole uniform. >> wieters had a big night, five rbi's on the night and brian roberts another record- setting night. for a third time he has broken his own record for most double ins a season. following the game brian talked

about it. >> congratulations. >> thanks. it is kind of like -- when they asked me the other day, it is something when it is all said and done and i'm old and i have my grandkid sitting on my knee, i may look back and enjoy it. right now i'm just trying to play games and help the young guys along and get them reddy for next year. >> you talked about brady anderson, have you hit any doubles. when people look up and see that many doubles, have you gotten any texts in the last couple of day ? people say, geese, 52 double ? >> it comes up at times. longoria before the game was making fun or me for hitting third, but he said i guess if you keep hitting doubles there is no reason not to. it is one of the things. just like anyone who hits 35, 40 homers, i look down and go geese. i don't know. when you do a lot of something, everybody always says something, i guess.

>> how was it hitting third? >> it is a little different throughout the course of the game. you kind of look up and the a hole hitter is up and you need to be getting ready and you have more hitters. but there's times where it is a cool thing. the first inning, you may have first and second and nobody out. you'll never get that in a lead- off spot. >> so brian owns the doubles' record. he already did own it. he breaks it again. 52 doubles. it is amazing, rick, the consistency of brian roberts in getting those two-base hits. he now has three 50-double seasons in his career. >> it is amazing the kind of numbers that brian roberts puts up. no one person can do it all by himself. they can't lead the orioles to a championship alone, but brian roberts certainly does carry more than his own weight. the way that he hits the ball. you don't see him bunt. you don't see him draw the infield in, but still somehow he manages to power the ball. he is not a real big powering

guy. so what a swing and one of the best two-strike hitters. i have seen a lot of good two- strike hitters. brian roberts is right up there with the very bess of them. >> he is tied for 37th all time with the 52 double ins a season. with one more, he would move up to 28th all time and a guy that rick dempsey couldn't figure out how to get out, early earl web back in 1931. you couldn't figure him out. >> i'm old, but i'm not that old! >> the third game of the four- game series here tonight and it is a battle of right-handers. chris dillman goes for the birds looking to even up this record at 3-3 after a win last friday night in new york against the yankees. when we come back, rick dempsey's scouting report on the pitching match-up! the new mcdonald's bacon and cheese angus third pounder.

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  the. >> there is no double he has definitely struggled a little bit, especially on the road. definitely home sick. look at the numbers. he has the third highest all- time e.r.a. on the road at 9.06. minimum 10-game start. boy, it has been a tough real road. since 1954 he had had the third worst e.r.a. on the road. yielding at the yard. he has really had a tough time here at camden yards. he is 0-2 this season with a 16.20 e.r.a. so you know he does not like pitching here against the o's. >> all right. game three of the four-game series. what is the dempsey key oh the game? >> you've got to take the heaven from evan. look at this guy, playing within your own division, he is number one in the american league with 56 rbi's versus the east, an the orioles are one of those kind of teams. he's had a tough time. not even a full two years yet.

he has gotten seven home runs and 20 rbi's. so this guy is off to a great start against our ball club. we have oh slow limb down. >> all right. well, the "o's xtra" challenge as rick dempsey is feeling the pressure. i have won four of the last five who is your player to watch? >> melvin mora. 25 career home runs against this ball club, plus a .385 batting average against sonnanstine, 5-13. that is my guy together and now once melvin gets hot, he drive ins a lot of runs an rbis the key to beating you, jim. >> last night i had luke scott, 2-4, and i'm not dumb. luke scott is my play tore watch again tonight. i think he is going to go on one of the tears like he did in the tiger series! >> i'm going to back it up with luke scott. he is the player to watch. >> if he pulls back on you, you're in trouble. >> five rbiys in the last five games. >> i'll give you a chance to change your mind right now. >> no. >> going once, going twice?

>> by the way, when he saw melvin mora was batting in important of luke, he predicted melvin would drive in the runs and there would be none left for luke and that's why he went with mora. stay with us. it is game three of the four- game series. look at how nice my guy is? he is out there signing autographs before the game! luke scott, the player to watch! >> looking for another double on the year, gary thorne and jim palmer are next. they'll have the play-by-play. it is minor league appreciation night. the mascots are out in force! chris tillman is getting set to go to work. enjoy the game, everybody. we'll see you on the e. post-game show! t if it fits, it ships anywhere in the country for a low flat rate.

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 >> there was a so-5 win las night. lots of smiles about a lot of thing. more tonight? we'll see. tillman is trying to make it two in a row! [ music ] >> it is the orioles on masn and camden yards is the place for game three of the four-game series. tampa bay rays an the orioles have split the first two and are even up on the season series at 6-6. it has been a season of promises and a look at young players about what's

going to do tomorrow for the o's. hi, everybody. i'm gary thorne. last night a little more of that in matt wieters. it is very tough to come up and play at any level, much less the major league level with all of the accolades that matt wieters had, but that was the way it was for him when he arrived in baltimore. it was about the future afranchise kind of player. somebody who came out of georgia tech as a big college star and would be the 2008 o's minor league player of the year. so everybody was watching. everybody looking, and they still are. he has worked at it from defense out. leaving the offense to come and it is indeed doing that because last night he had a five-rib night. by the month the numbers going up. >> buck: 300 in september. the home run power beginning to show. the first orioles' rookie since gameo gill in 2001. the potential is there and we're seeing it, jim. >> jim: i always wondered and even when i played, does

success bring confidence or does confidence bring success? matt wieters has figured it out. here, again, coming up and learning the hitters, learning his team. what i like is the power. he had a couple of extra-base hits back on may 30th. two last night, the home run and the double. so the extra-base hits are coming. he is just a much, much better hitter. i don't think anyone doubted that would be the case. >> we'll get the same in the ballgame tonight and we'll get to see another one of the youngsters as the orioles get to roll with the young kids in the starting rotation!

 >> gary: orioles baseball o masn is brought to you by southwest airlines. book your next trip at southwest.com. and by corona and corona light. the official sponsors of the time out. relax responsibly! a 67-degree evening with cloudy skies, overcast, in fact, as we

get set to go in game three of this four-game set. let's take a look at the starting lineup that we'll see for tampa bay. the ray also have bartlett. >> jim: he won in the big apple. he gave up a three-run home run early on to alex rodriguez. two or fewer runs in four of his nine starts when it comes to run support, so they got him 10 runs on last friday night. it was a rainy, miserable night, and he is bet or against lefties because the right- handers hit him pretty well at .374. they have right-handed fire power in this lineup. >> gary: here is jason bartlett and he will take a pitch outside for a ball and we are gownedway. bartlett, the fifth best average in the american league

coming into today's play hitting at .327 and he has picked up a lot of that against the orioles. the pitch will be taken outside for a ball. so bartlett into that lead-off spot with some potent numbers, including some fire power. crawford and longoria at the top of this order. very tough. 2-0 on the way. she taking. and it is in there for a strike and it goes to 2-1. tillman with a 2-1 delivery and he'll pop that one up to shallow -- actually second base. it is not going to go anywhere. the shortstop is backing up on it and izturis has it and bartlett is retired. >> jim: take a look at tireless' defense at camden yards. fiorentino in left. markakis should win a gold glove. i don't know if he will, in right field. mora, izturis, roberts, wiggington and matt wieters

behind the plate. >> gary: and that will bring up crawford, carl crawford, and he will take the pitch. defensively, how about last night, felix pie. he just chased them down. magnificent plays in the outfield and that last catch that brought the orioles off the field, that next half inning, ignited their offense. pie will get a chance. fiorentino coming over. pie wants it and he is going to get it. >> jim: the catches last night when tampa bay got out to the early 5-0 lead really kept jason berk b around. he -- berken around. he was much better with his pitch selection and location. again, defense helps you, and it took away potential big innings and it allowed the orioles to come back and get the lead and then extend it as the game went on. there is jason berken. he came in and thanked dave trembley as manager for putting him through all of the trouble that he did early on.

of course, he has given up 23 first inning runs in his 20 starts. >> gary: he tied with him true the first half of the income inning. evan longoria. longoria will take it outside. longoria has had a 1-8 in this series. longoria is still at the .276 mark. he is seventh in home runs, second in rbi's and ninth in strikeouts. and you can see by the flutter of the flannel, the wind is blowing tonight. it is blowing primarily in from center field, and at times briskly as there are storm showers in the area. 1-2 delivery. 2-2. >> jim: the wind was blowing on friday night. we thought -- and it did knock some balls down, but the home run that alex rodriguez hit was a towering shot down the left- field line. i mean, it was a moon ball and it still went out of there.

but, again, the yankee stadium a little bit higher than camden yards. >> gary: longoria loops it to right. nick markakis will be over. he's got it. and stillman has the side of the inning as he retires the side in order. when we come back, we'll look at the nine on the field for the o's!

>> the orioles looking for their 6th win. here is a look at the starting lineup. felix pie will continue in that

lead-off spot. izturis, roberts, markakis, roberts and scott. wieters, wigginton. and the lineup brought to you by southwest airlines. matt wieters against tampa bay. .467. >> jim: and a look at our pnc scouting report. jekyll and hyde. different personalities home and road. there you go. the e.r.a. almost nine runs a game when he is away prom the trop. 89 and a third innings pitched and you usually have to earn your way on, very stingy when it comes to walks. >> gary: a very disappointing season for andy sonnanstine, a 26-year-old who was 13-9 last year. look at the hits. way out of there. >> jim: he came out of nowhere to win 13 games last year. >> gary: they really thought they had themselves as big piece of the rotation and now they really don't know. it certainly hasn't been this year. felix pie, 1-5 in the series.

it will be taken down low for a ball. pie continues in the lead-off spot and moving roberts down to the number three hole that works so -- worked so well in the ballgame last night. there is brian. he is waiting in the hole. swung on and missed. the count goes to 1-2 on felix pie. >> jim: andy sonnanstine. he has all of the pitches, a cutter, changeup, curve ball and can he pitch down mr. the strike zone? that is the big question. >> gary: pie will watch that foul the other way. >> jim: i don't think he is going to throw it harder than 88. it is about changing speeds. what i saw early on, gary, is almost everything ended up in the middle of the plate and it was bethlehem high. he can't live there. that's why he got sent to the minor leagues, even though they were scoring over eight run as game to him. >> steve: off the end oh the bat to zobrist. he's got it and pie retired. >> jim: let's take a look at the rays' defense.

crawford, upton and zobrist. longoria is playing like brooks robinson who will be here over the weekend, gold glover. bartlett, i what mora and then the veteran gregg zaun who started the season with the orioles and last year he was with the blue jays. there is joe maddon who got them all the way to the world series last year. >> gary: the orioles are fifth in the league in defense while tampa bay is ninth overall fielding percentage. caesar izturis, .255. izturis, 4-9 in the first two games of this series. and he, too, has been moved around in the order from the bottom hitting ninth in many games to the number two hole for this game. he hit ninth last night and had a three-hit ballgame, 3-4 and an rbi. sonnanstine's pitch will be taken away and he falls behind 3-0. dave trembley's team trying to get the lead on tampa

bay here this season as the season series is tied at 6-6. you can tell by the jackets you'll see worn around. it is relatively a cool night a3-0 pitch and he walked him on four straight. and that will bring up brian roberts. brian moved from the lead-off spot to the number three spot giving him a chance for even more rbi's and even in that he is continuing to score runs, continuing to be third in the league in runs and first, of course ndoubles. three straight seasons with 100- plus runs. only chase utley currently has more, four consecutive. >> jim: and when you are hitting lead-off, obviously, brady anderson used to talk about it. he liked hitting the home runs at 50 one year. his job is to score runs and brian does a very, very efficient job. in the pregame he said -- [ no audio ]

>> jim: fastballs away, play them that way and at least you'll take away some extra- base power. but they don't do it and he just sprays it around. he doesn't have the green monster. it is just amazing he can hit over 50 doubles as often as he does. >> gary: pretty steady in that department. >> jim: is he ever. >> gary: is tour is is still on at first base, and the pitch will be taken down low. sonnanstine has had dramatically different numbers when runners are on base.

opponents hitting .414 when there are runners on and .252 when the bases are empty. so out of the stretch has been a real problem for the right- hander. he pitches in there for a strike and it goes to 1-1 on markakis. there are the hit leaders, 175, markakis, behind ichiro, jeter, cano and miguel cab condition of detroit. very select company. that ball jammed, right center. not deep. zobrist will be called off. upton's got it and that will do it. no runs, one hit, no errors and one left on base. one complete and -- oh, no score! wants to bring one of its little bag friends for company, they charge another $30. that's just plain mean. why do they hate your bags?

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 tonight's contestant, rut day. you have a chance to win t 9 -- 99 worth of american classic strap-off tickets for the maryland lottery for every home run hit tonight. you can have the chance to win, too. enter by logging in, masnsports.com. a little rain coming down. all right. all right a lot of rain is coming down. here is ben zobrist. you know he is very, -- it is very, very dark, real storm clouds. zobrist is batting in the clean- up spot rather. he has gone 4-8. switch hitter. he will take a pitch inside for

a ball. tillman retires the side in order in the first inning. that has not happened a lot for any orioles' pitcher this season. the first inning has been a bad one. center field. pie. zobrist is retired. three consecutive play ball outs. on friday, don't miss the first ever interactive hunt. your birds will be taking on the red sox. the first 10,000 fans 15 and over will receive that can cozy with instructions on how to play this unique text-to-win experience. tickets are as low as $15. to get yours, dial the orioles at 888-868-bird or orioles.com. that will be on friday night. one down. pat buehrle. buehrle is 2-1. a home run. picked up in the ballgame last night. he did not play in the game last night. he has had all 14 of the games.

62 rbi's on the year. gyp they got him because over his eight years with philadelphia, he averaged about 35 home runs, on-base percent real high, which it isn't. he has hit only two home runs in the last 25 games. he hit it to to right center for a three-run home run last night. >> gary: that one hit and nick markakis -- markakis coming over two down. tillman having a fly ball night. there are the outs. >> jim: you mentioned the wind appears to be blowing in. if you can get them to hit anytime the air instead of the line drives, the wind is going to knock it down. >> gary: and it will be very gusty at times. aybar get diagnose start. she a switch hitter. .233 right-handed. .255 left. he has had five home runs from each side of the plate.

0-1 count on him. tillman's delivery. the breaking ball in there for a strike. tillman looking to get six in a row recorded. this is his ninth major league start. 1-1 here at home with a .484 e.r.a. that one is a little dance step by aybar and a one ball, two- strike count. >> jim: career high eight strikeouts against the yankees and he had the curve ball and the changeup work working. they couldn't really sit on any one pitch. >> gary: 1-2 delivery. some question whether or not this will be the final start for chris tillman this year. he is not in the same category as brian matusz as far as innings total, inninged pitched, but he is very close. and no formal announcement on whether he will end his reation duties tonight. a really good start for tillman. game three of the four-game

set. 

 >> welcome back. one possible hole in the orioles' lineup and that is a clean-you have hitter. there are hitters like reimold and jones and markakis who can hit for power, but in the a true number four hitter. today dave trembley said you need that to compete in the a.l. east. you have to have one, you have to have power. as far as filling that hole. andy macphail said he will look

for free agents in the off season, trades and other ways to find a big bat to come here to baltimore. now, also if you look to the minor leagues, there is power in the minor league system and dave trembley said it is usually raw power. those guys just need to learn to hit right now and then come to the big leagues and that is where the power will develop further. gary? >> certainly the search, amber is on. melvin mora's got one down the line that's going to be a base hit into the corner. carl crawford is over to get it. mora has a double and there is the first hit of the ballgame and a four-game hit streak for melvin mora who is having a big- time september at the plate. >> jim: he has hit in 31 of the last 45 and what amber just talked about is the one disappointing thing not only for melvin, but also for the ball club is lack of power. he had such a great second hag last year, 1 home runs, all of the rbi's.

this year he just hasn't been to get himself into that mode. >> gary: that will bring up luke scott. luke with a runner on second base, coming off the 22nd home run in the ballgame last night and a two rbi gawhich garnered three hits and a could of runs scored. he really goáheld -- a >> jim: , yeah, hereal p clubbed the ball. he didn't just hit it. no one with greater raw strength than luke scott on this ball club. they put the shift on. longoria will stay over at d. noally he would be over at shortstop with melvin at second. >> gary: that ball in left field. crawford misjudged it and stil makes the catch. the runner will tag a good play by mora. he will get over to thd base that almot over the head of crawford. >> jim: a blustery, rainy night. right there it comes in, and then make as nice play to

melvin mora because he is able scing position. en get into and so the quality hit he gets the runner over. >> gary: now matt wieters will get to pick it up where he left off night. he hafive night. the first by a rookie back h it last ni >> jim: oh, yeah. all kinds of hits. the big curve ball up the middle off of jeff neimann and then bradford, and he golfs one out of here. >> gary: rbi chance here. crawford tagging, mora. crawford has it. here is the throw coming all an rbi for matt wiers nd way rk crafice fly and tt i>> jim: a very difficult pl for

he hasck against the grain and then the ball tails all over the place. situational hitting. so he is going to his right, and then, boy, he just dps his el beand the ballal over. you see gregg zaun catches it. so the orioles onthe board. >> gary: a good job. mora crosses. ty wigginton, an oh-fer four. wigginton played in game one of this series. he did not play last night. wigton will be going for the downs -- wigginton will be going for the downs here. >> jim: there is nobody on the active roster that has ever hit a home run, not from andy sonnanstine. the guy who has done the damage is adam jones. he had a couple of home runs, 5-

7 with four extra-base hits. remember when adam started swinging hard? i said adam, you don't usually try to hit a home run. he said, well, i do off of this guy. >> gary: he just missed on take one as he got out in front of it and crawford in foul territory will make the nice catch so a run in on one hit, no errors and nobody left on base. after two, the orioles have the 1-0 lead. 

 >> orioles baseball on masn brought by southwest airlines. book your next trip on southwest.com and by pnc, pnc leading the way. gary thorne, jim palmer, amber theoharis on an early fall night at camden yards, 1-0 orioles as we go to the third inning. upton has had it 2-9 in the first two games. b.j. upton hitting at .235 on the year. the bottom third of the opt -- inning is on. the pitch is outside. a light rain off and on. not enough to affect play to this point. >> jim: that shouldn't bother him. that's the way he pitched friday night in yankee stadium. >> gary: he is going to with the mudder. nick markakis, again, up in the air. againing the fly ball outs. one down here. tomorrow is the final kids' night of the 2009 season here at oriole park.

all youngsters 1010 and under can receive a free seat when accompanied by a paying adult. so gather up the family for an affordable night at oriole park. it will be the rays here again. 888-848-bird or orioles.com. bring the kids and see you here at the yard. here is gregg zaun. zaun had an oh-fer two in the one start that he had in the first two games. and he is hitting .200 right- handed. .299 left-handed. a couple of home runs, both hit left-handed. that one to center field. pie backing up. boy, you talk about a pronounced fly ball pitching effort so far. they all have been up in the air except one. >> jim: you're sitting next to a guy, and that's what i did. i think what happens is early on you have good stuff and maybe a little extra. the second time around you better make some quality pitches because they'll make some adjustments. but, of course, chris tillman can do that. again, only 21 years old. he has a changeup.

he has already established that. he has a really good curve ball. you can see there, matt wieters saying, hey, keep the left shoulder closed because he missed, not only that, but eye mora. >> that's what happens when you come through with it. obviousry to tillman and sonnanstine's benefit, if they have a chance to win the ballgame, it is to get the early outs early and quickly. the weather conditions being what they are. the pitch will be taken down low and the count goes to 3-1. only 21 years old, 4.91 e.r.a. he has only won one of his last

five. three losses and one no decision. melvin mora will come over near the tampa bay dug-out. he runs out of room. prior to the new rule you could have gone down the steps and made the catch and it would have been official. you can't do it anymore. >> jim: and taken a four-arm shiv ir. once you get in there, it is not like a free lunch. >> gary: now you can't step inside the dug-out to make a catch. melvin taking a little what for from the tampa bay dug-out. tree ball -- three ball and two- strike count on eye particularra. izturis, and tillman is rocking. he has retired the first nine. once through the order for tillman and nothing off of him. the orioles have the 1-0 lead.

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 >> gary: back here at camde yards, dress for the occasion and also painted up for the occasion! the orioles have a 1-0 lead and on our wired wednesday, dave trembley joining us. skip, sorry to bring you out in the rain. >> well, it is just a light sprinkle. the temperature has dropped considerably. i know you're up there having hot chocolate and probably have hand warmers. the rest of us are in the trenches with the real people. >> gary: we're the odd real people apparently. how about the start for tillman, when it is going good, it looks so easy and it is not.

>> it sure does. he threw a nice curve ball there. the changeup is good. thanks. he is pitching downhill. >> jim: i like the fly balls myself, to be quite honest. >> with that flag blowing straight, you would. >> gary: fiorentino with the 1- 1 delivery. iwamura has it. >> jim: dave, when you look at the year, obviously you would have liked to have had more wins, against the red sox, the yankees and the angels, the orioles are 9-34. what is going to be able to turn those numbers around as we head towards next year? >> better pitching. and better pitching late in the games. i think a lot of games we lost we lost from the seventh inning on. i think we have to do a better job of pitching late in the game. i think we need -- i think we need a power bat to kind of neutralize, you know, the offense that those other teams have. >> gary: pie on the fly ball

out to crawford, and there are two quick outs. >> i wish the guys weren't making it this easy on me tonight. i told them this is not part of the deal. i'll stay on if they hit. they don't have to do this. >> gary: they're trying to gain your favor. >> it is too late. the cake has already been in the oven and they burned it. >> gary: they're in the same position we're in. how about one final on tillman. do you think -- are there any plans to shut him down after tonight or will he go on? >> no, i think he is going to pitch. i think he's got at least two more starts. you know, he might get just one, but i think he's going to get at least two more. it might be after that if he gets another one. it depends on -- you know, i think at this point in time, and jim would probably agree, i think it is how hard he has to

work to get outs. on the other hand, i think you have to extend these guys. we're not trying to get these guys so they all get shut down before the season. we're trying to teach people what it takes to win. in order to win alot of it is preparation. the -- if the people aren't prepared, then i think they need to go home and make a gut check this off season. jim and i talked about this,ened get yourself in shape and prepare yourself both mentally and physically to pitch through october. >> jim: amen. >> gary: good. thank you very much for being with us, skip. dave trembley, the skipper of the orioles. >> my pleasure. >> gary: that is exactly the kind of attitude you're -- you've got to have if you're going to move on, and moving on means increasing the number of wins in the column for next year. excuses just aren't going to work. two down here. nobody on. izturis, one ball, two-strike delivery on the way and swung on and missed. sonnanstine gets his fist strikeout and he has a 1-2-3 inning. the orioles, however, have the

lead. wieters' rbi sac fly! 

 for the remainder of the season, the orioles are offering fans a unique souvenir. the baseball from the 2009 season, they are on sale beginning in the sixth inning of each game located inside gate d. at the orioles reach community booth on the lower concourse. the prices start at just $30 and all proceeds benefit the orioles' charitable foundation. so every home game, a used baseball from the 2009 season will be on sale. gary? >> gary: all right. and a great way to take a sioux near home here from camden yards. another fly ball. jason bartlett. pie coming hard. there's plenty of time to get under it and bartlett who has struck out and flied out. 10 in a row retired by chris

tillman. one down in the fourth inning. >> jim: we talked about it monday night. they had scored, what, eight runs in seven games and lost 11 in a row when tampa bay came in, but they hit the fastball pretty well. tonight, everybody said, and i haven't seen it. chris tillman's fastball was straight. i don't think it is straight at all. >> gary: the tampa bay guys i guarantee you don't think. >> jim: i think early on this year maybe a little trouble coming out of the bullpen and having as good velocity as he would maybe two innings later. he has figured that out better. >> gary: crawford at the plate. he flied out his first time up. the 50-plus steal seasons. the most times done, ricky henderson. carl crawford has done it four years consecutively and there is the first base hit for the rays. one down in the fourth inning and now the speedster with the orioles up 1-0, will be taking a look at tillman and thinking

about second base. >> jim: you would imagine that would be the case with 57 steals. they'd -- he did get caught last night for the 13th time. >> gary: gentleman jacoby ellsbury leads. crawford is behind him with 57. there are the leaders. b.j. upton also at 37 among the leader group. longoria flied out to right field his first time up. and he had just one hit in nine at-bats so far in there series against the orioles. this year, longoria is hitting .294, four homers against the birds. 1-0 count. >> jim: with somewhat distracting, and i asked eian yesterday what is it like with crawford hitting in important of you when he gets on. >> gary: there he goes. there is the throw and he's got

him! boy, did he put that one on the money! you don't very often see a ball that is in the glove waiting for carl crawford. >> jim: watch the exchange and watch the pitch. see, right there. look at how quickly, and then the accuracy. that has been the problem. they just work very hard on it. you talked about anytime our opening. this is not a kid who just came up here and sat around. he tried to get better and he has been able to do it. but there's never been a problem with the arm strength for matt wieters. don, the catching instructor, working on the release and the directness of the way he would step. there is a strike to longoria. and also i always felt if i wanted rick dempsey or el rod henry or whoever was catching, give them a good pitch to throw a runner out. if you throw the big, slow breaking ball, they're going to steal every time. >> gary: 3-1 delivery on the

way and he's walked him. wieters has thrown out now 26% of base stealers on the season. the average is around 29% to 30%. >> jim: you have a runner on. it looks like a first pitch changeup. there is the stolen base where they threw him out. here you have a young pitcher that realizes the guy at the plate with one swing can hit one out of here and they're trying to be careful. not that this kid can't. >> gary: that look brought to you by northrop grumman, the information systems power house. here is ben zobrist. he flied out his first time up. zobrist against the orioles. this season, he has put up good numbers. power numbers in particular. zobrist will chop that one, and that's going to be a foul ball. in fact, the home plate umpire already said it, get flag the bat every's -- batter's box. zobrist this year against the orioles, .417. he has had three home runs and 11 rbi's as this has been the

ball club that he's had the best average against in the dozen games the two teams have played on the season. >> jim: he is a fastball hitter or i should say a better fastball hitter, but hits the hanging breaking ball so when -- you just can't spin it up there. 16 of his home runs, the 23 hoer home runs have come from this side. he has not hit one. if he hits one today, it will be 19 games since he hit a home run. >> gary: so zobrist will stand back in with an 0-2 count on him. tillman with two down, and longoria on at first base. eian longoria back in. longoria doesn't steal a lot of bases. he is 7-7 on the year. he hasn't extended his lead over there at first. >> jim: i think at this junk include in the game you better make it when you have the home run guy at the plate. >> gary: here is the 0-2 delivery on the way and that one to right field. nick markakis a couple of steps

over and back and he's got it and that will retire the side. one left on base. the orioles stay on top 1-0.

>> gary: the orioles hit here in the bottom hah of the fourth inning. brian roberts flied out his first time up and he'll take the pitch. it is in there for a strike. with the mascots from all around the orioles' organization on hand, time to have fun and games! i don't think that's the way musical chairs meant to be played. that one take as hop into right field! aybar was right there and the ball just slid up his arm. i'm not sure if it was a bad lop or misplay, to tell you the truth. >> jim: hit sharply, but you have to imagine they're going to give him an error because it is right at him. >> gary: it is an error.

>> jim: yes, he just doesn't catch it. good thing for the orioles. sonnanstine has to be a little disappointed because brian roberts, he is not really karl crawford, but he can steal bases with 29 and he has only been caught seven times. >> gary: roberts, the lead-off man on and sonnanstine, the one thing he has done 77% of the time retiring lead-off batters. it hasn't helped him very much. >> jim: 32 starts last year and they only tried to run on him four times and successful once. >> gary: roberts without a big lead there for the moment. >> jim: it is just amazing. he didn't expect to make the club. 5-10 the year before. he wins 13 games. he has never walked three guys until the final game of the year in those 32 starts. >> gary: and then this year it all falls apart. >> jim: yeah. >> gary: here is the delivery. nick markakis will take it. he flied out his fist time up. >> jim: he didn't have good numbers against left-handers last year even though he had a good year, so they worked real

hard on getting the lefties out. he has had trouble getting right-handers out. >> gary: .368 right-handers against him and left-handers .275. >> jim: and that compounds the amount of runs you're going to give up. >> gary: 1-07 count. markakis, into left center field. carl crawford, he's got it. roberts is back to the bag. one down. friday is student night presented by at&t, and your birds will host the red sox 7:05. all students of any age with a valid school i.d. can purchase a left field upper reserve seat for just $6. only two student left -- nights left this season, so don't miss your chance. orioles.com. that is friday night. and you'll get to see brooksy, brooks robinson will be here friday with the pre-game presentation to be made to melvin mora who has moved into the number two spot all-time for the orioles in games played

at second base. and in honor of that, that -- third base rather, brooksy is going to be here for the pre- game ceremony. the delivery is nubbed. >> jim: what was he doing? >> gary: he was doing anything he could to make it fair, but it wasn't going to come back the other way. melvin mora hasn't run, so aybar decided if this thing will go fair, i have two easy outs coming, but it didn't. >> jim: i figured he would catch it. >> gary: mora with the one- strike count. he had a double and scored by matt wieters on the sac fly. >> jim: a nice weekend series. you get to see some some of the young pitchers against a team that has won six in a row. buchholz against guthrie who has been pitching well.

unfortunately we get to see john lester on saturday night who is as good as anyone in baseball now, the big left- hander. >> gary: probably not playable. >> jim: and daisuke who pitched very, very well for the red sox, at least his scheduled day would be sunday. >> gary: i think he is going to pitch again. >> jim: maybe better because they said effective and efficient. he was, what, 18-3 last year? i know he won 18 games. i don't know if it was two or three losses. he was very effective, but he wasn't efficient. >> gary: and quick. they said he looked refreshed and throwing a real live fastball. mora did not get a fastball there. breaking ball. aybar. mora and he just did. that thing snow coned out of his glove. mora is retired. talk about pitching, we are looking at some of the

candidates for the post-season awards here. how about the cy young award in the american league. c.c. sabatthia i think is going to be at the top of that. texas out of nowhere. i think they all get consideration. >> jim: felix is coming on. halladay, good numbers. low e.r.a. hernandez is even lower. sabatthia did win it two years ago. he won 19 games that year. >> gary: c.c. has certainly plaid a tremendous difference in that yankee team. >> jim: and pitching in that ballpark. >> gary: two down, the runner on at first. the shift is on again. this time the full shift. scott flied out to left his first time up. they move the third baseman, longoria, virtually to second base. and then they have three on the right side. they couldn't do that the first time up because there was a runner at second. so longoria played over to third which left the entire

left side of the infield open. 1-0 count. the outfield straight away. and the pitch taken down low and the count will go to 2-0 on luke scott. >> jim: he hit about three or four balls in yankee stadium. he might have had at least two or three home runs up there. the home run last night. the double. a couple of hits the other night. i asked terry crowley, the hitting instructor. he said why not more balls to left? he said check out the defense. they pound them in. they play them to pull and he hit it into the defense. >> gary: just like that. >> jim: yeah. and you have three guys. so what do you have? one, two, three, four, almost five defenders waiting over there for you to hit them at. maybe six if you want to count longoria. >> gary: two down runner at first. luke scott, 3-0 count. sonnanstine has walked one. he surrendered the walk to izturis. scott taking all the way and that is a strike on the inside

corner. luke in september hitting .194. he has had a couple of home runs, seven hits in 37 at-bats in the month of september. three ball, one strike count on him. the orioles have the 1-0 leaden the sac fly wieters got in the second. tillman has walked one, struck out none and given up only one hit to the rays. and scott fouls that one off. zaun got most of it. he. >> jim: he has been doing it for years, the nephew of rick dempsey. i think it got him somewhere in the knee or the leg or whatever. you don't want to get hit in the whatever. it is not good.

& momma said there'd be days like this &&. >> the runner at first. it is hit to left field and it is way back and off the top of the wall! on the fly fly brian roberts will score. it is an rbi double and the orioles have a 2-0 lead. >> jim: when i was talking to terry crowley, i said when you could hit the ball as hard as luke scott, why not pitch him away and let him hit it the other way, and he just smokes this ball. unfortunately the scoreboard, when they built camden yards, they wanted a quirkiness, like this old park up in philadelphia, the scoreboard resembles it, and he belts it off of that for another rbi and another oriole run. >> gary: that is 70 runs batted in for luke scott on the season. the orioles take a 2-0 lead and it came with two down.

matt wieters, the other rbi now with the runner on at second base and a chance for yet another run to be driven in here. wieters, an even .300 in september coming into this game with a home run. and matt will take the pitch for a strike. one ball, one strike on the oriole catcher. luke scott continuing to put numbers there up on tampa bay. >> jim: .290, and that number just went up, with runners in scoring -- scoring position. >> gary: wieters and iwamura. he got it, but a run in and the orioles take the 2-0 lead on our wired wednesday. jason berken gutted one out last night. he'll join us from the cog-out live when we get back!

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 >> gary: back here at camde yards, the orioles have the 2-0 lead. 2-2-0 for the o's. the orioles got the victory last night, 10-5,