. the following is a masn prngs. >> bob: the road trip got off to a good start taking two of three in florida. but scoring only three runs in three games and swept away. tonight, new york city, for a series against the injury- riddled mets. hopefully a little celebration in the end. 

 . citi field still bran here in flushing, new york, home of the mets. the nats. had a whole lot of success here. there's been plenty of controversy here and it's the opening of the weekend series. hard to be this is the second last stop they make on the road. bob carpenter, rob dibble, let's spread a little news around here. nieves, what happen to him and what the nats did to replace him. >> rob: you had it reading. they said when he lunged for first base he pulled the hamstring. a couple days, maybe a week he is gonna be out, and this shows you how good mike rizzo is. he traded for jamie burke from the mariners organization. he was only one of the two healthy catchers. nevada and bard are banged up

so jamie burke joins the fold. >> 37 years old, a good catch and throw guy. we know controversy goin' way back to may. this ball park is so quirky crazy things seem to happen every time the nats play. >> he hit the ball off johnny lannan late in this ball game and johnny had been pitching his butt off, a fan interference, they make the call. this one a little bit later a fly ball to right field, you and i debated this a lot but the umpires went in and called this a home run instead of hit off the subway sign and that was a home run for daniel murphy. so the bottom line is that a couple of controversial calls, head to head not too bad against the mets this year. >> 5 out of 6 here, trying to do some damage on this weekend in september. j.d. martin gets the call tonight. the 26-year-old right-hander, he could be a winner pitcher if

he goes 5-4 tonight. second career start against the mets.

. by southwest airlines. trip at southwest.com. pnc bank. leading the way. beautiful sunset over manhattan as we look out to the west from citi field in new york, capacity up a very year. a year ago at this 20 more wins the national league east at last year. j.d. call top. interesting, on the list of nationals wins leaders he has a chance to become one with a winning record? you see that graphic at the bottom, that's even more 7-4 in his 11 starts.

four decisions. tease and then of course johnny lannan. then j.d. martin. job, works quickly, throws hard, that's a young starter. for our second segment and she has more on j.d. massachusetts continue. deb: bob, j.d. he wants to leave a good impression with season winds down, to pitch at least 5 innings and go beyond that i asked him how do you do that? throw strikes is the main thing for me, throw strikes, ahead of guys. about it. to let guys hit the ball, try strike guys out and everything. and miss, i want them to miss hit it. feel. the game with my pitch count nationals mike pelfrey and the next on masn. have first pitch and lineups

coming your way, so stay close, everybody. after this short break. ♪

♪ tell me who's watching. ♪ i always feel like somebody's watching me. ♪ (announcer) it's right here. it's easy.

 . i'm ross detwiler. happy birthday the u.s. air force and thank you for protecting america. >> bob: well said ross detwiler, well done last night when he pitched extremely well in philadelphia. it's the nats and the mets, a couple teams playing out the season, with no post-season hopes whatsoever. and if you think this season has been disappointing for the nationals and their fans they are devastated at what has happened to this ball club with the injuries and 23 games out of first place this year. nats are hitting .263, tied for fifth in the league with houston. ninth in runs and 8th in home runs. adam dunn is about to get his fifth 100-rbi season.

been sitting on 99 for a while. this will be a nice night to get it. get the nats on board and get some runs against mike pelfrey and the mets. pelfrey, by the way, 3-4 in 10 career starts against the nationals. and josh willingham has had good success against them, we'll talk about that, when josh gets up a little bit later. here is the 25-year-old pelfrey who has had a difficult season. 96 strikeouts but 62 walks in 164 innings. >> well, and mike pelfrey will give you the pnc scouting report on him. he was a ninth pick first-round 2005 and made his debut in july of next year. that could be stephen strasburg next year. good times, bad times, 34 home runs since 2006, 3 in his last start. he pitched 4-1 here this year with a 2 1/2 earned run average and 15 wins in his 28 starts this year, bob. >> bob: mets defensively 11th

in the league. they expect to resign jeff francoeur in right field who has 11 assists this year, he has only one error since moving over here, but the mets are expected to heavily participate in the sweepstakes format holiday which will be interesting. how about francoeur, beltran and holiday in the same outfield. that would be something. carlos beltran like all the other mets has had injury problems this year but he is still a good offensive player, a very good center fielder. >> rob: frenchy fran corp. he is a great kid too. i'm sure they have found that on it after they got him here. in the clubhouse a very good young man. >> bob: i did have a mets insider tell me the atmosphere in that clubhouse, which has been known as being politically charged and divided the past couple years, has been better with jeff francoeur here.

willie harris in the leadoff spot tonight.   willie harris keeps knockin out those extra base hits. nearly half of his total on the year. david wright back from his beening feeling much better, and the nats have done their share of wing here, only two games under .500 since 2005. first pitch a couple minutes late at 7:12 eastern. cloudy skies. inin a partly sunny day here. 71 degrees and willie harris hits one high in the air out to center for carlos beltran. >> rob: as i said he was ninth pick in the first round in 2005 and, like our own stephen strasburg and what is expected of him and especially here in new york, pelfrey a ball, aa. made his debut in 2006 in july. so that was a quick trip to the may scwoar leagues for mike

pelfrey, pitched 200 innings last year and maybe he is starting to show the effects of that, bob. >> bob: a lot of innings when you're used to pitching once a week like strasburg was in college. i i mean friday night was steph strasburg night. next year it's gonna be friday, wednesday, then monday, and then saturday. twice a week for the most part. cristian guzman 0-12 in this series in philadelphia. batting average is below .290. and, by the way, worthington three of interest to some of our national fans, aaron crow finally signed with the kansas city royals for what was rumored to be $3 million. >> rob: congratulations eric. >> bob: so he waited to get a $500,000 pay cut. scooped it with his glove, interesting score. guzman batting left-handed motoring down first base.   . >> rob: well the speed of guzman makes this play possible

because murphy comes in, playing deep, he knows i can only pick it up with the glove and flick it. there is not going to be time for him to pick it up and try to get to it pelfrey. this is guzman out of the box. he sees it is going to be close and he beats out an infield base hit.   . >> bob: ryan zimmerman, the nats need to get him restarted, won for his last 11.   phillies pitching was  remarkable in that three-game series.   in that series against the  phillies the nationals did not score a single run earlier than the seventh inning in any game. two of their three runs came in the ninth inning. ryan sitting on 29 home runs. 10-year veteran.

>> tim: minutes has the plate tonight with mark wegner, rick reed, the crew chief, and jeff kellogg on the bases. >> rob: you talk about good times, bad times, two starts ago against the cubs, his last start against the phillies, 6 innings, 10 hits, 8 runs, three home runs. . >> bob: zimmerman drives it to right. that ball is really well hit and it is over the orange line. >> rob: number 30. >> bob: there is number 30 for ryan zimmerman.   . >> rob: come on, throw it b we want it. >> bob: no disputed home run this time at citi field. and it's two for the nats in the first. >> rob: well this is just hard to hit it to right field out of this ball park as it is in washington, d.c. it has probably taken a handful of home runs away from their own david wright at third base and ryan zimmerman just shows you his strength, the opposite way, as he hits his 0th home run.

>> bob: here is adam dunn who is looking for r.b.i. number 100. >> rob: good for zim. >> bob: first teammates, dunn and zimmerman, to each go for 30. his r.b.i. total just shot up to 96. foror the nationals, their first homer since last weekend, they have now hit 140 this year. and that was pelfrey's 16th of the year. considering he is starting his 29th game he really doesn't give up that many home runs. >> rob: no, but in his last three starts 6 home runs and, as i said before, against the phillies three home runs in 6 innings, so that's four home runs in the last 6 1/3 innings. >> bob: last time adam dunn homered in this ball park he almost took that bridge down in right center field.

adam has been on base seven consecutive ball games. and he lays off that breaking ball down an in, 2-2. at home this year the mets in their new ball park, a .500 ball club. 36-36. the nats on a 2-4 trip, 21-53 on the road. fastball tails outside and the tied-for-first most walked men in the league with albert pujols has worked the count full. 106 walks. 

 and dunn another one. ask   and a 3-2 again and dunn

left center. angel pagan playing out toward the gap, two outs. that will bring up josh willingham. he has homered back in july off pelfrey, in his career 6 of 14 against him. >> rob: of the 16 home runs one of them comes from our own hammer. you saw the displeasure by mike pelfrey has he pounds his chest. >> bob: nationals won that game 3-1. pelfrey went 7 innings threw 111 pitches in giving up three runs on 6 hits. >> rob: a big young man, 6'3", 230 on the spread she'd, i'm saying probably 240, 250. >> bob: you told me he was born on an air force base. >> rob: bright patterson air

force base. >> bob: near state university another one of those players who went to the baseball program at wichita state university. josh willingham batting .157 his last 24 games. had a couple of hits in the philadelphia series. that's about as well as anybody else did. there's an off-speed pitch that he gets for a strike. come. >> rob: come on, hammer, those people are lonely out in left field. >> bob: pelfrey's career record 28-0. tonight is his 80th game, 78th major league start.

already has started, counting tonight, 11 times against the nationals. willingham, on a pitch down and this, strikes out. but an infield dribbler by guzman and a right field laser beam by ryan zimmerman putting the nationals on top. a crooked number on the board in the top of the first. 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  . >> bob: nationals on top on ryan zimmerman's 0th home run of the year.

now the mets, despite all their injuries, are second in the league in hitting at .270, only the dodgers, at .272, higher. and carlos beltran has always hit the nats well. batting over .300, he is in the fourth spot. jeff francoeur the former brave. brian schneider former national. brian is only hitting .203 this year, he has had injury issues as well. here is the left fielder, angel pagan, who four of his last seven times out has had multi- hit games. j.d. martin's first offering a fastball away. >> rob: with the new york mets, one, two, three, the first four guys are all hitting well over .300. though beltran was out for an awful long time. if you were to throw delgado back in there and reyes, still one of the best lineups in

baseball. >> bob: and of course a healthy gary sheffield. first off-speed pitch and it's 2-1. paganan with an on-base average of .322, he is a swing while aboard hitter. hitting .301. the mets just saw him a little bit over the last couple of years when he would occasionally spell moises alou in left field. having to play a lot more this year than they were planning on, a 27-year-old outfielder obtained in a three-player deal with the cubs in january of '08. flips that ball down the line. willingham in a coffin corner down there, he makes the catch of a foul ball for the first out. well done by josh, not a lot of room down there. >> well let's break down j.d. martin, talked about him in the

open. scouting report. toe to toe. got the start gents josh johnson and survived. traveling on the road this we're with a 2. # 6 earned run average since august 16th, isn't it ironic, lost his major league debut to current teammate livan hernandez. >> bob: that was the 20th of july. only gave up 8 hits. leave on owned the nationals pitching for the mets. six days ago luis castillo had his 34th birthday. always been a pretty good offensive player, good up the middle. long-time florida march lynn, 10 years there, hit .300 five times between '96 and '05. on to minnesota for a little

more than a year and then the mets picked him up back ing num jim riggleman him the seattle describes m as a very good caand thj.d. martin over matches luis castillo. and burke is an intere had amejim rileman is goin' over the s th the budget. you do going over the signs with burke. >> bob: somebody might watching. >> rob: are. they cld have their tv crew wa too. i don't know if you could figure it out though but -- >> bob: rick eckstein in on that. and here is david wright who you to admirer way hes back. d he is batting .315, fifth

inthe national league. >> rob: well, and he was almost sounding embarrassed that he was injured angot hit in the head. his tied water buddy from virginia beach, ryan zimmerman, will cut that off. 2-1, bottom of the first, for j.d. martin. - customer service. - low fares. - we're known for a lot of things. - bags fly free. the lowest fares. great pilots too. - customer service. - low fares. we're not saying other airlines are bad; we're just awesome. low fares, customer service, frequent flights, on time performance... bags fly free. come on over here and fly with us. ( ding )

 . >> bob: well they have found this out in houston and they have found it out in new york when you build a quirky ball

park. strange things are gonna happen. that ball by zimmerman just gets out. >> rob: it just did get out. you know 7 times the height changes. into fair territory by 8 feet. we showed you in the open where we both feel that the ball hit that subway sign, i felt it came down, but zimmerman's home run looked like it hit somewhere in there, that white right near the orange over that sponge sign for his 0th home run. >> bob: yeah, i don't really know what they were thinking when they did all this. you were thinking it would be cool looking. their right-handed batters don't like it a whole lot. dukes off the pitcher david wright whose only chance was a bare hand. i think dukes would have beaten that out too. so the nats have two infield hits now. 

 . >> rob: elijah doing a grea job going the other way. going right back up the middle. ooh, need a glove on that leg, kicks over to david wright. he tries to one hand it, bang, right up your foot. 6'7", a long reach for him. another single. for elijah dukes. >> bob: here is desmond what's batting average is down to .500.   10 for 20, five ball games. there is another one, he is on base 20 consecutive games now. touring that time dukes is hitting over .375. target inner half here and pelfrey misses his bought low and away.   . >> rob: no matter how quirky, thousand times better than

chase davis. this is beautiful compared to chase davis.   there you see the eight-foot over hang. >> bob: and desmond rips it up the middle, very well played by castillo. and dukes had designs on wiping out wilson valdez. castillolo saves, two on, nobody out. >> bob: the reason i'm laughing, elijah dukes slid between the legs of valdez to break up this double play. watch this right at the end, elijah just keeps going right underneath him like london bridge. he goes into second hard, that's something guys are going to have to respect. you don't even see a show. yeah, he is coming for you. >> bob: when you slide into first you don't intimidate anybody. here is josh bard with one out.   . >> rob: by the way, one of night's highlights was

francoeur did a nick johnson, slid 30 feet into second base on a play that made the highlights. so just veer off. >> bob: and when a shortstop is throwing side arm he wants the runner to get down. josh is struggling with the bat, down to 232, and since july batting just .204. i see fewer and fewer teams -- that ball is off his foot -- i see fewer teams throwing him first-pitch fastballs. he likes to rip.

23 pitches, 16 strikes, in the first inning. j.d. martin by the way got his first three outs on only 12 pitches. the marlins are at cincinnati tonight again and the phillies open up a series at atlanta. by the way, the mets got here about 3:00th morning after their long rain delay down in georgia last night. and bard rolls a double play ball. castillo, valdez, 4-6-3, doesn't get much more convenient than that. and the nats are gone in the top of the second. up two. ?

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 . >> bob: tonight's masn tele celebrating the birthday of the united states air force is being brought to you by dine corp. international. we serve today for a safe tomorrow. panasonic tough notebook computers. navy federal credit union. we serve where you serve. the u.s. air force, the aerial warfare branch of the u.s. armed forces, initially part of the army. they were formed as a separate branch of the military september 18th, 1947. and while the air force celebrates that date as its official birthday the history of the branch stretches nearly as far back as the airplane it.

we salute you. beltran, fur me, francoeur, bottom of the second. jd martin the first pitch, strike. carlos beltran hitting safely in 16 of his last 20 games. >> games. >> rob: so when orville and wilbur wright were throwing rocks out of their plane that's when the air force started. >> not long thereafter. up the middle. the nats hd him played pull and desmond can't get there. nationals mets have their first base hit. >> rob: well his range is going to be a little limited at this point, he is learning the position, he dives maybe a little bit late, tries to pick it up and make a great play. that would be tough for beltran

anyway. >> bob: when he is healthy he is one of the best players in this game. daniel measure fee, the 24-year- old first baseman, not carlos delgado. and hitting .262. change-up down the line, foul. >> rob: ho we.   dodged one there. >> bob: murphy had a nice d at this time last year. mets brought him up late in the season, played 49 games early on in the season, after delgado got hurt they moved him to first. tatis got more reps, they went out and got gary sheffield. i think that's why they will be pursuing matt holliday in the off-season.

  . >> that will be one of the interesting things to watch, does matt holliday who is from oklahoma stay close to home at what would probably be a hometown discount atst or does he seek the riches of the east coast. 2-2, j. martin low in the zone. >> rob: usually when a player becomes a free agent he likes to test the waters, at least that first time. you may see that with matt holliday. but playing with albert pujols and playing in st. louis, that's a great place to play baseball.   . >> bob: they are going to t playoffs. by the way, they are playing their final series of the year against the cubs starting tonight. >> rob: remember, he has got a great dad. his dad recruited me to go to oklahoma state. tom holiday. i'm sure there would be a lot of discussions on would you

rather be happy in st. louis where the living expenditures are nowhere near new york or this area, and probably be comfortable in that st. louis area, they are great fans there. not that much pressure on you to perform. >> oh, that's a good pitch by martin tailing away from the left-hander. and j.d. has his second strikeout. northrop grumman the systems powerhouse. >> rob: going to run away like he said, the two seem fastball, it just tails. it's not about velocity, it's about movement. i think you get strikeouts when you get ahead in the count and then you can kind of fi nation will the ball to do different things.   . >> bob: between the mound a home, how much can a 90 miles per hour fastball move? >> rob: it depends on if you're throwing two seem or four seem. a four seem is not supposed to

move much. it is supposed to be a low condition pitch. i would say they were on the inside black, not bad. a two-seam is supposed to move in on rights and away from lefties. soso you could get 6", a foot. i mean, remember, greg maddox is one of the best ever, goin' to the hall of fame. he could make his ball run and do a lot of different things. it's the location of the middle finger and the index finger in relationship to the seams on a baseball. there's another four-seamer. >> bob: francoeur the hottest met hitter right now, .452 his last 7 ball games. 14 hits in his last 14 at-bats. he is hitting .309 since coming here from atlanta. >> rob: well, and they have said -- this is not me, this is people that have said this over the years -- that a 90 miles per hour fastball you have an eighth of a second in your brain to commit to either swing

or hold back. so here's the grip on this last pitch. looks like he has got his fingers a little separated. >> bob: runner goes, a pop-up right side. adam dunn over towards the coaching box, now the track. now the dugout. and he droops it. adam was drifting with that ball rather than getting over there and waiting for it. they'll probably give him an error. not a lot of breeze here but it is blowing over that way from the rooftops. >> rob: well it's blowing blowing blowing and this is a big foul territory here at citi field. >> bob: what did they do, let tom seaver design that? 3-2, runner goes again, and francoeur pops one in the air, left center, but it will stay in. and the big thing is j.d. martin gets the out. runner retreats, j.d.

harris has it, two down. so the nationals have just made their 125th error of the year, the most in the national league. guzman, willie harris back in center field, i don't remember bard the catcher.   and we're not sure when, or long nieves will be out. jim riggleman described him today as a quick healer. nothing seriously wrong with the hamstring. but josh may -- he could catch this entire series although tomorrow is a 1:00 game after a 7:00 game tonight. >> rob: you know the twins are still just four games out of first place, they have a shot, playing the tigers here the next three. they have only made 66 errors in minnesota. >> bob: isn't that something. >> rob: in minnesota and that leads the american league. >> bob: well the phillies have made 67 and those pittsburgh pirates, all the grief they take from everybody, they have only made 63 errors all year. they at least catch the ball and don't beat themselves. when they get beat it's because the other team is better.

and higher pryceed. >> former national brian schneider, he'll be a free agent after this year, hit .235 for the nationals in '07. .257 here in the last year. he hit 9. >> rob: very nice change-up right here. see how it starts inside, moves outside, brian this year was on the d.l. with a muscle pull in his back then tore a calf muscle while rehabbing. been a terrible season for him. just powers a fastball by him 1-2. >> rob: he took the 1-0 change- up. normally he offers that pitch. schneider has a good enough

eye, comes back, four-seam fastball. >> bob: and that will be foul. >> rob: there you go, see, give it to a kid. he'll remember that the rest of his life. >> bob: and good karma will come your way. told him not to throw it over the rail. >> rob: yeah. schneider flies it the other way, got some carry on it, willingham is there. you have to kill the ball to hit it out in left field here. after two, zimmerman's homer the difference.

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 . hi, i'm willie harris. happy birthday to the united states air force. thanks for protecting our country. top of the third coming up, martin, harris and guzman. and the mets just riddled by injuries all year long. the gains, the man hours, whatever you want to call them, they have lost due to injury, just truly amazing this year. and it goes alphabetically from cora, delgado, martinez, oliver perez, j.j. putts. >> rob: right in the middle two main top 5 starters, three maybe four all-star typo

fencive players, and then obviously at the end you have got santana. >> bob: you know it's a bad year. >> rob: the best in the year. >> bob: you know it's a bad year when santana only has bone chips in his 'em bo. they were fearing tommy johnny surgery. >> rob: yeah, a minor surgery. >> bob: a two hopper to the shortstop, valdez. jose reyes has tend onitis behind his right calf. that was back on may 20th. and then he went on the dl retroactive to may 21st and they've had to go out and sign wilson valdez who is 31 years of age and a career journeyman with the white sox, seattle, san diego and l.a. there is carlos delgado with that patented smile of his. and he never likes wearing a ball cap. >> rob: and he is one of the most likeable guys in this

game. >> bob: top of the order, willie harris. then cristian guzman. willie flied to center starting the game. and a breaking ball will be the same result off the bat. beltran. you can win a signed, game-worn jersey right off the back of a nationals player or coach, on sunday, september 27th, all the proceeds benefit nats charities and winners will be announced that day when the boys come back home, get a raffle ticket, only $5 each at the dream foundation kiosk in the center field plaza. jerseys will be awarded on the field to all winners present and if you're not there they'll still ship it to you if you're a winner. giewz man goes up first-pitch swinging. pagan on the move. and very quick top of the third

for mike pelfrey in a 2-0 game. hey mom i need some minutes. i just gave you some at the restaurant. yea i know. i threw them out. they were old so... old! they are rollover minutes. they are as good as new. ya know not everyone gets to keep their unused minutes. and these days we can't afford to be wasteful. saving minutes... ...saves money. yea. (announcer) only at&t's family talk with rollover saves your family's unused minutes. and saving minutes saves money. for back to school, get the lg neon for $29.99 after mail-in rebate.

 . >> deb: ian desmond and the nats with a 2-0 lead as we move to the bottom of the inning. now ian really hasn't played that much second base since he started. a bit in hawaii. he credits his teammates for helping him out at second base. >> johnny gonzalez has been helping me a lot. fuse man helps me during the game, moves me around, let's me

know, heads up for this. dunner will let me know if i got to come around and get the bag. everyone is helping me out pushing me along i guess. >> deb: and ian will be joining elijah dukes playing winter ball in the dominican republican for the le cab tigers and orioles bench coach will be managing them bob. >> bob: it will be interesting to see where they play him if he is the everyday shortstop. now would a major league team say to that club down there "we'd like to see him play some second base." >> rob: absolutely. >> bob: they'll accommodate that? >> rob: they'll accommodate that as long as they don't have a guy, and they are paying them down there and they aren't, like a roberto al a march who is at shortstop, a cristian guzman, or someone like that, that wants to play every day back there. could be vizquel wants to play for that country and playful

time. >> bob: wilson valdez hitting .254. >> rob: even off-season there is a pecking order. >> bob: and some of the leagues when they go home, they are under pressure, it is expected they'll represent their countries in winter leagues. >> rob: it is their native country. >> bob: valdez jacks one to the gap in left center, it gets by willingham. that's a deep gap. all josh has to do is hit the cutoff man, it's a lead off double with the pitcher coming up.   valdez suddenly 5 of his last 7. >> rob: well he is getting to play every day, getting the reps, tea feels confident. up in the zone, pretty much everybody is going to whack that pitch on location, he ace takes off. thinks about it for a second. don't want to get thrown out at

third, the first and third out. especially when the pitcher is coming up and he can just bunt you over there. for   . >> bob: pelfrey checking wi razor shines, the mets third base coach.

>> rob: and he lunged at it. >> bob: he'll get to it the pitcher. hustled in, played it well, sure out to desmond, sacrifice good. 1-4.   . >> rob: technique much bett on the second chance. you see him dead depending it a little bit better. take the sacrifice if you're the pitcher, put it out there to first base, gets himself a guy on third base and a job well done for pelfrey.   . >> bob: angel pagan flied o ball flied down the left field corner. >> rob: hitting almost .350 with runners in scoring position. just, like, pedro feliz yesterday. what is he hitting, about .220

with nobody on, .325 with a bunch of guys on base. >> bob: a 100-point difference. >> rob: just strange. >> bob: veteran players smelling r.b.i.s >> rob: yup. 1-0 pitch here on north republican grumman, you see it tail just towards the end. not giving that pitch tonight. nice job though. he was expecting fastball, through him a breaking ball.   . >> bob: missing, 3-1. w speedy hitter. and then a good power hitter coming up.

infield back, up the middle, an dunn. and a base hit will drive in the run to make it a 2-1 game. mets got valdez on, got him over, got him in, the tying run is on base with pagan who has stolen 13 bases. that's his 29th r.b.i. >> rob: we told you he is hitting .350 with guys in scoring position. gets a fastball down and away, goes after it, puts it right back up the middle. >> bob: you know, it's interesting, when a guy gets the ball right over the plate it seems like they never hit it to where your defense is hitting. but when you hit corners, so that's a couple balls up the middle. nowhere near where desmond was playing, because martin missed his spots. for   and here is castillo, really tough to double up. >> rob: it's tough to teach

that instinctive off the bat that guys will play whether it's a corner or middle infielder. desmond a hair shy of what he does at short top. got it kind of coming in and going towards second base at the left. now he has to come in and go a step to his right. probably a bit awkward for him. >> bob: the mets have hit into a lot of double pasys this year, 57 of them, and i'm surprised to see that castillo has done it 14 times. david wright the most at 15. because castillo is a very good runner but that indicates he has been iting the ball sharply this year. when you hit it at somebody they'll get you even if you are fast. martin wheels and fires over there when the runner was relyff bag   . >> rob: there was a time wh castillo was one of the best base stealers in the league.

52 one year, 62 another year, 48 another year. those were good enough to lead the league. then you had juan pierre. so you had the best 1-2 punch down there   2-1. that's a bolast pitch martin a bit up in the zone and then comes back down.   . >> bob: and they keep go the middle for their se hits. i mentionerlie the mets hit for high average, th are seco ithe league at .270. but they are 11th inruns n but they can single you, and vi martin. y is going to make a

about all these pitches that are out over the plate.   . >> rob: well they are in th middle of that hitting zone, not where you want to be. you want to be on the edges. if you fall behind now you've got to come to the inside of the hitting zone. the mets doing a good job. we talked about this the first trip in here bob. castillo is now the type of hitter where he lays the bat on the ball. not trying to hit for power. >> bob: yeah. >> rob: he is using your 88, 90 miles per hour fastball, your pitch, he is just slapping it, he is like a hockey player. >> bob: other teams in the division, marlins at cincinnati, no score, they are throwing van den hurricane ike tonight. >> rob: here