>> you can see his entire documentary and all other winning videos any time, go to studentcam.org. .. with

i don't have any good excuse, just that involved -- >> every chairman is late, sir. >> i do detest. anyway, let me welcome you

today. it's good to have you at a historic time. as you and george department began to develop health reform legislation and implement the it's been going on a long time and the president and the congress have made some decisions and to me the job at hand now is to try to implement and make it work to see whether adjustments need to be made down the line and make certain it develops in a way that is beneficial to the american people. in the subcommittee we've been doing a number of things to make health care more accessible and affordable and more effective in the recovery act for instance we accelerated those efforts. for example we've been spending

education training programs to address the shortage of nurses, primary-care doctors and other health professionals and encourage practitioners to go into primary care and practice in place is leading. as far as i am concerned that remains in special corollary as. our regular appropriation bill has increased funding for health and prevention programs like 35% the past four years and the recovery act included $500 million for that purpose. another focus has been on prevention and we provided a billion dollars for prevention of illness activities to jump-start areas in i should add up at this .1 of my special concerns is the area of hospital infections. it seems to me that that has to be at the top of our list in terms of priorities.

we don't do people any favors if we get 30 million people additional access to health care and they wind up dollying because of something they called in a hospital. that happens at a disgracefully high-level and i think we need to be aggressive in doing something about it. committees also emphasize medical research that includes basic and applied research supported by the national institutes of health. it includes a patient centered health research, developed practitioners decide which treatment works the most effectively for their patients thereby improve outcomes. the recovery act had at $1.1 billion to support a major expansion of patient center research. yet another priority has been to encourage a more widespread use of information technology with a lot to like health records through these medical errors and make health care delivery more

efficient. in the 21st century piles of paper are not the way we ought to be managing weapons in patient care. and as you know the recovery act and would 19 billion to push for adoption of those technologies. finally, we have the need to combat fraud and abuse in health programs. we increase discretionary program by 57% last year and support a wide range of activities for medicare claims to prevent improper payments to conducting criminal investigations. we held a separate hearing on that issue several weeks ago. while these and other health care priorities are at center stage, the hhs has other responsibilities such as programs to help families with access to child care and low-income people and this is all americans through programs like meals on wheels to get just a few licks tables. we need these services have grown during the recession and

we've given the department resources to respond to both of the regular corporation bills. the president's budget request provides further increases in some high priority areas including medical research, child care, mental health and substance abuse program and health fraud and abuse control. on the other hand, i am not tall thrilled with the proposed 35% cut to liheap and we would not be with emergencies like the flu pandemic or bioterrorism. i would also mention again that the administration has put us in a box, not you but frankly the white house has by one aspect of the budget emission because it had left a very large hole with ryckman -- regards to pell

grants and we need to have that problem addressed or a lot of people's priorities including the administration suffers greatly so with that let me welcome you. i look forward to hearing from you but first let me call on mr. tiahrt for any questions he might have to read this and it's always good to have secretary sebelius the former governor of kansas. before the committee today. negative questions for the secretaries in the interest of time and i hope we will get to at least two rounds of questions. i will be brief. many americans have the concern about the takeover of health care in thisjtñ country. or as we refer to obama care. i'm concerned what would do to the quality-of-care the people currently receive, what it will do to small businesses and people who work for them and all concerns about what it will do to the already leveraging.

the and authorized spending as breathtaking not to mention the audacity of the federal government under the new law killing individual american citizens with a must do in regard to health insurance. many of us oppose the new law we have serious concerns about what it means both in terms of the cost as well as the role of the government in health care decisions. over the last two years, the president has made a number of promises regarding this new health care law. on june 15th, 2009, the president said if you like your doctor mackie will be able to keep your doctor, period. if you like your health care plan, you'll be able to keep your health care plan, period. no one will take it away, no matter what. with the 130 billion in cuts, 130 billion-dollar cut to the medicare advantage plans it sure seems like 11 million seniors will be in jeopardy of losing their plan. the president also said on march 25th of this year that if you already have insurance this

reform will make it more secure and more affordable. apparently that's true unless you are one of the americans to buy an individual policy that you like and want to keep. we are also concerned about the pressure that the host of authorized programs would force on other important programs in this bill. there are at least $100 billion a specific authorizations the congress will be expected to fund and countless billions of programs with wide open ended authorizations. we have no idea how high the costs will be. i could go on but the bottom line is what was promised is and what we delivered. i look forward to the opportunity to ask questions and i thank the chairman and yelled back. >> mr. chairman i would prefer to wait and listen to the secretary and then ask questions. >> thank you, mr. chair.

is this on? thank you. thank you, mr. chairman. it's good to be here in the subcommittee with you, with congressman tiahrt and other members of the subcommittee. i want to thank you first for inviting me here today to talk about the 2011 budget and i look forward to the opportunity to respond to questions. but i want to spend just a couple of minutes framing the budget which i think advances the department's central goal of improving the health of all americans, expanding access to high-quality health care and providing children, families and seniors with the critical health services that give them a chance to thrive. to do that we try to make prudent investments that actually echo the goal the members of this subcommittee has championed for years attacking health care fraud with new tools

and more resources and new focus on preventive chronic disease and promoting wellness emphasizing reduction in medical errors and improving the overall quality-of-care and strengthening the public health system so that we will be better prepared for new threats that come at us. at a time so many american families are trying to balance their household budgets we think it is appropriate we not let taxpayers dollars to based. so the budget reflects the difficult time consuming work we've done over the last year to try to eliminate waste and fraud and focus resources so they can make the biggest impact on americans' lives. last month, you heard from the department's deputy secretary about some of the expanded efforts to identify, prosecute and prevent health care fraud. as a part of the new partnership with the justice department

known as heat and this budget mr. chairman build on that progress. it adds new funds to help expand proven strategies like putting medicare fraud strike forces and cities that we know have the fraudulent activities and invest in promising new approaches like the systems that will help analyze claims versus business activities in real time. when the budget takes effect it is quick to be a lot harder for criminals to get rich stealing from seniors and from the health care system. and over time we believe the anti-fraud efforts will pay for themselves many times over. the budget also takes an and that medical errors. we know that the quality of health care in america varies widely and most tragically in the case of tens of thousands of americans who die every year from health says the detections many of which are preventable. chairman obey, to have been a national leader for e eliminating these unnecessary deaths and our budget is aimed

at helping to do that. doubling the size of the cbc national health care safety network to 5,000 hospitals. you also mentioned the need to be ready for immunizations and i want to thank you for your support of the cdc section 317 immunization program, which we have asked to receive additional funds to make sure that all the americans have access to vaccines that are the best protection against some of our most dangerous diseases. investments like these will help make sure that americans get the best possible care when they are sick. but we also have to do a much better job keeping americans healthy in the first place. so this budget builds on the recovery act significant investment and health information technology, which moves us closer to a nationwide interpol portability and helps providers make health i.t. part of their daily routine. we try to build on the historic

investment and prevention of wellness the congress made last year in the recovery act with new efforts that will reduce the harmful effects of chronic disease in the cities and create a new health prevention core and a mat preventing unintended pregnancies. and because minorities and low-income americans are likely to be sick and less likely to get the care they need, or fy 2011 budget makes critical investments in areas like community health centers and hiv/aids prevention and treatment as we can address the disparities that have plagued the health system and the country for far too long. the hhs spent recovery act funds responsibly, balancing the need for getting these dollars into the economy with ensuring the proper stewardship of taxpayer dollars. january 2010 the recipients reported having read it at least 30,000 new jobs and saving

millions of jobs. the april report period has not yet been concluded that we fully expect the numbers to rise. by the end of september we expect to obligate the remaining $6.8 billion recovery act discretionary dollars available for fy 2010. these are just a few ways the department will work to build a healthier america. at the same time we will continue the work already underway to implement many of the provisions in the historic health insurance reform legislation that congress passed last month. the affordable care at enshrines the principle that every american should have access to health care they need. it also begins the transformation of our health care system with a wide range of programs and incentives to promote the kind of coordinated peace and centered evidence care that has been shown to generate far better health outcomes.

these changes along with investments in the 2011 budget will mean americans getting access to care is part of the affordable care act will be joining the health care system that is more consumer friendly, provides more security and more importantly, does a better job of keeping them healthy. those are the goals but we cannot accomplish any of them alone. we rely on partners across the federal government and states and communities across the country. and no one has a more important role than those of you in the united states congress. i want to thank you again for the opportunity to be here today and i would be happy to respond to the questions. >> thank you, mr. chairman. why all back the speaker of the house specifically said march 9th before the legislative conference on the national association of counties and i quote we have to pass the bill

so that you can find out what is in it. my preference is the american people know what was in the bill before this past but i suppose that is just a philosophical difference. a recent rossin poll says 56% of americans believe we should repeal obama care. in kansas is 70% probably because four out of five jobs are small business jobs and there is concern about what it will do to small employers. to be honest i'm not surprised by that number. i expect it will grow since the american people are beginning to find out what has been done in the bill. there is widely unpopular. what is the most difficult part for the administration to silk to the american people? >> which part of the bill will be the most difficult to convince the american people that will be good for them? >> welcome congressman, i think there's been an extraordinary amount of misinformation about what florida is and isn't and one of the jobs we have i think

moving forward and i look forward to is telling people what is in the bill. for instance for small-business owners there is a lot of misinformation about mandates that currently are not a part of law and were never part of the loss of any employer who has less than 50 employees has not only no mandate but may be eligible for tax breaks the begin this year at 35% helping to secure employee coverage and eventually in 2014 have access to the new market. you and i know in kansas small employers are often squeezed out of the marketplace, priced out, don't have the leverage with the they are farm families or small business owners. the large employers have, they don't of negotiating powers -- >> i'm sorry i have limited time. because the cost there's an article in "the new york times" the talks about the new law and

the premiums paid by ordinary kansans as you mentioned. specifically the article focuses on mandates contained in the wall that have been in place in new york and massachusetts and other states. the article concludes people who buy their own insurance and that includes the self-employed, people who work for small businesses and early retirees and those that do not qualify for social security pay on average additional $2,100 for their health and trans. how does the administration justify forcing americans to form the backbone of the economy specifically those associated with small businesses to pay an additional $2,100 for their insurance? did we learn anything from massachusetts, new york and other states that have been doing some of these things contained in this new or is it "the new york times" that is wrong? >> i would suggest "the new york times" may be pricing policy in massachusetts but is not pricing what will eventually be a state based exchange in kansas. the lord is set up in a way that

kansas will have an opportunity if they choose to put together a state based exchange to have the policies and programs, the state based -- it doesn't end with the mandates from massachusetts and impose them on kansas. it really is vlore for kansas so i haven't read the article but the state based exchanges i would suggest will make it much more affordable for those in the individual market or the small brick market to have affordable care because the current we don't have the bargaining power and they are squeezed out and priced out of the market. >> i will submit that article for the record and mr. chairman -- i am worried the supreme court declared unconstitutional many federal laws that contain individual mandates. however the new health care law contains a provision that allows to mandate the every individual

in the united states must have some form of health care insurance. regardless of the lessons we've learned in massachusetts and new york with respect to the individual mandates, what makes this administration think it can constitutionally mandated that every american must buy health insurance specifically because they're appears to be a fairly large segment of the american population that chooses for one reason or another or to buy health insurance even though they can afford it. this is a basic issue of liberty for me and i don't like deciding to purchase a house or rather to rent so what is it about the mandate we think we can impose on the american people and do you think it will survive a constitutional test? >> congressman, i am also not a lawyer but i have discussed constitutional challenges with a legal team and the team at the justice department who feel the commerce clause gives strong constitutional basis for the

personal responsibility section of this bill. as you know, governor romney's signed the massachusetts law he thought that a critical expanding health coverage was personal responsibility. those who could afford to purchase coverage would do so and if they needed assistance the state in that instance and in our instance the federal government would provide that assistance and there would be a waiver for those who couldn't afford it. it's the framework that we used to put together the affordable care act and i think the lawyers will debate this in the courtroom but i am convinced it does stand on constitutional grounds. >> thank you. thank you, mr. chairman and welcome, madam secretary. through the health care debate one of my highest priorities was to enable the federal government to better track and prevent

cleaning increases for consumers. one of the provisions in the new law involves medical loss ratio requiring insurance to spend at least 80% of premiums on health care services. this would be a great benefit to those who cannot continue to pay skyrocketing premiums the law includes other cost-control measures including allowing exchanges to bar access to insurance with unreasonable premium increases. by the way, i found in my district i had countless meetings with large employees, small employers, individuals, hospitals, doctors, and i cannot tell you how many people talked about the rates being doubled in the last five years so we've got to do something about this and if you could share with us how does the budget request aníbal hhs to ensure and protect consumers from abusive practices

and more generally are there any changes to the budget requests that are necessary now that health care reform has been signed into law? it talks specifically about the medical loss ratio and then whatever time is remaining i would appreciate. >> the medical loss ratio is part of the affordable care at. i am a former insurance commissioner and i am familiar with looking at the kind of data that is currently going to be requesters we have already reached all to the national association of insurance commissioners to as suggested by the law have them help frame the definition that is used as a part of the formula for the loss ratio. i've actually reached also to my former colleagues, governors across the country to remind them in some states there is a full range rate review and other states they are missing the big pieces like california and others who found themselves in a

situation where they do not have prior approval of rate increases to remind them that that may be a good thing to address in their legislative session. so we are aggressively putting together the framework for a review of medical loss ratio and working in very close connection with insurance commissioners and the governors to do just that. i think that our budget -- what we have done, congresswoman, is part of the implementation of affordable care act to stand up a new office of consumer information and insurance oversight that is going to be charged with not only implementing the medical loss ratio standards but a whole host of the market conduct standards for insurance companies and working very closely with the state offices. >> before we get to the next

question, from your experience and you interact with other state commissioners before you took on these responsibilities are there any other states that are locked addressing this effectively now? and i appreciate the fact that you said you've been pleading with the state commission's of insurance. are there any states to effectively? >> i think there are some models out there we look at very closely. again, the state law varies so some have what they call prior approval before a company can impose a increase the have to submit actuarial data to the department and have it reviewed, look at the administrative costs, overhead costs, salaries and what portions of the premiums they are paying out in health benefits. others have with a call file and use where the company actually notice is that you have a rate increase and files it with the

department and some don't even have that so there is a wide range of oversight. we are very hopeful -- this isn't a federal takeover of anything. it is a state based insurance regulatory system that stays a state based insurance regulatory system that we are working very hard with the states to remind them of which responsibilities is theirs. we have asked -- i actually went to the health insurers and asked the companies to submit to our office at a minimum their actuarial information of what the overhead costs are and what the benefit payoffs or so we can at least make it transparent to the american public. so far we haven't had a terribly robust response but i'm hoping that we will. >> i look for to you keeping us up to date on this issue because from my perspective and many of our colleagues we were moved to pass this legislation because frankly everybody from small business to large business was

getting rate increases and i look forward to continuing to hear from you and getting some information. thank you, mr. chairman. >> mr. lewis. >> thank you. welcome, madam secretary. i don't envy you for the challenge you had before. all of this state the same thing. in general i would like to talk about medical errors and a bit about medicare but before getting to that, as we've gone through this debate over the last year it's become very apparent to any observer looking at the key players and the majority side the president, the speaker, the speakers closest advisor of oakland, indeed henry waxman has been supportive of a single payer system. i know that's not the bill but we produced but it lays the

foundation for exchanges to become a lot more than a state based but rather the federal dominated and that concerns me an awful lot that we ignore that. would you respond to you and your office's view of a single payer system at the federal level? >> certainly, congressman, i would be glad. i think from the outset of this discussion there were certainly those in the house and the senate who favored a single payer system and felt that that was by far the preferable option from the beginning the president made it very clear that he did not in spite of the fact that he had years and legislature and even when he came to the united states senate talked about that as an option the would be ideal the more he looked up the situation with 180 million americans having insurance coverage that was preferable to them and that they like and felt that what we needed to do was build on the current system.

and that is the structure of the bills took from the outset in spite of i think the disappointment of some in the caucasus who would have preferred to dismantle the for third-party payer system. so this really starts at the states. states put together exchanges either as a single state or multistate a real if that is what they choose. we provide technical assistance for the states to do that and even though the exchanges are not -- the timetable for exchanges doesn't begin until 2014, we intend starting next year to begin a very robust discussions so that we don't wait until the last minute and have states in a situation they can't do this. there are -- we have already had lots of positive discussions and states are very eager to do this. and i think you will very much be a state based pergamon

particularly, congressman, it is not to dismantle what is in place right now. it is to replace the market for self-employed americans many of whom cannot find affordable coverage and don't have leverage. a lot of small-business owners who find themselves in the same situation. ..

who fought for this country. a huge problem there, i'm interested in your reaction. >> sorry, i am wanting to understand, we began discussions with not only be a bit department of defense on the systems in your suggesting there is a rampant medical error within the health care system. >> there's evidence at the highest levels the system deliveries at best produce an awful lot more errors than the norm and we might strike that examination right there. >> i think that's a good point and i will follow-up on matt, thank you. >> one of the president's major promises was if you like your health care you can keep it and yet to pay for the new health care plan the law it appears would cut in a major way medicare advantage by more than

$130 billion. i have 50,000 plus seniors in my district who enjoy medicare and, indeed, their concern about what these proposed cuts might do to that service and existing delivery but what can my senior six by relative to implementing this program? >> well, i think there is a provision as you know as part of the law that over a decade a portion of the overpayment to the medicare vantage plans will gradually be phased out. there are about 400 plants, 400 companies offering 1100 plans, a 11 and a half million seniors taking advantage of those plans. we have just actually put out the 2011 medicare advantage updates which will have the same rate payments for 2011 as they did for 2010 and notice plans

across the country. there will be a robust a ray of choices for medicare recipients as there are right now. i don't think there's any question that we are going to begin to pay more attention and collect more data and cms on medical outcomes for looking at not only the fee-for-service side but also the manicured manage side to make sure that if enhanced payments are going out the door it's really for a higher quality health out, and reno bundles care reduces that medical home models produces that and there are a number of medicare advantage plans eager to engage in that, but i think the misinformation to seniors about the fact medicare advantage is not clear to be a choice is wrong. we anticipate there will be no shortage of the plans of the country.

>> thank you mr. chairman. i must say what she mentioned is a major stumbling block but if i were two-point to the greatest is when the average family let's say 25 to 45 suddenly find a mandate with the irs looking over their shoulder that they must are putting money into a pool for future service delivery. >> i was a great stumbling block is when people with insurance have to pay a thousand dollars a year to subsidize people who don't have it because we didn't have until now a program like this. mrs. lee. >> thank you very much mr. chairman. good to see you, madam secretary. let me thank you for your of leadership in helping to move the historic health care reform bill forward and for your steady leadership and your voice and your experience and also those of us who are adamant about public auction and terms of keeping costs down and holding

insurance companies accountable we're counting on you to make sure that that happens short of haping public option. so thank you very much for understanding how important that is. myself, congressman allard and, the try caucus was lockstep, very adamant on addressing racial and health disparities as part of the health reform bill and i'd like for you to elaborate on how this budget actually supports the goal of diversity in the health professions, the recruitment and training, how you increase diversity, and institutions and researchers, when ethnic minorities benefit from any new innovative health research at nih. also in terms of the direct support for the nation's minority medical colleges, targeted support to help eliminate these disparities within communities where we see

them the most. so in this budget i just want to see how you are shaping this. i know that this year the office minority held to the national partnership, action to end health disparities, produced a draft with a plan of action on disparity so i want to get a sense of where you are on that. secondly, i will ask and then you can respond -- national aid strategy, current budget allocation, who will lead the implementation of that. what part of the term budget allocation i think 70 million will go to cdc will be dedicated to the national hiv/aids strategy? thirdly that may ask you about nursing because i had a long conversation with the dean of the samuel merritt nurses school in oakland and she indicated that just in the area alone 40 percent of all new nursing graduate since october 2008 have yet to find a job here and i

thought there was a nursing shortage in our country. i spent time as i say -- spent a lot of time in hospitals, my mother is 85, my sister has multiple sclerosis. these are good nurses but we're always been treated by traveling nurses, nurses who have retired and come to the hospitals to work because i'm told there's a shortage. and yet the now the dean of the nurses' school say they can't find a job so i want to get a sense of what to think is going on out there and what i can do -- we can do to ensure that qualified nurses are being hired. if i have any more time i will ask more questions but go ahead and respond. thank you madam secretary. >> thank-you, congresswoman. i will try to hit the high points on the issues you raised. first health disparities is i

think a glaring failure of the health delivery system of years and allow our department i think has done a fairly decent job documented health disparities, there hasn't been a very good strategy to actually reduce or eliminate health disparities. so the national action plan you referred to is really the first time since 1985 that there will be a secretarial level plan addressing health disparities. is one i take very seriously and is in draft form, we look for to having a chance to preview it with you and work on it. i don't think there's a question passage of the affordable care act is one of the most important steps beginning toward closing the gap over and over again. it's been identified the the lack of insurance, the lack of access to affordable health care is one of the leading causes of health disparities so a big step

was made. our budget actually will build on that effort in a number of ways, not only will the office of minority health focus with a strategic road map on this national plan and we see and not only within our department but across government agency efforts or health is impacted by neighborhoods, buy food availability, by the air you breathe. there are a lot of things that actually and/or subtract from people's health so we see this as a government-wide effort to. we do have additional resources in the 2011 budget that look at recruitment of health providers from minority communities to make sure that we have a not only people serving in underserved areas but that actually minority providers, nurses, doctors, health technicians, mental health professionals here and as you know the affordable care act

also made an institute at the national institutes of health of the health disparities initiative and i think raises to a level where it will have a serious strategic focus and attention here is so there are a whole host of assets coming together in a way that really hasn't been organized in our department. again, we look forward -- this has been not only because you have taken seriously by your fellow try caucus members have been focused on for years. i really look forward to working with you as we address these gaps and underlying health causes. i would suggest also that the increased footprint for the community health centers which actually started in the recovery act and are again targeted to the underserved areas as well as the efforts in wellness and prevention grants will also help

to close this gap. i can't respond very well to the nursing shortage situation that you talked about because that's the first time i've ever heard of mayors is not being snapped up immediately to be hired. i hear the other side of the story over and over that people need more nurses and the pipeline and that's exactly what we've been doing trying to fill that workforce, with more scholarships and paying off increases in the health service corps, more people in underserved areas. i need to follow-up on that and then finally in the aids area, there is a national aids plan and that is currently being formulated. it's not finalized at this point. as you know president obama identified the fact that while we had a robust international hiv/aids strategy, we had kind of lost the attention and focus at the national level. we've already launched under cdc

an average program on testing and particularly identify some of the most will verbal and growing communities that were beginning to interact with using social not working but we'll look for the to the strategic plan which will be led by ambassador goolsbee and others focused on aids. there's a new aids council which will have national and international focus and we are going to be intimately working with them. >> thank you mr. chairman. temporary high risk in montana, i understand you have been in contact with our officer but i notice in the appropriations a 5 billion was taken up in the general fund to pay for the high-risk pools around the country, but cms is suggesting the money will run out in 2011 and 12 and, of course, they don't have to be in place until 2014. why the shortfall?

why the anticipated shortfall? are there areas uc it's already coming in over budget? >> congressman, we don't know exactly how many people willoughby able to be enrolled in the high-risk pool. allies offer them right now. as a montana -- >> we wondered why we did this in the person place if we have this in place why supplant with something berated by the federal government to do something already in place? >> this is a voluntary program and secondly it will be graded by the federal government here if montana's uses to set up which is a parallel pool the money that is allocated in in the affordable care act is to subsidize rates -- >> the point is -- >> in not montana there are well over 100% and it makes an unaffordable for folks. >> my question is to ask for

5 billion and you got it and cms is already anticipating it will not last through 2011 or 12 and a high risk pools will be in place until 2014. a shortage, a shortfall and over expenditure. how will you deal with it? will you limit access? >> this is not federal, if montana chooses to participate they will have allocated set of resources which helps subsidize care for montana's who currently are uninsured and under -- >> secretary, you miss -- >> if they choose that's a choice this they will my. >> let's go back to the question. the question was this legislation great high risk pool where the opportunity of by 2014. >> no server right now this is the bridge strategy to a new market in 2014, not 2014. >> as correct by 2014 alternative structure needs to be in place. >> exchanges.

>> correct but is the exchanges are in place in 2014 but using montana and other states temporary pool and if you appropriate $5 billion and not going to make to 2014 you're going to have to come back to this appropriations committee and ask for more money. you've already anticipated the best way to cost more that you told us it was going to in asking the legislation be passed in the first place. >> currently the federal government pays a fraction of the state's high-risk pool and puts about $50 million into overall plan. this is an attempt to provide a safety net coverage if the money actually is going to have a shortfall. >> madam secretary, that doesn't answer. i understand the bridge and i understand they're going to cooperate or participate or help the state but you said it was going to cost $5 billion in your anticipated expenditure. and it's not. >> we don't know what is going to cost.

>> you disagree with the cms? >> we don't know how many want to participate here and be put out a letter to governors and i talk to my former colleagues yesterday. we will by april 30th have an idea. we really don't know at this point. >> the second line a question i'd like to go down that path, in the stimulus package the loss service says you can't lobby. >> correct. >> the bastion of information from cnn, the state of new york obesity educate leaders and decision makers about trans fats, this is $3 million grant awards, california advocating for increased statewide tobacco tax, city of chicago tax increase in the city and state levels, i would permit a public shelter .3 million, and for local policy makers about evidence and practice based pricing. that sounds like lobbying.

>> congressman, i read the same information from a the same at new stores. i can assure you that we have a, we will follow to the letter of the law the federal law which prohibits federal funds and has not just in the recovery act but consistently prohibited it lobbying with federal dollars and we will try carefully. we've notified a whole host of folks that that is the law of the land and part of the grant application and continue to be the monitoring. federal funds will not be used for lobbing. >> those are quotes from the grant application in the first place. >> the lot of the applicants have a whole host of strategy is that they employ and have employed historical and will continue to employ. we are funding programs that are not lobbying programs and our actual prevention. >> but in the initial grant application -- your oversight

listed in the initial grant application. had that exact quote in into. >> they have been notified there will -- there's an absolute prohibition for using any federal funding for lobbying and we will follow up on a carefully. >> thank you mr. chairman. >> [inaudible] >> welcome, madam secretary. last year the american recovery and reinvestment act made $650 million in prevention and wellness the funding available for chronic disease prevention and management and this year when congress passed the affordable care act included a $15 billion prevention and public funding. of which 500 million is i believe available this year. as i understand these new funds are not restricted to chronic

diseases but are meant to fund the entire spectrum of public health efforts. i've been told that your office is currently working on a system to distribute the funds this year however, this seems to be significant concern in the infectious disease community that in an effort to obligate the $500 million by sept. 30th of this year the department will fund the only existing grant applications for the chronic prevention grant and that infectious disease programs will once again received no funding here can you please outline how you plan to allocate these funds and whether you will include new applications for prevention funds to target infectious diseases such as hiv/aids, viral hepatitis, sexually transmitted diseases, tuberculosis, many which are at crises level in

many communities. what strategies as your department undertaken to address these infectious disease disparities in our minority communities? >> congresswoman, i would suggest that at this point as you have identified the conversations are going on with members of the house and the senate about the strategies for allocating these funds so no decisions have been made at this point about either using traditional applications or not, but we absolutely want that kind of implant -- input and look for to working with you on i plan. in. i think that the effort will be two actually build on as you know the investment in the era funds was really the first time ever investment in wellness and prevention and strategically

focused at least in the community grant applications onto underlying causes of chronic disease which were tobacco cessation and obesity. this is likely to be a broader area. there are lots of ideas and goods strategy's about how to use this. we're looking at the scientific data, at the evidence space programs. i guarantee that will be one of the guiding lines as what actually has been demonstrated to work, but i would say that discussion is very much underway and we appreciate -- >> so this is still open with regard to infectious disease? >> yes. >> as you are aware of the united states spends more on maternity care than any other country in the world, however, we rank 41st in the world and maternal mortality and rank 30th in infant mortality. while we know there's extensive body of research regarding best

evidence based practices and maternity care, our health care providers seemed to be not following that research. for example, despite healthy people 2010 goals of reducing cesarean births to 15% the u.s. continues to have it 31.8% cesarean section rate. given the risks associated with medically unnecessary cesareans and a veterinary costs associated with cesarean births, is the administration doing anything to refiner care system to support the best and most cost-effective evidence based care to reduce the rates of c. sections? >> congresswoman, i'm not sure i can speak with any specificity about what actions are currently being taken in dialogue with providers about the cs section

rate beyond this policy and the data and highlighting. i tell you that our office a women's health is very focused on maternal and child health issues and frankly what are pretty dismal half results as you suggest. high expenditure and not terrifically good results. i began to think that the affordable health care act makes a big step in the direction of getting affordable prenatal care to pregnant women. that will be a major step forward. >> i'm sorry to interrupt, my time is up but i did want to know whether or not since the new law requires medicare to cover care provided in all freestanding birth centers at a cost of $6,000 less, is there consideration in the increasing availability of birthing centers across the country? is that lookbacks. >> i can't answer but i will look into it.

>> thank you. >> thank you mr. chairman. madam secretary, i have to set -- questions. although louisiana delegation and co-sponsors are supporting legislation to address medicaid reimbursement or medicaid cost. governor jindal is supporting the legislation as well as secretary living from louisiana to permanent hospitals. there in the legislative session today dealing with the shortfalls there of half a billion dollars. my question is, what is being done to prevent states like louisiana who were unfairly when you look at this map formula because we got a lot of money into this data louisiana as recovering from the hurricanes,

louisiana was looked at as being a state that was financially better off than they really are hearing so what are we doing to prevent the louisianans or any other state like yours that received financial help from appearing to be wealthier than they really are and therefore is suffering because of the medicated? >> congressman, we have spent a good deal of time with not only your state health officials, medicaid director, the mayor a lack of a new orleans, and others, senator lana morale, on the situation. frankly one of the reasons i think there is no legislative discussion is because the law is pretty clear that we don't have administrative flexibility to change the calendar years for which the income level is

calculated and that's really the situation. when the count began, what income level is and how it was calculated, but we are working very closely with them well aware of the anomaly that income appears to go high because half the population was frankly gone and not counted. probably and accurately reflects what is the truth medical count. and if we can have a legislative fix we will try to move very quickly, but we have our hands tied in terms of whether administratively we can do for the situation but i think is worth looking at as you suggest. it's not only louisiana about what happens post disaster in an area of where federal funding may come in as an aide after the attack but then the result is a calculation that is an inaccurate picture of what the financial wherewithal is. >> thank you.

chairman obey said earlier in about a meeting we had a few weeks ago about fraud and. during that meeting i asked the question that we heard all kinds of reports about the numbers of physicians and other health care providers using sometimes information obtained from the inside to defraud the taxpayers. i asked about the number of individuals from the inside that might have been found doing something wrong and again on not pointing fingers but i just find it almost impossible to believe that there are numbers of individuals on the outside committing fraud at the numbers that we're hearing about without getting help from the inside. when we talk about organized crime and that term was mentioned, organized means and least to appear you can't have organized crime with one.

in so i ask the question and have not done in answer for staff members to try to find out if, in fact, there are any individuals on the inside of any of the departments at all levels will have been found guilty of helping those on the outside? i can't get an answer. there is no answer worry they won't give it to us. >> well, congressman, i'm not aware and i will make sure we get this data right back. i am not aware if you are talking about state and federal employees who have been charged and found guilty. i do know inside the -- it means providers and not necessarily just ontario's the soak -- doctors but so called home health providers. there are dozens and dozens of insiders in that instance to have been charged and prosecuted which is the only way that we

would be able to document it. they have been founded in some case but i can get that information to you and that's the kind of thing that i think the new fraud effort is attempting to crack down on. it's people who for 10 -- pretend to be providers if you will setting up sham operators and bill but aren't part of organized crime, they are just operating as insiders buy really conducting fraudulent activities but we will circle back right away and get to that information. >> thank you. ..

reality. i believe the current medicare payment system is deeply flawed and to many hospitals and providers shoulder the burden of unfair medicare reimbursement for high quality low-cost care that they deliver my state being one of them. i look forward to working with you as you convene the national summit on geographical access and value in health care this year and on whom this issue and the timing implications for the

fact finding that you are looking at and for the implementation of change i'm going to submit some of those questions for the record. i would like to spend my remaining time talking about hospital infections. we are here to learn how to work more effectively with you to improve the quality of the health care system for all of america. hospital infections contributor most 100,000 deaths to read in a recent report under hhs concludes hospital infections more that urgent action. we know that the hospital infections and 28 to $33 billion to the national health care cost and this is a serious public health care concern because not only are we paying the cost, there are patients paying for these mistakes with their lives. we've settled a goal to reduce hospital inquired affections by ten to 20% and two years and 50% within ten years. but we are far from reaching

that goal. we know most of these infections are preventable through cost techniques. there is "new york times" article that even talks about how we have remarkable progress in reducing infection rates and how many of the hospitals and those have not yet worked to overcome these infection rates because they are in an entrance medical culture which is not changing. on the state has worked to slow or infections and i know others are doing that as well. as you have examples that your department on how we can reduce infection rates. but the report also points out that infection rates have gone up 8% secure is my question. is the 8% increase because of better reporting whether it is voluntary or mandatory because you can't address a problem until you know and face the fact the problem exists. what are some of the obstacles in addressing this issue? does the agency needed this

committee or the policy committee to work more closely with you to address the public health care concern moving forward? >> first of all, congressman, i think your target concern is one that is a huge issue and only a huge cost issue but safety issue and i know the chairman has been working with you and focused a laser beam on this motion we had 100,000 deaths a year from what happens to people when they are in the hospital and not what brought them in the first place is frankly totally unacceptable and hundreds of thousands more in just high cost longer care strategies and lingering diseases so it is a very serious issue. we know what works. it's been demonstrated and proven and never taken to scale

so i think a couple of things are happening simultaneously. first of all the notion of increases i would say is a part of better reporting and also is a snapshot of the past. we are hopeful more current data gives more encouraging signs and this focused by the department by the committee through the recovery act through the affordable care act and through the budget i think is relatively recent. second, there is no question it is a question of focus by hospitals. you have required as part of the affordable care tall hospitals have to report which is a big step forward and that reporting will be much more transparent to consumers and others which is a big step forward. third, we are putting real resources but to states for more frequent inspections and the hospital system's to encourage the adoption of the strategies

that we know were forces the electronic medical records. i was in a hospital in cincinnati to weeks ago in a children's hospital which does some of the most complicated surgery on infants and even prenatal that i have ever seen. the have invented into the electronic records system the checklist that we know works to reduce hospital infections. they've gone 1,000 days without any safety concerns. it is a great example of what meaningful use in an electronic record system can do which is to embed the kind of safety checklist and make sure it is done time and time again and if you can do it in that kind of environment we can do it everywhere so i think there are resources coming together but i can tell you it is something we take jury seriously and i think it's not only a huge cost that we are killing people by the health care system. >> thank you mr. chairman and

madame secretary for being here today. as i talk to hospitals in my district and it's a rural district, a lot of small towns, medicare, medicaid intensive facilities most of them are expecting -- and this is not for your actions or the health care bill but medicare reimbursement rates are being cut, they are going down. they look on the medicaid new population they will be getting under the healthcare bill as largely a break-even deal. they are not making money and they are very worried about what is going to happen to the private provider part of reimbursement because the point has been made earlier private insurance subsidizes the uninsured but also subsidizes medicare and medicaid to a large degree because those problems don't become cost. we are looking where the dollars will come from for them to be able to literally keep their doors open and then the people in the larger cities wonder what

happened to the smaller hospitals closed and the population base has moved into their facilities. so i would like you to walk through if you could help you see hospital reimbursement rate developing over the course as you phase it in the new health care bill. >> congressman, i think that is a great question. whether it is in rural areas in your district or in a state like kansas or urban areas i think every hospital administrator who live talked to in the last ten years has seen their uncompensated care rate rise so there is currently a population with no payment stream at all. and then insufficient payment and private payer streams. so i feel one of the features of the affordable care act is to

have a a tenet stream arguably under every patient who comes through the door and it's one of the reasons a lot of the hospital system's work carefully with us on the framework of health reform. i do think that there also is an effort where the kind of bumbled care strategy again hospital providers are very eager to have a payment system that looks at ways they can be more appropriately complicated for keeping people out of the hospital right now the only way they actually get compensated is somebody comes back into the hospital and the sorts of embedded directional changes in the delivery system for health homes and bundled care and accountable care organizations actually has some puget vintages

for hospital systems to have a more appropriate reimbursement system and keep people healthier in the long term but i think there is a notion we will have a care system that more appropriately i would say the third piece of the puzzle is a lot of possibles right now particularly emergency rooms are delivering care which could much more effectively be delivered in a primary care setting and come in until the center and a variety of areas they've begun to work on strategies to try to triage that care so they don't have to have this robust sort of preventive care and that i think is also part of the new structure. >> a lot of my facilities are concerned with again the private in did it is where they make money to reinvest in technology and facilities. they don't make the of medicare or medicaid. they don't expect to me kate

going forward so they are worried are we going to crowd out the private market and they won't have the money they need to give patients the best surface they possibly can get and i think with the exchange opportunities the private market i would suggest may be stronger. what's happening right now and it's happened over the last five years certainly more and more small employers have dropped their private coverage because they can no longer pay the premium. a lot of individuals are lost insurance when they lost their jobs but i think that the real stabilization of a marketplace of the private marketplace with larger purchasing pools that then stabilized covers that people have is going to be good news. >> i hope so and i think that is a point worth making because a lot of my friends who favor the public option forget where the

money comes from and it's very heavily from the private sector. q. over pay quite frankly if you are on private insurance already. we know that it was eluted to earlier. but it also supports medicare, medicaid and frankly the new health care insurance bill as well so i would be very careful about killing the goose that's actually provide the aid for everybody else. >> as you may know of the 32 million or so estimated new enrollees in a health insurance system the majority of those individuals will be in the private market, will not be in the public market. >> thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you very much. welcome, madam secretary. to pick up on the last comment, the additional 32 million that would be added to the population would that tend to drive the

costs down across the board in terms of insurance premiums if we have deals in place like the antitrust provision and public antitrust provision and public option? [ female announcer ] crunch time, wheat thins.

you and your tasty whole grain. this can only end one way. [ crunch ] wheat thins. toasted. whole grain. crunch. the crunch is calling. >> ♪ >> ♪ >> tim tebow, has decided not to

attend the draft, in new yorkci, city, he will watch it, at hisoe home. it would be too hard to get family, and friends to new york, in time, on thursday night. draft, now, a prime-time event. here's "boojumer" and the guys. >> well, it's, exciting time fom all the young men, either in nel srk, or drafted, or signed as free-agents.as free it's good and bad news, you're ew the clock.ad n rams have been on the clock. clk their hour is approaching, they have not given definite signs, but rachel nichols maybe has some of those signs. >> well, there's been a seriouss increase in trade interestncreae around the number-1 pick. pi. nearly ten times called.he with that, i'm told, there's almost no chance, a deal willalc happen.eal the gm said, as of wednesday as

afternoon, not one of those ten le teams have made a specific offee that included terms. i so, unless something radicalunls happens, it will be the rams, picking sam bradford. the gm would not confirm that. but he went around the room tofa the 30 scouts and coaches, ande everyone gave their vote, and real consensus.ave their vote not concerned about whether thel pick would be ready to play. even though this team went 1-15o this pick is not going to be yes about week one or week eight.ut very focused on making the bestn decision for the long-term interest. >> no matter what stat you put up there, least points scored, 175.cored started with now injured marc bulger. if they could only score someul.

points. he's gone.ut wl. maybe, sam bradford, there. so bring in mel, and, coach, an k u looackson. >> how many will we see? for fans, you might not have heard it, only one round on only thursday night. t what do you think? >> two locks.here number 1, bradford, and then, m b clausen.ra a i gond raiders, pick number 8. hennotr the third quarterback, will it be tebow, maybe anthat h-back? v wildcat or colt mccoy, and i think one of those two, ends up, 22-30. three second-round picks.ordo michigan, -- minnesota, could. maybe the other drops into the early second.he taking colt.

could get into the late into le first. >> i was a head-coach and i never took a quarterback in the1 arrst-round, i have no idea. [laughter]te >> i'll say four.t i will bradford is gone, clausen, andis you bet colt is, all he does is e.n. and, tim tebow is the best left-handed quarterback to enter, since you. he's in there. >> this is the year, they will always drive this league, we le. just talked about b another issue toon you know you'll draft them. you will force them into the aybe theynd, m shouldn't be.t. but, there will be guys, that te are in love, just enough, no ont cares, other than where tebow is going. that's what they want to know. where is he going?

there are teams, that believe, that he can come in and play foc them now. who is going to take that risk? >> the question is going to be, if you draft a guy, in the first-round, and jerry jones may not have stated it, but when iso he going to get on the field? gg h-back? is tight-end? it at quarterback?-b that is wachat america wants toe find out. thether other quarterbacks, go where will gont to go. they want to know if he can play.l >> he's a winner. kno >> he's a great kid. >> he's ate lefty.eague. >> that's what we care about. we [laughter] >> he can also double as a also relief-pitcher.as a [laughter] >> the draft, we're on, gavel to gavel, begins, thursday eveninga >> ♪t 4-7

>> ♪ >> there it is. let the games begin. >> draft preview. ♪ >> the last time mark buehrle faced them, perfect game, in baseball history. tonight, he is facing those rays for the first time since that summer afternoon. just 4-8. since the perfect game. he struggled so far. four innings, 7 hits, and five earned-runs.

gave up the second hit, in the second-inning. white sox, have won 7-9 against tampa bay. down, 5-0 in the fifth. >> phillies on top of the braves, 2-0. roy halladay, seven-and-a-third scoreless-innings. and he said our bullpen has been a concern. blew it last night. quaker state powerplayer of the night. these are his numbers. up-to-date. if he wins,

>> powerplayer of the night. >> ♪ >> ♪ >> carlos zambrano, baseball's most expensive setup man. moved him to the bullpen. 1-6, e.r.a. north of six. zambrano, making almost 19 million this season. >> update, from the national league. padres, looking for their 6th-straight win. giants, 5-1. brad hawpe homered, and up 7-0.

realtime, stay current. >> i like your style. >> 7 hits, between etheir, and manny. 7-4. >> the caps, with a 4-2 lead on the canadiens, ovechkin, broke a 2-2 tie. fourth of the postseason. second goal, in this game. 4-2 washington. they will take a 3-1 series lead >> in two starts in double-a, he

has been untouchable. back on the mound, looking to impress, and can we turn the a.c. up? i'm dying back here. jeff -- eat a snickers... please. why? every time you get hungry, you turn into a diva. a diva? yes, a diva. [ aretha ] okay. thank you. better? [ male announcer ] you're not you when you're hungry. better. [ male announcer ] snickers satisfies.

test. baltimore orioles. >> ♪ >> ♪ >> another dominating performance for stephen strasburg, held the reading

phillies for a shutout. he said he may need more time in the minors. what? top stories on the way, ben roethlisberger, suspended by the nfl. what it means for his future with the steelers. >> plus, "superman," and friends, trying to go up, 2-0, on the bobcats, update, on the national car rental knows i'm picky.

so, at national, i go right past the counter... and you get to choose any car in the aisle. choose any car? you cannot be serious! okay. seriously, you choose. go national. go like a pro.

and welcome in. it's orioles baseball on masn. the birds closing out the three- game series at safeco field. it's o's o's xtra. quality and safety and technology are at their best at your local ford dealer. visit mid- atlanticforddealers.com. kevin millwood will be on the found for the orioles looking for his first win of the year despite the impressive e.r.a. of 2.19. going against felix hernandez. an e.r.a. of 3.10. jim hunter and rick dempsey. the orioles dropped body games in seattle and lost two in a row following the win in oakland. they are 1-5 on the road trip. rick, the talk around town was

about effort. lack of effort and how poorly it looks when the team is struggling. last night we saw two instances of hustle and lack of hustle and how it affected the play. first lugo. there's his effort going to 1 1st base. another angle at this. sees the broken bat and jogs down the 1st baseline. this is eric burns. look how he got out of the box. causes the error by cesar izturis. he knew he had to hustle. as a result he booted the play. the question, if you're a major league player, in particular, even more so on the team struggle, why don't you go out there and hustle? the one thing a player can always control in a slump or hitting good or whatever, you can control your own hustle, and we are not seeing that. >> no, and jim, 2 did look bad

for the orioles considering everything that is going on for them so far and how they are losing games. once you're in the batter's box, you're given the opportunity to do something for the ball club. that should be something special to you. once you make contact, give it 100% at this point. it's what you get paid for every single day. the easiest thing to do is hustle. when you're watching your teammate like that and he hits the ground ball and the ball is to the shortstop, everyone is wanting the shortstop to miss the ball. once he catches it you're saying throw it away. throw it away. once you get to 1st base, you're hoping the umpire missed the call. miss the call, miss the call. but if the player doesn't give 100 percent it's a reflection the character of the team and the whole organization. people want to see that you care because they care about how you win or you lose. and the ball club is not winning right now. did it matter?

was it really a determining factor in the game? no it wasn't. whether he did or didn't hustle, i don't think it affected the outcome of the game at all. the thing was this ball club is trying beyond all to prove to the fans they are worthy of their support, and this is how they do it, never quit, never give up. when you jog down the line, quit is never part of winning. >> the way to look at it. it's 90 90 feet from home -- 90 feet from home plate to 1st base. we didn't see the sprint last night. hope think it will turn around tonight. now we will welcome in our colleague fred from the radio network. lost in this was the outstanding effort from david hernandez. the question, may it get into his psyche and affect the starts down the road? >> i don't think so. >> i think david last night after throwing 28 pitch in the 1 1st inning found what he was

doing in spring training that earned him the number five spot in the starting rotation. remember this spring jim we saw a great breaking ball from david hernandez, and that's what he featured in the 1st inning. one strikeout by ichiro in the 2 2nd inning. ichiro was frozen on the three- pitch strikeout. >> fred, again too kevin millwood was brought to the ball club to give the veteran influence to the young starting rotation, and i think so far he has done that. good effort in the 1st game. left with the effort in the 2 2nd game. seems like we are not scoring runs for him either. do you feel like everyone is falling in place with him or has he done his job with the club so far? >> he has certainly done his job. the seven runs scored over the first three starts for him, unacceptable. that's what dave trembley saw in the ball club recently, unacceptable play. he hopes that will change tonight. kevin millwood is a guy going

out there, giving 100 percent. he doesn't want to give up the able late in the game, wanting to say in there. tonight he looks for his west win as an oriole. >> fred we appreciate the visit. joe and fred on the orioles network every game of the year. have a safe trip to boston, and we will see you soon. >> about 8:00 in the morning. >> fred, i will give you a call to make sure you got there okay. >> no, please. i will put the phone on hold. >> the team has a long trip following the game as they go to boston. keep your edge spotlight brought to you by just for men mustache and period. ty wiggington with the. -- with the second best in the major leagues. he gives the sedge. -- the edge. the orioles are in seattle tonight, and when we come back, amber visiting with the future

hall of famer, ken griffy jr. it's up next on o's xtra. let the celebration begin. verizon is the nfl's #1 pick. get nfl mobile and watch live nfl draft coverage. plus view real time draft tracker.

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on this day in orioles east history april 21, 1996. grady anderson set a major league record with his forty consecutive game with a leadoff home run. >> to the right, that's out of here. over the score board. a home run. >> anderson would go on to hit a record 50 homeruns in the 1996 season. he's currently 6th all time in the orioles history with 202 runs runs in a baltimore uniform. >> how fitting that brady anderson sets the record in a week in 1996 in which he will make in 2001 his debut as a broadcaster. friday from fenway park he will join joe and fred on the orioles' radio network. on saturday he will join gay are jim on the analyst side, and then on sunday, our guest

from park. o's xtra pregame and postgame. welcome brady anderson to the masn family. adam jones is always in the spotlight. last year the lone all star on the team. once upon a time, there was a young center fielder in seattle looking to find that consistency, and all these years later we know he found that. for more on that, out to safeco field and welcoming in amber. >> reporter: jim i did have a chance to catch up with ken griffy jr., but other at the mariners' clubhouse, i found adam jones beat me to the punch. he wanted to pick the brain of ken griffy jr. that's the perfect person for adam to talk to right now. anyone watching the orioles' games snows that adam is not having the season he was expecting to have. he wanted to get season underway because he felt after making the all star team last year and getting a gold glove, this would be the year he so

lid fied himself as -- solidfied himself as a player at the plate. he's batting just .220. he went over and picked the brain of the future hall of famer, and we will see if it helped. >> i talked to him last night. i told him that he is swinging at lot of balls and they will continue to throw balls at him until he swings at the strikes. it's an adjustment from one year to the next. and he will be fine. i mean he has done everything. you just have to go out there and believe in himself. he's one of the best center fielders in baseball. for him, it's going out there and playing and having fun and relaxing. i think right now he is stressing watching his average go up and down. that happens. your can't worry about that. you can't worry about the pitch you're about to swing at. that's what he should think about. >> reporter: if you're on a team struggling like adam is, do you think you worry to be

the man a bit? >> it can be, but with him he's mentally tough. i know he takes the pride in the offense and defense. i saw him out here in the first day taking extra work on the ground balls and fly balls with the work over his tennis ball. i think it's a matter of him relaxing and not stressing. >> gout and have fun. >> all right, and adam jones told me that's what he intends to do. he has been too serious and he intends to lighten up. look at 2009. through 15 games-off to a hot start, .333 batting average 126789 -- 12 homers and 18. one thing we know about adam jones, he's always been resourceful and picked the right man to talk to. we will see if he got inspiration from ken griffy jr. >> amber, thank you. very accommodating for ken

griffy jr. to give advice. right now the orioles' hitting right now, a teamwide slump. so many hitters in the lineup, 1 through 9 can get warm on the season. jones was asked about the team slump. >> i think we all see the ball good. the results are not what we want. but at the same time we have to keep going out there and battling. our pitchers have gone out there and battled. hernandez threw a great game tonight. we were unable to get the runs for us. we had opportunities, but we just didn't capitalize on them. we have to come back out and just keep swinging the bats and keep a positive attitude here. >> you said in oakland you're sick of saying we will have to come get them tomorrow. with all the talent you had in here, are you surprised it keeps lingering day after day? >> reporter: i am surprised that we are not swinging the

bats well. we have a good hitting team. we hit good in the spring, and we are trying to carry over into the year. it's not going as planned, but you know myself included will get in the cage tomorrow, and you know try to figure things out. >> except for ty wigginton and matt wieters, and wetters is not -- wieters is not hitting for power, but the team average is .223. 9th in homeruns, tied in 13 13th in rbis but last in scoring and on base percentage. that's a key number because quite simply, rick f you don't get on base, you can't score. it's amazing because it's difficult to hit at the major league level, but no doubt about it, the pitchers are in command. but the approach, and ken griffy jr. mentioned this, don't swing at balls. swing at good pitches. i have heard you say adam jones has a problem of getting too pole happy. once one scout sees that.

that's all you will get until you adjust. >> i would not say pole happy, but he's in the mode trying to pull the pitches off the outside corner. that's what was so good last year, especially going there tampa bay. he had a bad night striking out three times. the next night coming back to get three hits. by taking the slider the opposite way, that's how fast he can make the adjustments. they are not going to give him a pitch to pull and hit out of the ballpark. they know his power has improved over the last two years, and he's capable. right now they also know the top hand is being his biggest problem, taking that outside pitch and hitting a lot of ground balls to shortstop. we have seen it already. this is what he has to get back, rhythm and timing of waiting and relaxing. griffy talked about it, relax and have fun. it's not easy to do when you care so much about your production level with the ball club. take the pitches the opposite way again. he can do it, and he knows he can. it's just not happening right

now. >> with roberts out of the lineup, jones more important because he's one of the few speed guys left on the team. >> as we come back on o's extra, we will look -- o's xtra, we will look at yet another starting lineup. it's o's xtra presented by ford. geico's been saving people money on car insurance for over 70 years. and who doesn't want value for their dollar? been true since the day i made my first dollar. where is that dollar? i got it out to show you... uhh... was it rather old and wrinkly? yeah, you saw it? umm fancy a crisp? geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance.

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well miguel tejada is in the batting cage. that's a good sign. he's not in the lineup tonight but the hope is for friday night to be back in there. the lineup for tonight, really a different look. the thing is wigginton at 3rd. markakis at right. wieters at the cleanup spot. six multihit games for him on the year. that's the most of the club. jones batting 6th. justin turner getting the start at 2nd base, and izturis at shortstop, batting 9th. and we see yet another look to the lineup. here's what we are talking

about. so far this year throed. changing in here tonight. five different leadoff men, four in the number two whole, four in the number three slot. five in the number five. seven different six play hitters. five in the seventh and eighth, and ninth. last year in all the game there is were 132 different lineups. rick this is so drastic from what we expect in the offseason. once andy got all the players on the team, the big question was who would bat eighth? all the other spots came together. it's disruptive because you cannot get anything going with the guys in and out. obviously the injury to roberts is big and miguel being out since oakland. it's amazing that since day in and day out they have patchwork it together to make it work. >> it is. when you miss a brian roberts, that changes everything about the order. and then miguel tejada going

down, he's supposed to be there in the lineup every single day. but it's not. i look at the lineup now, and you will have to try different things because the ball club is not hitting. i like tonight's lineup because i like lew m montanez. here's a guy who can take the inside pitch the opposite way when you need him to do. that you have to have a guy who leads off the inning, or the ball club excuse me. who can manipulate the bat. you have guys in the bottom of the recorder that can be moved up and lou montanez is the guy who can be moved up. >> the o's xtra cash -- challenge last night, it was a wash. who is your player tonight? >> matt wieters. i think sooner or later the power will start to come. they will pitching him in a bit. maybe tonight he will look for the pitch inside and take the

fly. >> i was happy to hear about the things you just said about lou montanez. he's my player to watch tonight. i think he will get a couple of base hits off hernandez. lou montanez is my player to watch. the mariners looking for a three-game sweep. ichiro, franklin, and gutierrez. how about that pickup from the cleveland indians? threing in the number three spot. kotchman, sweeney, tuiasosopo in left field, and rob johnson and kotchman has a two-run home run in the opening series. always a dangerous hitter with the home run threat. >> he is. that's what they are looking for him to do he has not had a lot of luck against the orioles. only hitting .206 with them. he has put up the home run numbers. don't get behind in the count on this guy. he has four homeruns on a short amount of time against the club with 13 rbis. we want to keep the ball down

on him. stay ahead in the count. mix your pitches but stay out of the upper middle pa half of the plate. >> the orioles looking to salvage a game in the series. it's wired wednesday. during the game tonight, jerry and jim will visit with dave trembley and will ohman is the guest tonight. finale of the three-game series in seattle. when we come back, you will hear from the skipper, dave trembley on the ballplayers' efforts.

nick markakis in the batting cage as the orioles prepare for the finale in seattle. dave trembley meeting with the media before the game. the big topic today was again the word effort. the skipper was asked ability the players and their effort and accountability. >> everybody needs a reminder every now and then and the reminder may be in a way that is not as pleasant as everyone

wants to hear. the reminders always have to be there in this game. the game is basics. it's a game of basic repetition, approach, attitude, focus, execution, and it's easy to get off track. it's easy in the game because you know it's such a highly skilled game. you have to remind people what they need to do in order to get it back. >> one player the manager does not have to worry about, the starters kevin millwood. look at the start he's off to, highest strikeouts, a walk ratio through three starts in orioles history. no one, he has 20 strikeouts and one walk on the year. you have to go all the way back to 1962 when rick dempsey was a little kid. dick hall with a 20-1 ratio. mike maine see that in 19 -- mussina in 2008. and then mike again in 2007.

just amazing 21 the walks to strikeouts on the year as far as run support. the orioles are hoping to get some runs. kevin millwood very easily could be 3-0 if the team would score. here's the run support of all the starters. matusz a little out of walk. but millwood a little over it. guthrie 2.21. and hernandez him a couple of runs. 0.02 average run support. the average for the starter this year, 2 runs per game. what do you see on the mound tonight? >> i see a guy with a good breaking ball, and he can change speeds well. he knows what he's doing out there. he has had trouble late in the game with the pitches up in the zone. that has cost him at least one of the wins. he did leave his first game with the lead. the second game, he went deep, and there. call it an error at shortstop, and that cost him another two

batters, and both of them hitting homeruns off of him. this guy really does have quality stuff, and the orioles need him to get on track. >> match up against king felix hernandez. the a's of the seattle mariners. the highest quality start. this is not an official start but it's out there because of the 6 innings, 3 earned runs or less going back to 2009. how about this? 86.5% of the time he gives seattle the quality start. that sin credible, even better than tim lincecum. felix hernandez on the mound, and what do you see? >> what you notice more than anything else, how much his command of the pitches has improved over the years. he's not that old but he has been in the major leagues since he was 19 years old. he keeps the ball down well and sinks it well. uses the changeup when he has to and he keen keeps -- and he keeps you offbalance. they will have to swing at good pitches because he can locate.

>> masnsports.com who is our best pitcher of the league? hernandez or sabathia or maybe you prefer a different pitcher. rick and i will have the results on o's xtra postgame. kevin millwood has walked only one all year. a consecutive inning streak with 142 innings without a walk. that may not sound like a lot but he has only pitched 18 2/3 all year. he pounds the strike zone and makes you put the ball in play. gary thorne and jim palmer will have the play-by-play. kevin millwood trying to pitch the orioles to a win. and the birds will snap the two- game losing streak. the final in seattle before the team heads to boston. we will see you on the post game.

it's time to dial it up and get this thing going in a positive direction and quit accepting it and saying it's okay because it's not okay. i want to see the baltimore orioles succeed. and i know the odds are against us, but i think we can do it. i think we can do it. it's the orioles on masn, and we welcome you back to seethe. game three of the three-game set. the orioles tried to avoid a sweep. the last time they were swept in seattle was 2002. they need a win to avoid that

tonight. a team meeting, dave trembley shut the door, and it didn't take long. he came out afterwards and said the play is unacceptable. the pitchers are pitching uptight, and substitute your own words there. i'm tired of making excuses for players and i don't want to hear anymore excuses. i'm not going to let this slide while we get our butt kicked. that's what he said to the press. what is he talking about? the play by the orioles that is not fundamentally sound. last night, 2nd inning, wieters starts out with a double. you have to move him up. atkins, one out. lugo. two outs, and izturis, three outs. a runner stranded at 2nd. same thing, 6th inning, ty wigginton who has been hitting the ball for the orioles starting out with a double. he's there with nobody out. nick markakis, fly ball, doesn't move him up.

one out. two outs. strike three, and dave trembley says that is not acceptable baseball. so he told him in no uncertain terms today. >> he did, and there's a process to playing good baseball. they are undermanned, and they have injured. you can't control that as a manager or a teammate but you can play the game right. that's what he is trying to do it's up to them. the other side of the coin, we saw it last night, hernandez pitching well but not a lot of support. kevin millwood will try to do what a 35-year-old guy that you have to actually have -- i mean he's the star of the starting staff, and they haven't scored a lot of runs for him. kitchening against fee are lick hernandez. -- against felix hernandez. i think there's a tendency facing a like like felix hernandez. last year 16-2 in the last 18 decisions. second in the cy young. he's got 23 out of -- 32 out of

the last 37 quality. don't do more than you can. he will take his chances. >> what is interesting tonight, the two aces have both had problems against the opposing team. it's another one of those something has to give. when we come back, we will talk with the young man who last night really earned the spot as the number of five starter in the rotation. david hernandez, our guest, and his comments on last night when we return.

orioles baseball on masn is brought to you by southwest airlines. go to southwest.com, grab your bag, and it's on. here at safeco field, the ms have found a friendly confine. 6-2 at home. the orioles 2-7 both of their wins on the road. for david hernandez last night, the chance again to show that he deserves to remain in the spot in the rotation, and in fact that's exactly what he did. he pitched after the 1st

inning, shutting down the ms until very late before he left the game. but he ended up 0-3 with a loss. one run of support this season, and last night 6 1/3. he gave up the three runs, 7 hits, and a couple of strikeouts. before the game today i said there's not much you can do when the runs are not there. >> i'm not much of a hitter myself. i can't go up there and swing the bat. i just go out there is try to pitch to keep our came team in the game. eventually we will start to score the runs. it's not that we won't hit all year. we are pitching well. it's a matter of time before we score the runs. they will come in punch when is they do. >> it looked like the breaking ball was working for you. did it feel good last night? it's been night and day compared to last year to now. i feel like i have a tighter spin, sharper break, and i'm throwing for strikes. that's key.

if i want to throw for a ball, i can get a swing and a miss. >> reporter: david, one of the things all pitchers have trouble with, the first inning, and a lot of people have tried a lot of things to make the 1st inning easier. do you do anything in particular in order to look at the 1st inning to make it positive? >> i just for me yesterday i was rushing, trying to be too quick to the plate, plate, and it threw my mechanics off. i was able to make the adjustment between innings. i was mixing up my pitches to help me slowdown. i was able to adjust and i got deeper in the game because of it. >> reporter: the other thing, the mounds are supposed to be the same but they aren't if you talk to pitchers, what is the mound like this and talk about the one in baltimore. >> the mound here, i really like it. it's nice and hard and firm and compact. it doesn't break apart easily. the baltimore mound is softer, it seems like. that's okay with me.

you have time to fix it if you need to, but it's really similar everywhere you go. >> do you notice any difference, there's been a couple of differences where the mounds are said to be higher, los angeles for one. have you noticed some where there's a difference in heights? >> not so much. the main thing for me, i would rather have the bullpen be comparable to the game so you have that with the slope down, and then you have everything going. >> what are you working on now? the breaking ball is there for you it looks like. you pretty much got what you want for the rest of the year? >> yeah, there's always stuff to be worked on. i'm trying to throw my change- up in better locations. yesterday i left a few over the plate and got away with a couple. for me it's just being not as tense when i go through my windup. i have to be more loose and relaxed, and that helps me get the ball down. >> david, final thing, when the offense is struggling as it now, are there conversations

that go on in a positive way between the pitchers and the hitters with what is happening? >> no, we know the hitters are trying to score runs. it just takes some good pitching, timely defense plays to kill the rallies, and you know they will be fine. >> david hernandez, last night's pitcher. >> yeah, the amazing thing, and we ran into him after the game. he said last year i would have been gone early. how about that, 56 pitches for the first seven outs, 22 for the next seven. making nice adjustments. about the pitch he talked about, the 0-2 pitch bradley had into left. he pitched and it did exactly what you want as a starting pitcher, give your team the chance to win. >> the train game time temperature. just 52 degrees to start this one. it has cleared up after a rainy day. visit trainsearch.com. the starting lineup from southwest airlines.

the orioles tonight and dave trembley juggling it. wieters, scott, jones, atkins, justin turner at 2nd base and izturis batting 9th against hernandez, markakis, a solid 4.55. >> reporter: a scouting report you don't see those numbers. 16 straight quality starts. three runs or less in the last six innings. he loved to pitch here at safeco. 31-19, and again against the orioles. you eluded to this in the opening, he's 4-0 in baltimore but 0-3 here. of course different team, different year. he won 16 out of the last 18 decisions, but you just hope that he pitches well with an offnight. >> lou montanez is moving in montanez with the start in left field in the ball game tonight. lou has had only eight at bats in four games. he has picked up one single so far in the season.

1-0 delivery, and that's a strike on the inside corner. montanez did not think so as he turn to the home plate umpire. one of the things the orioles will try to do, take more pitches. 1-1 delivery, and that fastball, that will be at the knees, inside. and the count going to 1-2 on montanez. >> reporter: he has one of the best two-seam fastballs and also a four-teamer. -- four-seamer. >> coming n a looper to center field for a base hit. montanez for the orioles starting out with a single. coming on a 1-2 count, and you don't get many of those against hernandez. >> jim: yeah, no defense for that as we look at the mariners' defense, one of the best. tuiasosopo in left field. he can play everywhere. gutierrez in center field. lopez, wilson, figgins, kotchman 201 games without an error. rob johnson, the lowest earned run average while catching.

3.22 earned runs behind the plate. >> wigginton, talk about not getting the hits off hernandez, that's only the second hit hernandez has surrendered with the count of 1-2 this year. opponents are 2 of 16. when he gets ahead of you in the count, you in deep trouble, and he does that a lot because he throws a lot of first pitch strikes. wigginton with the three-game hit streak. back to the bag. the orioles have not stolen a base here in 11 games now. brian roberts had the last one, back in early april. the orioles coming in 2-13. 9 games out, the ms a game behind in their division. that one towards short. wilson over to get it figgins with the relay to 1st. got him. a big double play ground ball. >> jim: there's the two-seam fastball. wiggy has been red hot. but again the great eraser when

you have defense, look how quickly wilson gets to it. figgins moving from 3rd to 2 2nd and he can turn the double play to get rid of it quickly. wigginton with not great speed for the second out. >> gary: nick markakis is coming up. hard to believe he would be hitting .222 with only 2 rbis. a triple and double on the season for nick. .455 hitter against felix hernandez lifetime. >> jim: if you're going to have to face nick, this is how you want to do it. it's a spacious ballpark, especially hitting into center field. we saw that last night. nolan had a double. but it was in park. >> gary: markakis fouling it back. hernandez has not given up the 1 1st inning run in his starts

this year. no runs, six hit in the 1st inning off the 24-year-old right hander. you see the numbers, and there's a lot of positive ones. this season, lasty, the runnerup cy young. >> reporter: he went 15-2 after the 24th of may last year. that's how good he was down the stretch. >> that 16-2 number is just unbelievable, and then he comes into this game with 16 wins, 2 losses, and 2-8 in the last 28 starts he has had. 16-2. >> reporter: he's been very consistent. his stuff is overwhelming. he has four quality pitches. >> 1-2 to markakis down the line. >> reporter: they play him that way. it's interesting don wakamatsu was saying we like to play guys to the opposite field and will pitch them that way because normally when you pull the ball, if you hit it out here, you will pull well enough to hook it or hit it out of the

ballpark. it's like three or four steps for nick markakis, and then you pitch him that way, and you're hoping if you keep the ball in the ballpark, he will hit into your defense. >> gary: nick has not pulled the ball much this season. that's why, the scouting reports are moving those outfielders around the other way. 2-2 delivery, and again he goes the other way, and he has a base hit. the orioles with a couple of base hits. that go got away. nick will try to for two the throw is off the mark. should be an error charged. a sing and will an error with tuiasosopo in left field, making his first appearance in the series. oriolesorioles with a break there. >> jim: he can play the outfield. tuiasosopo has the ball slicing away, but he doesn't pick it up. kicks into the corner. they are playing him the right way. great approach by nick march i can dis. now -- markakis. now he's what 11 of 23?

>> gary: now the orioles will try to get a run in here early on as wetters? third spot cleanup spot. he has a four-game hit streak, including a four of eight that he has picked up in the series. and that's going to be up the middle, and a base hit. wieters coming through, and an rbi, and for the first time this year, a team has scored against hernandez in the 1st inning as the orioles get a two- out base hit and a 1-0 lead. >> jim: that is now the second hit for matt that has been red hot for a couple of hits last night, hitting over .300. the third most hits of any catcher in the american league. just hitting up the middle. figgins cannot get to it. once he gets by, with two outs, you're going on contact. markakis will easily score. >> gary: four rbis on isn't for matt wieters, and the orioles have three hits in the inning, but the double play, taking the

leadoff single by montanez off. scott is the designated hitter. >> jim: how big is the error? >> gary: unearned run at the moment. scott is one of eight in the series. outfield playing him straight away. and the infield with two down, way back. hernandez's delivery to him, a breaking ball missing inside. no matter what else happens here, the orioles are making hernandez throw the pitches in the 1st inning. >> jim: he has had three starts, 101, 110, and 105 pitches he's workhorse. >> gary: checked ground ball to 2nd base. figgins up with it, and has the out. a run in, three hits, and an error. the orioles leave a base runner on, and millwood will lead before he gets out there. geico's been saving people money on car insurance for over 70 years.

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wieters' rbi giving the orioles the early lead. the starting lineup by southwest airlines. suzuki, figgins, gutierrez, lopez, kotchman, and sweeney. tuiasosopo, johnson, and wilson. ichiro continuing against the orioles and millwood. >> jim: our scouting record on millwood. only scoring seven runs in his three starts no walk on the wild side. best strikeout to walk ratio. 20 strikeouts, and only one base on balls. even if you're pitching against

felix hernandez, they call him king felix. stay within yourself. do not overthrow. stay within yourself. >> ichiro leading off. ichiro with an overall six-game hit streak, but a 20-game hit streak against the orioles. that is taken inside for the ball. he's had a 4 of 8 in the jeers, -- in the series, and he has upped his average. that one is caught bighted kins. line drive -- caught by atkins. line drive right at him. >> >> jim: that will tell you how kevin millwood last year starting with texas. conventional four-seam fastball. curve ball, doesn't throw it a lot, but he will use it and then the slider, a cutter also he throws, and the change-up, a circle change-up, and again there are the pitches, and the one thing about it, mainly velocity has dropped 89 to 90 all night long but he has

really made good pitches over the course of the season. >> gary: chone figgins has gone 0 for 7 in the first two games of the series. his average now at the .204 mark. switch hitter showing bunt. millwood has seen a lot of seethe until his career. he's 8-11 in 21 career starts. and in this ballpark he has had 12 previous starts, 3-7 here with the 5.25 e.r.a. the amazing thing is he has given up homeruns here. he's tied with the most homeruns surrendered by an opposing pitcher in this ballpark. it's not a ballpark where the home runs are hit. had has surrendered 11 of them at save doe. >> jim: especially at the center field area. there you. you. go the most homeruns, and this, of course he has pitched a lot

of innings in the american league and also this division being with the rangers for the last four years. >> gary: pretty good company. zito. here's the 2-2 delivery on the way. good offspeed pitch to get him. millwood with the strikeout. and there's two down. >> jim: i think he thinks it will break, and it stays up for chone, he swings right through it. >> gary: millwood will take that. two down. >> jim: of course the fig is really struggling from that side of the plate. 2 from 27. turn him around and he's a much better hitter, at least this year. >> gary: franklin gutierrez has .star hitter in the lineup. he and ichiro both at six games, and taking the pitch for the strike. batting .421. the second best number in the american league. a triple, and he has ten rbis. lifetime off millwood, 4 of 11

with a home run for gutierrez. bases empty here with 2 down. millwood, 1st inning ball games this season. opponents have hit .300 against him. he has given up a couple of runs and six hit in the first innings of the ball games. gutierrez waiting. millwood has to wait because he didn't like the call and turned around and had a brief discussion with bill miller, the home plate um fire. 0-2 pitch to -- umpire. 0-2 pitch to him. two strikeouts on the inning for millwood. retiring the side in order. the orioles trying to avoid the sweep with the early 1-0 lead. ] let's take the garden into our own hands.

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tonight's 2nd inning brought to you by luna. call today for the luna double and get your second room of flooring free. call 877-241-luna. never holding edgar out. certainly holding powell out. ortiz, bain first major league home run off of him. and then moyter, facing him coming up. a lot of good hitters there, and we will see ortiz. we will see the red sox over the weekend. >> and next week in baltimore. >> here's jones. hit hard, 3rd base. scooped up. lopez, have to play it. and jones hitting in the sixth spot for the first time this

year, hitting hard, but lopez gets him, one away. >> right at his feet. >> yeah, he gets the great pitch to hit. it's been a struggle for adam lately. i don't know if he caught it or not. looking to the 3rd base umpire. i don't think he got the out sign. he just tossed it across the diamond. >> bring up garrett atkins. atkins 0 for 4 in the particular series. only four hits hits in his last 30 at bats. his national has dropped down to .220. hernandez's pitch is there on the outside corner for a strike. going to 2 for 2. the orioles last night led the ball game off by picking up a run and did not score after that. losing the ball game by a score of 3-1. they have started off with a run in the 1st inning of this game. we will see how it goes. after dave trembley's closed door meeting with the team today. 1-2 delivery, and that is chopped off the catcher's guard

foul. >> jim: i think david's point was well taken. there's a lot of things you cannot control, injuries and so forth, but you can control the way you play the game. he's been very disappointed with that, not only getting clutch hits and things like that, but do you get the balls off the bat? do you work hitting the other way? do you work the way atkins could not do the other day? you know you're scuffing offensively with an imtension to hit the other way. towards the end of the day it's to the players. >> gary: yep. 1-2 delivery on the way. talking to jones about the first situation with atkins. here's atkins with lugo and izturis mind him. adam was saying i know this is the 2nd inning, and you look at behind him not hitting, and you wonder does atkins think i have to drive him in and make that his first priority?

i thought a fair comment, whether that's what he would do in the situation or not. >> jim: yeah, and i think sometimes that's the way you internalize it. on the other hand, you have played you know what 15 games and scored maybe three runs on three or four occasions? you are down 2-1, and you want to make the guys behind you better, and it's easier if you get them over. that's the correct thing to do, especially in the 2nd inning. >> gary: i agree. i think that's what the manager thought too. two down, nobody on. turner with the start at 2nd base. justin played in three games with only six at bats. looking for his first hit. the breaking ball in there for a strike. felix hernandez with two away after an unearned run scored against him in the 1st. >> jim: i think the disappointing thing for me, there were hitters' counts, 2-

1, 3-1, and it's not like you were 0-2 quickly and you're in the hole to just make contact. again, i think sometimes if you're struggling you have to refocus. >> gary: 1-2 count. he went around on that and struck him out. a couple of ks in the inning for hernandez. retiring the side in order. bottom of the 2nd coming. 1-0 o's. [upbeat whistling continues] discover the unexpected beauty and man-made relaxation in northwest florida. fly southwest's new nonstops from bwi airport to panama city beach starting at $99 one-way. (ding) boss: come on in, i had some other things you can tell people about geico -

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welcome back to seattleing, everybody. the mariner's manager, don wakamatsu going way back with kevin millwood to their days together with the texas rangers. he was a bench coach and also the 3rd base coach, and he clearly likes the way kevin pitches. >> yeah, i have a lot of respect for him, again being in the same clubhouse with him for a number of years and watching him take the ball when he was healthy but also when he was not healthy, kind of giving you the respect for the guy who will do whatever he can for the ball club. i have respect for him. >> reporter: one of the many managers around the league having respect for millwood. gary. >> gary: amber he has gone about it professional with the orioles. and he hopes to get the win. that's not the hope of don wakamatsu. the wonderful e.r.a. that one to center field. lopez, jones is there. he has got it. lopez retired. one away in the 2nd inning. >> jim: yep, we could bring in

death valley in here for the center field. >> gary: the roof has been closed all day. cold, rainy, drizzly day but this evening is beautiful. they opened the roof up. 52 degrees at the start, and virtually no breeze. that doesn't happen here often. >> jim: nolan reimold looked like it was going out. he said i knew i would hit a home run but it wasn't going to go out yesterday. that's what he did. >> gary: this is the ballpark with the home runs that don't go out. casey kotchman, two for eight. a home run and three rbis in the series. he has had good numbers against millwood. 5 of 15 with 3 homers. and that one is to center. again the big part of the ballpark, jones is there, and he has glout it. two fly balls to center. don't miss your final chance to bid on the historic number 42 jerseys. from the jackie robinson day,

and they have been autographed by the player who wore them. the bidding will close tomorrow at noon. visit orioles.com right now and make your bid. great memorabilia. two down and nobody on. designated hitter, mike sweeney, getting the opportunity in this ball game. sweeney the veteran has not made an appearance in this series prior to this one. 16th major league season for him. >> how about making club 16 of 20. that's a good spring training. i told him haas serious pressure. what were you 18 for 36? and i have to go 2 for 8? >> gary: down the 3rd base. gloved by wigginton. making the throw over to 1st to get the out. another one, two, three inning

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the orioles have the 1-0 lead. it's wired wednesday, and it's brought to you by verizon. the network with the most 3, g coverage. the skipper, dave trembley is joining us on wired wednesday. do you feel better after the meeting and having your stay. >> i feel better that we score in the 1st inning, i will tell you that. >> any reason you think they

have done so well at safeco where he has an e.r.a. of 3 runs a game? >> i would like to make them 0- 4 with an e.r.a. of 9. that would make the plane ride better. >> gary: tell me about millwood. seeming like he can show up and make the quality pitches and he will battle. >> reporter: he changes -- he challenges the locations and he gets it going early. the strikeout to walk ratio is very very good. >> gary: the thought process tonight on montanez leading off and wieters back in the four spot? >> i tried to give someone to give us success in the top spot. maybe asking too much of jonesy. get him down there to knock in the runs. mon fannies handles the bat as a pet -- montanez handles the

bat as a pretty good hitter. the switch hitter with nick and luke, they don't have left handers out of the pen but i would like to bounce a bit. >> gary: and here montanez who had a single his first time up. hernandez, that's the gap in left center field. so far so good, skip, two for two in the leadoff spot. >> but then i screwed it up with the double play in the two spot. >> jim: with brian out, will we see different leadoff guys because you don't have the prototypical guy? that's two breaking balls, two base hits. >> i think we just have to try to match up as best as we can depending on who we are facing and go with someone who is hot and leave them there. it's a big void to fill, but we have to go with what we have. >> jim: ty wigginton with one down. you talked about the hitters going after too many bad pitches. does that also translate into

taking more pitches? will you talk about that? >> reporter: let's get the guy's pitch count up and force them to zero in on one on the strike zone. don't go outside of your area and chase the pitches. be a little patient. here we go again. i screwed up again. >> gary: in the dirt but handled by kotchman. all right, skip. >> we are going to get to them. you to love it. >> thank you. >> they didn't know it was three outs. they were going to give us four. i will take it. >> dave trembley joining us for the wired wednesday. it remains the 1-0 orioles lead.

orioles baseball on masn is brought to you by southwest airlines. go to southwest.com. grab your bag, it's on. and by accura. accura, advanced. gary thorne and jim palmer with amber theoharis. the observation from the beautiful sound and the wonderful city. millwood going to work here. the pitch will be taken down low. tuiasosopo getting the start in the ball game for left field. getting the error that allowed the one earned run. washington native, and yes his dad play in the national football league including three years here with the seahawks. coming from an athletic family.

>> jim: brothers playing for the football program here and then his sisters playing for the ncaa championships? >> gary: yeah. they like him because he can play anywhere. if kotchman gets a night off, he can play 1st base. that's lot of options if you're managing him. 3 for 9 in the games he has appeared in. 1 rbis. we welcome those of you watching the 6-4 win with the nationals. we have the orioles taking the early lead. a ground ball, going to be cut off. nice play, wigginton to get it over there, and there's one away. 3rd inning. matt wieters after a two-out single put him on 2nd base, and then delivered with the rbi and has a five-game hit streak, wieters does. that's the only hit of the game. >> jim: i will take the .150

batting average with the runners in scoring position and get it up. that gets them on the board first. doesn't guarantee you will win. against felix hernandez, that helps. >> jim: here's rob johnson doing the catching. catching two of three in the series. he has had 0 for 4 in the at bats for the game. mariners have been hot at home. a 6-2 home stand ending with this one, and and then they are off to play the white sox while the orioles will have the red eye special all the tie boston. boston. from one clam chowder to another. the day off on thursday, and then the three-game series with the red sox starting on friday. the red sox in the st. inning. 7-7 against texas. texas had the early lead in that game. beckett got touched up early by the rangers, but the red sox came back to tie, and then texas came back to tie boston. they are in the 12th inning.

>> jim: you look at the score board, and you see tampa bay 12- 0 in the 8th against chicago. the last time they faced mark burhley, perfect game. johnson with a single, there's the first base runner for seattle. that will bring up jack wilson batting in the 9th spot. wilson has had a very good series. field and at the plate. he has gone 4 of 7. he has a four-game hit streak, and he has made a couple of fine play at shortstop. >> jim: the big hit last night after getting three hits and a couple of doubles on monday night, but that third run, the

extra insurance run making a double off david hernandez. >> gary: he's 3 of 7 off millwood. the pitch is there for a strike. millwood has not walked anybody and struck out two. >> jim: you made a good point earlier. you asked dave trembley if because the club has been aggressive, how you change that, and don wakamatsu said we had to show jack wilson who is a veteran a chart of all the pitches he's swinging at and said you're not swinging at strikes. if you're a pitcher, you want to throw enough pitches to give him the balls. the good hitters rarely ball into the trap. >> jim: wilson with good number in the holes. wieters throw is up, and johnson is not going anywhere as jones backs it up. it will be a stolen base, wilson swinging to protect the

runner on the outside. >> jim: i think it's a run and hit. yo i have to remember that rob johnson had both hips operated on. any decent kind of throw, i mean the mariners are going back to the bench, rob is just going to take a seat and get his equipment on. you can see there, wilson trying to protect. they really have a big break. >> gary: first stolen base he has had. >> jim: that really was not supposed to be a steal. it ends up being that. there's a difference from a hit and run and then a run and hit. they are starting to run. someone has to cover. maybe you contact the hitter at the plate to open up the hole. matt just cannot make a good hit. >> gary: doing a great job throwing out the base stealers on the season. wilson with the rbi opportunity with the runner out at 2nd base. the orioles with the 1-0 lead. millwood, breaking ball, and that is way out on the front foot. >> jim: we showed you the curve ball grip. doesn't throw it a lot.

of course wilson hitting a breaking ball with the first double the other night, a hanging breaking ball from brad hitting it right past wigginton who was protecting the bunt. single up the middle and then spraying a fastball down the right field line. he has used the whole field. >> gary: with runners in scoring position, wilson is two of eight. this ball club has done a good job, .280 on the year with runners in scoring position for seattle. runner goes. and he hit him. . nobody was watching at 2nd base. millwood didn't turn around, and nobody made a move to the bag. they are going to put the runner back, and the orioles actually get a break on this. the ball is dead, and wilson is being looked at the 1st base.

>> jim: oh, yep. somewhere in the rib cage area. >> jim: i think it may have caught the elbow. >> jim: maybe the stomach and the elbow? >> gary: wakamatsu on the right. millwood may have tried to rush that when hes realized the runner was taking off. no wait orioles would have any play at 3rd base. >> jim: looking like just like the pitch that gets away. way inside. the 1-2 count. maybe just trying to come off the plate and misses. that's good base runner by rob johnson in a sense. the other one is just starting the runner and hoping that wilson can protect him.

right there he took advantage. maybe you fall asleep or doze off a bit. it certainly happened to me when you thought the guy was not going to run, and he picked up on it. of course now getting hit by a pitch, wilson bringing ichiro to the plate. >> gary: the first batter hit by millwood. second time the batter has taken one. montanez is there, and there's an enormously important out. ichiro retired for the second out, and leaves the runners at 1 1st and 2nd base. >> jim: he's 0 for 2 after going 12 of the last 24. he's been red hot. >> gary: a chance to get out of the inning with millwood and two down. figgins coming up, and dipping down to .200 with the strikeout in the 1st inning, and now he's 0 for the last 15. figgins 0 for 9 with runners in

scoring position. the orioles with the 1-0 lead in the ball game. millwood. shutting them down in this inning. the breaking ball is there. figgins, you see five straight games without a hit. that's the third longest hitless streak in his career. he's a good contact guy, and contact players don't tend to go into long hitting streaks. >> jim: he can bunt his way on, infield hits. >> gary: the amazing thing, we have seen the story line before where someone comes up and hits .298. lifetime hitter, switch hitter, and the breaking ball is usually coming towards him, not away, and you come to a new city w a four-year deal for substantial money, and maybe you try harder, and then you are used to it. >> reporter: you're not quite as comfortable. >> gary: he doesn't like to me here. he's looking forward to it, but maybe trying too hard.

he's only 6 of 39 lifetime against kevin millwood. 0-2 delivery, and just missed. again the offspeed pitch on the outside corner. >> jim: yeah, you talk about feel and touch, and again trying to drop it over the outside corner, and that's what you try to do when you're ahead. i almost used to take the sanitary sock and lay it on the outside corner throwing your side sessions, that's where you vary the change-up, throw the fastball, and try to take the curve ball back door a bit. and you hope to get figgins out on the front foot and swing through it and bounce to an infielder. >> gary: millwood wants wetters to come out and -- wetters to wieters to come out and talk about the pitch. he does make it. figgins is retired. no runs. no hits, no errors, and two left on base. 1-0 o's.

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and tonight's hd broadcast brought to you by ford. your local ford dealer inviting you to experience ford like never before. ford, drive one. orioles up 1-0. seattle trying to get a sweep. orioles looking to prevent that. 1-4-0 for the orioles. 1-4-1. it's an unearned run. 1st inning, rbi wieters. millwood has given up one hit. a single by johnson in the 3rd

inning. felix hernandez. up. look at the production in the american leauge east so far this season. the yankees on top tampa bay, toronto, and boston. toronto with the most homeruns, and tampa bay be with the most rbis from the outfield. they added to it today in the 8 8th inning. the outfield as expect in the american league east, you good rbi producers. >> jim: do you ever. the yankees will go down because brett gardner is out there, and you know chris granderson should maybe get the homeruns up after hitting 30 or 31 last year. >> gary: breaking ball, markakis to 1st base. kotchman to the bag. one away in the 4th inning. the orioles returning to camden yards next week, and the yankees will be there. good seats still remain. we hope you will help to paint the park orange.

the tickets for the tuesday, april 27th game starting as low as $8. get yours in advance. 888-848-bird or go to orioles.com. matt wieters, rbi single. coming in the 1st. faces are empty for -- bases are empty here. five-game hit streak for wieters. matt has been swinging the bat. the third time he has hit in the cleanup spot. just trying to find the run producer. the orioles are struggling, trying to score runs as the orioles continue to be at the bottom of the majors. 45 runs in the first 15 games. for matt, leading the orioles, multihit games, taken away, and a 3-0 count. >> jim: we saw nolan reimold with the double on the 3-0

pitch in oakland. and i wonder again, he is hitting so well, i'm not sure you have to give him the green light, but we will see. >> gary: the 3-0 delivery is there. the second 3-0 count hernandez has had in four starts. he walked the other batter when it got to 3-0. the orioles had a couple of things happen that hernandez did not have happen very often. that's the 1-2 base hit that the orioles got. the second one of the 3-0 count, second time it's happened. >> jim: i mean it's such great command. he got nick out and the pitching coach there, rick, and he got a curve ball out to nick to get him out on the hook. >> gary: ground ball,ground ball, and that will slide under the glove of figgins. wow! that will be an error charged. . >> jim: gary, you know as well as i do when you don't have a lot of speed at the plate, it

may play a step deeper. again the ball off the lip of the infield and then the glass. staying down, and the glove doesn't stay down. i tell you what, you always want to try, it's always more difficult when you're on the run to stay below the hop. in other words, keep the glove down, come up. you can't go down once you're up. and that's what happens. we will see if the orioles take advantage of it. >> luke scott with a checked swing, swing. he grounded out his first time up. the team relying on defense, seattle now committing 12 errors, in this their 16th ball game. 0-1 count. 1 down. short lead at 1st. and luke scott, to center field, drove it, gutierrez going back. lines up for the catch. two down. >> jim: it hit well, but again death valley out there, and gutierrez really the highest fielding bible range in the

american league. you can go get them. >> jim: you need that in this ballpark. there's a lot of ground to cover out there with the big alleys. he grounded out. >> jim: a rocket right at lopez. a quality at bat with nothing to show for it. >> jim: three for his last 23. for the orioles' center field, wieters on at 1st base, two down now. jones with a home run, two rb -- rbis, 2 doubles, and 2 triples. hernandez, hitters .203 against him on the year. left handers .200. right handers .205. he fell in the batter's box and did not get a start. tripped getting out of the batter's box. no runs, no hits, an error, and a disrunner left on.

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back at safeco field, the orioles up 1-0 on the mariners in the 4th inning. adam jones clearly has not been playing up to want expectations placed on him this year. adam is the first to admit that. he said he realized he was getting caught up in the negativity around the clubhouse and said he was trying to do too much and said i made the decision the other day, i will choose to have fun an