the ball is jumping. that was a great at-bat by womenning ham and nolasco is down to the nationals. could be a little bit worse. we've had guys in scoring position but don't want to throw fast balls up and in to zimm. you don't realize how good a hitter ryan is. he gets such great bat speed and torque when he comes down on the ball and he just killed it. boy is good. >> strong, too. >> can pick you at third. up and way to adam kennedy who lined hard to gaby sanchez over at first base first time. >> the bat hits the top of the dugout. and he caught it. >> gentleman got it in the first row. he has his own adam kennedy model now. now some guys will go get that

bat and give a replacement bat if they're big on their bats and i don't want to lose my gamer but adam doesn't even look over there. okay, it's gone. like it's broken and he gets a new one. and kennedy with new bat. hits one hard into right center and the nationals have their fifth base hit. leadoff man aboard. we check in with debbie taylor. >> ricky nolasco has been tough in the past. ryan zimmerman was only hitting .265 against him. i asked ryan what makes him so tough. >> he throws a lot of pitches for strikes. he can through strikes with a curve ball, change-up or whatever. it's a tough one. >> ryan told me you have to

work the count and he did just that in the first. bob? >> ryan didn't say sometimes they end up in the upper deck. zimmerman now six home runs away from 100. he's hit three this year, 11 rbis. and now 15 hits in 44 at-bats. look out for adam kennedy. jim riggleman reminding us that kennedy and willingham are 8-8 stealing bases. >> those are some brand new kicks, they're gray and black. >> and when they sam they brought their hitting shoes, that's what they mean? >> i think all of ryan's shoes have hits in them but those are pretty cool looking. >> you can go up to some army

boots for $300. 2-0, look out here. threw him a breaking ball to make it 2-1. just beyond the 8:00 hour here. it's now called sun life stadium. it's fifth name that we know of over the years. bob carpenter, rod riddle and debbie taylor here. kennedy's aboard leading off the third. 2-1 to ryan. joe robbie, dolphin,. >> land shark stadium and now sun life. marlins will be in their new ballpark two years from now than will be a wonderful thing for all of us. us who visit and for the marlins, of course. retractible roof stadium right

off downtown on the side of the old orange bowl. there it is. >> it's going to be beautiful. >> 3-1. runner going and zimmerman takes a big whack and hits it back to the screen. >> he had a cut. >> now i've heard that the owners aren't -- there's the old orange bowl. it's gone. >> bye-bye. >> but the owners aren't necessarily committed to the teal blue. that will be interesting because now those seats are darker blue then the initial picture we saw. >> and you have new ownership over the last few years. you can change the colors. it's changed back to old twins' uniforms and got that beautiful retractible roof. >> runner going again and zimmerman goes high in the air to right center. this ball is up against the wall, over the wall and zimmerman's done it again. he's pulled one to left, hit one out of the deepest part of right center and the nationals

lead 4-0 and again we say, welcome back. thank goodness. how about this guy. the zimm. ster. opposite way 3-2 pitch. breaking ball, he waits, waits, waits, wham! just crushes the ball with authority. one of the fastest bats in baseball and man, would bob in the his power to right centerfield is as good as anybody. reminds me of mike peeosa. the way he's so calm at plate. quiet. >> i always thought that the two guys that i saw that hit the ball the hardest to the opposite field were mike piaza and julio franco. >> i'll give you third frank thomas. >> thomas, the big hurt,. >> here's adam dunn. julio franco. julio wrapped the bat. man, he would cut at the ball. >> how about ryan zimmerman

already tying adam dunn with four home runs? >> i'll tell you it's a tough umpire tonight for nolasco. i feel bad -- not so bad -- we have four runs but he's not missing by much. >> the thing is, rob, a lot of these discussions we've had about the strike zone or lack thereof lately, these are the veteran guys. this is brian gorman who's in his 19th year. >> but as i told you this kid's got a 4-1 strikeout to walk ratioo . 34 strikeouts of 56 pitches. you heard zimm talk about everything he throw for strikes. career only 143 walks in almost 600 innings in the big leagues. >> adam dunn takes a breaking ball.

>> bob: nationals have hit four homers in their last four games i'm glad i provoked them. >> rod: we have no home run potential, no power. they don't eat wheaties anymore. wearing their pf flyers.

what is pf flyers. >> bob: that's been your time, young man. flyers. >> rod: check out the new shoes. there's two home runs in those new shoes. >> bob: those look like at (p) f flyers or chuck converse all- stars. >> rod: those aren't even metal spikes. they're the rock hard plastic spikes. >> bob: willingham offers and nolasco can't get a strike call. that was close and it's 2-2. 4-0 washington, three driven in by zimmerman home runs but rodriquez has a base hit tonight. and a 2-2 to willingham. hard breaking ball away got him. nolasco's fourth strikeout. remember the playoffs in '03 it was a decision series against the giants and a base hit to left right in front of jeff conine, a perfect throw home, i think that was j.t. snow, the last out of the

series, pudge holds onto the ball. >> rod: urbina jumps out on top. >> bob: onto the lcs they want and onto the world series. >> rod: where they took down those damn yankees. >> and those unlucky cubses before that. >> rod: d. bartman and we were just there. >> bob: has anybody seen steve bartman since, seven years ago. >> rod: i feel horrible for the guy. >> bob: rodriquez hacks one to right. it will be out-of-play. and the count quickly to 0-2. pudge pulled a base hit to the left side for the first time. cubs, by way, won their game big today. they put 11 on the board and beat the diamondbacks after they trailed most of the game.

>> rod: .423. a homer? >> rod: nolasco up 54 pitches now. >> bob: can you say middle innings bullpen? >> rod: this gum is pretty good. throw lot of strikes. came in with some really good numbers. talk about the umpires changing the direction of a ball game. >> bob: and foul tipped. >> rod: didn't squeeze it. didn't hold onto it. >> bob: out of the glove of ronnie paulino so pudge lives to fight another pitch. >> rod: fight another pitch. >> bob: that's right. it's a battle for survival when it's 1-0. they're going to jam him here. way up and in. ball two. >> this is a ballpark where pudge rodriquez could break into the home run ranks if he pulls one. a cody .330 down the line.

not a curved wall but a straight wall and out there in dead left field it's only about 350 to those boards. >> rod: got to make it over that yellow line, bob be. >> bob: you can get a cheapy down the line here. that's going to get him. nolasco has retired nine batters, five of them on strikes but two homers by ryan zimmerman. this is a mighty blast. his fifth career multi-homer game the quesadilla explosion salad is part of our entree plus an appetizer pairings for $9.99. pick one of our 16 entrees, like baby-back ribs or honey chipotle chicken crispers. then choose an appetizer -- all for just $9.99. for a limited time, only at chili's. ♪ bohm-bohm, bohm-bohm, bohm-bohm ♪ ♪ bohm, bohm-bohm-bohm-bohm

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>> bob: we're glad ryan zimmerman can fight his way back into the lineup because those guys third base have done a good job. he has a nature for the dramatic. remember opening night, and then two tonight. >> rod: watching him at batting practice. this guy ripping the ball all over the place but you know he can't play because of a bad hamstring. finally he's able to go out. it's warm. not a lot of risk of reinjuring the legs and he just puts on a hitting clinic in his first two at-bats and two home runs. it's not that easy. >> bob: chris coghlan may be starting to figure it out. he's now six for his last 18 and after a first inning walk he takes scott olsen's first pitch of the third inning into right center. second straight inning the marlins have a leadoff single

on olsen's first pitch of the inning. >> rod: well and bob, for olsen a nice 4-0 lead, you don't want to stop with your game plan but one thing i talked to mccatty about today one of your pitches continues work ing or your game plan isn't working it's not a bad thing to maybe change your thought process and you've got a 4-07 lead. you want to make that hold up. >> bob: here's hanley ramirez, really dangerous. they're really jumping on the first pitch. this should be easy for morgan. it's dark enough overhead now that twilight sign has come down. >> it was a good spot away and hanley couldn't to it. "people" magazine are looking for individuals who make a difference. 30 all-stars will be honored in anaheim to nominate someone you think is deserving go to peoplesall-stars.com. two pitches, a single and an

out and next up is jorge cantu who walked his first time. sometimes you get ahead by four runs, some of these power hitters get a little overeager and they're swinging early in the count. olsen took advantage of ramirez. >> rod: and that did olsen a big favor too. when you get a guy, especially as good as hanley ramirez and he's not patient and jumps out there and throw him a very good pitch and that's where pudge rodriquez comes in. doesn't sit down the middle and call a fast ball. he's making you locate your pitches properly. have a purpose to every pitch. >> bob: averaging 19 pitches. >> rod: you also don't want to go out there with a 4-0 lead and throw batting practice. if one of your pitches isn't working, okay, take one or two that are and use them and try

to use them effectively. obviously he's not being very economical and neither is nolasco. they're throwing upwards of 20 pitches for olsen and what is it about 22-23 pitches an inning for nolasco. yeah, 24, 25. >> bob: he's thrown 72 pitches in three innings. >> rod: he knows he's having a bad day. >> bob: 2-1 to cantu. jorge took a big time rip at that one. >> bob: the mets got three in the second. david wright and jeff francoeur have each hit their fourth home runs and leaves philadelphia 3- 1.

and a 2-2 to cantu. >> bob: that's pretty well hit to left center but not in this graveyard for fly balls. it's 434 to that deep gap out there. so olsen gets a couple of big power hitters on easy fly balls away. >> rod: s that part of the football field for nominee balls. 434 way behind there by finaller. they think their bermuda triangle is out in the ocean, you're looking at it right there. >> rod: if you get inside and the guy pulls you out of the line it will pull out of the ballpark. if you go out to the middle he can kill it like adam dunn. >> bob: the marlins are a tough matchup for left-handed pitchers because of all of

their hitters, coghlan, ramirez, uggla, paulino they're all left-handed. they've all been at times all or nothing-type hitters. when you consider cantu and uggla most strikingly, ramirez is just a good hitter no matter what. i think that's why the marlins years ago wanted mike jacobs could succeed here. they needed a big left-handed bat playing first base in the middle of the lineup and they've never been able to come up with one. >> rod: that's why coghlan feasted last year. got a lot of hits came up and was rookie of the year. this year he's basically the only lefty in their lineup. >> bob: one ball and one strike to uggla who bounced to zimmerman first time up.

>> rod: 0-0 pitch looked pretty good. >> bob: high strike. now we know where the zone is tonight. it starts well above the knees and goes up to the letters. >> rod: that last pitch looked a lot like the first pitch but keep pumping it in there as long as you can. you got a 4-0 lead and only allowed a couple of hits. >> bob: 1-2 to uggla. he got him. half swing, inning over and scott olsen gets a relatively quick inning. downtown miami all lit up on a friday night on the last day of april.

ryan zimmerman goes deep twice. adam dunn gets his first triple since may 10 of 2007 and the nat lead 4-0 after three. so we'll look forward to adam

dunn's next triple. sometime during the 2013 season. roger bern dina, ian desmond and scott olsen top of the fourth. beg brazil, a good one by ricky nolasco, strike two. bernadina first strike. stranded over there with one out. change-up. >> rod: and the one stat i didn't give you before. the phillies last year were 39- 35 at the end of june and they had only won 13 series, lost 10.

they finished with a flurry in the second half of the season. it's all about winning two out of three, three out of four. like colorado, you play a four game series and you split. the martha said splitting double-header was like kissing your sister. i guess that would be the same with splitting a four game series. >> bob: and a 1-2. nasty breaking ball. strikeouts for ricky nolasco. at&t trivia -- has jimmy buffett played in this stadium? evidently we're not going to do that -- which former m.v.p. set the record for rbis in the month of april, 1998?

was he a former m.v.p. then? >> rod: barry bond. >> bob: first pitch ian desmond. >> rod: it had to be somebody that was in this bull club. >> bob: 1898. >> rod: gary sheffield was amazing. manny ramirez. manny ramirez hit like 170 rbi by the all-star break one year. juan gonzalez did it too. >> bob: nolascos bounces one to desmond with olsen on deck. >> bob: desmond with a great swing to right center.

that ball is by cody ross, all the way to the wall. he'll make a wise decision and stop at second base with a double and desmond a homer, two triples and now four doubles on the 2010 season. >> rod: another young man with a lot of power, bad breaking ball right there up in the zone. watch him go the other way, bam. look at how quick he is to the ball right there. looks like an explosion, gets by ross. >> bob: cody ross played that well to keep desmond at second base and here's scott olsen. struck out swinging first time. got a change-up on the first pitch and fouled it away. scott's a pretty good hitter. he's 0-5 on the year but a .155 career batting average coming in. 15 rbis. the nats have found out in this

little shop of horrors over the years that four run lead is not enough. >> rod: we're not that same team. we're not going to go back. we're trying to forget those years. kind of like going back on your first marriage, bob. you don't want to go back there. >> bob: well i'm quite happy in mine, so. >> rod: and i'm too, in my second marriage. this is a different team. i think other teams are waking up to a play in defense, hit the ball our and olsen will be punched out a break. strikeouts. same time tomorrow night. craig volstad and stammen at 6:30 and sunday a 1:05 first pitch and that will be josh johnson for the marlins and for

the nationals john lannan. day off monday then the braves come in. atlanta braves, by the washing, got nate mccloud's second homer of the year at home tonight and turned around and tommy hansen gave up two runs to houston. the braves are back home after bobby cox's worst road trip in his ten your as atlanta manager having lost nine in a row. they went 0-70 that trip. last time they got no hit by ubaldo jimenez. that started thatstreak. 2-0 to nyjer morgan who has struck out swinging and popped up adam kennedy 1-2 with two really hard hit balls tonight four runs seven hits already.

>> bob: 92 on the fast ball and a strike. >> rod: it was juan gonzalez drove in 35 runs in april. it was the first player since 198 2-2. >> rod: i know juan gonzalez had a bunch of rbis that year. i know i think manny ramirez had 93, may be it was 98 or 99. the guys in the american league back in the day. they could put a hurting on you. i still don't think -- what is it 191. for the season. i don't think that will ever -- morgan up the middle. this could be interesting. off the glove of ramirez. that will enable desmond to score and morgan to second base. if the centerfielder picks up

that ball, who knows if desmond scores and the nationals lead 5- 0. >> rod: another two-out hit for the nationals and this will help you win ball games as well. good outs here. nyjer is going to make good contact right in front of home plate. bounce it's over nolasco, hanley ramirez cannot get to it. look at how far on the side of second base he was. >> bob: that's interesting because he cut in front of dan uggla and uggla picked up the ball. desmond doesn't score if dan uggla picks up that ball. the nats taking advantage here. now adam kennedy will try to make it 6-0. >> rod: now they're giving him a straight double on that. >> bob: no error on a play like that evidently. >> rod: no error but he kicked it all the way to the right field line. >> bob: and probably took it out of the glove of his second baseman. >> rod: they're not playing that sharp up the middle this year. hanley and dan are kicking some balls around. >> bob: kennedy took a home run

swing right there. let's see where dan uggla was when hanley ramirez knocked it by him. i think uggla would have gotten to that ball. >> rod: he would have stopped it and caught even if he could have thrown nyjer out. the run wouldn't have scored but because hanley hit it off the end of the glove and kept going all the way down first base obviously desmond walks home. >> bob: 1-1 to kennedy now. picks the fast ball up and ricky nolasco has made it to 90 pitches in the fourth inning. 93miles per hour on number 91. bringing it. >> bob: five runs eight hits already. >> rod: i think he's a little annoyed right now. >> bob: one walk, seven strikeouts. even his outs have cost him many pitches. >> rod: the bullpen will get

going now. >> bob: and finaller behind morgan forcing a stepoff. the marlins' middle relief has been a big problem for them former nats' brian sanches is down there. their best reliever has been badenhop who's din start for them. hensley is up. and a 2-1 to kennedy. he'll look at it on a corner. >> rod: good movement though here by nolasco. maybe right before he gets pulled out of the game but his last couple of fast balls that 93 was moving all over the place. >> bob: he's due to bat fourth in the bottom of the fourth. 2-2 to adam kennedy. and he'll have him reaching on a slow roller to uggla. the nationals played another

run. doubles by desmond and morgan. 5-0 washington. for every ant or roach you see in your home, there are hundreds more you can't. the solution? try combat source kill max baits. while aerosols only kill the bugs you spray, combat baits target the source of the problem. ants and roaches take the bait; carry it back to the nest and share it. the result? you destroy not just one, but the entire infestation. if you have unwelcome ants or roaches, try combat source kill max. also look for new combat liquid ant baits. brand power. helping you buy better. [ male announcer ] achievement has its own patch of grass. ♪

achievement unleashes hidden potential. ♪ all right! achievement looks forward to dinner at home. achievement enjoys newfound freedom. i love you. [ male announcer ] mortgages, home equity loans, and lines of credit from pnc. helping achievers borrow with an eye towards the future. pnc. for the achiever in us all. >> bob: nationals baseball on masn brought to you by suzuki and the amazing new sports sedan and by at&t, rethink possible. sun life stadium on a friday night on the final day of april and nyjer morgan collecting his sixth rbi of the year. the nats lead 5-0. olsen back to work, about to throw his

50th pitch to ronnie paulino, then cody ross and gaby sanchez. first pitch, they're going up hacking. i think that's a real key against florida. they're a three swinging power team and if you get ahead of them, they don't always sit there the rest of the night and wait the count. they'll make out for you. fredi gonzalez one of the most aggressive os of the league. >> rod: when want to get back into a ball game you need some base runners. you need some guys to get on base. you can't hit a five run home run here if you're paulino. i don't know why he's taking such a big cut. >> 0-2. three consecutive

innings the marlins have had a leadoff hit. that will bring up cody ross and the bottom line is somebody getting on base here could hasten ricky nolasco out of the game because the pitcher spot is due up fourth. next up will be ross who flied to right his first time. >> bob: and a strike. cody ross has become a solid national league power guy. had a real breakout season last year when he hit 24 homers and drove in 90. raised his batting average from .260 to .270. he had driven in 73 runs before

that. he broke his bat on that thing is just a dying quail into the glove of josh willingham for the first out. all right, rob, i'm going to let you handle this at&t trivia. in you think you've nailed it. , which former m.v.p. juan gonzalez set the rbi record for the month of april? 35 rbis. >> that's a heck of an april. >> wow that's a heck of a smart phone we've got working here. >> rod: we nailed the first time we saw the smart phone. >> i haven't found the baseball trivia on my phone yet? >> bob: here's gaby sanchez who walked his first time. >> marlins 174 strikeouts coming in tonight as a.

>> bob: and there's a valuable extra man. adam dunn is doing something interesting at first base. he start there's and as the pitch is about to be made, he's been going beyond the base runner to cut off a gap over there. there he goes. knowing that this is a hitter who goes the other way a bit, gaby sanchez pulling that way foul. that's aallowed strike two. sometimes a guy will tap his glove so the runner thinks he's one place and off he goes to another. >> bob: 1-2 count. fly ball to left. they are not centering scott

olsen at all. a lot of easy fly balls, two outs. >> rob: the way we like it. >> bob: that will bring in brett carroll and ricky nolasco is done after four innings. >> bob: that's good too for this bull club because get the marlins' bullpen in there game one. thereby a long weekend, hot -- it's supposed to be hot the rest of the weekend. >> bob: four innings, five runs eight hits. a walk, seven strikeouts for ricky nolasco and he threw 94 pitches in that time, 59 strikes. came into this game 7-1 career against washington. but as my partner said, hey,

that's in the past. >> rob: exactly. brett carroll as a pinch hitter 0-1 on the year. 27-year-old outfielder from knoxville, tennessee. a tenth rounder for the marlins six years ago. >> rob: let me give you a comparison. the marlins 174 strikeouts coming in tonight, the nationals 140. so the nationals' hitter doing a much better job of making contact. once again getting a guy out of the game early, getting him up near 100 pitches bottom of the fifth inning. >> bob: the thing about florida they've always been an all or nothing type of team but before last year, rob, they had hanley ramirez leading off. these they're number three hitter now and they've been trying to find somebody to do any kind of damage at the top of the order.

remember emilio bonifacio at the end of last year. he fizzled out quickly. and coghlan came on strong and won the rookie in the year and cameron maybin is not giving them the leadoff guy they need. >> you can't have your leadoff guy with a 3-15 os base percentage. >> bob: olsen throws a fast ball that gets carol look. onto the fifth inning. what does ryan zimmerman have in store for us the third time around.

>> bob: onto the fifth inning we summarize this one through four and it's scott olsen pitching, a contribution from nyjer morgan but it's ryan zimmerman night so far in south florida. >> rob: gentleman zimm, curve ball up and out and there it goes. first start in nine games -- ten games and it looked like he never was sitting out for almost ten games. so ryan zimmerman, two at-bats, two home runs in. >> there's been one guy in -- john buck of toronto yesterday. >> rob: john buck the cratcher. >> bob: here's clay hensley former san diego padre. spent all of last year in the minor leagues as they signed him as a free agent in the

middlele of may. so zimmerman now hitting .356 and he line his one hard to left center. and the elevation he would have had three of them tonight and ryan zimmerman's going to take it easy to second base and that's fine. he now has ten total bases on three swings tonight. >> rob: zimm crushing a lot. get that pitch up and in. nice and patiently, jams it down left centerfield, the deepest part of the ballpark and as bob said take it easy on those legs. we need you the rest of the year. stay with a double. still didn't look like he's running at 100% right now which is nine. >> bob: here's adam dunn, 1-2 with a triple. if,

so adam now hitting around .320 over his last nine games, batting average up into the .230 ainge range. >> rob: that average will go up. the more zimm is hitting in front of them. the hammer, it will get him going. >> bob: a week ago adam dunn was hitting .176. >> rob: he loves may. gets a little warmer. >> bob: there's the hammer who has an rbi tonight. remember was i told you about the team err" last week at this time it was 5.87. coming into the ball game tonight 4.70, well over a run per game shaved off the e.r.a. in one week. that's how good the guys have been on the mound and now tonight with olsen putting up zero's, the offense has really come alive to give scott all

the run support he needs. >> rob: how many errors in the last week. >> bob: they made three last friday. >> rob: that doesn't count. that was a bad day. >> bob: the nats online have 14 noway jim riggleman was accurate. he called the errors in chicago rather fluky. a 3-2 to dunn. target in and hensley goes soft on him to strike him out and adam's acting like he had no idea what that ball did. hensley, by the way, struck out six out of seven batters in his most recent outing against the padres. >> rob: he developed a change- up over the last few years. a good one. check this one out. i don't even know was this is. looks like a forkball and adam, fooled to say the least. >> bob: that will bring up

willingham with a runner at second and one out. >> rob: here's the thing with adam, he will put it in the memory bank. >> bob: he might hit it up to the seats in left field. >> rob: a little running fast ball though. hensley's got some good stuff but obviously not going to overmatch anybody, overpower anybody, so he needs a nice change-up to get people out. >> rob: offspeed breaking ball looks like a knuckle curve ball. he's got nice trick pitches and i'm sure when they're working on like they are tonight after what they saw from ricky nolasco they're going to take one trip to the batting order to get to him. he may be gone by then. >> bob: and the 0-2 to willingham is outside. top of the fifth inning. nationals have nine hits, a bunch for extra bases. josh, 11 of his 13 rbis in

situations just like this. now jim riggleman said today with ryan zimmerman at second base late in the ball game, he would consider pinch running for him and actually taking his glove out of the game. if it meant keeping zimmerman on field everyday. >> absolutely. >> bob: they're going to be very prudent and very conservative and very intelligent about this situation. >> rob: i mean i think they're still conscious he's so spectacular but yet if it's bad enough where you're uncomfortable with him may be running over the catcher or having to sprint quickly, that's something you're going to have worry about all year hamstring injuries aren't easy because like we saw he injured the other leg. >> bob: and willingham will take a change-up right in there. >> rob: in one week he had a

bad hamstring on one side. what was this, the left hamstring and then he hurts the right one a week later. good 2-2 pitch here by hensley. that breaking ball. gets at call. it's a little low. paulino will bring it up and frame it and hammer can't believe it. >> bob: here's pudge rodriquez, 1-2. >> rob: i was going to if it was looser like that earlier nolasco would still northbound game. >> bob: the nats have made 14 outs tonight and nine of them have been strikeouts. seven by nolasco and a couple by clay hensley who, as i mentioned, was untouchable when faced his former teammates in that san diego series. >> rob: he's got two tremendous offspeed pitches and offspeed for strike and a change-up. >> bob: 30 years old, broke in

with the padres in '05. that hit him and pudge is going to first base. that's not the first contact pudge rodriquez has had with something today. he's always a popular guy around here. always has been. some of the marlins' kids were gathering around him and of course the biggest kid of all came in to have his picture taken. wil nieves. he's just a big guy. pudge is one of those guys he's 6'6", 250 pounds. he's a testament to kids of all ages and sizes that you can be a success if you work hard and have some talent. >> rob: you know who's he's similar in build to yogi beara.

>> fitch was huge. that was a guy, bob boone's a big man. he's our vice president of development in washington. gary carter was a pretty big guy. these little guys take a beating back here. you see that 2003 playoff series. he took a shot from j.t. snow. can you imagine like catching 400 games what that does for your body and he doesn't seem to have a lot of lasting effects. >> bob: your guy joe oliver was big. johnm bench was a big guy with amazing hands. 1-2 to bernadina. everybody having a hard time making contact against clay hensley right now. when this guy was pitching well, about three years ago, four years ago in '06 and they also had cla meredith and of course trevor hoffman in that bullpen, the padres were tough to beat in the late innings. zimmerman second base. rodriquez at first.

and a 1-2 to bernadina. change-up way outside. breaking ball and roger is gone and hensley strikes out the side. it's a strikeout fest but the nats have f.b.i. runs nine hits to go with them. this is unlike any car you've ever seen before. this is power with efficiency. this is an interior that exceeds even the promise of the exterior. this is the all-new jaguar xj. the stunning result of taking a very different road.

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appliances simple. it's a beautiful night in south florida. and it's really looking good at halftime of this game in a football stadium. the nats lead it 5-0 and coming off a series in chicago, rob, when they didn't have a lot of offense, but the pitching and the defense got it done. >> rob: and in tight games, rob, this is how you win great catch it, throw out, double play there. alberto gonzalez has been spectacular in the field for us defensively and willingham going towards that rock hard brick wall. there's desmond. should have had that double play. they got ripped off by the umpire at the back end of it. >> bob: that guy is still out, isn't he. >> rob: he's still out. it's the defense, they worked hard at it. they brought in guys that can play. we have young guys working on their defense everyday and you see a catcher back there who is a leader of all of the merry men right now. >> bob: pudge rodriquez, of course, leads the way. still only one base runner has

attempted a steal in games he's caught. ian desmond say it's doesn't matter if he looks over and it's guzman s or >> rob: desmond has called off adam and other third baseman because he knows he has a strong arm and can throw from anywhere at shortstop and that's the guy you think he's got five, ten years in the big leagues, this is his first full year. he knows at shortstop you have to be a captain out there. it's just like pudge a captain and field general. he's also got to be a guy like the centerfielder where you just take over. you have to call people off. you know you're one of the best atheletes out there on the feed. and cristian guzman has done a nice job helping ian too. when he's playing second base it's a nice double play

combination. >> bob: olsen slipping a change- up by maybe yip. it would be nice to see scott get a leadoff guy. the marlins have had singles from their first batters three innings in a row. chris coghlan is next. >> right down the middle and maybin walks away on olsen's third strikeout of the night. >> rob: the nice thing about this team is the unselfishness. guys aren't complaining when they don't get into the game. when they do play they play all out all the time. cameron maybin still looking for some kind of groove to get into the last couple of years and that's a pretty low pitch on a 6'4" young man. we'll take it and started giving it out to hensley and scott olsen taking advantage of it. >> bob: coghlan has walked in single. right in there for a strike. >> rob: i can honestly call it

a team, bob, because they're a nice unit. they work rel both. they like each other. they play a lot of games. dominoes, cards, all kinds of stuff that teams who like each other do on a daily basis. and there's the guy who head it's up. jim riggleman. >> bob: jim riggleman set the tone last year. remember his first four games coming out of the all-star break. the nats were swept at home by the cubs. he let them know how unhappy he was and they were almost a .500 club the rest of the way. now another olsen strikeout. he's spanned three hitters in a row and the bases are erupt for hanley ramirez in the fifth inning. >> rob: starting to break out the good control and good breaking stuff and coghlan and maybin no chance. nice, smooth delivery for big man. he gets out over the front leg. good follow-through. throw it's towards home before he falls to the third base side. >> like he hides his eyes in

there like orange clemons used to do and randy johnson. >> bob: i remember on day games when the nats would face him here. he would dip his cap in the ammonia water and he would be standing out there just dripping like a fountain. >> rob: and a rot of times they use the ice cold iced down ammonia water to kind of wake you up we it's hot and humid. we used to do it in cincinnati. it was working so well. pudge was set up on that last pickup. may have missed a little wit but that's where you want to go inside on hanley. got to get arms extended. he can lead any ballpark in any direction. >> bob: two homers, two rbis on the year. and you can hear olsen say i'm happy with that one. 2-1. marlins need a win tonight to have a winning month april, the nats have already clenched one.

their first winning month since september of '07 when they went 15-12. >> rob: do we care what the marlins do? we want them to have a losing month. >> bob: when they're in our club we do. >> rob: we care if they lose. >> bob: six in a row for olsen and nine of the last ten with a f.b.i. run lead. vo: playing professional baseball isn't easy... vo: but saving money with geico is. vo: geico, 15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance. [ male announcer ] achievement has its own patch of grass. ♪ achievement unleashes hidden potential. ♪ all right!

achievement looks forward to dinner at home. achievement enjoys newfound freedom. i love you. [ male announcer ] mortgages, home equity loans, and lines of credit from pnc. helping achievers borrow with an eye towards the future. pnc. for the achiever in us all. >> bob: top of the sixth

inning. it's all nats, out hitting the marlins 9.3 and leading 5-0. now next friday night same two teams will be getting together. come out early, first 10,000 fans 21 and up will receive a free cooler bag presented by miller lite and beers are just $5 at the miller lite scoreboard. next friday night the marlins will be in for free but the guys with the curly w's will be waiting. nationals' fan enjoying himself on the road on a friday night. nationals' player enjoying himself on the road on a friday night. at least in the road uniform with his house not too far away, pudge rodriquez. >> rob: and the country where he's from, puerto rico not too far. >> bob: top of the sixth and ian desmond. it's about a one day's cruise

from here. from the port of miami 0-2 quickly. maybe hensley will have to go three or four innings here and he won't be available for the rest of the series. i don't think these hitters will hiss him. >> rob: seven hits, 11abs. >> bob: a lot of that last september. that ball picked up by paulino. >> rob: i think he called it foul. no, i guess not. >> bob: that boy took desmond's bat away. he thinks this is a fair ball. here at sun life stadium here in miami where the nats leave 5- 0. enjoyed a nice day yesterday a lot of the players' familieses are here enjoying

warm weather. here's scott olsen' 0-2. the nats mind him making quick out and going down and sitting down again deep short, ramirez. and olsen's going to beat it out. his first base hit of the year. >> rob: by the young olsen boy. he's 26 years old. having some fun. >> bob: he'll take that for a knock. >> rob: takes it for a knock and hitit the other way. he doesn't even look, just hustles down to first. gets himself an infield single. got some long strides too. >> bob: nats are into double figures and hits. an rbi double bouncer up the middle last time. reflected off the glove of hanley ramirez. allowing desmond to score back in the fourth inning.

>> rob: i would like to see if nyjer could get it out by geico sign. >> i'll guarantee you he'll catch him between third and home. a foul ball left side 0-2. >> rob: i don't see osceola going all the way to first though. >> bob: how about the mets they scored 11 in a row and just scored again. they lead the phillies 5-1 at citizens bank park in philadelphia. trying to go 14-9 and the braves got a couple of runs in the bottom of the third. jason hayward hit his sixth of the year and atlanta leads houston 4-2. trying to break a nine game losing streak.

>> bob: hensley struck out three. he's gotten four outs but given up three base runners and morgan is going to make it tough on him. at chile's it's all in the preparation, go to chilesbaseball.com. you might win a vip trip. morgan flips another one out-of- play sanchez playing behind olsen at first and a big slow breaking ball and there's another strikeout for clay hensley, his fourth. he's throwing that thing to the left-handers, overmatching them. adam kennedy got his first nats

homer wednesday afternoon. >> rob: you see that quick upper cut swing that made him throw famous -- 2002, he was alcs and man, he was smoking them out of the ballpark. >> bob: up the middle with his buddy, rick eckstein's brother. >> rob: david was just here with the paid areas, wasn't he. there's rick. always looks like he's not happy but he is. >> bob: david pretty much signed a major league contract with san diego. made the team. i think -- and i say only -- they're only paying him $1 million this year, which is still a lot of money to us mere mortals. and that's the kind of guy you want on your team david ecksteins as a player. rick eckstein as your hitting coach. and kennedy in the dirt strikes out. wow. middle of the sixth inning. four, five and six coming up for the fish. nats lead by five.

>> bob: bottom of the sixth inning. coming up scott olsen back to work. he's been very good through five, struggling at times. lots of pitches the first couple of innings our geico highlights and we're going to highlight the lefty, keeping the ball down. getting dan uggla down early in the ball game and struck out three hitters in a row. carroll, maybin and coghlan getting himself into the fifth inning threw 47 strikes, no

runs three hits against a very potent florida offense. marlins came into this game seventh in the league in batting average, sixth in runs. and the former marlin will face four, five and six cantu, uggla and paulino in the bottom of the sixth inning. jorge cantu with a walk and a fly ball to center. scott's dane great job of keeping the ball down around the end of the barrels of these right-handed power hitter. >> rob: they swung early and ox on him and helping his game when he's throwing a lot of pitches. he's thrown a lot of good cut fast balls and sinking sliders

in on the right. >> bob: run's a fast ball away. 86 for ball one. >> rob: i haven't seen one big brazil though for scotty tonight and he's got the best of any left-handers on the team. >> bob: i think 3 miles an hour between those pitches difference and he had cantu out ahead. >> rob: one looked like a cutter, that was a change-up. get in the low 90s, which he doesn't need to tonight. >> bob: keeping that ball down and now he's starting to get that low strike call from brian gorman. the umpire was not calling the low strike early but now he is. pudge looking at the feet of the hitter, trying to figure out what he's doing. that is right off the glove of desmond. that ball might not have been as hard hit as ian thought it was originally. he stretched that frame up there and almost pulled it down. marlins have their leadoff sing

for the fourth time in six innings. >> rob: it was a slider that didn't get to where it was supposed to go. cantu just got it over the head of desmond. desmond looked like he just got a piece of it with the glove. >> bob: here's uggla. >> bob: pulled a grounder to zimmerman and struck out swinging. originally signed with arizona by mike ribzle for $1,000 out of the university of memphis, dan uggla who for florida has become one of the best pickups ever. the all-star team a couple of

times now. couldn't stop his swing there. and the marlins. >> rob: their visit awful tonight. the way we like it. olsen has to make a pitch, he makes a pitch. >> rob: he's been a very nice surprise. if he can continue on and give us another inning or two, three out of four outings he's been very solid coming off of shoulder surgery.

>> bob: low 80s on his pitch count. >> bob: scott's career record 34-42. this is his 116th career start. fourth against the marlins, who he's never beaten. i'mexing it. that's changing tonight. >> rob: that's okay. he's got to hook the fish. that was number one on the list. hook him. he had never beaten the dodgers. he's got that on his resume now. he got a win there. boy, what a change from chicago to here though as far as temperature and humidity. nice to play baseball in this

kind of weather. >> bob: and swing. >> rob: and he got it. >> bob: pudge had to come right back up and had to sell it to back to gorman. >> catchers will tell you it either stays in or doesn't. there's nothing you can do to react to the a foul tip. nobody's that good but some have better hands then others in. at 1-2, nats looking for a ground ball here. will get jammed severely with a soft pop for ian desmond. easy out in the sixth after a pretty good battle withing a la foul off some pitches and scott olsen kept getting -- >> rob: check out this pitch

location to uggla. way outside and that's just severe jammage and nothing doing for dan uggla. you're not getting those arm extended if we can help. it so pudge rodriquez got olsen working very nicely tonight and that will get our bullpen going as ryan bruney will have 85 pitches now for olsen. ronnie paulino, a pair of singles. he's gone the other way twice. might be time to jam this gym and have him roll one over to the left side. obviously the book on him was to keep the ball away and he's taking advantage of it, twice. low and away with an 80 miles

an hour change-up former m.v.p a ball. >> rob: i also think that paulino's looking to pull the ball. he's got tremendous power. i think you've got to be afraid of making mistake. this guy could put two runs on the board in a hurry to get them back in the ball game. >> bob: had him reaching. routine fly ball. who's going to take charge out there. bernadina comes racing in. you're going to have to hit one. it will be in the air not too long to drop one in between morgan and bernadina, two outs. by the way, we would like to wish happy birthday to john gauano who oversees the nats broadcasting and other facets of the organization in. a lot of people within the bull club wish you happy birthday. >> they texted us enough to know that it is your birthday. and you're well loved. what is it bark in the park

night. >> bob: bark in the park here. that ball goes up the middle by cody ross. morgan over to get it and the marlins have their best threat of the night with runners at the corners and two outs. gaby sanchez coming up. >> rob: like myself and my wife, she loves the big dogs. i think you would like a big dog, bob. nice ruly one like we have. >> bob: or not. >> rob: i've got a black lab too. there's a chocolate lab. there's a pug. i don't know what that one is. that's scary. hyper. >> bob: may be we should do dog trivia. you would nail that.

jim probably said listen, this is your last inning, go hard on this guy and we'll take care of the last night out for you. >> bob: number eight man gabm sanchez will hit for the pitcher next. hopefully next inning as olsen trail blazer to get through six unscathed here. sanchez it's a line drive at desmond and the inning is over. they've stranded eight. ryan zimmerman's already had a career night. when we come back we'll tell you why nrc

>> bob: it aappears scott olsen is done for the night after six shutout innings only giving out four hits and f.b.i. strikeouts and three walks and ryan zimmerman is having a night. he's about to leadoff after going yard pulling it in the first inning and going opposite field the next time. >> rob: you cobbs hit two breaking balls any better than this. one way up to the left, one to the right and gets another bad pitch and he can just crush into the gap. he's on cruise control tonight.

3-3 and ten total bases, right. >> bob: ryan zimmerman and i find this hard to believe but we're told it's true first game when he's had three extra-base hits, adding up to a career high in total bases. so we know ryan's never had a three homer game. that's a big breaking ball that he offers that and takes for a ball. and a 1-1. another big breaking ball adam, waiting and waiting and waiting and flies to cody ross. at least somebody made contact against clay hensley. do you know the best mom in nats' town. nominate her for may game in 300 words or less. tell us why she should be featured as mom of the game.

e-mail it to mothers@nationals.com. hurry the submission period ends may 6th at midnight. so you have a week to do that. best mom in nats' town. here's adam dunn, 1-3 with a triple. well ad woman hasn't had a triple since '07 we know this is the first night ever that zimmerman's homered when done has tripled. all kinds of fun stuff going on. willingham on deck. josh has chipped in. rbi hit tonight. and that's a 2-1 to adam dunn here with one out in the seventh.

and hensley strikes out another. my gosh, i can't wait for them to pinch hit for this guy. >> rob: he's got a great change- up, bob, and he keep it's down after he gets ahead with a father ball or curve ball. our guys don't really know him that well. he didn't spend a year in the big leagues last year afternoon er and if you didn't see him out in san diego, you don't know him that well. has good big speed stuff. >> bob: april 30th is national honesty. did you know that. >> rob: no, i'm usuallilying on the 30th. >> bob: no, that's the 1st. that's why they do it on the 30th. the month starts with a lie and

ends with total hon honesty. >> rob: total honesty. >> bob: it's national honesty day, rob. >> rob: i don't think i've told any lies today. >> bob: you know what mark twain said. if you tell the truth you don't have to remember anything. that went outside 1-2 to willingham. josh is 1-3 with an require single. and that youthful-looking catcher waiting. when you're over .500 everybody has ears you want to wear, right. >> rob: i think the underarmor rep was here because everybody has their underarm stuff. but the everyday players get the best stuff. >> bob: wow, seven strikeouts

for hensley, 13 in his last two outings. olsen's liking it. his team ahead at the stretch. what's all this? big news! we have another way to help you save. oh, really? how? by bundling. if you get your homeowners and auto insurance together, we give you even more savings. ooh! big bundle. [ chuckling ] home and auto together. it's like peanut butter and jelly. oh, or like burgers and fries. or pickles and ice cream. unicorns and glitter! no? bundling to save you more. now, that's progressive!

call or click today. we're back with the sun life stadium where scott olsen and the nationals have a 5-0 lead over the marlins. bruney taking the mound and scott says he feels pretty good leaving a game giving the ball over to the bullpen these days. >> starting pitcher if you get the lead late in the game you feel like you're going to win now and it's a good feeling to have, the confidence is getting higher and higher with these guys everytime they go out and pitch good. it's nice to sit. >> now since april 11st, the bullpen has a 7.77 e.r.a. and brian bruney has been working with steve mccatty on some things and he's been improving each time out, guys? >> bob: he made big pitches in chicago, but the double play ball was huge. >> rob: he's got such good

stuff. great sliders and fast balls and when he needed to great pitch, jamming the guy and getting the double play ball. and challenging the rookie and getting a ground ball and get out of the inning and sometimes it just takes one good outing to get you going in the right direction. brian's trying to be more aggressive. he knows he's walked a few people. really at this point, really hasn't come back to hurt the nationals and you can't worry about your individual statistics when you're on a team that's playing so well. >> willie harris is in left. we have him batting ninth on the double switch. bruney batting fifth and the hitter is another marlin who wasn't even in the big leagues last year. mike lamb, 34 years of age now. lots of years with texas and with houston. with minnesota and milwaukee for a few games in '08 he spent all of '09 at the mets' triple a at buffalo and hit .261. marlins signed him as a free

agent back on february 11th. he's always been a left-handed batter. got a couple of post season appearances. and that one is up and in from bruney 2-1 as lamb bat for hensley. pitched three scoreless innings. a hit batter and struck out seven. maybin the leadoff man, 07-3 on deck. one hopper, your guy over there. big, bad -- >> here in the seventh inning. this copy wrighted telecast presented by authority of the washington nationals and may not reproduces or retransmitted and descriptions of this game may not be des'em ated without the republican con sent of the

washington nationals. former national brian sanches. without the written consent of the washington nationals. former national brian sanches.

maybin two balls and a strike. >> bob: 20, 856 tonight and we're told that does include 1665 dogs. 2billion, 500 million, 687,000. >> rob: that's like the dog in "men in black." frank. >> bob: life is a movie. >> rob: my life is a movie. >> bob: by the way, would not want to be one of the clean-up crew tonight. 1-2 to maybin with one out here in the seventh. nice crowd though. under the baseball configuration where they don't open up the upper deck, parts at least because a rule. capacity here is around 38500. keypad yam kennedy play it's well on a huge hop. he only had one choice and that was to back up and he throws out speedy maybin for two outs and coghlan coming up. it's a guy who will give you a good day's work, adam kennedy. playing up the middle with desmond tonight. >> rob: doesn't care where stick him. third base, second base.

he probably will finish this game at first base. >> bob: a little jab and it will drop in center at the trademark as coghlan is on base for the third time than could be important for the marlins as they get hanley ramirez to the plate with plenty of baseball to be played. >> rob: you jam the heck out of the guy. the guy gets jammed it's going to happen. now you have to go to work and attack hahn almost ramirez. don't worry about the guy on first. you've got two outs. >> bob: ramirez 0-3 in, fly balls to right center and a grounder to short. >> rob: still overthrowing that slider. got to get up on top. >> bob: do you pull a slider down the same way you do a curve ball. >> rob: absolutely. same way a slider and curve ball. he buries it. i threw minthat right elbow down to the left knee. pulled that down a little bit better. >> rob: i think the more regular jim riggleman keeps him every other day, every two days and he can have a little bit more of a tired arm, i think a slider would be fine. >> bob: dangerous pitch here, even in a five run game. >> rob: wow. ball three. >> rob: 95 right down the middle. didn't look low. pretty good pitch here 2-0 on the pitch track. a little bit below. >> bob: on the corner. >> rob: i mean that is a vicious fall. if you could just get that

slider working with it, no one's going to touch him and you could have brian bridging over to capps, throw in some burnett, you've got some filthy guys out in the bullpen. that's aboy. >> bob: ramirez trying to make it 5-2. >> rob: when all else fails just attack him challenge him. you don't want to walk anybody anymore. you just want to challenge these guys. 94miles an hour fast ball up there, even hanley can't catch up to that one. >> bob: 3-2 runner going. up the middle and heading for third is coghlan as for the second consecutive inning the marlins have runners at the corners with two outs. this time jorge cantu will be up.

>> rob: this 3-2 fast ball up. when your slider is not working and you have to rely on one pitch. you've got to spot them a little bit better than that, but both of those hits were jam shots. tyler clippard is up. i'm sure he'll see some action tonight. got to settle down work ahead

with the slider. always got to think of the positive outcome, bob, that you're one pitch from getting out of the inning. >> bob: that meant getting two outs on one pitch last time. this time two outs, one on. they're in the bottom of the eighth now at philadelphia and the mets still lead the phillies -- wow they put a four spot on the board in the seventh. it's now 8-1 new york over philadelphia. since the nationals left new york, the mets have been great. in the seventh inning atlanta still leads houston at home 4- 2. that's it for the rest of the division with the nats and the marlins getting together here. 5-0 washington. bottom of the seventh and jorge cantu trying to too something about that. he's walked and has a single in two official trips. >> bob: high strike. >> rob: going to get ahead. >> bob: first base coghlan, first base ramirez, both with very good speed. >> bob: very late reaction on that one, 88. >> rob: a slider at 89 miles an

hour. realliable, really powering it in there -- really, really powering it in there. get a third-type of pitch in there. a nice offbeat slider at about 80, no one will come near and touch it. you're looking for that 95 you're going to be geared up too much. >> bob: that is just foul as he threw what looked like a pretty straight fast ball that cantu was able to reach. >> rob: and the reason i say pull down the curve ball or slider here is if he can pull this ball down somewhere near the dirt, going away from cantu, cantu has no chance. right here this is a hard hit ball and it's close to being over the bag. that's how late cantu was getting around that fast ball. >> bob: pull it's hard, zimmerman deflects and safe. >> what a play.

the nationals almost turned a miracle 5-6-3 and the marlins are on the board for the first time tonight. rob zimmerman takes this ball it looks like off the arm. no, it's off the club and deflects it to desmond and bare hand it's and almost makes a ridiculous play. look at this. that kid's arm is amazing. he made that a close play and going to do it for brian

bruney. >> bob: now jim riggleman is quoit go with tyler clippard against uggla what's that sound? [ applause ] shut your eyes. [ vendor ] high life light! high life light here! get your high life light! are they really trying to serve the high life light here? [ speaking french ] this is the home of hoops and hockey. this is sacred ground. trampled upon by a canine beauty contest. it's making me queasy. [ vendor ] high life light here! get your high life light!

should i handle it? handle it. handled. is that a portrait of a dog? >> bob: rudy gives up a couple of hard hit oneses to ramirez and cantu and leaves with two runners aboard. nats still lead 5-1. uggla coming up and tyler clippard gets the call. those three wins, that paces the national league relievers in w's. the e.r.a.'s been outstanding for him and clippard has worked scoreless baseball in ten of his 11 appearances. tough hitter here with dan uggla coming up. >> rob: his straight change-up

for clippard is one of the best pitches by a reliever this year. all of the scouts around the league noticing it. only if you keep that change-up down and that fast ball up once you get ahead. not many hitters are going to be on his stuff. >> rob: change-up. oohing and ahing. still serves kind of a purpose for uggla to not dive on the plate. the change-up that he overthrows. they all had the day off and so they're all well rested and pumped up be ready to go. >> bob: live arms. >> rob: another change-up.

>> bob: 78 and then 80. >> rob: pretty dangerous though. >> rob: those change-ups down, fast balls up and in. >> bob: uggla late on that one. dunn over to have a look. very little room here in foul ground because of the adaptation to baseball of the football configure. >> rob: that's the best you can do right there if you'r uggla because 88 on the change-up and they he speeds you up with 91, you've got no chance. >> bob: strikeouts are nice. all's that matters is outs. 1-2 now. hanley ramirez now at second base. cantu at first with the rbi

hit. his league leading 23rd run batted in. >> bob: and a 2-2 coming. uggla late for that one. >> rob: i think he's about ready for the change-up. >> bob: he's had him geared up for two state fast ball there's. >> rob: that went straight back head to. you don't want him losing one of hurry fast balls making it a one run ball game. >> bob: goes with a hard breaking ball and misses and the count goes full both runners will be moving here with two outs ronnie paulino waiting. bottom of the seventh and hasn't given up a run but still leads by four.

not even close, bases loaded. >> rob: didn't love the 2-2 pitch and not throne a breaking ball in the sequence. he threw a 3-2 change-up and so you change grips on those last two balls. >> bob: ronnie paulino with a five-game hitting streak. he's seven for his last 19. a pair of leadoff singles and that change-up stays way upstairs. third base ramirez, second base

cantu. first base uggla. right in there at the knees. on a 90-mile inhour heater. 91 and it's 1-2. lovely numbers, tough situation. >> rob: bullpen getting it done. right here is all that matters.

>> bob: pudge wants the ball up. and paulino quitely. >> rob: up and up and pudge will go out and he will talk about. that's why he doesn't have to put signs down with a guy on second. guy on second probably trying to give location to paulino. more so then what pitch is coming, hitters light to know location. is it in, is it out. the one thing i love about pudge is he's such a veteran. he doesn't give up location until the pitcher's in his wind up. he's not going to jump outside if it's an outside pitch or go behind him too early. >> bob: and a 1-2. >> rob: nice pitch. >> bob: pudge stood up and i was wondering if ryan gorman could even see the pitch. watch him in front of the umpire.

>> rob: he wants to pitch off for the swing and fast ball. he wasn't trying to get a strike up there. >> bob: 2-2 now. can't go to 3-2. >> rob: he throws it away nearly and pudge saves it. that was a change-up. all of the runners will be moving now. >> rob: when you pitch -- a pitch is not working you can't keep throwing it if it's not anywhere near their first strike out into center, nyjer morgan, he's got it! amazing play! at least two, maybe three runs saved! clippard in relief, more ways then one. spectacular finish to the play

by nyjer morgan.

that probably is the best play nyjer morgan has made since becoming a washington national. last year home depot doing more on defense. >> rob: you can't do anymore more that a, bob. this is a game-saving catch for the nationals. if we go on to win this ball game, like you said, if it gets by, although bernadina is there at least two come in, maybe

three. a runner on third and tyler clippard knows nyjer morgan just picked him up. obviously you owe him a dinner, mr. clippard, mr. bruney. got take care of those guys. >> bob: rodriquez, bernadina and desmond. ryan sanchez, a former national. >> that's why i always tell pitchers, don't get mad at your feeders when they make errors because eight times out of ten they're going to save your butt like nyjer morgan. >> bob: ryan won a gum of games for the nats. he had a .736 e.r.a. 31-year-old right-hander from east texas, beaumont way. pudge rodriquez on base twice. >> rob: for the 21 outs they've register against us 15 are strikeouts. we have ten hits, f.b.i. run and 15 strikeouts.

>> bob: that means when making contact tonight, the nat are hitting like .700. >> rob: when we actually hit the ball. these change-ups we've got to wait a little bit longer on them. >> bob: 21 outs, 14 strikeouts. so that's seven other at-bats without and that's 10-17. and did he stop the bat? yes he did said ted garrett. succeed garrett a long-time american league umpire. where they merged and brought them under one umbrella. and pudge with a prayer and a 3- 1 count. >> rob: get that run back. get the offense kicked back in

here. , that bullpen early in the ball game. >> bob: change-up high, leadoff man acin the eighth. bernadina coming up, follow the nats your iphone, ipod touch, blackberry and droid phone. all of the short phones you can find mlb.com featuring play-by- play, video highlights and live audio. go to nationals.com today on your smart phone. >> rob: c'mon, roger. hit one in the gap. i want to see how fast you are. >> bob: roger bernadina a walk and a pair of strikeouts. making contact at syracuse at .377 when the nats called him up.

way outside 2-0 and sanchez is now struggling. the mets are just piling on the phillies. they scored another run in the ninth and lead 9-1. >> rob: a lot of what you need to know about sanchez throwing two change-ups to roger in a row. >> bob: pinto can be very tough on righties. >> rob: sounds more like a pickup truck though. >> bob: he sure is. >> rob: low 90s with that left- hand. gasoline. >> bob: that should say f250 on the back of his shirt because he's built for strength and he

can carry a load. >> rob: built a lot like fernandez. >> bob: 3-1. ian desmond is next, you talk about speed at the bottom of your lineup. and with pudge rodriquez running up on a 3-1 pin pitch, bernadina walks. randy st. claire is the new pitching coach of the marlins. and desmond 1-3 coming up. tomorrow night greg stammen will take the mound at 7:20 or so. volstad with a high e.r.a. this last start he pitched only one out into the fifth inning and stammen went seven innings gave up three runs to the

dodgers. his last time-out. we'll get you going at 6:30, fats extra with johnny and ray presented by your washington forddealers. ian desmond 1-3 with a double. rodriquez and bernadina in at first is sanchez at the edge of the grass at third cantu. ian could be bunting. willie harris is on deck. it's not the pitcher's spot. no swing, ball one. >> rob: ian's got to be patient

and willy. throwing pretty much predominantly change-up, change- up. >> bob: he's not been threatening the plate really at all. walked two batters. gone 2-0 here. and i don't know desmond might take a pitch. you hate to see a buy hit into a double play on a 2-0 pitch against somebody who can't throw a strike. >> bob: ramirez drop it's, preventing the double play. they do get a 6-4 and rodriquez, pudge, over to third base with one out. so the nats catch a bit of a break there. >> rob: well, bob, you watched a lot of baseball and you called it. 2-0 change-up almost grounded into a double play there by ian desmond. now willie harris has a chance to hit a fly ball and get an rbi or hit a gapper and maybe get two.

>> bob: israeli has two homers and six rbis the year. >> rob: if he's going to just throw change-ups. his 84 fall and 84 change-ups shouldn't be getting anybody out that much. >> bob: 84 as he slips one by him. willie's already in the ball game playing left field. chance to get that five run lead back. diving back in desmond, who is a threat to steal here to try to stay out an inning-ending double play. he and his three or four. >> rob: a guy throwing a lot of change-ups that actually helps ian in his quest for second base. >> bob: he's got a good lead. didn't vpn to dive back in that time.

sanchez on the mound. sanchez at first. desmond, the runner. harris the hitter. there he goes. thrown to second, safe. home, out, it looked like pudge got around the catchunder but brian gorman punched him out and jim riggleman is going to want know why he was called out with a hand on home plate. >> rob: nice try by pudge. double steal. ian takes off. the though goes through in the caught by ramirez and thrown into home. look at this hustle right here. no way he tagged him.

so gorman with a bad call. his hand is in there way before that. >> bob: just because the throw is there before the runner doesn't mean he's automaticall out. >> rob: he beat that. >> bob: nats within an eye lash of a double steal. strike to harris. so desmond is in scoring position. what you've done there is the runners have traded places in terms of scoring position but it sure looked like pudge rod news was safe. >> rob: you've got to make the call right there. i don't know if gore pane was in position to make the call. >> bob: harris on 1-2. >> rob: looks like he's cut off by the catcher. if he's in the infield he's cut off by the catcher he can't even see pudge get him by. >> bob: that would have been something for pudge rodriquez to be the first nat to steal home. another change-up, 3-2.

we would tell you what brian sanches' fast ball is clocked at. >> rob: 88. >> bob: if he would ever throw one. >> rob: that's differential isn't very good. 88, 88 change-up. 72, the slower of the change- ups. you still have to establish the fast ball. you still have to set up the change-up. you can't just throw all change- ups. >> bob: 3-2 now to harris. they just can't wait long enough against this guy. nationals squander a scoring chance. bad call at the plate and it stays a 5-1 game. ♪ achievement unleashes hidden potential.

♪ all right! achievement looks forward to dinner at home. achievement enjoys newfound freedom. i love you. [ male announcer ] mortgages, home equity loans, and lines of credit from pnc. helping achievers borrow with an eye towards the future. pnc. for the achiever in us all. i think you might have hooked it up wrong, though. yea, we're getting way too many channels. no, no. that's -- that's standard. fios also comes with 11,000 free movies and shows on demand per month. ah, standard. gotcha. a certain somebody says "thank you." tell him "he's welcome," but it's still standard. he's happy to be back with his friends. is he? [ male announcer ] call now and get fios tv, internet, and phone for just $99.99 a month guaranteed for two years! this is beyond cable. this is fios. call the verizon center for customers with disabilities at 800-974-6006 tty/v.

this is power with efficiency. this is an interior that exceeds even the promise of the exterior. this is the all-new jaguar xj. the stunning result of taking a very different road. >> bob: 5-1, by the eighth. coming up nationals top and pudge rodriquez will join our crew for a second. >> let's take a look at tonight's defining moment. >> rob: that's as good as it gets, bob, when your defense

saves the game for you. nyjer morgan has won a lot of games with his leg on the base pass but his glove and his legs combined may have won this. >> bob: you think about willie harris in new york. josh willingham on the home stand, spectacular defensive play by the nats all year so far. >> rob: the infielders have been standing on their heads like a hockey goalie all year. they've been amazing. >> bob: all right, time for tyler clippard to work a nice quiet inning here. it's ross, gaby sanchez and the pitcher's spot for the marlins. that's a good change-up. way out ahead was ross, who's 1- 3 tonight. at 10:00 hour here in miami at

sun life stadium. it's the same place we've been for years. no new stadium is not open yet. it will be 2012. rob, bob, debbie and our masn crew. clippard throws it right by cody ross. that change-up set up the 92- mile an hour heater that probably looked 97. >> rob: great change-up as bob said. moving on the 82 and 92 right by you. and bye-bye again. nothing better than that, though. like you said setting up the fast ball with the change-up. >> bob: there's a good hard slider and right on the outer edge. >> rob: i was just thinking that slow curve ball you've got. you don't have to opaque it a

great one. get it over for a strike. >> bob: wes helms poised to hit again. and he pulls the string on him. 80miles an hour. >> rob: now he's a little bit more relaxed. thrown out the adrenaline from last inning. when you have that live arm your offspeed's stuff is usually way too, just like brian bruney, his change-ups were too hard this inning and now he's a little bit tired and everything is where it should be. >> bob: 0-2. what does he do? fast ball away. >> rob: pudge wanted it up. >> bob: i know. the guys will be back home on tuesday 882663-nats. great t-shirts to the first 10,000. braves in for three and then the fish one week from tonight. that will take us right into mother's day. 0-2 again. big breaking ball up and away

for another strikeout. >> rob: you won't see too many relievers that have four really good pitch and tyler clippard might be one of them. 76-mile an hour breaking ball after all of these fast balls. 92 and then 76 and he'll make you look bad. >> bob: they were going to pitch it wes helms but there was a man on base if the base is emptied they'll go with brian barton who's been in the big leagues with arizona and st. louis. a product of oregon state university. out of san diego and he will bat here with two outs and the bases empty. brian barton's 0-2 as a pinch hitter this year. 29-year-old infielder. >> rob: how many guys do they

have on their bench anyway. >> five. >> they have a guy here,. >> bob: their backup catcher. platoon catcher left side is baker and wes helms has been on the on-deck circle twice but he hasn't entered the game yet. he's the texting squad now. >> rob: used to call them caddies. if you weren't playing and you filled in for somebody they called you a caddy. who are you caddying for today. >> bob: sounds like a cinderella story to me. there's john baker. >> rob: there's john baker and he and fredi gonzalez they all went over to iraq to visit the troops. a wonderful thing in the offseason this year. >> bob: a place you have been. >> rob: would love to go back. >> bob: 2-1. >> rob: lucky in spring training i met a brigadier

general from the marines. hopefully this offseason will get to visit the troops some more. they deserve it. >> bob: high gas, two balls, two strikes. >> rob: got a great up the ladder fast ball and when he gets up and in on you you're not hitting that. don't throw a change-up in the dirt. >> bob: 2-2. little offspeed. yeah , was. wanted it up. he put it down. >> bob: four run lead but he misses up and in. second walk by tyler clippard who walked the first man he faced. dan uggla to load the bases in the second by nyjer morgan

pulled off the miracle in left center. jim riggleman not breathing easy yet. cameron maybin is up there 0-4 tonight. >> bob: it would be interesting to see what he does with the ninth. >> rob: he may leave clippard in there. >> bob: adam dunn plays behind and everything is up suddenly and so pudge rodriquez is out. >> he is using all four pitches but he's not hitting the strike zone with them. and find a couple of pitches, stay with them. and this inning. >> bob: 5-1 nationals, bottom of the said. ross and sanchez struck out to start the inning. pitcher brian barton walked and clippard's missed on the first one to cameron maybin.

who's on base average now for the marlins is falling down towards the .300 mark. how long can they go with a young guy like this who has a world of potential but hasn't been able to translate it to the major league level. >> you've got to be a contact guy if you're at the top of the order. with his speed, change-up in the dirt. >> bob: looked like a nice clean inning for a bit. runner at second base, two outs. the count goes 2-1. maybin was initially a number one pick by the tigers. tenth player overallman '05 out of t.c. roberson high school down in north carolina. >> rob: there was a lot of high-

end value with cameron. >> bob: i think they thought that deal might work out the say way the hanley ramirez deal worked out when they insisted on him from the red sox when lowell and beckett went up there. >> rob: what austin jackson is doing now for the tigers, that's what they wanted from maybin and it just hasn't -- >> bob: that hits him and suddenly with two outs tyler clippard's all over the place and now you've got coghlan to deal with and if you don't get him, it's hanley ramirez who represents the tying run and the bullpen is suddenly scurrying. >> rob: he just overthrows this inside and hits maybin and jim riggleman's not happy because maybin and coghlan are not guys you should be too worried about and now matt capps will have to get up. >> bob: the thing that really

hurt is the two out walk to a batter who had seven at-bat his year. >> rob: that's losing your focus on what you're supposed to be doing. you're giving too much credit to the guy that came out there. maybin gets up there, you start fiddling around with change-ups and junk. the guy's not going to hit your good fast ball so you really overthink those two guy and get yourself in a jam. >> bob: tying run is on deck. coghlan has been on base three times tonight. he's the one who blooped that hit in on brian bruney last inning, which seems like an hour ago. >> you can't underthink this guy and say i'll throw 92 down the middle because he'll kill you. >> bob: then you're facing ramirez. >> rob: you have to make a pitch here, hit a spots. do it with conviction and work ahead right here.

>> rob: change-up. >> bob: now you know why managers have great hair, rob and in many cases snow white. whitey herzog going into the hall of fame. they call him the white the area. >> bob: there it is. >> rob: there's the change-up. >> bob: coghlan not very good in situations like this. but as i mentioned earlier, his bat is coming alive. he's 7 for his last 20. and he was way ahead of that

one 79 miles an hour. >> bob: 1-2 coming. got him upstairs with a 91-mile an hour fast ball. long inning. so for five hitters, good, good, bad, bad, good. marlins gone.

>> bob: nationals baseball on

masn brought to you by hager, established 1926. your own great moment starts at hager.com. >> bob: on a beautiful night in miami, the nats on top 5-1 into the ninth inning. it's been a ball game featuring some very explosive hitting by ryan zimmerman and some outstanding defense as usual. when the nationals win a ball game. so there's your summary through eight and it's top of the order. reynel pinto with ricky nolasco came over in that deal from the cubs back in '05. he's been a main stay when healthy of the florida bullpen. a fast ball in there 90 miles

an hour. >> rob: a pretty good pitch. >> bob: big kid, 6'4", 280. from venezuela. can't be too comfortable for finaller standing in there and all he does is calmy pull one into right field for his second hit of the night and now over his last seven games nyjer morgan is batting right around .380. >> rob: man's fearless. he's an ex hockey player. probably stood in front of the net and deflected shots in front of the goalie. he's not afraid of pinto. >> bob: here's adam kennedy. >> rob: i don't know about adam, though. >> rob: hitters, they are a special breed. very few are ever even thinking about fear or this guy bothers me that much.

>> bob: short lead and kennedy hooks uninto the corner. morgan is off to the races. if this ball sticks to the corner he's home, he is and kennedy make it's 6-1 here in the ninth and adam kennedy has a 2-5 night. >> rob: every team needs a good kennedy. that's every hit, he throws his jaw right out of his mouth. inside heater supposed to be outside. you saw paulino where he set up. nyjer morgan's off to the races. just needs it to get by. he looks at his third base coach. next up is zimmerman. nobody out here. pinto has a good change-up. he flow throws one 82 and

misses. hard breaking ball. >> bob: left-handers do not like this young man. >> rob: what were lefties hitting off of pinto when they came in tonight? that's some good heat right there. >> bob: reynel pinto against lefties, they were 2-8. now, 4-10. right-handers only 2-14.

>> rob: that change-up. >> bob: that's a neutralizer here, isn't it. zimmerman probably had the green light. top of the three hitters in the national lineup now seven for 14 this evening with a couple of homers, three doubles and five of the six runs batted. that's getting it done by the big boys at the top. zimmerman takes a hard hat. fourth describe of the game will be his second home run as rob he waited and went out of here the other way. >> rob: the breaking ball that stayed up. good hitter will look for the fast ball. keep the hands back. zimm is much power to the opposite field as anybody in baseball crush that breaking ball. >> bob: and a 3-2 walked him. spot coming up now for adam dunn. >> rob: and pinto has never

loved the nationals. 28 games coming into tonight. 23 games, 34 innings. 14 earned runs because he walked 25 guys in those 33 innings, 32 punch outs. >> bob: that surprises me. >> rob: it is. trust me, pitchers know the teams they don't do well against. first two lefties he faces where he should be able to get them out, they both whacked the ball. >> bob: adam dunn one for four with a triple tonight. alberto gonzalez next in the pitcher's spot. it appears miguel batiste will pitch the ninth and tyler clippard is done after a very long inning and a third. >> rob: matt capps in the background there behind lett the bullpen coach and matt

looks like he's got some gatorade. he's huge on making sure everybody is hydrated. >> bob: he is officially the bullpen caterer. >> the quality h2o. matt is a guy. you're not going to use your closer because it's not a save situation. it could be worse. >> bob: first and second, nobody out. >> bob: 2-2 to dunn and oh a pitch down and in. adam dunn strikes out. so debbie lover what is the deal for the goods provided by

the closure. >> reporter: it -- shawn burnett was on the dl and part of his job was to deliver the water. the following was matt's rookie year and he just picked up the action and decided to help out in any way he could and he started to deliver the water. >> very nice. >> bob: here's alberto gonzalez 1-7 as a pinch hitter this year. good contact man. trying to pile it on and just put this totally out of reach in the ninth if they hasn't already. >> rob: i think you've already gotten the feel for matt capps like he's a papa bear. how he takes care of the bullpen. john franco was like that when i came up. i never bought dinner. never bought a suit or anything and so the older players have to take care of the younger players. it's kind of part of the drill. pass it on. >> bob: i saw that in chicago

when adam dunn sent one to the boy's clubhouse for a trip to the local neighborhood fast food joints. some of the guys wanted alternate breakfast mcmuffins and adam dunn provided a box of them for his teammates wednesday before a digging and it worked. alberto gonzalez doesn't mind hitting 0-2. second base kennedy, first base zimmerman. >> rob: pinto backed him off the plate.

>> bob: one ball and two strikes. gonzalez lifting one to left. coghlan for the second out. johnny halladay and ram knight will have lots to talk about on nats extra. scott olsen appears to be in line for his first win ever against his former teammates. live with the manager from the ballpark here and lots of reacts from the clubhouse. nats jump on the fish early, four runs in the first three innings highlighted by two ryan zimmerman home runs. here's pudge rod who's had an active night with a base hit, hit bottom a pitch, a walk, thrown out on a attempted steal of home when we thought he had

made it but was called out. >> rob: ouch. that was a double whammy. it hit the catcher's mask and the umpire's mask. i think inwardly pudge is thinking back to that missed call at home plate going yep, that's karma. >> bob: you better be thinking about a change-up here. >> and he served one to right field. and he drops it, might have had a play at home, doesn't matter now and the nats lead 7-1. they're going to give him an error because zimmerman went to third. >> rob: there you go change-up, professional hall of fame hitter and cody ross trying to rush the throw before he caught

it and he bobbles it's. adam kennedy scores zimm goes to third. the marlins are averaging an error per game. roger bernadina is next. the nats lead by six. and pudge rodriquez plates his ninth rbi of the year and it's also his tenth multi-hit game of the season. he's right up there with troy tulowitzki, ryan curieo. you know who leads the lead with multi-hit game coming? ryan howard. >> becomes more of contact guy. >> bob: kelly johnson has been hitting great. >> what about paul konerko. >> quick to ball. >> bob: we'll get to see him later at nationals arc park. that one way out in front of

home plate. now zimmerman's at third and pudge is at first. the nats with seven runs 13 hits. trying to end april with a bang and a record of 13-10. >> rob: how many strikeouts there though. >> bob: too many. >> there's another one. 16 strikeouts but seven runs on 13 hits. what's going on here. to help you save. oh, really? how? by bundling. if you get your homeowners and auto insurance together, we give you even more savings. ooh! big bundle. [ chuckling ] home and auto together. it's like peanut butter and jelly. oh, or like burgers and fries. or pickles and ice cream. unicorns and glitter! no? bundling to save you more. now, that's progressive!

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johnny holiday the nats have a six run lead in florida and tyler clippard. it was quite a struggle. he never did give up a hit. he saved the day in the seventh inning but in the eighth inning -- that was saving day in the seventh inning and that was nyjer morgan. buy that man a nice dinner and then the eighth inning was kind of an adventure but he ended up striking out the side and getting out of the jam. >> bob: adam kennedy shuffles over to first base. adam dunn out and so the pitcher is hitting in the fourth spot. alberto gonzalez stays in to play second base and the new pitcher to close this thing out

will be miguel batista. remain residence, cantu and uggla and we're pretty sure hanley ramirez cannot tie this game. strike one. coming in, throwing strikes. we'll be right back with with you tomorrow night at 7:00. chris volstad 1-2 with a high 59 e.r.a. against craig stammen with a 677 e.r.a. no telling what that matchup will bring us tomorrow night when you look at numbers but it will be the first of may.

and folks with the mets beating the phillies tonight on the 1st of may the washington nationals will northbound the second place in the national league east. >> who would have thought that one, bob tommy hansen. good slider for the strikeout. the braves finally end their nine game losing streak. they're now 9-14 on the year.

as they beat houston 4. >> rob: good moving breaking ball right there by miguel might have been a cut fast ball. that 93-mile an hour fast ball they'll bothing breathing a sigh of relief if we get two more outs and keep the score where it is. and clippard unscored upon on 11 of his 1 appearances here. batista throwing well and miguel has been very valuable to the bullpen. he's sucked it up on certain days so the bullpen can rest.

gone in and. >> bob: been around for a long, long time. miguel batista's first game in the big leagues 92 with the pirates. florida in 96 just nine games in relief for the marlins. had another hitter reaching, stops in montreal, kansas city, arizona, toronto, back to arizona and the last three years in seattle. >> rob: got a lot of uniform tops at home. >> bob: tom bodebt left the lite on many times. >> rob: i think matt stairs have 12 up. >> bob: that ball rocked towards the core board. it will stay in play. it's actually not a scoreboard anymore. it's a giant advertising board. it's a long single for jorge

cantu who's three for five with three-baggers. they had some problems with the scoreboard out there and so they took it away. >> rob: jorge cantu, nice balance. stands up at the plate. doesn't really move the front foot a whole lot and gets quick to the ball. thinks about going for second but his run doesn't matter, down six runs and so he thinks better of it and sayses i'll stay at first. >> bob: run on, one out, dan uggla is 0-3 with a walk. broken bat. that will flair into the outfield. cantu stops at second.

>> rob: we have our prevent defense in there and adam kennedy is at first. >> bob: with gonzalez coming in to replace him at second and remainan zimmerman is still at third base. willie harris out at left. we've got nyjer and bernadina, our speed demons are out in the outfield patrolling. c'mon, let's go miguel, two more outs. let's go. >> rob: how much has roger spoken to you. he's not a gum who says a whole lot? >> bob: bernadina? >> rob: yeah. >> bob: we had a nice chat at the hotel in san diego. he's a quiet reserved young man. he got up at the crack of dawn. the syracuse ball club was in toledo. he was in the hotel well before they left to go to the ballpark. i said someone was eager to get here. he's just a very nice polite

young man. >> rob: oh my goodness. this whole team. we're lucky we have an adam dunn on this ball club because it's a lot of quiet young guys in am. >> bob: i don't see any bad apples this club and if someone tries to be one someone will give them a boot. right on the back side. it just seems like everybody is pulling in the same direction. inform it's like that old baseball question, what comes first the winning or the chemistry? i think some of the latter has to be there before you can start being a winning bull club and everything gets better when you experience that great feeling taye after day. >> rob: and they pull for each other. i'm sure they'll get on each other's nerves and maybe even fight with each other but you're not going to fight them. officers fight amongst each other because they're a family. they got toe a bad start but they were also trying out other guy and once they started

playing together it's been really serious stuff on the baseball field. there's the guy in charge. the coach behind him. pat listach. it's everybody involved. everybody that has their hand in it. if you have someone that doesn't want to be involved in it that takes away what you want to do. fly ball to right. this will be a much-needed out for the second one. bernadina. roger grab it's. two down and that should keep jim riggleman from having to get anybody up in the bullpen. i saw tyler walker stirring around a bit but now just one out to get. >> rob: the key is unselfishness. guys no. the complaining on the bench when things are not good, especially when you lose a ball game. the one thing i love about this year's club, they hate to lose. they will stew about it. there's other bull clubs as soon as the game is over. guys are getting in the shower,

and out of there. this team's better than that. they sit around and talk about it. they stew about it and they don't like losing and that's how you get into those winning ways in. if, >> bob: right in there to cody ross, the right-handed batter who's 1-4. >> rob: i think you have seven guys who have seven championship ring and coaches who know what winning is about. give mike rizzo a lot of credit and all of the evaluators bringing guys in there and the nats are one strike away from the end of a very good april. they tried five times to get two games over .500 and this is their first attempt atgeting three over. >> rob: , you try to creep to

five games over and then games over. i said the phillies were only what, 35 or 39 or 36 after june. think this ball club could be better than that. it's all about winning series head to. you've got to take two out of three, four out of five when you can. >> bob: and a slider low and away, 2-2. nationals about to improve their road record to 6- 4, even their division record back up at 5-5. so these are numbers we just haven't talked about in a while. and it sure feels good. time to get the last out and get out of here. >> he got it. that take care of that with nyjer morgan waiting, the marlins will strand 15 runners tonight after the nats stranded 12 cubs wednesday and keep winning on the road. >> rob: it's a question of now you have guys that expect to come to the ballpark and win every night.

you don't want be to the weak link. scott olsen with a great outing tonight. the bullpen was a little bit questionable at times, but as a team they go out there and extent expect to win ebb night. had a beautiful month but you've got f.b.i. more months to go. it's one month down and now you look to the next month and have a wenning month in may in,. >> bob: the nationals only gave up seven runs to a good chicago team and three game ups there. they only give up win one to a very good florida offense here tonight and play errorless ball 7-13-0 there as the nats win it in three hours and 28 minutes by a count of 7-1 over the marlins tonight. ryan zimmerman had a historic night as far as his career goes with two homers, four rbiss and later adds a double and a walk and for ryan zimmerman, his

first career three extra-base hit game, debbie taylor. >> thank you, three extra-base hits. first two home runs take us to the at-bats. >> i was happy with my approach. got to a full count twice and just didn't try to do too much. tried to hit the ball square and good things happen. >> reporter: were you look forgot the breaking ball? >> no, he actually made a pretty good pitch but i went with it and i wasn't interest aming to do too much. just trying to square it up and got it twice. >> this game is all about pitching and defense and scott olsen another good start and how about nyjer morgan. i saw your reaction. >> i thought he had zero chance it's like don't dive, don't dive. what-- yes, but that's one of the best plays i've ever seen and scott threw well. he's attacking the hitters and all of our pitchers is been doing great. >> 13 wins for the month of april. great start and you've got to be happy with the direction of ball club is going.

>> we're doing great. we're playing the game the right way. it's a team object on. it's still early but it's good to get off to a good start and kind of emphasize what we need to do to win and will start off good. >> welcome back, ryan zimmerman, bob, back over to you. >> remainan comes back to the lineup and makes a dramatic impact his first two swings of the night general rating three nationals' republicans. for deputyie taylor and rob dibble, bob carpenter, nats twin 7-1. we'll get you going 7:30 tomorrow night. game two. this has been a presentation of masn. johnny and ray coming up now and from the booth in south florida so long for just a while.

the we will try to dissect another national's win. that's three in a row. how nice it is to check the national league east standings. there's the mets, the nationals and the phillies, one, two, three. >> it's almost surreal, john, as we have struggled three years watching this ball club and you see these guys pitching extremely well. 14 starts and then the offense getting a jump early and -- they couldn't play any better. how could they play any better? in well as ryan zimmerman was telling debi taylor a couple of seconds ago it's nice to be

back. he was swinging, trying to get hits and he gets hits. that's our defining moment in the first and ryan goes deep, welcome back all-star third baseman. >> way deep. 91-mile an hour fast ball woman back there. third inning throws a battalion and he just stays it. the ball was down and you have to do a lot of things right to hit the ball that far the opposite way and in the seventh inning defense as nyjer makes a spectacular play. he covered so much ground there, johnny, all from the crack of the bat. the best play i've seen him make because he's had trouble coming in on the ball, tremendous play right there all the way around. outstandingly well played baseball game. >> if you notice the marlins only got a run tonight. it it's the ninth straight game the nationals' pitchers have allowed four less runs. 7-13-0 for the nationals. 1-10-it for the marlins. scott olsen gets the win.

first time in four starts against his former ball club he was able to beat them. ricky nolasco takes the loss, he's 2-1 and scott's numbers tonight were very impressive, six innings, five hits. no earned runs. now a scoreless streak has gone to 13 consecutive innings and ryan zimmerman, 3-4 night. nyjer had a couple of hits. kennedy had a couple of hits and all in all another great team effort. >> 88 pitches by olsen. 50them strikes. most of them down in the strike zone, john. his last outing he was just effective. when he struggled last year , was with the ball up in the strike zone. all of these guys are pitching down in the strike zone save for tyler clippard. >> to miami, fly. let's go doe bob and rob and what a nice way start this trip down to southern florida, get a win and hey, may be a chance to take another series.

>> well it's a lot easier if you win the first one because we've certainly been on the other end where on so many wednesdays or sundays the nats have been salvaging series. we have jim riggleman wired up with us and jim is down in the clubhouse, a victorious clubhouse. first of all, jim, congratulations on the win. i have to ask you about the nyjer morgan play. is that the best play you've seen him make in a washington uniform. >> i can so. we saw such great play from him last year and he's done a. >> job this year but we've kind of noticed that the same plays weren't there a couple of times but that was an exclamation point on great defense there. that was huge and couldn't have within at a better time. >> as far as trying to win series and win months, very good month for the nationals. there's five more to go. could you assess the month and the play of the nationals? >> i think we played good baseball. we haven't really taken off

offensively. we haven't total. y hit our stride pitching. we've done just enough but we've played good baseball. we've overcome a couple of things that we've done just by playing good, hard baseball. catching the ball. throwing it accurately and making plays, timing plays like tonight. >> you've been around this game for such a long time. you've seen a lot of young players come along. some become great, some not. what is it about ryan zimmerman that allows him not to start a ball game for nine days and come out and do what he did tonight. >> his preparation. he stayed so focused all of the time. he was in the cage all of the time. he was on the field. it's like you said it's freakish you could miss those days and come back and be that sharp against a guy as good as nolasco. everyday in batting practice and the couple three pinch hitting practices he got he was up on those were i wanted to ask about the team. they hate to lose. they play hard to win ball

games. is this one of the better ball clubs around with how they like each other. >> i would say the attitude of the ball club is as good as i've seen. it really is. it's a good point you make because they really get after it. they play hard. they care. they play with passing and you can't ask for anything more than that. enjoy the win. thanks for you are yao time. we'll see you tomorrow. >> jim riggleman from the nationals' clubhouse and i think you look at this ball club and you think about the games they've lost this week. the game at chicago was winnable. the 13 inning loss last saturday to the dodgers winnable. this ball club was close to about a 15-8 april or so. >> and they know it. they know there were some ball games that they lost maybe in the pitching, maybe in the defense and i think that's why they have character. that's why they don't like losing ball games and i think that's why this is a ball club. are they a great ball club, no. they will tell you they haven't done anything yet. this is april. when you're playing live this

and you're in it in august, that's when it's going to be fun. a lot of guys playing in the post season they want to go back. all of the older players are being followed around by the younger players and that's one of the cooler things that we get to see everytime. >> jrt, gentlemen, april ends a high note 13-10 and on national honesty day we're going to send it back to two of the most honest guys i've ever known. >> enjoy joe stone crabs down in miami. coming up tomorrow with game two of the series. the marlins on a nose dive. they've lost five of six and i think jim riggleman hit the nail on the head. chemistry very important with any ball club. >> whens or playing well and you're a good ball club you don't worry about the opponent. you prepare to play and go out and do your extra work. these guys just beat dempster whos they were 7-0 against. they're bearing a lot of demons. people they haven't beat in town. never play weld in florida and

they're going into these places and playing well and beating pitchers. nolasco 7-1. they mentioned that earlier. it doesn't make any difference who the opponent is up in new york the league-leading team now beat them 2 out of 3. it doesn't make any difference to this ball club. they finally have a group of men together that go out and believe they're going to win. it all boils down to pitching and the starting pitching has been outstanding of late. the bullpen has been great. >> why could we slide in and see what scott olsen did tonight. >> pretty impressive. he walk two in the first inning and little ground ball to third base on uggla. after a walk and single, a ground ball here to third makes the play at first base and those were the only walks of the game. he settled in and threw nothing about strikes in. there in the third ramirez flies to center. cantu flies to center and he gets uggla to strikeout on a change-up.

his change-up was exceptional tonight. there was a fast ball on the outside part of the plate. to carroll, maybin strikes outlooking in the fifth. this is another fall. why are they taking those fast balls? because they have been looking for the change-up and they throw the fast ball right by them and strikes out coghlan on a breaking ball and cantu singles to left just over the outstretched glove. uggla and paulino pop out. cantu to third and then he strikes against a line drive off of the end of the bat. that ball wasn't hitting hard. no runs, no earned runs and that is what 13 innings now in a row? >> 13 consecutive scoreless innings there, mr. knight, and of course one thing about scott olsen, not one single fish able to get to third base, that's how tough he was working his way in and out of trouble. >> he keeps the ball down and when he changes speed with that change-up, four strike and that's what we missed and one outing in. he's had three out of four great outings. he had the one outing against i

believe it wassable the rockies that he didn't throw well because his change-up he couldn't get over. >> nice effort tonight for scott. nationals win it by a mosquito of 7-1 over the marlins in florida. the warm weather of south florida really agrees with ryan zimmerman. we'll show you how when we come back after this. [ laughs ]

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7-1 the final tonight. nationals with a three-game winning streak. nats extra post game brought to you by verizon. zimmerman to left field. see you later. yeah, he likes this ballpark. >> he sure does like that ballpark. sun life stadium. what is that the fifth or six change of the stadium in the last five years? >> i just put somewhere between fort lauderdale and miami is what i put. >> they're going to be back at sun life tomorrow.

for a 7:00 game tomorrow night. our show beginning at 6:30 and it will be in masn too and sunday in florida wrapping up the series for an afternoon game. day off on monday for the ball club. they fly back sunday night getting set for the atlanta braves who come in for the first time on tuesday, wednesday and thursday. nationals with a win tonight. 7-1. two home runs from ryan zimmerman as he gets back into the ball club's lineup after missing what six ball games or so with that pulled hamstring. let's take a look at the nationals' offense as scott olsen got support right here on the first swing. >> 91, little bit up. ryan looks like he's a little bit off of the plate more than he was last year. he had a rocket. tripled to centerfield right off of the right centerfield wall there. adam dunn with a triple? right there in the corner. most people would have scored on that though, johnny. and then willingham base hit right back where it came from for an rbi single up the

middle. rodriquez then singles to left left for another base hit. willingham on the run. ball bobbles a little bit and he tries to get to third and he's thrown out at third. you don't make that third out there, but hey, he was aggressive, who cares we're winning. third winning adam kennedy singles to shallow right center on a ball he hit pretty solidly and boom another home run to deep right centerfield as he stayed down on the ball and created an angle and drove it. it's a tough ballpark to hit the ball out. >> desmond doubles to earth on a really nice swing as he stays it level. morgan up the middle. bouncer. coming. hanley tries to make a play on the ball all way to second base and desmond ends up scoring at this point and we have a few scoring. >> two hits for motoring. adam dunn wants to talk to you

permly when he get back on monday. >> he can't catch me inch. >> zimmerman two homers, three rbis & double, a walk, ten total bases. dunn gets a hit. the only one who didn't get a hit was roger bernadina. he went 0-3. a couple of walks and three strikeouts. see all of the k's on our graphic. let's take a look at them. 15 tonight. a season high for any single game. >> we're just showing you this because it's not about how many times you strikeout, although i hate striking out because my dad would spank me if i struck out too much. we had 15 strike outs but had big base hits and all night long jim riggleman talks about hitting in the clutch. not hitting all of the time but hitting at the right time and

this ball club, nolasco and hensley they brought it us to. they were throwing a lot of breaking balls and we struck out a bunch. 15 times. not our high though. we struck out 17 full-times two years ago and after going and researching it we struck out 15 times three times last year and 14 times different times. that was with a lineup that you know would strike out. willingham was going to strikeout. dunn's going to strikeout. you had alidga laster that would strikeout. we much better contact hitters with kennedy and pudge but this shows you the power that they have on their pitching star down there but we're able to pick out a pitch and fete a good ball to hit. >> lots of free swinging. >> when talk about the nationals' bullpen tonight. matt capps had a night off and id tlk couple but also punched out three. this is a great play here. the jump he had on that ball was incredible. eighth inning, see later. hang on breaking ball, didn't get it. fall, neck high. go put that bat in the wrack, boy. three k's and just continues to dazzle people. 0.50. since april 21st coming into the ball game for the nationals had been 2-12 it's going to go down further than this. we will take a break and continue more of mats post game. johnny holliday with ray knight, the nationals celebrating 7-1 win. two homers from ryan zimmerman in south florida. we'll be back after this. [ male announcer ] looking for a price that starts low

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