field is set, great to see bob who is on the line right now with jim head. you see the two that have already tried to get in the field and will not qualify and andy kelley and justin schriefer will be going home. >> the field is set, so we're going for position now. to see if they can change it. bob gilbertson, jim head on the far side. good to see bob back. nice sponsor on the car, too. gilbertson trying to get away with the 16th spot, runs 4.22 and head runs a 4 toin 21, they'll stay right where they were. 15th and 16th. both cars went down the track and didn't make the number they were probably trying to do, but you're in the show, anything can happen on sunday. bob gilbertson and jim head will

have a shot at racing tomorrow. >> well, gary gerould, larry dixon, number one last year, done it again, only guy to go number one at zmax. >> you keep track of such things, this is the 36th time in this man's career that larry dixon happens been a number one qualifier, second consecutive year at charlotte but now with the wrinkle of bonus points that goes along with each of these individual sessions, are you a fan of it? >> i wish they would have take a step further and made it actually give points on race day for the rounds, that would have put a good spin on things, not just qualifying. nobody asked me, we'll play by the rules, whatever they throw at us. we had a couple of those last session, i don't know, just got out there, felt good early and then i don't know if it pulled a tire loose or what, just let go and shoots out and all that. so, great job by the deem on the first run and then the last run, we hurt it but fortunately we got all night to fix it and come

back tomorrow. >> see you in eliminations tomorrow here in charlotte. >> his crew chief is not a big fan of the fact with the bonus points there is no lane choice. it's too random. mike neff and jeff arend are coming up now. here are the points. mike neff, down there in ninth, his teammate at tenth but mike neff now with the vet is five rounds back. >> i like the fact you see the top ten are at the top of the field in qualifying except for cruz pedregon. he's your number one qualifier -- got a little greedy, i think. >> yeah, both of them have to get out of it. neff ninth and arend 12th. john medlen, crew chief for mike neff, they work together because of neff's background as a crew chief. >> might have made best run

first session, low after that bumped down to number nine spot with that 4.12 elapsed time he ran in the first session. they were trying to step it up a bit here. car washed out a bit on start. i don't think it affected it because mike reeled in it nicely, hooked up down track, got too aggressive and spun the tires. >> john caught up with ashley force hood. ashley force hood been feeling under the weather this weekend. checking in now, her car's running well. she won the u.s. nationals, what's life been like after that, how are you feeling? >> it's been great. these last few weeks my team and i were able to enjoy tht win, took a few dice realize what happened. we're sure proud of it. we had a lot -- our sponsors, friends calling us up and saying they watched the vaccine and how proud they were. exciting couple weeks, glad to be back in charlotte, i have been under the weather, medics looked at me yesterday, i wasn't

doing too good, food poisoning or 24-hour bug. i'm at the end of it, i feel better. i was in lanes was worried to run, i was feeling horable, tony pedregon said it happened to him a few years back and food poisoning and fet better getting strapped in, just being in one place and not moving around, gave me a better feeling going to run. i got in and sure enough everything was all right. i i survived run, made a good pass and got in the show. i feel better every passing hour. fans have been great giving me support and wishing me well. hopeful lly tomorrow, back to 1% and ready to race. >> could be scary for the other teams since i won last time out. >> indy champion, two team schumacher cars, beckman and capps, beckman is eighth, capps is 11th. speaking of rivalries, how about 2006 in atlanta? >> check out that lip there, they had a altercation he and his teammate ron capps.

that's not even competition, teammates into a disagreement and he, ron capps fined ten grand for that little pop. >> and speaking of whit bazemore in 2003 -- >> back temperature day, gary scelzi, big difference in lane choice, team orders to put scelzi in the bad lane because whit was running for the championship. that got some things going to say the least, back then. >> that was before the rule that you couldn't do things like give away a round. beck man and capps. caps, on the prelude to the dream last week. beck man, eighth, capps 11th, quickest run of the session,

4.10 for capps, beckman runs 4.11 and they both advance. capps now moves from 11th to fourth and beckman eighth to sixth. >> nice pass by both cars. getting that dialled in, 266 miles per hour at the eighth mile, that thing was charging through the middle of the racetrack. 307 at the finish line. nice pass by the napa team. >> and coming up is john force. is the pressure getting to be too much? too much? he's got the controversy, he's ♪ ♪ vo: geico powersports. we feel your passion.

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>> well, there is bob tasca and john force in the other lane and yep, there is austin who had to sit out for medical reasons, the u.s. nationals, we asked force about coyle being back in the game. >> i got austin coyle, right back out here to show the world how tough he is. i love you, we had a big fight this morning, i have enough problems with espn, you on the starting line, you will get well, you and i are going to grow old together and sit and drink, you know, whatever -- powerade and milk in our old age and watch these kids and watch that little girl you love

ashley. he bawled his eyes out when ashley won indy. he said don't yell at me, i'll run the way i want. he came back, you're right. he said, i'll be there to supervise. you make all of the calls, austin. show that. let me take them, all i need his for him to break my heart if he falls down in the start line in front of my car and somebody will sue me and say, look he killed him off. internal bleeding a week ago. and now you guys are tired of hearing it. how did your brain get from one point to another like that? whoa! did you see tasca take a twist there? john force gets down with a 4.09, that is the quickest run of the session. bob tasca all over the place. >> they move join up to number two in the standings, had been bumped to number nine out of the

top half the field, so he needed to get back in. bob tasca, he was making a decent run up to this point and looked like he went, looked like something broke on that thing. wow, look at that. right side of the chassis just dropped down. and i don't know if something definitely broke on that consider to do that, bob did a great job to save that, that thing is dragging something right at that point. big time. wow. >> so, bob tasca with a very nistdy -- look at the right rear wheel. >> the wheel broke or chassis broke or -- looked like it might have broke an axle or something the way that wheel is going around. bob did a really good job it catch that. >> just imagine trying to today that as those speeds. got it stopped on the track. nice driving, bob. remember back at indianapolis? bob tasca? >> talk about some explosions we've been seeing, this was

qualifying session. backfired that thing big-time. able to repair it and get back. pretty good explosion right there, boom just split that body in front of the windshield. bob was athat point getting that thing stopped. he just did, broken axle or wheel or whatever happened on that car, did a good job of reeling that in. >> two races in a row he's had to save his life. dave rieff has austin. >> great to see you at the track, first and foremost tell everybody how year feeling? >> i feel great, i'm recovered and good to go and as far as they can tell i'm going to live another 50 years. >> that is good news, they wanted you to stay away from the stress of indianapolis, a bit of stress between your driver and guy that drives the car over your shoulder. what was your take. >> hell that wa so long ago, i forgot by the. >> remind of the good old zmas. >> i can remember things about the good old days that are

better left forgotten. >> this is among them? >> well, you know, it's like i didn't really get to see it up close and personal, so i guess i don't know about tha much about it. >> that fighting spirit. good to you have back. >> we've got something coming up tomorrow night. first time in nhra history, we're going to use all four lanes. this was austin coyle back in 1973. match racing four wide. and you know what, we took a little magic video and put this together for you. it's not real. but it's a preview of what it may look like tomorrow. four cars. there they go. flames, power! look at that, you know what, 32,000 horsepower going to the line and tomorrow we'll get a demonstration of it. and the finals are on the air at 7:00.

we're getting ready for the final pairs of funny car to come to the line to see if anything changes here. see if cruz pedregon can remember main number one or can ashley force hood step up? we'll be right b

>> espn's presentation of the nhra carolinas nationals is brought to you by --

back at zmax dragway in charlotte. ashley force hood. and del worsham. ashley is still looking a little peaked from her bout with food poisoning but still sits six the in the standings, del is in the bottom half of the field at ninth. >> right now both of these cars went down the track on all three sessions. cruz pedregon your number one qualifier went down the track once with 4:08 elapsed time. >> dave rieff, right in island with bob tass kashgs what happened on that wild run? >> the car was on a good run and didn't know what happened but it's starteds on lating and got real sideways, i was worried about john as the wheel turned, it cut brake line and took the rim off the hub. and allowed the rear end to

really bounce around and at that point, i had hope it would stop and not hit the wall, hopefully we can save the chassis. >> how are you? i'm okay. little sore but we'll be all right. nifty piece of driving as the rim comes off the hub. wow. so here is ashley, she is in the countdown to the championship, as is del worsham. del trying to get into the top half of the field. ashley's out of it, del worsham will take her down through. wore sham runs 4.173. john force looks around trying to figure what went wrong with ashley force's run. neither one of them will change

position. ashley force hood stays six the. del worsham, ninth. >> went up there and spun the tires. had a very good run early but through the middle of the race course did not run -- might have had a cylinder out and slowed him but had good numbers to the 3:30 mark. >> john force will do a little help there, help keep the starting line clean. there's lowe's motor speed way, seen more than its share of sprint cup action. new zmax dragway. boy, they did a beautiful job with this. opened it last year. and tomorrow at 7:00, during our show you'll see them use all four of those lanes in

demonstration. but right now, two are in action. it's qualifying. funny car, jim wilkerson and tony pedregon. pedregon is fourth, tim wilkerson is eighth in the standings. number five coming in the final session but he's been bump down to that number eight spot, tells you track conditions are there, obviously smoke the tires, ashley got aggressive and spun them out in the middle but if you set it up right you can run a good number. tony's best was in session number three, that 4:09 elapsed time. low, his brother cruz is 4:08 a little over a hundredth of a second separating one from four. >> tim kill we are son last three races has started, no higher in qualifying than ninth. sits eighth right now. and with the sky and track the way it is, there is a chance to improve.

wilkerson, a 4:10, 4.13 for tony pedregon. wilkerson moves from eighth up to fifth. tony pedregon stays where he was, he's fourth. >> tim kill we are son did what he wanted to do mochd up, very nice pass in the right-hand lane. some good early numbers. a bit better than tony at the 330, as a result, did what he wanted to do improved, tony still off a bit, a 4.13 elapsed time. >> and let's take a look now at the best times of the session right now. because tim wilkerson just got on that list in number two, john force is number one, ron capps sits down there in third. will they collect the points at the end of the session? we'll see.

so here comes our final pair. cruz pedregon, who is the defending and two-time champion but missed the countdown to the championship and robert hight, now, cruz has been talking about the team orders and how he this is nhra should deal with that problem in hand. >> if you break the law and the severity of it means people can lose a lot of money, people can lose sponsorships, there is -- their livelihoods, there are a lot of people their families depend on these outcomes of these racess and when it affects teams to that magnitude, they need to, crime needs to fit the punishment. we need to fine people, suspending some people, taking points away from people, then the owners will think twice about doing what really they didn't do when they first started in their career. >> but the problem, mike, remains how do you identify that it actually happened?

hight's out of it already, let's see what cruz can do with the run, he's 4.15, hight doesn't count. cruz remains number one. hight remains number three and so, cruz is going to take three more bonus points away. no, he's not. >> cruz pedregon, not the number one he was look for as crew chief but only went down one time, they wanted to make sure it went down the track. robert hoight was charging befoe he started smoking the tigers. he was going for number one and the track didn't hold. >> look at the lucas old ladder as we get ready for final eliminations tomorrow night at 7:00 and jack beckman has del worsham. that's a fight within the playoffs. tony pedregon and matt hagan, you see john force up against

jim head and teammates, ashley force hood and mike neff will go at it. the other teammate, all team force on right side, robert hight up against tolliver. >> first time in 24 years that incoming funny car champion didn't make top ten. oswald had a terrible '85 season, number one spot, find out how he feels that b that, you get number one spot, unfortunately not in the countdown as defending champion but play a very important spoiler role. what may that be like over the these coming events. trying to win a race. we're going to try to salvage our year. a lot of great races left and to be number one qualifier means a lot, advance auto parts, here at charlotte, trying to take it from us, good track conditions all four runs but we're standing here tend. qualifying is put in perspective, just qualifying, we

need to perform well on sunday. we have a good car, what happened two weeks ago is over, we're just happy that we have a great car and get to race still. >> happy birthday. >> thank you. number one qualifier that's pretty good present. here's the aggregate bonus point out of the funny car qualifying with robert hight and ashley force hood, taking four. how about that wheel separating from the hub? well let's get more of an update on tasca. >> here's john. >> let's check out damage to the right rear of bob tasca iii's car, brakes completely chewed up, caliper with a gouge, the team will have to replace the rear end but chassis is okay, they'll run that tomorrow. >> still say that was a nifty bit of driving, mike. >> well playoffs are under way. >> absolutely. zmax dragway, great passes from a great facility, dwrat side by side runs, including side by side by side by when they go four wide before the final in an

exhibition. >> that was four side by sides, wasn't it? >> coming up next, it will be baseball tonight and join us again 11:00 in the morning as nhra race day comes on the air. nhra race day comes on the air. we'll see you then. captions by vitac hey, there, welcome to the broadcast. "baseball tonight" with you for the full hour. steve berthiaume along the way joined by the "baseball tonight" souvenir city cavalcade of stars, buck showalter, eric young and tim kurkjian. big trouble for the detroit tigers, the minnesota twins are closing in. justin verlander on the mound for detroit in the dome. after the twins won on friday, here's mauer, bottom one, his 28th. 1-1. >> last time he faced verlander,

he hit a home run off of him in that game too. >> and gerald laird throwing out base runners. this time, bernard span. carl pavano facing everett. brian buscher and e.y. that one went off his foot. >> i can tell that's the breaks are you going your way. when it goes to your particular play, he's able to make the play out. >> that's why you see the pitchers stick their legs up all the time, looking for the deflection. >> why is gerald laird so great at throwing them out? >> he moves his feet well, he's athletic. he's one of the top three or four throwers in baseball. >> cabrera left field, don kelly put out there. got that white ceiling at the dome in a day game. kelly said once it got above the lights i lost it, i had no clue where it was. >> i know how you feel out there, kelly, because that's happened to me and a lot of outfielders out there that's been playing the game in the

metrodome a lot of times. >> it winds up second and third and they walk mauer for jason kubel who has been very clutch for the twins this year. especially with the bases full. verlander still in there and sure enough it finds kelly again. >> great read and base running by cabrera knowing the first thing you do you know where the players are playing. you know he can or cannot get to that particular ball. >> have you ever seen two guys fly across the plate like that? >> no, but i it. >> brandon lyon he has been terrific lately. but michael cuddyer got him here for a three-run shot, his 28th. after this wild eighth inning the twins lead with a 6-2 win. it cost verlander his 17th victory after he threw a season high 128 pitches and the twins have won six in a row. they're a season best four games over .500. detroit has lost four of five and they are now just 9-9 in

september. what a story it has been in the a.l. central. minnesota was seven games back. the tigers have been in first place since early may. now the twins are within two games with five more to may against the tigers including sunday series finale at the dome in which scott baker will start for the twins as minnesota goes for the three-game sweep. buck, the tigers are sitting pretty here. everything lined up. verlander was pitching well. he had a lead and then the eighth inning it is gone. what happened in the eighth inning? >> you go back in the locker room and you go what just happened out there? it was a fascinating eighth inning and in close games the little things matter so much. with the help of my friends here we'll break down the eighth inning and look at the little things that made such a huge difference in that game. first of all, a good outfielder. >> he is. he's a defensive replacement and did play one game in the outfield, july 5 and he's used to it. he makes a really nice play here. keeping denard span to the single. it doesn't matter how long you've been out there, you can

lose the ball very easily and don kelly loses it here. >> that's helpless -- >> it's heapless feeling. i remember back in 2004, when we went into the metrodome, we needed to get out there and get as many fly balls as you can and hope you get used to it in that short period of time. it's tough for a young player when you think of how bright it is, especially on a day game, and yes, indeed and the ball gets up in the lights. he just lost it. that happens to a lot of players. >> you know the ball going to find you after that. every ball is coming your way. >> but cabrera scored from second on that little bloop to left. >> so many guys don't break like this. >> but when he got in the windup so that gave cabrera at second base a chance to get a bigger league knowing he wasn't go -- bigger lead knowing he won't turn around and he made a great read on that particular fly ball and he was age to score easily, which was a big run. >> and the umpire only had to dust off the plate once. >> e.y., the tigers, don kelly,

jim leyland will be glad to see target field in 2010. only 1-7 in the dome this year. "baseball tonight" comes back in only 60 seconds. when we return, we'll go to the n.l. wild card. the colorado rockies, could he homer in four straight games? highlights from the rockies and diamondbacks are on the way. what about brad penny on the mound against the dodgers? san fran getting close in the n.l. wild card. pedro on the mound for the fightin' phils. saturday night, so much. "baseball tonight" back in only 60 seconds. protecting your heart includes watching your cholesterol.

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carlos gonzalez and the rockies, down to 2 1/2 games as they head into arizona on saturday. and how about gonzalez off matt scherzer? >> many things that jim tracy has done well is he's moved the outfielders around an put them in good positions and gonzalez has been great. speaking of great, how great is tulowitzki? >> his 29th fourth straight game with a home run. bottom three. his 25th, a three-run jack off of jason hammel and arizona has come back to take a 3-2 lead. >> red hot in arizona. >> top four, loaded. huge spot here. to left, tulowitzki scores. and it's -- well, out of play. they're going to get brad hoff home on this. >> where's the pitcher? the pitcher has to be back there. >> bottom six, mark reynolds. ian stewart the throw.

todd helton at first. >> i think he realized the runner fell down. he could have ran it over there. >> you will see, buck, you mentioned, reynolds stumbles over and makes it to first base. >> wow. >> he stopped completely. >> i was just thinking, is that a hit or an error? >> an error on the bat. later in the inning, ryan roberts gets struck out. hammel with the curveball. allowed three runs on four hits in the seven. and 10-4 colorado. >> got some bat speed. >> jason giambi, only his fourth career pinch hit home run. rockies needed this one, just their second win in seven games. as we mentioned the giants are getting too close for comfort. john garland on the mound for the dodgers, facing san fran in l.a. the first batter, guess who's

out in left? mannywood. and there's no roof or no -- there's daylight, but -- yeah. >> do they have -- is that a roof? >> yeah. >> you know what? outdoor baseball might not help either. >> manny -- >> brad penny has been tremendous as a giant, 3-0. 1.64 since he left the red sox. bottom one, walks casey blake to load them up for former nationals great ronnie belliard. and don't throw him a grand slam ball. oh, they never listen. his ninth home run, 5-1 l.a., bottom one. >> penny has given up four runs in three starts and the giants gave up five runs in one inning in this one. >> bottom three, it's matt kemp. the solo shot his 25th. 6-1 dodgers. now penny is just getting pounded. next up, james loney, his first home run at home all year long. and penny tagged for seven earned on 2 2/3. bottom six, coming out of the

bullpen, it's the big unit, randy johnson, he hasn't pitched since july 5. he's not stretched out enough, buck, to start. >> unfortunately i have seen him pitch out of the pen in the playoffs in '95. he's pretty comfortable coming out of there. >> andre ethier. double. dodgers all over the giants, they win it here, 12-1 behind john garland who is now unbeaten in the last six starts. four have come with the dodgers, they got them from arizona, august 31. garland, 3-0, 2.33. pretty good. l.a., now 10-7 against the giants this season. braves still in the discussion. phillies out in front with pedro on the mound in atlanta. bottom two, garrett ander subpoena -- anderson on an 0-2 count. next up, escobar, on a 1-2 count, and pedro getting ahead of the hitters like he's supposed to, but then he hangs the breaking balls. that puts the brakes on anderson at third.

he has an 0-2 count and name that laroche, tim. and three straight hits being well ahead in the count, 1-0. and pedro comes too close for comfort here. got him in the elbow. >> a breaking ball. right in the elbow. doesn't make him happier. >> laroche. chipper scores, they're up 3-0. >> pedro had a stiff neck for this game, wasn't nearly as sharp as the last time out. hung a lot of balls and left a lot up in the strike zone. >> came out to warm up before the fourth and ends up leaving with the stiff neck. threw 56 pitches. in the ninth, brian howard. he'd like to go the other way on the guy. his 41st. 6-4, two on, two out. then francisco is to go-ahead run at the plate and then the

braves win it 6-4. snap the philly's six-game winning streak. ryan howard against this braves .344, eight homers, 16 rbi's. vasquez wins the third straight start. braves have won nine of the last 11 games. now, pedro leaves the game early because of a stiff neck but a he may not have lasted much longer anyway. the phillies lose pedro as they were 7-0 entering saturday. he strikes out only one batter in three innings allowing seven hits and three earned runs. so florida marlins are certainly still in this n.l. wild card discussion. facing arroyo. and 1-1. bottom five, drew stubbs. is hanley ramirez the shortstop three years from now?

>> no, he'll be moved to the outfie outfield. >> if he gets any bigger he has to move. >> ricky delast coe dealing in y bruce.isco. after he gets bruce here, he's one pitch away from striking out the side. all he needs to do is get ryan hanigan, but hold on. hanigan's third, now 2-1 reds. ouch. got to get it back somehow. top eight, big spot. >> you can't say that on tv. >> down 2-1. it's 3-2, florida, they come back to take the lead. >> anybody have the marlins in it this late? they're still in this thing on the periphery. but amazing story. >> especially with the bullpen. here is lip strom. they get it done. >> they have some good starters keeping them alive. >> florida has won 4-5.

their season best 11 games over .500 and nolasco gets the win. he goes seven innings since august when he pitched a complete game in houston. this is something that the mar li lyns haven't -- marlins haven't seen a whole lot of. the cubs have fallen off the face of the earth. 3 1/2 for the giants, four for the marlins, and 4 1/2 for the braves. is 4 1/2 too much for atlanta? >> i think at this point they're still in it a little bit. >> all still in it. but that's still a long way to go with a very short amount of time. >> running out of time. when we come back here on "baseball tonight" we'll take a look at a team that's well out in front in the n.l. central. the st. louis cardinals, you can count on one hand at this point, but what about chris carpenter? he got some cy young votes and we'll look at the remarkable eighth inning in minnesota. "baseball tonight" returns right after this. - ( music playing ) - someday cars will use infrared

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this week on espn sunday night baseball, it's matt holliday, albert pujols the whole thing, sunday night baseball, presented by taco bell, as part of the hunt for october on espn and espn 360, 8:00 eastern time. here are the cubs and the

cardinals, chris carpenter on the mound. a big start for him. he was roughed up in the previous outing in the n. -- and the n.l. cy young may be hanging in the balance as we head into the final week of the season. geovany soto, car penter in a jam there. 5-4-3. bases loaded for derrek lee in the fifth. chasing the first pitch from carpenter. out of trouble again is carpenter there. bottom five. facing ryan dempster, it's brendon ryan and stales is out there for the cubs and dempster has stales behind him. hasn't played a whole lot out there. >> not a good day for left fielders, are you noticing this? >> and oh, he doesn't! >> a bit of a microcosm of the cubs season here. he makes a nice athletic play to get to it and then tips it in. >> he knew, but he didn't know. ryan's third, up 1-0. and then ramirez, runners in

scoring position. 1-1, bottom nine, ryan again. the pseudohome run off of scales' glove again. this guy is pesky. >> what's their everyday shortstop. terrific defensively, gets a big hit here. the 13th walkoff loss for the cubs, the most in the major leagues. >> their magic number for clinching is number four. concern over the closer may be growing though. this is the third blown save for ryan franklin, blown five saves but he winds up with a win here. eight hits, eight scoreless for carpenter. but gets stuck with the no decision. chris car penter, still among the contenders for the cy young. carpenter's teammate in st. louis, adam wainwright has two more wins than any other. i'll give you a cy young candidate and make the case. tim, let's start with tim

lincecum. >> well, it's really close, but i'm taking lincecum for what you said, bert. he leads the league in e.r.a. and in strikeouts. he's tied for the league lead with four complete games. with the giants they're 26 in runs scored this year. he hasn't got a lot of run support to work with. only 16 runs will work with him, but brandon webb won the cy young with 16 wins. the fewest wins for a cy young winner, starting pitcher in a full season. i vote for tim lincecum, but it is really, really close. it will be decided in the next two weeks. >> e.y., what's the case for chris carpenter? >> that's a great case for lincecum. but chris car penter, he hasn't really pitched in two years he'll be the player of the year. when you think of him statistically, how important he is to the carnals -- cardinals team. when you think of chris carpenter, they have a chance to win, and possibly get to the world series. any big game, i want carpenter. from a statistical standpoint,

since the all-star break he was 11-1. the best out of all three candidates, and he's second in e.r.a. behind lincecum. but this guy has battled a lot of issues. he's come back and given them the number one starter they really need, that they know they can count on in the postseason. >> but when you're talking cy young, buck, it comes down to the w's and he's a big if. >> he's leading the national league right now. in w's. innings pitched. if i was a manager and i said, be's the one stat outyour guys to lead -- what's the one stat you want your guys to lead in it might be innings pitched. he's not taking a back seat to anybody. fifth in strikeouts, pounds the strike zone, holds runners, athletic. you're talking about three good candidates this year and i'm glad it's you, tim, that's voting and not me. >> that's not too easy.

>> based on the track record, if you have one game to go with in the postseason, game seven, who would you use? i rest my case. back to you. >> thank you, eric young. how about that? >> okay. you made a believe, i'm voting for carpenter. >> if the tigers need to win, you'd want justin verlander on the mound. they need to win on sunday. he's got a 1-0 lead, but joe mauer, here in the first, his 28th. >> it only lasted half a second. >> exactly. tigers back up 2-1 in the third. bernard span -- >> these are speedsters. >> blowing up the second base. >> that one from adam everett is off the foot of pavano. >> you wonder why the guys stick their legs up it's to look for the deflection. >> they don't come a whole lot faster than car rose gomez.

even he can't steal on laird. >> you know, gosh, the catcher is making up the time. >> the game completely changed in the eighth inning. we'll look at the inning in a second. orlando cabrera and don kelly is out there. he said once it got above the lights i had no clue where it was, it was a day game. >> in the ninth, span had trouble with two balls in the roof and he plays there every game. >> doesn't matter if you're a rookie, a veteran or away. it doesn't matter. >> after the ball dropped they had second and third, so first base open, they'll walk mauer. now the bases are loaded for maybe the twins' best clutch hitter in kubel. sure enough, it finds don kelly once again. this drops in front. it scores two. >> the twins are in the tops in runs scored and they're scoring without justin morneau. typical of the twins. just when you think they have some trouble. >> nice read there. that ball not crushed. >> first thing he did at second

base is he knew exactly where the position players were placing, and then he was in the windup. that allowed him to get a bigger lead to get home. >> tim, with no morneau, cuddyer really picked it up. >> 28 home runs for him. absolutely one of the team leaders of this club also. >> twins have won six in a row. they're a season best four games over .500. they can sweep the tigers on sunday with scott baker on the mound. oh, those poor tigers, 1-7 at the dome this year. look at the remaining schedules for the two teams. minnesota has cut it to two. interesting to note that the twins have winning records this season against every team they will play the rest of the way. the twins have cut five games off the tigers lead since labor day. as we mentioned we saw a whole lot in this game and no one ever sees more than our very own buck showalter. he meets with tim kurkjian. >> my favorite part of "baseball tonight" is the segment, the buck stops here because every

week we learn something new about the game. buck, tonight, we were talking about split times. and now explain what that means. >> well, you see how the bench coach has a stop watch. you're trying to get a time from the pitcher, when he's in a stretch with the base runner at first base, when he's first moving until it hits the catcher's mitt. that's 1-3 or less. catcher's split times need to be two seconds or less, to have any chance of throwing out an average or above average runner. and from the time it hits the mitt to the time it hits the second base. keep in mind, 1-3 or less. 2 or less for the catcher. why do you think verlander doesn't have to worry about the shortening up to the plate? here he is 157. that's very slow, but gerald laird, one of the best throwing catchers in baseball, well below the norm. do the math you'll understand. look at the footwork. verlander can throw all his pitches because gerald laird is going to make up the time he

needs to throw. he can throw the curveball, change-up, anything. watch this one in the seventh inning. two above average base runners. 146, still slow. gerald laird as good a time as you'll get all year in baseball. 17 flat and pretty accurate. on the third base side, but 170 brought me out of my chair. >> that's throwing out carlos gomez who of course can still run here. >> denard in the first one. base running tonight in this game too, here's the difference. aubrey huff no reason not to be a good base runner even if you don't run. this cost them a run. you have to read that ball, know your right fielder's depth. that's a great base run play. if you read that and go from the get go. see how huff reacted to it. secondary lead, move, yes, no, yes, no. he didn't do either one. gerald laird, bases loaded. double play, out of the inning. they should have had a run there. let's look at the right way to

handle it. cabrera, a big part of this ball game, on second base. you have a player hit in the left field. he's got to make a decision at second base. is that ball going to fall or not fall? aubrey huff did not. let's see where cabrera. he made the read from the get go like good base uners do. no hesitation. have you ever seen two guy fly to home plate, tim? they're not going to tag them. that was a lot of fun watching the two plays. >> that is beautiful. one other topic we're talking about, buck, the 40-man roster. it issed to me, they play a certain -- it's odd to me, they play a certain set of rules and then they play with a different set of rules. >> it aggravates every manager, especially guys in contention. a good manager would rather have 25 against 25. he doesn't want to defend against 36 or 35 players with scouting reports. these are four games played tonight. rockies and diamondbacks, cubs,

five teams difference. indians, 36, there's no rhyme or reason. what purpose does it really serve? thing is something to look at and see if it's in the best interest of baseball. could you imagine a football team in the last week that said, hey, you get to have 75 players or a basketball team, you get 15 players, it doesn't make any sense. calling all the guys up gets the arbitration clock started which is never good for guys looking out for their payroll. >> i agree. but what makes sense, the buck stops here. back to you, bert. >> thank you very much. when we come back on "baseball tonight" we'll take a look at jake peavy, his white sox debut in chicago. where do they fit in in the a.l. central? meanwhile, c.c. sabathia on the mound against the mariners looking for his tenth win since looking for his tenth win since the ♪ oh announcer: say hello to the can-doers.

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"baseball tonight" back with you. c.c. sabathia on the mound, looking for his tenth win since the all-star break. and marching apparently toward an a.l. cy young. lopez in first, that brings up bill hall. two batters later, jack wilson. they strand beltre. franklin gutierrez, watch beltre here. yeah. beltre 0-10 lifetime against

sabathia coming into this gape. >> chuck meriwether -- top five. mark sends a text message. it's 6-0, yankees. >> i knew you were going to say that. >> they're paying another guy to say it. >> oh, did it pain me? >> well -- >> that pains sabathia off of gutierrez. look at this in the fifth. two out, nobody on. you don't think they came running out of that dugout? oh. just below the collarbone it looked like. >> eight inches higher it would hit him in the face. thank goodness. >> looks like he was okay. he's tough. >> that's the right -- >> here's mark teixeira. double shy of the cycle, off 8-1 in the ninth. gets another home run. mark teixeira. talk about a text message. he is on the mark. >> he needed a w. >> he wanted to stop that second. >> and one c.c. wins his 18th.