francoeur's 2-2. coming up. >> rob: he throws him another cutter right here, a little bit off of it and francoeur just takes it right back up the middle. >> bob: here is jeremy reed who bounced to the second baseman belliard the first time. >> rob: best two pitches are his curve ball and the change- up. if you're not going to throw them up here, you can't pitch up here. you have to be able to throw your out pitches when you are ahead in the count and put people away. >> bob: tyler clippard up early. and evidently the phillies not very impressed with the cubs. raul ibanez's 25th, carlos ruiz's 4th. 5-0 2nd inning in philly. >> bob: remember lily has a bad knee, though. maybe he is not 100%. >> bob: he's given up five hits already. and a double play ball. ronnie belliard. [ cheers and applause ] . >> bob: guzman, and just what j.d. martin needed there. [ cheers and applause ] . >> bob: bases empty, two outs. that play had good rhythm to it with the middle infielders. >> rob: he is a ground ball pitcher,

nope, francoeur dropped it. there will be a force play. >> rob: he dropped it. >> bob: and he dropped it. may goodness the nationals lead 1-0 and jif francoeur was thinking about his throw home and forgot to catch the ball cleanly. what a crazy play. zimmerman scores, dunn to third and kearns forced at second and you can't blame him, he was in no man's land. >> rob: it's a couple of walks also and you see him looking, chaeting, looking home and he only forgot something and that was the ball. kearns was just dead at second but that's not his fault. a right fielder makes that catch 99 out of 100 times. >> bob: francoeur one of the best arms in baseball. >> rob: very nice. there's nothing kearns could do. no, nothing he could do right there. >> bob: i think you have to cleanly call it an error on francoeur. >> rob: i'd like to call it a fumble. >> bob: here's wil nieves who could put the nats up by two and there's a runner at third and adam dunn will score and the nationals lead by two as the bottom of the order hi

this will be easy for kearns, off the bat of jeff francoeur. so the nats pitchers are getting this game under control. j.d. martin does get a tip of the nats cap for one thing. he got the scoreless 3rd, the scoreless 4th. now clippard has retired four straight. nationals park in our nation's capital. beautiful monday evening. rain, rain, stay away. it has so far. and we're in the top of the 6th with one out. low and away to jeremy reed who is 0-2 and a pair of ground balls to second. one of them a double play. bunting for a hit but he bunted it too hard. willie takes it -- >> rob: whoa! >> bob: well done by willie harris. [ chmrs and applause ] . >> rob: what a play by willie harris. only  pfyou ri bare hand it, chuck it, and here on the exmo, watch the finger grip. i think he as all three at the time. he just throws it. just quite athletic also henever playthird bm,,soií ju amazing.#e's#yo 9 o third baseman ryan zimmerman. >> rob: how about 19 out of 20, maybe. >> bob: bases empty, two outs. and an 0-1 to alex cora. clippard throwi

church for francoeur, deal done. >> pedro martinez is a former met.ould be philadelphia philly before the end of this weekend. pitched well. >> espnews brought to you by: >> we have so much to talk about in baseball. that's why we bring in none other than senior baseball writer for espn.com jerry crasnick. jerry, let's begin with the breaking news i broke moments -- i didn't break it, but i announced it moments ago. guys like you break these kind of things. the mets trading ryan church to atlanta for jeff francoeur in a swap of outfielders. from the mets' side first, ryan church never been liked by jerry manuel, has a tough history with this new york mets organization, the way he was treated with the post-concussion, this whole kind of thing, and they get rid of ryan church for jeff francoeur. what is your reaction to this move? >> well, linda, i'm really interested in the jeff francoeur end because here's a guy who two years ago you couldn't have been able to get near in a trade, and now his stock has fallen so much the braves were lucky to get ryan

they've got a lot of guys on the disabled resistance and made trades, francoeur was acquired because they have not had any pop and haven't hit home runs and the least amount of home runs as any team in the last 12 years. >> you need the stick in the line up. >> i'd get you a base hit. >> one bright spot for the ball club last night was the tiching of tyler clippard. he was lights out and perfect three innings. >> just an example of what scouting does and putting a guy in a position to allow him to succeed. tyler has a good fastball and a dog gone yakking curveball and a change up that hesitates at home plate. when he gets ahead of you, he goes upstairs with a fastball and that's a sign of a guy that knows how to pitch. he changes the eye level up with the fastball and threw last night had five strikeouts in 3 innings and gave up nothing and over the last five outings he's given up no runs, no hits, 7 strikeouts and for the season he's got a 2.13 avj. you'll find gems. >> the numbers will make jim riggleman and steve mccathy happy and he strikes out five of the nine batters he faces a

facing jeff francoeur. francoeur lines the hanger to left field. off the wall. daniel murphy comes home to score easily. francoeur with a double on that play and martin gives up five runs alasted four innings. josh bard is up and sends one down the right-field line. hernandez's only mistake, adam dunn comes around to score. there would be a play. watch this. the throw on home. he's chugging along and there we go. play at the plate. slides in. nationals cut the lead to 5-2. 6 sixth inning. mets leading 5-2. jeremy reed tries to lay down the bunt. heads-up play. charges in and behrhands the ball. take another look. willie harris, this guy can play. he is filling in for ryan zimmerman at third and makes the barehanded play. fantastic. ninth inning, kensing. francoeur again crushes one to left. solo home run. the mets win 6-0. willie harris says he hopes john lannan can help stop the bleeding tonight. >> i don't want to jinx it. you know. i don't want to talk about that. i mean, lannan is our guy. i mean, he is our ace. and we are -- we expect to go scout do what he

francoeur with the double on the play. martin gives up five run, he lasts just four innings. now we go to the bottom of the fourth, the nationals are now down 57-0. josh bard is up, sends one down the right field line. this is levon hernandez' only mistake. adam dunn comes in to score but watch closely. there would be a play at the plate. austin kearns includings in safely. so there's still hope. we go to the ninth inning. just called up from the nationals, he crushes it to left, a solo home run, the mets sink the nationals 6-2. interim manager jim riggleman now 0-5. willie harris says it's the same old story. >> i don't think we need to change anything, we just need to did a better job of scoring runs. i guess it's been like whenever they're hitting there the pitching hasn't been there. whenever the pitching is, there the hitting hasn't been there. we try to get on one accord. the season is going by really quick. so fwhed to hurry up and do it. >> he means you've got it get everybody on the same page. that's what they need more than anything. the new yankees stadium is a hom

francoeur has a good arm! safe! [ cheers and applause ] . >> bob: and the nats get a two- run double from josh bard! >> rob: that was interesting, murphy was playing right up on the line and josh bard still got it by him. i don't know. whenever you tell your second baseman to move the other way, i think it told josh bard exactly where they were coming. he didn't waste any time. he ripped it down the right field line. tell you what. that is great hitting by josh bard. >> bob: and they're calling back j.d. martin here. he is going to be done for the night. the thing he did do is but zero's on the board in the 3rd and the 4th. and so, martin will sit out, having given up five runs on ate hits in 4 -- on eight hits in four innings of his major league debut and the nats will call on tyler clippard after alberto gonzalez hits for the pitcher. jim riggleman could have done this one of two ways, rob. he could have left martin in for another inning or two. >> rob: why? >> bob: but you're battling back trying to win a game. >

the numbers francoeur put up, it has been a struggle since then.hoping still 25 years old they can reconstruct his swing and get his back on track. >> so far francoeur had some hits and rbis, but all hits have been singles. for the braves, chipper jones is in there, long-time mets nemesis. but a guy who has enormous talent. bobby cox loves his talent. he gets his opportunity to blast the right-wing a born-again christians who we also take place pleasure and blasting. >> you consider yourself some politically leftist publisher? >> i am uncomfortable using the terms leftist as with right wing because i think they carry a bit too much baggage along with them. but to the people who use that term or to the reader i would say that leftist or perhaps extreme leftist would be the stereotype. >> one of the books you have coming out? >> well, we have been working a lot with an author named derrick jensen who is well known for his nonfiction. he has done a budget very good books on the environment everything from climate change to history, from prehistoric hi

his era north of 7. >> the reds acquire jeff francoeur and sent ryan church to atlanta.s up 2-0 in the sixth. giving the raw rawhide a ride. that was enough for bronson arroyo. how about five k's. gave up four hits and believe it when i tell you, he pitched a shutout. second career shutout. first since 2006. joey vato sends his hit streak to 13. with his 11th home run. a solo shot. the mets, four singles. didn't get past first base. six extra base hits. they've lost 6 of 7. and have been shutout three times in the last six days. >> >> cards-cubs, start of a four-game set over three days. takes four teams into the all-star break. bottom three. sixth home run of the month. only july 10th. 13 of 17 homers this year have come at wrigley. that would tie it up at 3. albert pujols, just 6 of 30 at wrigley in 2006. lies and statistics. pujols number 32 on the year. into the netting. also hit an r.b.i. triple. reached base four times. gives the cards the lead. top six, ryan ludwig reached base four times in this game. three hits. knocked in four runs. the cardinals win 8-3. rich

jeff francoeur. this is ugly. lost it in the lights. had no idea where the ball was.uld do was duck and cover. so the ball goes to the wall. done with a stand-up double. two batters later. the nationa would make him pay. willingham at the plate and he absolutely launches this one. two-run jack. the nationals taking a 3-1 lead. play good baseball. 13th home run of the soap. top of the seventh. stammen trying to do his best john lannan impression. seven innings. nationals take it 3-1. they are in the midst of a rare winning streak. >> that's how you start winning streaks and that's how you start playing winning baseball. start the pitching. you are going to have to bang out, you know, ten hits, six runs. you are in the going to start many winning streaks and you have to have good pihing. that's important last couple of nights to get starts like that. >> handily asked me two makes a streak with the nationals? momentum. a roll. serious roll of epic proportions with the team this year. if they could win two in a row on a regular basis they would be feeling good about them

jeff francoeur drops it and right in the breadbasket and he drops it. ryan zimmerman scores.tin kearns is thrown out at second. nationals take a 1-0 lead on franncoeur's case of the dropsies. in the fifth, john lannan continues to pitch very well. nationals up 2-0. slaps one past zimmerman. guzman backhands it deep in the hole. all the way to first for the out. what a play there. a great, great play. lannan going for his first complete game shutout with two outs. grounds over to second base. nationals win the game 4-0. check out jim riggleman in the dugout saying thank you very much, guys. it was about time. lannan gets a big old hug from his catcher at home plate. it is the mets and nationals at it again tonight. let's go downtown to nationals park where lindsay czarniak is standing by with the stopper. somebody you talked to a few minutes ago. he is not a man of many words but john lannan is proving he can be a legit big league pitcher. >> he really is. notice how humble john lannan is. as a team collectively the thing these guys are most proud of, it was a complete game, l

earlier in the day, mets acquired jeff francoeur from the braves.yan church, and neither player has been particularly effective this season. church with just two homers, and 232 at-bats. the slugging percentage just .375. francoeur led the braves with 46 strikeouts prior to friday's swap. >> >> nascar nationwide series at chicago. there is 19-year-old joey logano. lap 59. green flag up until this point. no cautions in the race. new man had to pit because he was running out of fuel. lap 84. still on the green. joey logano in the lead. longest green flag start in a nationwide race in chicago. the previous best of 6 laps. lap 144, kyle busch in the lead for 50 consecutive laps. joey logano right behind him in second place. and with 25 laps to go, look at logano pass busch on the outside to take the lead. we go to lap 178. 23 to go. brad kozlowski on the tail of busch. contact, sending busch into the wall. busch avoids disaster, unlike what happened to him saturday night in daytona. after the restart with nine laps to go, logano who didn't get new tires

for tatis, how about jeff francoeur. three homers, 15 ribbies in 13 games with the amazein's? sox and the twins. down 4-3 in the ninth. carlos quentin, leaps at the wall to make the catch. and save extra bases at least. the twins hang on for a 4 will have 3 win. the white sox 2-11 at the metrodome over the last two seasons. they haven't won a series there since september of 2007. perkins gets his first quality start in his last four outings of the the last eight earned runs in just one inning in his last start, much better today. seven innings and three earned runs. >> as for plaxico burress, he and his attorney have been discussing whether the giants wideout will testify before the grand jury. this from sal paolantonio. the manhattan d.a. though told the "new york post" prosecutors want burress to serve two years in prison. sal pal with more on the d.a.'s comments. >> it's pretty unorthodox for a d.a., especially one who is this experienced to try to make comments that could, in fact, prejudice the sitting grand jury. we know for fact that the grand jury has been empanelled a

. >> mets sent church for francoeur. what else do the mets need to do?ll, by the way, that really is an interesting trade because, it's a rare inside the season, inside your own division. they were like, tau our guy and we'll take your your guy. and see if they can wake up. health means wealth and how long do you wait for reyes and delgado. and the most important player, beltran, most dynamnick, how long do you have to wait for that? bun positive, a guy that might be back before them, wagner, might be back. imagine a wagner, and k-rod. >> with putz, if he gets back. >> health has been terrible. >> first trade between the mets and braves in 23 years. >> who are sellers? >> the bad teams, right off the bat. nats, a couple couple couple of. with nick johnson, and dunn. and fairly, can be had. but, i look at k.c., gil meche, doesn't want to leave but that's interesting. you can look at other teams like the o's. offensively, i love luke scott and i like huff. two guys that can add some power to your offense. >> every team needs roy halladay. no one would turn

hawpe has more r.b.i.s as a right fielder in the national league over the last three years than jeff francoeurcorey hart and brian giles. >> rob: well, too much at the plate right there. hawpe doesn't try to do too much. takes that inside fastball an hits it in between first and second. very first r.b.i. with two outs. >> bob: and troy tulowitzki is the next hitter. odds of this score holding up ast -- drifting with it. running out of room. couldn't make the catch. josh is claiming he had some interference. i wouldn't throw him the ball. >> rob: well, let's see. see what the rocky fans do over here. >> bob: looks like they may have missed it. that guy touched it. right on his fipger tips. >> bob: looked like he deflected it. josh didn't argue it very much with marvin hudson. 2-2 the count. >> rob: josh has got to be watching the ball. he's not watching the fan's glove. >> bob: he definitely saw it change directions on the way down. very, very close. >> rob: kind of looks like that home run at city field. >> bob: the guy didn't act like his fingers were hurt by that ball. maybe he missed it. wh

jeff francoeur, how's this for a first impression. first at-bat with his new ball club, two-run single to right. line drive in the box score. he won't tell. santana only needed those two runs. seven shutout innings, struck out five. mets beat the reds 4-0. santana gets his seventh straight ten-win season. johnny cueto roughed up again. giving up 13 earned runs. mets score four runs but where's the power? it's been eight games since the mets got deep. longest streak in the nay jors this year. by the way, new york had a seven-game homeless streak earlier this year. the 50 home runs fewest in baseball. >> brewers and dodgers. jeff brewer gives up a hit to the other pitcher, mike burns. single to left. j.j. hardy scores. look at manny, making the play. he stops, throws burns out at second imais. manny thinks he's hot stuff. >> easy pal. >> puts the pistol back in the holster. yes, manny being manny. brewers win 6-3. milwaukee's third win in the last ten games. trevor hoffman gets his 20th save. 20th season with 20 or more saves. >> jim th