josh willingham is one of the nicest people i've ever met.mber two, when you lose a family member that quickly it's difficult to even feel like you can do anything about it. >> bob: willie harris under that fly ball, and two outs. >> rob: so we just have to support josh willingham and his family right now. >> bob: the nationals have called up corey patterson, who was hitting .302 in 39 games at syracuse, with six home runs and 23 rbi's. corey patterson, 29 years of age. we know him well. he was with cincinnati last year, the orioles two years before that and six years before that with the cubs. interesting left-handed bat with some power and some speed. to serve as a fourth or fifth outfielder right now. gabe gross the hitter, struck out swinging first time up. so the nats bench got a little older and a little more experienced here. bases empty, two outs. beauty. 95 on our gun. but -- >> rob: it's so difficult for a guy that's hitting. you also have to look for a slider, breaking ball and change-up that jordan has been featuring tonight also,

he was heading for a quick inning until willingham battled to get a base hit. joshis running, then he stopped. i asked willingham yesterday when is the last time you stole third base. he could not remember. but he said he did steal eight bases for the marlins one year, and that was a key play yesterday in the ballgame. he went for third, then matt wieters threw the ball into left field. ronny paulino at about 21% throwing out opposing base runners, 9 for 44. but the element of surprise is gone, so i'd be surprised to see josh do something here. >> rob: that might even have been a false break. sometimes you'll start running, just to try to get the catcher to step up or maybe take a strike away interest the pitcher and think about throwing somebody out. doesn't necessarily mean you're going to go to second base. pretty good career. >> bob: josh is like, what are you doing saying my name and his in the same sentence. he's going. and nolasco gets the one hopper right up the middle. was it a good reaction? a lot of luck or a little bit of both? we've gotta pay for. and a

reds and nationals with josh willingham in left field. it's a good one. will help in josh can get on the board. coming up for game 2 at nationals park. we're ready for june baseball. it's coming up from nats park. stay there. - oh, it's on. - it's on. - it's on. - ( music playing throughout ) - it's on. - oh, it's on, all right. - it's on. - totally on. jimmy, it's on. - it's on. - oh, yeah, it's on. affirmative, it's on. announcer: southwest airlines announces new service out of bwi airport, with three daily nonstop flights to new york laguardia for just 49 dollars one-way starting june 28th. grab your bag. it's on. - ( ding ) - book now at southwest.com. grab your bag. it's on. times may be tough today, but the things we all look forward to haven't changed. like owning a home. watching our children grow. and retiring with confidence. so whatever you're looking forward to, m&t bank is here to help you get there. m&t bank. understanding what's important.

it's mine. >> johnny: josh willingham takes cuts against nick masset. he's walked the last couple of times he's been to the plate. >> rob: it's got all your information. so are you going to get a shot of that? >> johnny: willingham batting .250. his average dropped tonight with the 0-2. 3-0 to josh willingham. nicely done. >> rob: you see the nice little extra battery pack it comes with it for these long nights. stay in touch. got pitching right now. macdougal, hernandez. >> johnny: 3-1. pops it up out of play down behind the nationals dug out. for those 85 fans still with us, it's 12:25 a.m. these are the die hards. a lot of folks bailed early, rob. >> rob: it rained for two hours. >> johnny: across the diamond, hernandez, one down. >> rob: belliard here, one out. bottom of the 11th inning. one away, 2-2 ballgame. .177 batting average. you have to make adjustments when you get older. i'll go back to the conversation i had today. he said as he got older, you know you're not swinging like you did when you were 25. he said your skill deteriorates with age.

and josh willingham's 1 for 2 tonight. that will be his ninth double of the year to go with nine home runs. so he has 36 hits, and half of them are extra-base hits. more than half. >> bob: an awfully quick bat. all of a sudden if you're jeremy guthrie you want to get the first batter out. you can't, you got to throw the ball more over the middle of the plate. willingham all over that high fastball. three innings out of four now, the nationals have had their lead-off man aboard. josh bard's job will be to move willingham at least to third base. >> jim p.: it's what you talked about, situational hitting. who better to do it than bard, and he does it. >> rob: that may not be deep enough to advance anybody. >> jim p.: watch this arm. look at this. yep. >> bob: he hit the cut-off man and he threw it so well it would have been a short hop at third base. >> jim p.: he came up a shortstop, and gary pettis was in town with the rangers. he said he could play shortstop, but they had signed betancourt, so watch this. you're right abou

and we're looking forward to having a very good second half out of him. >> no question about, josh willingham swinging a hot bat. his average up to .278, last 17 games he's hitting .500. the orioles series, josh went 6 for 11 and had a stolen base. look who is leading off again. why not. willie harris in center, cristian guzman at short, and ryan zimmerman in the cleanup spot tonight. adam dunn will be playing left field, willingham goes to right. wil nieves will be catching and scott olsen on the mound tonight as the nationals try to get their 23rd win of the season against 51 losses. how about florida, 38 and 39. shortstop hanley ramirez, four home runs over his last seven games. he's hit in 28 of his last 35, 50 of his last 62. his 12 home runs leads all major league shortstops and ramirez will be batting third as you see in that florida line- up tonight. chris coughlin leads off, he'll be in left field, emilio bonifacio at third, then ramirez, cantu will be at first and uggla at second base, ross will be in center field, robs catching, brett carroll will be in right field, and ricky nolas

nice running grab for josh willingham. coming up tomorrow night at 7:30, the nationals and tampa. masn2. join in progress about 7:05. and sunday afternoon at 1:30. and then new york against the yankees on tuesday and thursday on the big network, masn hd, nats xtra starting 30 minutes before the first pitch is thrown. 2 out in the 7th. dickerson retired. now back to the top with the reds line-up and jerry hairston. the 0-1 pitch. hairston swings through it. strike one. hairston's 0-3 today. >> rob: that pitch on the pitch track, johnny, 0-1, really nice been. down in the zone, getting dirty. >> johnny: hairston's kind of tailed off a little bit the last 9 ballgames. hitting about a buck 75. driven in only 3 runs. tavarez the 0-2 pitch. some nights they have hairston leading off and some nights they have willy taveras leading off. taveras should be the lead off. trying to get one of them to take off the lead-off role. but taveras, the speedster, i don't know if he has a hit this series. 0-3 today. >> johnny: and julian tavarez racks up a strikeout as he heads to the doubt. got him t

it might take one mistake and josh willingham to pull a fly ball out of here to get the nats back on at 91 pitches with one out in the 7th. as he steps off, willingham steps out. ricky nolasco has been outstanding tonight. 6-1 career against the nats. eight straight since willingham's base hits. this little flair to right field will be caught by carroll. on saturday, first 20,000 fans receive mini usa flags. then sunday, family fun day. the kids run the bases after the game. or stop by the nationals park box office for tickets. here's anderson hernandez. offered bunt, he was tumbling out of the batter's box. >> rob: once again, when you look at nolasco's overall numbers career-wise, but 464 hits and 443 innings, i still think it's because he's goofing around with five, six, seven pitches instead of sticking to three, going through the line- up three, four times and trying to just get some w's for his ball club. >> bob: he has not walked a batter. struck out six. he has hernandez 0-2. >> rob: he's got great command. 110 walks in that 442 innings versus 358 strikeouts. >> bob: in his la

. >> rob: i don't think they wanted a whole lot to do with josh willingham. i think they wanted to attack austin kearns here, even putting the tying run on at second to do it. >> johnny: fisher walked two. walked zimmerman and willingham. and the pitch to kearns and it is 0 balls and two strikes.

. >> bob: josh willingham with a base hit over the glove of salazar. and willingham is two for three. it's more than hot over there right now. elijah dukes coming up.   >> bob: seven washington hits, hernandez had given up the same number of hits through five that guthrie did last night. i think you'd have to say one guy today is pitching better than the guy did last night, but the guy last night got the win. >> jim p.: well, a lot of it has to do with run support. the one thing, you do miss melvin mora at third base. melvin, hadn't hit a home run in over 150 at-bats but he's playing sparkling defense. salazar is a good hitter, but he's not the glove guy. >> bob: elijah dukes, he's not a guy that hits the ball the opposite way a lot. but even when he does it a little, he's much better than he is now. >> rob: if you're going to stand in the middle of the box and not step in towards the plate or try and go the other way with t. then they're going to have a field game against you. you've got to go towards the ball. >> jim p.: he should

. >> bob: here's josh willingham -o is swinging pretty well << r@400 over his last 17 games @ilasco starts him off with a breaking ball away. so josh has his batting average up to .278. his on base average one click short of .400. when ricky nolasco gave up that home run, it was his 10th of the year, but he'd only given up one in the previous 26 innings. >> rob: that had to feel good. >> bob: a lucky number 13 for zimmerman. josh goes deep to center. that ball's really well hit and it is over the reach of cody ross, bounces up against the temporary seats out there, and a ground rule double for josh willingham. if he pulls that ball, probably goes as far as zimmerman's did. so the nats three consecutive great at-bats here in the second. >> rob: nobody was backing josh up. right here he was so comfortable at the plate. waiting for your pitch. that's what you do. you start subtracting pitches. probably can't go after your curveball tonight. he smokes the fastball. >> bob: how about willingham, 21 hits for extra bases. nine home runs and 12 doubles. >> rob: he's kind of a big kid t

we'll see josh willingham up

josh willingham, you mentioned he stole 90 bases i think in college.that got away from wieters, no chance to get him out there. >> look at the smile on dunn's face. there was a deal today the nationals pulled off. ryan langerhans moves to the seattle organization, in exchange for mike morris. >> anytime that you can get middle infielders, you do it. morris is a middle infielder. i think the key there is that, as our crack producer told us, the connection here is that jim riggleman was in seattle, so he saw this kid play, likes him, and we're just guessing that might be where this trade stemmed from. makes sense to you? >> it does make a lot of sense to me, raymond. 474 games for langerhans, 107 for morris, .300 batting average. >> ryan, you hate to see him go. he's a right kind of player. he always gave everything he had. good defensively, ran the bases well. but there's just no chance to even play here. he'll probably go up there and he'll be an excellent fourth outfielder coming off bench, pinch running and pinch- hitting. change is good sometimes an

josh willingham misplayed a ball in right field. got to give him a break there.s first time ever in that right field area. >> rob: there's a lead off walk. very nice. that's using the old melon. at the plate right now. you've got to find a way to get willingham in however he can get on base. [cheering and applause] >> johnny: i'd love to see josh get a hold of one now. he takes a strike from cordero. 13 of the hits were extra bases, 5 doubles, 8 home runs. fouled off. 0-2. [cheering and applause] >> johnny: going back to last season, cordero converted 29 -- takes the pitch low. 14-14 this year. the 1st base umpire -- the announcer will bring the tarp on here in the bottom of the 9th. a rain delay here at nationals park. >> rob: just a passing shower. they're not going to melt. >> johnny: it appeared to me, we

josh willingham, good to have him back in the lineup.ver the last six games, hitting .444 with three home runs. he was out a week way viral infection. >> johnny: he's never played right field before. it's been an unusual experience trying to get used to it. >> rob: i find it hard to believe a little bug took this guy down. he's been tough on our team. >> johnny: a terrific young man too, biology man in college. >> rob: very smart. >> johnny: hernandez is out. foul territory, two out. >> rob: i think he hit the catcher with his back swing. check it out. he may have hurt his hand on this play. watch him come back. no. slips out of his hand. i think the bat hits hanigan's hand. you don't make a lot of friends when you do that to the catcher. >> johnny: two quick nationals retired. they are getting the start at 2 2nd. didn't play last night. went 73, couple of home runs. >> rob: one of the things i like about aaron harang. he might not have overpowering stuff, he attacks the strike zone and works quickly, keeps the defense involved and throw

josh willingham against b. j. ryan. new pitch e new hitter, bottom of the 8th in a tie game. was only able to swing the bat one day of the week he has been gone, still shaking off the after effect of that viral infection that left him very weak in his muscles about a week and a half ago. good to have josh back with the ball club. he says he is glad to be back after a very, very difficult week. b. j. ryan, meanwhile, a 5.71 e.r.a., 19 hits in 17 innings. a lot of money for a set-up guy. >> rob: a lot of arm trouble for the toronto blue jays. they probably paid a lot extra for b. j. ryan and a.j. burnett to get them, coax them to get them up to toronto. a.j. burnette, after he finally paid often, won 18 games, he was able to opt out of his contract and get more money for the new york yankees. >> bob: one's gone, one's not well. on. chris crass guzman got things going with another multi-hit game. >> rob: after he got on, nick with a double, elijah dukes with a double. right now, another big two- spot. that was a great job by the nationals coming right back and saying, no, no, no,

right-hander leo nunez looking for his third save, and he's facing josh willingham, the nats hottest hitter. 2 for 3 tonight. tying run is at first base with alberto gonzalez. >> rob: high home e.r.a., 6.27 for nunez, road 1.2. >> bob: willingham, nine home runs, 16 rbi's this year. nick johnson singled with one out. then scampered to third on the base hit by dunn. gonzalez running for adam. an extra-base hit could tie the game. willingham foul tips it. and it's come down to the final strike. >> rob: this kid's got a great arm. 96-mile an hour fastball. this league combined hitting only .216 against nunez. >> bob: willingham getting time from bill welke. and willingham out to deep center field, but it's a big ballpark and the game is over. two hours and 30 minutes, a great pitching battle until the end. and the marlins beat the nationals again, this time it's 4-2. >>> you talk about one ball club having the nationals numbers. that's the florida marlins. >> what are they, 22 wins and 3 losses. >> eight straight now in miami. >> you can't explain that stuff. we're in the ballgame. we pi

i think he knew he was going to score here is josh willingham. d to see josh back healthy in the last couple of days of the hope stand. by the way, just to mention elijah dukes one more time, hillsboro high school in tampa produced doc gooden, gary sheffield, carl everett, mike heath and nationals prospects michael burgess. burgess. of course, a lot of other major leaguers have come out of high schools in and around tampa. garza falling behind most of his hitters here with the exception of adam dunn, had him 0-2. willingham has had a great base-on average lately. that's a good pitch, under his hands for a strike. he already tripled. >> rob: he only tripled the amount he has given up in his prior starts. >> bob: maybe he was due and so are the nats who have not scored many runs in the 1st inning this year. willingham, slicing away from gabe gross. this is one of the few ballparks where the bullpen is on the field of play. he did not have to contend with the mound but he was not far from it. >> rob: you see that warning track right there that's like

welcome back, josh willingham from bereavement. great to have you back. tonight, the nationals trying to run their winning streak to 4, facing the blue jays. i'm johnny holiday along with mr. baseball in d.c., phil woods. great to have you with us. and a great crowd on hand as the nats extend a winning streak. happy you are along with us tonight to enjoy this ball game on a perfect night in washington. and there is a great buzz in the city about this ball club. they won three straight. we can't say they have quite turned the corner yet but they are closer to that point than they were a month ago. >> johnny: hard to believe, last night, the first extra ening victory for this ball club after going 0-for-8. when you talk about heroics, how about the 11th inning the way they battled and battled to get that run across. >> cristian guzman comes to bat in the 11th anding and knocks the ball back to the pirchtion nothinging his glove off. and then bases loaded, dunn comes up and he shows you he does not always hit a homerun. looks like a world series 7 game with

a lot of them are newcomers here like josh willingham. just a fabulous kid. adam dunn's coming over here from cincinnati. they all try the do as much as they can off the field. ryan zimmerman. not going to meet a nicer kid than zimm. >> johnny: ball bounces off the bat. and a foul ball. i think it all starts at the top. when you look at the great philanthropic activities of the lerner family and what they do in this community, what they have done over the years. you and bob emceed the national gala. wonderful presentations that they had with mark lerner and his dad and his family. wife in charge. and nieves takes the ballight f tip. ounce dw tsend hitatter of s ballgame. >> rob: well, he damaged nieves last time up. so, he is really threeing to get there and right there. you see a curve ball slip off the tips of the fingers. micah owingss not goi to blow you away with 95. he doesn't have the best curve ball or fastball runs a bit. big, strong guy. has fantastic stuff. >> johnny: so, let's see if lannan can advance the runners. squares up to bunt. lays

and willie harris is on top, guzman, johnson, zimmerman, dunn, then josh willingham. so josh's numbers up to .278. >> rob: he went back to the minor leagues for a little bit, bob, maybe that attitude adjustment process or maybe just working on his pitches without the watchful eye of the major league media and everybody else might have helped him. give you the pnc bank scouting report on nicks. he's a big boy, don't lose that number, at the end of may, had a 9.07 e.r.a. since that a 1.8 in june. good command of all of his pitches, versus the washington nationals, he is captain destructive. >> bob: the marlins are the third worst defensive team in the national league. they've made 59 errors. they have a new left fielder chris coughlin who is also their lead-off man. emilio bonifacio is struggling, he's made 13 errors at third base. you know all the other guys. we see them a lot. rorntionz the former pirates catcher. >> rob: we got a good scouting report on carroll that he's an excellent right fielder. >> bob: first pitch of the ballgame is at 7:47, a delay of 47 minutes

three hits for josh willingham. time now for you to text in your vote for the at&t player of the game. john lannan has hell the orioles to one run through seven innings. or oscar salazar who has the rbi. john lannan on the bench. >> rob: you don't know how happy that makes me feel when i see couple of national names up on that list and not three orioles guys. >> jim h.: it's all one big family here. >> rob: and if we do win today, it will be 12-12 in the beltway series a lot riding on this game. >> jim p.: if you really want to go, they would have won nine out of the last 16, too. make yourself feel better if you're a national fan or a national broadcaster. >> rob: there you go. >> jim h.: this is the final game of the interleague. the completion of the six interleague series. the orioles won five of the six interleague series. >> rob: that's going to be long flight now to marlinville. >> jim p.: no, it won't. on southwest it's 2:10 every time. always scheduled 2:25. they never leave late, but you might have some ai

josh willingham looking for that home run by reimold. couldn't find it. it was two rows deep. >> martis's numbers tonight, he throws 98 -- 98 pitches, throws five innings, gives up the six hits, the four earned runs, three ground outs and 8 flyouts. what is the difference with them now than when he started out like a house afire. he did does have five of the nationals wins but he doesn't seem to be in that groove like he was earlier this season. >> in his mind, he doesn't know what pitch to use to put hitters away. he's got a good fastball, he has a good slider and he has a good change-up. he'll get one and two, but so many times it ends up being 3- 2, 2-2. picks here, picks there as opposed to getting a guy 1-2 and making up your mind what pitch you're going to go with and go with that pitch. try to get an out on a 1-2 pitch so you use only 3 and 4 pitches in that at-bat. he hasn't struck out very many people so that indicates he's not going to miss a lot of bats. that tells you his late movement doesn't surprise anybody. his change-up is his most effect

. >> bob: josh willingham batting. the 1-0 pitch. t it is too tight.bergesen, really no bad innings, he allowed three consecutive hits and that led to a run and that was it. three up, three down first. he lad a two-out single in the third, a two-out walk in the fourth and a two-out in the fifth. >> jim: and really elijah dukes, maybe he showed the way the inning was going, but nolan reimold did his b.j. surhoff where he made an impression, he went down in the corner and made a perfect throw, otherwise elijah dukes just roars into third base and it looked like he was safe anyway, but the reimold throw made it close enough to get the call. >> bob: 3-1 the count on josh willingham. >> bob: albers has allowed two singles in this inning. the nationals now with seven hits. it is inside, ball four. and he has loaded the bases. so bergesen went six innings, baez one and now albers, and albers has allowed three base runners now with two men down. >> jim: i was watching him the other night, jim, and for a guy, one, he starts below his belt and then goes all the

josh willingham, even if he saw it and got back to the wall, it probably lie was too high for him to make any kind of play on it. >> rob: it's still hazy here. it's not even the black night sky and he lost it, but that ball was crushed. that is one strong kid. >> bob: martis has given up two homers tonight, 11 on the year. he continues to get punished with the off-speed pitch. the orioles lead for the first time 4-3. >> rob: well, the location was awful, it was up. you throw three pitches the same speed, the hitters will adjust. they're painful lessons to watch, but for these kids when they get to 100 starts under their belt, they won't be doing this anymore. >> jim p.: it's the same as the change-up to ortiz. a lot more at-bats for david ortiz, but you speed up the bat. you keep away from the big part of the ballpark. >> rob: the one thing i told you last night that these young hitters maybe aren't realizing, situational baseball. what's this guy looking to do. he's looking to drive the ball. he's got a couple of outs in the inning. the one pitch i can't give him is let him get his

and the right-hander getting loose. >> bob: josh willingham, nine homers, 16 rbi's. at one point last week he had nine homers and 13 rbi's. there just hasn 't been anyone on base this year when he has hit his home runs, and he is third on club. >> rob: a couple of pitches away from 100 now, bergesen. >> jim: and he is also hitting .115 with runners in scoring position, so when he does get opportunities. >> bob: how did he reach that breaking ball on 1-2? >> rob: it has been difficult when you have five, six outfield everies -- offed everies, getting enough at- bats, keeping them all with an edge. it has not been easy at all with manny acta. >> bob: that might with down to four now because austin kearns' playing time, if willingham produces lbe severely curtailed. he is in a big-time slump. willingham will hit that fastball foul. bergesen working off of the first base side of the rubber to bring take sinker back across the plate and down in on the right-hander. >> rob: did you change sides of the rubber? >> jim: no, i stood pretty much -- maybe a couple of inches over

josh willingham, by the way, his batting average is is up in the .260 range now and it took him mostmonth of april to get off the interstate. he has really been swinging the bat well. he got jammed by that one, up the middle to brian roberts. that's how the fourth inning gets underway. the next two hitters, dukes and bard hitting safely so far. >> jim: there the a gad eye -- good adjustment. he guilty ahead of willingham. the last time he got behind him and hit a single into left and part of that one-run inning, which should have been more. of course dukes saw, what, four straight breaking balls, hit the fourth one into left field, a soft base hit. >> bob: and elijah dukes, in all honesty, has been a little reckless on the bases this year. he has been picked off three or four times off of first. and i agree with you guys. the replay showed he was safe. the nats and hunter wendelstedt don't seem eye to eye. there's always it seems one umpire that has a hard time with certain ball clubs or vice versa and this all started a couple of years ago when he tossed john lannan out of his major

josh willingham has his back to that and awaiting his dash home listening to his coach. the wind really shortened the flight of that ball. still only one out. ryan zimmerman, a nightmare weekend, zero for 14. he'll pop it up. nats extra they do get the run home. a nice jam shot right here, but a big strong man, broken bat single. he'll take the rbi, keep the rally going, bring elijah dukes to the plate. he's batting for the pitcher in the spot occupied -- he throws him a pitch out of the ball park. it's a 2-run game. the nats still have a large hill to climb. they have scored a couple here. it's now 9-4. - oh, it's on. - it's on. it's on. - it's on. - oh, it's on, all right. - it's on. - it is totally on. jimmy, it's on. it's on. oh, yeah, it's on. pilot: affirmative, it's on. >>> dad's sake -- saying, d give up until it's time to go home. there's a lesson to be learned here in the ninth inning. the blue jays have a pull benpy committee now. the tying run is not as close as the on-deck circle. two for his last 16, elijah. that's a loud pop with a 94- mile an hour hea

a good ballgame tonight for josh willingham. got some good news about a good friend of ours and a guy who is trying to work his way back up to the big club. garrett mock, some interesting news when we come back. ♪ ♪ (tucci) count on the nation's fastest 3g network. at&t >>> many nats fans are saying what's happening down on the farm. you can see there. justin maxwell goes deep again, home run number 10 for the former maryland terrapin. >> he's swinging it. he has a home run about every second day now. >> in carolina league action, potomac knocks off winston- salem, that's a final. >> we had a little feature on him as he went to the all-star game and he's picking back up where he started left off. >> perfect time. that's the final. more from hagerstown, a couple of rbi's. we told you about garrett mock. he's been named, he won a bear of games, his e.r.a. was 0.60, a league best 15 innings pitched. options from the nationals earlier this year. he becomes the chief's player, first player to earn player of the week honors this seaso

you've had a chance to visit with a couple of guys josh willingham and adam dunn. they have their sons here with them at the ballpark. >> first of ail, happy father's day to all the dads out there. the nationals have a very, very family oriented organization, and a lot of times we see the sons and daughters of the players in the clubhouse, on the field. we'd got to spend private time with them. through the eyes of our photographer. >> it's just a good experience for everybody. >> he's going to have that camera on you, look. hold your bat and hit it that way, okay. show them how you can hit it. run, run! come back and slide into home. hit the ball. there you go! that one boy. there he goes. >> just being able to spend some time with him and seeing him enjoy himself in the batting cage down there when we play baseball is special. >> i hope that they got a chance to see the youngsters, because i think willingham who's two and brady dunn who's two and a half might have a future. let's keep dad in the game, prostate awareness day, and the players will be wearing blue br

here is josh willingham. josh put good swings on the ball last night. 2-4, flied to center.hit the ball pretty solidly, but that ended the ballgame with two men aboard in the ninth. nothing like two-out hits. maybe the nats can cash another one here. josh has driven in 16. over his last 18 games, he's hitting .407. look at that hit streak averaging almost two hits a game. he's hitting ..33 over his last seven games. -- .333 over his last seven games. that ball well hit to right. and moving over to cover the ground is jeremy hermida. so, nats get a zimmerman single a-dunn double with two outs in the first to get on the board first. s your final boarding call. all passengers... each with an average speed of 590 miles per hour. almost as fast as you. nothing's gonna hold you down. starting august 16th, fly southwest airlines from bwi airport to boston logan for just $49 one-way. bags fly free on southwest so our low fares stay low. grab your bag. it's on. - ( ding ) - book now at southwest.com.  >> bob: bottom of the fir marlins 10th in the league in hitting. their so

josh willingham is one of the many dads enjoying father's day and also enjoyed a chance to take time out with his son. >> just now starting to really understand, you know, what he's doing, and that's one of the things he wants to do, go down to the batting cage and hit and throw and just running into the net and everything he likes to do. >> it's pretty funny because these games have been ending late, but josh is still down there taking taking him out. i think he wants to run him out of energy. >> try to tell him he can't hit after a game. he doesn't understand the time concept. >> the love of the game and being around it, i think it's great for these young guys. >> little chopper by gonzalez. rolen over to cut it off. it deflected off his glove. they could give gonzalez a hit on that. >> he tried to cut it off from the shortstop because the shortstop had no shot. watch this, one, two, three, and he just tried to swipe at it, has no shot. >> it is a base hit. here's the blue jay tormenter, willie harris. time after time, harris becoming that for the toronto ball club. three for eight

josh willingham steps in. reds have two hits with their two runs. nats have three base hits. both pitchers pitching well tonight. aaron harang for the reds and shairon martis for the nationals. >> rob: he had to be his own pitching coach. you can't be waiting for mccatty to run out of the dugout when you have problems. you've got to be out there going, okay, you know what, i'm not finish off my breaking ball, they're getting too much of it. my fastball, i'm leaving too much over the plate. i've got to hit my spot. aaron harang made some adjustments. >> johnny: shot to center field. drifting back is willy taveras. get your family fun pack tickets and bring your whole gang. you can purchase the $14 upper right field ticket or a $25 lower left field reserved ticket. you get a nonalcoholic drink, hot dog and chips. kids run the bases. call or visit www.nationals.com. stop by the nationals ball park office. get away day for cincinnati 4:35 start time tomorrow. >> rob: i think we should raise money for charity. what do you think? >> johnny: i've got just the charity. an easy inning

willingham coming in. josh will call off, cristian makes the catch end of the top of the first. we go to the bottom of the first. - it's on. - ( music playing throughout ) - it's on. - oh, it's on, all right. - it's on. - totally on. jimmy, it's on. - it's on. - oh, yeah, it's on. affirmative, it's on. announcer: southwest airlines announces new service out of bwi airport, with three daily nonstop flights to new york laguardia for just 49 dollars one-way starting june 28th. grab your bag. it's on. - ( ding ) - book now at southwest.com. how far can you see? at pnc, taking the long view is how we help you take the right path. even to change it when conditions demand. keeping you on the road to achieving your goals. it's something we've been doing for over 150 years. let our strength and stability be the basis for yours. pnc. leading the way. ♪ who's watching? ♪ tell me who's watching. (muffled music) ♪ who's watching... (announcer) it's right here. it's easy. ♪ i always feel like somebody's watching me. ♪ it's the money you could be saving with geico. >> johnny: reds don't score

they come to the ball park yesterday and learn that josh willingham's brother dies in a car wreck. it's been one thing after another. >> i know ray played at the old stadium. our young players cannot go in there tuesday and be intimidated by that place. >> bob and rob, have a safe trip. we'll talk to you tuesday. bob and rob set off to the yankees stadium. let's take a look today and see what happened with detwiler's performance. good enough to win a ballgame. >> he gave up five walks. he was effective early on. 93 miles per hour to burrell. 92 to gross. 92 to navarro. then throwing the changeup, breaks his back. b.j. upton singles to center. steals second are 2nd. nick beat the ball to 2nd. no throw. this guy is electric. hitting .211 coming in and doing all that. in the 4th, fly ball to center field. kapler singles over gonzalez as he tags up there. kapler not only hit the home run, he was out of baseball a year ago. he came back and managed in the minor leagues. hernandez gets over there. that plays the tying run. in the 6th, pena pops to willy at 3rd. looks like the inning went

full count to josh willingham. eight home run, 9 rbi, at the time last 25 games he's. >> rob: 50 home runs in 1987, 46 home runs, won 50 games. the point i'm trying to make is this, you're going to give up home runs. it's going to happen. you don't have to be embarrassed by it. you don't have to try to pitch away from contact a lot of times. we have guys guys with great stuff, great accountability. the biggest thing is getting over the hump. hit this one and hit the next one. it's repetition. >> johnny: joel getting up and loosening up in the bullpen now. ronny belliard will see what he can do here in the 6th. >> rob: you've got a good power hitter on deck. you can get on possibly with a base hit and make this a 2-1 game, put bard in a position to get us a lead or at least tie the score. >> johnny: as you look down the batting order, bard next and then martis will be hit four. belliard fouls it back. last night out of the bullpen all three guys were terrific. >> rob: execution out there. now we're in a little bit o

willingham pops it down the right side. another base hit for josh. >> rob: nice. he'll take that one. >> johnny: back-to-back hits. masn sports.com where you can e-mail your questions. does major league baseball review umpires like the nfl does. >> rob: absolutely. in fact, they have that evaluation zone camera thing going on in every stadium. so, they are evaluating the strike zones. but they also have richie garcia, a lot of other great many umpires up in new york that are supervisors. joe west just because the president of the umpires' union. >> johnny: good umpire. >> rob: excellent umpire. yes, they do get reviewed. and they go on -- the best umpires make it to the post season. that is part of the evaluation system. >> johnny: just like in college baseball. best officialsncttleit the nationals bullpen. julian tavarez getting loose. >> rob: excellent people. >> johnny: high infield pop into foul territory goes rosales and now back into fair territory. there's one away as kearns pops up to the 1st baseman. >> rob: before sandy wentk to the san diego office,

. >> rob: i don't think they wanted a whole lot to do with josh willingham. i think they wanted to attack austin kearns here, even putting the tying run on at second to do it. >> johnny: fisher walked two. walked zimmerman and willingham. and the pitch to kearns and it is 0 balls and two strikes. >> rob: austin's last ten games, 4 hits. no extra base hits. >> johnny: behind in the count now. fisher steps off that rubber. zimmerman, the tying run at second. and the 0-2. fouled out of play down the reefld line -- right field line. >> rob: again they are going fast slow, fast slow. 95 miles an hour fastball from fisher. 83 miles an hour curve ball. >> johnny: and there's no activity in that cincinnati bullpen. here's the pitch to kearns just outside and low. it is one ball and two strikes. >> rob: jesus colome. >> johnny: picked by the reds in the 11th round of that june 2005 first-year player draft. the 1-2 to kearns. checked swing. did he go through, yes he did. and that is the end of the inning. and the nationals threaten but can't get that tying run across. w

. >> bob: 98th pitch of the game by matt garza, fouled away by josh willingham. inning number 6 underway. well, the rays, as i mentioned, never had a winning season until they won 100 games last year, never had more than 71. i think nats fans can take a lot of hope from what we are talking about here tonight with the fact that you can struggle but if you draft well, and have a plan, and stick to it and have good scouts, you can succeed at the major league level. and, again, if these guys can win the american league east, any team in baseball can win any division. because nobody else has to deal with the yankees and the red sox, no other division. 1-1 to josh who has struck out and flied out. that is in there, 1-1. >> rob: he just pumped the ball in there. >> bob: 93 miles per hour. >>ob: over and over like a machine. he gave up 3 runs in the 1st inning and nothing since then. >> bob: craig stammen, though, up to the ta. >> bob: that's. >> rob: that's where you really measure yourself against the best. i think that's one of the best 25 or younger in the league. st

our condolences to the entire willingham family. joshball club today to go down this morning to be with his family and just tragic news. manny acta, bob carpenter and rob dibble were talking about it. you can imagine, if you as a manager had to go through something like this during your days, how absolutely torn apart the entire organization is. >> johnny, there's i did have it a couple of times, when members of our family, someone close to them passed, one of our players passed, in spring training, a minor league player. words just aren't enough to express the sadness and the condolences and you know the pain that a little 27-year-old young man is just ripped from us. adenhart gone, and josh, such a sensitive guy, we've seen him so many times with his little son rocco and close family. just terrible. >> manny acta a few minutes ago kind of puts things in perspective when you think about baseball and how fragile life is. let's go back down to tropicana field, manny acta was talking about this loss tonight, talking in particular about tha

. >> bob: josh willingham hit by five pitches this year to lead the team. >> rob: real speed. so you think you can play in the big leagues? first, you have to get over that fear of 90 by your head. >> bob: willingham was hit -- that's a breaking ball hit foul, outside third. they are the florida version of the nats and orioles. they play each other every year home and home. >> >> bob: look at what. >> rob: look at what the marlins did last year, won 84 game with 22 million. they evaluated a lot of their minor league system and when they made the juan pierre trade, they got a lot of players from the cubs. that's another way that the indians, rays, marlins have to do business. >> bob: that's a slider just a little bit high. 2-1. joe beimel. >> rob: joe b. >> bob: first save in two years yesterday. >> rob: joe b-eimel. >> bob: the bullpen set up if the nats can take the lead here. willingham seeing a fastball he thought he could lift. and the count's even 2-2. >> rob: last pitch after an elevated breaking ball. an elevated fastball. probably going to go way down and away. willing

and the nationals got josh willingham today. he wanted everybody to know how much he appreciated the expressions of sympathy and love for his family he has received this week. he says it has been a very difficult time his mom and dad left on a vacation yesterday to get out of town, just for a change of scenery. that was josh's only sibling that he lost when his brother was killed last week in that tragic accident. a swing and a miss. two outs. all right. rob dibble came up with it first. we have some numbers to support t winningest manager, we think it's bobby cox. >> rob ha-ha. >> bob: he averaged 89 wins a year for four years. good question, guys. that was a change-up. >> bob: yep. we weren't sitting dead red on that one. fastball up and away. scutaro 0-for-2, flyball into right and to first. detwiler drops a beauty of a change-up in there, 83 miles per hour. the count is even at 1-1. >> rob: he had not thrown a lot of them tonight. i like it when our pitchers don't throw one of their out pitches until they really, really need

josh willingham right there. so the d rays -- well, now they are just the rays -- tied the game.d it off followed by nick johnson and then ryan zimmerman. ♪ (tucci) more bars in more places. at&t. the best coverage worldwide. buy the lg xenon messaging phone for 99.99 after mail-in rebate and get one free after mail-in-rebate. now that college is a few years behind me, it seems i've got three times the bills i used to. and they're getting in the way of things i'd like to do. with the money bar, i can move my money around instantly, so when there's more bills than usual, it's no problem. and i use the wish list to put any extra money aside for anything i want. being in control of my money feels good. introducing the virtual wallet from pnc, a high-definition, online view of your money. pnc. leading the way. . >> bob:  nationals baseball masn, brought to you by southwest airlines. book your next trip on southwest.com and by pnc bank. pnc, leading the way. downtown st. petersburg on a friday night here in the middle of june. it's a 3-3 game now. this ballgame into the late innin

josh willingham is scheduled to rejoin the nationals tomorrow. after a week off, it might take josh a while to be ready to go out and as rob says grind out for or five at-bats. when he's ready, this might be kearns role on this ball club unless he really starts lighting it up that. ball high in the air deep center. how far? it is up against the wall caught by vernon wells! eerily similar to the distance kearns hit in new york last night. it's 1-1 still into the seventh. they're all around us. which is why pnc created grow up great. a $100 million program that prepares young children for school. and the world they'll inherit.... sooner than you think. pnc. leading the way. at jeep, we build skyscrapers. we build fish finders. we build battery chargers. we build base camps. we build transporters. we build sanctuaries. we build the technologically advanced jeep grand cherokee. come see what we've built for you.

. >> byron: josh willingham of the nationals had the flu, that viral bug a couple of weeks ago. yesterday talked so much about it. today very impressive performance for josh at the plate and in the field. >> ray: he is swinging the bat well. he hit the ball real hard. he ends up walking. gets a base hit. a little breaking ball off the end of his bat. that is what happens when you are going good. he gets a nice hard rocket to left field for his second base hit of the game. line-drive in the 1st inning and he had a walk in there also. >> byron: facing some american league teams coming up. adam dunn throughout dh spot and nick johnson back to first. josh will get plenty of starts the next six games. >> ray: he will. i think manny said adam dunn will be hitting in the dh spot the whole time. maybe that will relax him. he is late on the ball. he is popping up a lot to left field. let getting started late. i don't know if he is tired. he has played a lot of ballgames. being at dh i was able to do that with the orioles back in 1987 for the first time in my career. i liked it as on as i

. >> bob: josh willingham made the good pick on his foul ball. on the first pitch that shairon martis threw that, ball stayed down for adam dunn. orioles are done in the sixth inning.   >> bob: celebrate the fourth of july weekend next week at nationals park, the braves are coming in. saturday, first of 20,000 fans receive many u.s. flags. sunday, family fun day. post-game the kids get to run the bases. you can buy your tickets anytime. top 7, still a one run game. hard throwing right-hander jim johnson is next for the orioles. >> jim p.: on his birthday, he comes in with a one run lead. he does have a great sinker coming off a good road trip. he just turned 26 today, 6'5". born in new york. lives down in sarasota. wants to be a carpenter if he didn't play baseball. handy around the house. if you're dave trembley and you want to bring him in. >> jim h.: three scoreless innings in the interleague series at nationals park last month. >> jim p.: he's got a big curveball and a change-up, he's probably u

whaling josh willingham leads off for the nats. he's been hot lately and he's on a six-game hitting streak. 1-1 after three. our 737s fly to over 65 cities across the country every day. woman over p.a.: this is your final boarding call. all passengers... each with an average speed of 590 miles per hour.

. >> rob: i think the lack of production from austin kearns, if josh willingham gets back to swinging the bat as hot as he was, that gives him the versatility to be in the lineup every day. >> johnny: will nieves the fourth hit of the night for washington. line drive to center field so the nats get a runner on with two down.  and willingham will hit >> rob: i like him. i talked to him a couple years ago. first time i had to go back to cincinnati since we won the world series. new owners, cas ski leany. arthur rose, having a fantastic year. >> and he'll be getting the call here too. >> got my glove. >> rob: that's something to talk about. sometimes you know, obviously his change up is his out pitch. got to make it work. got to try to get through the lineup three, four times, that's what you're paid to do. >> johnny: so he'll pitch for jason bergmann, takes a breaking ball outside, willingham two homers, driven in 12 in the last 15 games he has played going back to may 16th he has been very productive, .448 on-base percentage. hardrd to be all of

josh willingham and austin kearns and wil nieves will see what they can do. willingham in left field, out six games because of the stomach virus. went 0-3 last night and 0-4 his last two ballgames. josh playing right field for the first time in his career last night. i'm sure if you were to ask him, he would say it is a different experience in right field. wide open stance for the left fielder. line-drive and phillips has it. one quick out. there's five different flex plans to choose from. enjoyibility national flexible -- enjoy ultimate flex blth. for more information -- flexibility. for more information call 1-888-632-nats or visit nationals.com/grand slam. called strike one to austin kearns. catches the outside corner of the plate. kind of waiting for kearns to break out too, rob. >> rob: yeah. austin has been battling himself all year. trying to change stances and stuff like that. it is hard to carry that over into the game when you are working on making adjustments. just kind of let everybody get out of his head, go back to what got him to the major leag

willie harris in center, elijah dukes a lot more speed in right field today, josh willingham getting the start in left field. hernandez is over there at second now, nick johnson back at first base, guzman at short. a lot of speed out there. zimmerman at third base over there. getting the start today, john lannan, from new york. >> jim h.: born on long island. went to college at ciena which is up near albany. >> rob: had a chance to talk to his high school baseball coach when he was up in new york. he's a leader, he's got a big heart. i love watching this kid pitch. doesn't have the best stuff, but he's got the best approach. >> jim p.: but 88 to 93, that should get a lot of guys out if you can command your stuff. we all know he's got a good change-up. >> jim h.: looking at his numbers from last year, he went 9 and 15 and an e.r.a. of 3.91 and not seeing him all the time, the first wonder is how the heck can you go 9 and 15 with that impressive an e.r.a. markakis lifts it to left field. it hung up there just long enough for him and two men down. so markakis is retired and two away. he