the reasons josh bard is swinging the bat so good might be the hitting coach of the nationals, rick ecksteinr caught up with him a few minutes ago. >> rick, you have had such a knack for being able to personalize your approach to the different individual hitters. how difficult is that to do? >> it's not easy. it takes time to sit down with each individual and go through a game plan and go through an approach, a swing approach, and then the daily maintenance on that, then you go back and make your adjustments and, so it's a constant process of communication and work ethic and putting it together in the games. >> this season has been difficult at times, but some bright spots, and cristian guzman is one guy who is fourth in the majors in hitting and just what are you seeing with him at the senate. >> cristian is a very good hitter in his own right. he's aggressive and he's aggressive in the strike zone, and, you know, probably the biggest at tribute that cristian does is it never changes. when he's in situations, when he's leading off an inning or coming up with runners in scoring position or,

and it was brutal. >> rick eckstein there fighting for the nats in a 3-2 loss for the reds. look at the draft picks, stephen strasburg the number 1 with a bullet for the nats and we break down the reds game number 1. stay there. welcome to chili's. something new is on the grill. try chili's new fire-grilled quesadillas, starting at just $6.99. like our bacon-ranch chicken quesadilla, flame-grilled tortillas layered with all white meat chicken, applewood smoked bacon, jack cheese, and ranch dressing. they're crispy on the outside, melted to perfection on the inside. you've never tasted quesadillas like this before. new fire-grilled quesadillas, starting at just $6.99. only at chili's. we've got a ton of stuff we've gotta pay for. and a few things we want to pay for. on top of it all, we're still trying to put away some money for the future. with the wish list, we can save up for anything we want. and still have enough to cover the day-t0-day. plus, the savings engine helps our money grow. and that's something we need and want. introducing the virtual wallet from pnc, a high d

rick eckstein told me austin kearns is so close to getting hits.s really pleased with some of his at-bats this past road trip. he hit that ball last night 405 feet that brent gardener caught up against the wall injuring himself. so, eckstein is not at all reluctant to see austin kearns in there hacking. if he says so, that's good enough for me because he can tell when a hitter is just about getting back to where he should be. now it's 3-0. i think rick is one of those guys who really takes it personally when his guys aren't going well. he's going to do anything he can to get it going. >> rob: let's check out carlson's delivery now. if you're at first base, if that front foot crosses that line, you can take off because he will be going to the plate. right there he's just on that border. you want to -- you don't want to take off because then he can throw to first. then, you see if he does a balk move and does bring that front leg behind the rubber and that imaginary line he cut it off by walking towards the run you are -- runner. kind of a little bit

rick eckstein to the left. >> rob: the last pitch right here, that pitch is way low and that's the reaction from the bench.   . >> johnny: he couldn't be it when he was called out on strikes, neither could austin kearn, that is the ball game. the nationals can't get a run in the bottom of the ninth inning and cincinnati holds on to win this ball game. and they are still barking at andy fletcher from that national's budget. well for rob dibble and debbie taylor i'm johnny holiday, the nationals and reds continue this series tomorrow. nats extra, visit nats for all the news from the nationals. this has been a presentation of masn. hangs on to beat washington 3- 2. stay tuned for nats extra postgame coming up right now.    it didn't s low, you can't, there is no way you can call that pitch a strike. that may be the, i'm not one to say much about the strike zone but that pitch right there was solo there is no way you can swing at that ball. that ball looks like it is on the dirt. i don't know if he g

he's the one guy i see walking around the tunnels downstairs with rick eckstein more than anybody else. he's spending a lot of time with our hitting coach. >> bob: broke his bat. lines out softly to 2nd. nats go quickly in the top of the 6th. detwiler quickly back to work with pena leading off. papa's in the house! how about some papa john pizza! ( cheering ) papa's got something for every taste. the meats-- loaded with 5 real meats. or our tuscan six cheese. your choice-- just $10.99 each for a large. ( chanting ) papa john's! the meats or tuscan six cheese-- $10.99 each. group shouting: better ingredients! better pizza! papa john's! whoo! >>> this is corey patterson o the washington nationals. thanks to our united states army that protects and defends orofacial everyday. >> bob: we head to the 6th with the nationals leading the rays 4-2. he worked for the salem angels back in 92. who was his manager? joe maddon, manager of the tampa bay rays. a writer was talking about him and how bad he was. maddon came by and said you are not allowed to come back us anymore this season. at the en

. >> rob: once again, steve mccatty and rick eckstein, control what you can control. if you can get three outs, get six outs, do that and hold your head up. it is just a question right now of some well pitched innings by the cincinnati reds pitchers. it has been a well fought series by the nationals. >> johnny: dead ball just foul down the 3rd base line. when you look at tavarez's resume, he was born in the dominican republic. started off with cleveland. went the san francisco, colorado, the cubs, pittsburgh, the cardinals, the red sox, the braves, milwaukee and he is still pitching. and still pitching effectively. grounded to second. alberto gonzalez an to first and there's one away -- on to first and there's one away in the 8th. follow the nats with our i touch. it features video aye lights and live -- highlights and audio broadcasts. visit nationals.com on your iphone on the ipod touch to purchase. a lot of nationals fans hanging around to see if this ball club can pull this out, tying it up for a run and take the lead and snap this three-game losing streak. brando

there's rick eckstein. >> bob: nationals are down, if you will, to number eight in the league in batting average at .257. they were hitting in the .270 range for quite a while. manny acta's ball club, second or third in the league in runs for a while now down to number 10. lately, the pitching has rescued that and josh bard has a four-pitch walk. both hitters that tallet walked tonight have been on four pitches. celebrate father's day at nationals park. nats-jays, 1:35. first 10,000 fans 18 and up receive that great-looking gym bag free. it's presented by geico. free pregame autographs and after the game kids run the bases this sunday. willie harris. willie bounced out to the second baseman first time up. willie struggling with the bat. it hasn't affected his defense that's for sure. not like him to be 2-30. that ball gets by lyle overbay. bard heading for third. harris digging for second. alex rios digs it out and pat listach does need to hold him and he's still going to hold as the ball rolls across the infield. i mean, alex rios is a good right fielder with a good arm. it's hard to an

. >> rob: one thing i talked to the pitching coach about today and rick eckstein is you control what go out there and do your job. pitch your 6, 7 innings. come in your one inning in relief. you can't worry about everything else that is going on around you and try to do everybody else's job. >> johnny: just do your own job. zimmerman fouls it back out of play again. 1-0 ballgame in the bottom of the third. bob carpenter back with rob tomorrow night when they head to tampa. a weekend series against the rays. good crowd on hand today. >> rob: got a souvenir. he is out on summer break. comes to a ballgame. >> johnny: some of our injured servicemen and women from the versus walter reed and bethesda naval introduced to the fans. zimmerman draws a walk. that is 4th base on balls issued by micah owings. let's take a look back about 8 years ago. 2001 when adam dunn with the reds got his first career homerun. that is where i used to make a living. >> rob: old river front next to where they built great american ballpark. >> johnny: and marty still doing it down to our right. >> rob: down

have you talked to rick eckstein about the approach or change of approach or trying something different i think it is not necessarily one thing. i think some guys are being too aggressive and going after the first pitch. some guys are maybe waiting for the perfect pitch and not getting it. more than anything else, major league pitchers are going to give you probably 1 pitch per at-bat that is going to be a hittable pitch. they are just not taking advantage of it. they are not getting that done. especially early in games it seems like. we talk about in the 8th and 9th inning they have had had their chance. how many times have we looked at the 1st inning and said they had the bases loaded and couldn't finish it. >> ray: a bunch. >> or maybe they score one run and can't get the second across. that is what is hurting them. >> byron: mark, thank you so much from the washington times. the reporter watching the nationals offense and they are hoping it changes today. nick johnson is going to sit down 0-12? his last three games. josh willingham moving to left field. micah owings and john lannan

.  >>> nats hitting coach rick eckstein admits this team is struggling with their situationalhitting. the nats are hitting only .236 with runners in scoring position. >> to get that crucial hit with runners in scoring position and deliver that knockout punch, a lot of times guys, their heart's in the right place where you're wanting to do it so bad, but emotionally you have to stay under control. you have to work and get a good pitch to do it on and take control of the moment. >> adam dunn told me, too, that when hitters try too hard, sometimes they swing at pitches they shouldn't, so it's key they keep that same approach. >> jim h.: thank you very much. good to have debbi taylor with us here at camden yards. >> jim p.: there it is, the invisible fastball. looks like it's moving today. he's got a couple of fastballs at the middle of the plate to zimmerman. >> rob: the one thing that i see, he's got very slow and delivered mechanics, then the ball explodes out of his hands. when you're throwing 95, you just kind of slowly, bang. >> jim h.: through the middle, the breaking ball

. >> working with rick eckstein or shortening the body movement, does that help you see pitches better? that's what manny said. >> yeah, it wasn't really anything mechanical. i hit some balls hard during that stretch that were caught and it is just kind of bad luck at the same time. maybe, you know, you get out a few times and in the case of trying to do -- try to do too much every new and then. other than that you don't really change too much, just ride it out and keep working hard. >> finally this team has play sod well? interleague, especially the yankee series and even the red sox. what do you hope to do this weekend against the orioles? >> i think, you know, we're a young team that has just gotten better as the years have gone on. we're kind of hitting our stride. this is the best we have played all year and it just so happens to be in the interleague. hopefully we can continue to do what we have been doing and pitch well and play good defense and get our timely hits and continue to do it for the rest of the year and not just in interleague. >> thank you very much. ryan zimmerman.

eckstein. yesterday, you talk about adam balls. he's been hitting some balls right at people. >> jim p.: that's what rick said today. big part of the ballpark. last year may be home runs, this year fly balls to the warning track. >> bob: the last time austin kearns had an rbi was with a pinch-hit double against the dodgers in l.a. on may 7th. so he went one month and 20 days without an rbi and here's alberto gonzalez. >> rob: the thing the nationals did so well in the first month is get two out base hits. so many two out base hit rbi's and it's almost been like six weeks since they were hitting like that. and they need to get that back into their approach with two outs. you've just got to put the ball in play. >> bob: what gonzalez needs to do here, he takes a breaking ball off the plate. gonzalez came into this game hitting .405 over the last three and a half weeks. i just talked to mike rizzo, mike loves the way he handles himself at shortstop. he said if he got a chance to play more he'd be a very good second baseman, even though he only spells hernandez there occasionally, he is still considered an above average