ryan zimmerman batted cleanup last night.so, when he went deep, rob, he was leading off the second. >> rob: he has just been swinging the bat really well in the last few games because he's cutting it loose. right there, he gets it on the sweet spot. probably didn't even phil feel it he think so well on thesecond deck. you heard somebody yell "got him." you know when he got it that quick, he got awful it. >> bob: so, that was his 90th hit. he's sixth in the league with that. i like the symmetry to his numbers. when he got his 90th hit, he scored his 50th run. count is even, 1-1. fly ball pitchers giving up fiv home runs in his first 41 major league innings. zimmerman rocks that one to left. probably hit that ball as hard as he hit the home run last night. he's aboard for adam dunn with two outs in the first. >> rob: for west, he's lucky it wasn't a little bit on the upperpart of the bat or it would have been a home run. every time a guy hits a ball hard, it's just a fragment or a fraction of a millimeter or milliliter from bei

ryan zimmerman has to be hungry for another chance. he's 0-4 tonight. he's actually hit right-handers better this year. the winning run is on base. a lot of the bottom of the ninths for relievers fall apart when there's a leadoff walk. i'm not saying this is going to happen but over the years the last couple of years, ryan zimmerman has been a great bunter. if he bunts, he takes the bat out of done dunn's hands and the pitcher -- adam dunn's hands and the pitcher's due up next. zimmerman has to be hacking here unless he can guarantee manny acta he can bunt for a base hit. short lead by nick at first. that's up and in. >> rob: you don't need to bunt if he's going to walk you. >> bob: this is one of those situations where if somebody first-pitch swings, you would just look at them and say what are you thinking? alberto gonzalez for the pitcher two spots away. >> rob: what is he like 5-5 as a pinch-hitter? >> bob: we'll look it up. >> rob: you haven't gotten that far? >> bob: no. >> rob: oh, man. >> bob: gorman is not having a good night. >> rob: i'm telli

to me, if i'm pitching, that is a good information pitch because i know now that ryan zimmerman can hit my slider. it wasn't a horrible slider, but i know he can hit that pitch. it is good for ryan because he gets on and bergesen, he understands what zimmerman can do and what he can't do. >> rob: and what his approach is at the plate. so the next time up i want to jam the heck out of him, throw the hard sinker and see what he can do with that. that's what i have talked to a lot of our younger pitchers to about, listen, jordan zimmermann who did a great job last night, you throw a 95 metropolitan fastball, until someone shows you they can hit that, why are you going to your second, third, fourth pitch? make that guy bet you -- beat you off your best pitch first. >> and half good, our number one draft choice, he said what happens if you get a guy out on three fastballs out the first time? what do you do? i said throw him three fastballs again. you're not going to bray, it is not an audition. -- broadway. it is not an audition. there are a couple of basic premises, if you're a hitter you n

what we really need is ryan zimmerman. without him right before dunn makes things very difficult and he kind of hurt this club big time early in the ball game, first and second, no outs. not moving those guys over to second and third. things kind of went into a tailspin for the team after that. ryan zimmerman, i think he needs a day off tomorrow very badly, and that will refresh him. then you've got the red sox coming in. so as they say in soccer, nick johnson, the man of the match today. he was really great all weekend long. >> when you look at what's gone on, basically week after week, nationals pitchers two outs, struggle getting the third out. they get two strikes on the guy and struggle to get the third strike or at least get the guy out. i mean, it seems like it's over and over again. >> you're dead right with that one. you need ultimate concentration to work ahead, get your team back in there and that's one of the. the next time we visit with you, get ready. i hear there's going to be a lot of navy blue ball caps wi

up and away to ryan zimmerman who is an original nat. >> rob: richardi is a very busy manager. >> bob he's a wheeler dealer. >> rob: he is. >> bob: one on, one out. zimmerman at .310. 2-0. interesting about ryan. this year he's hitting .335 against right-handed pitchers. so, you figure he must murder lefties. you don't see lefties that often. then, you're facing guys like this who is so -- who are so hedeceptive. rite ryan's batting average against lefties considerably lower than that .335. >> rob: especially against a good changeup lefty like this guy or johan santana. those pitchers will do better against righties than lefties because lefties take the changeup away from a left- handed pitcher. >> bob: a couple of interleague battles already significant today. the indians-cubs at wrigley are 7-7 in the 10th inning. -- inning. most of the other games just under way. milwaukee has a 3-0 lead over detroit and the braves from our division lead 1-0 at fenway park. 2-1 to zimmerman. off the end of the bat. that's why it's going to stay in the park. adam lind for the second out. >> rob: and

ryan zimmerman has had a frustrating series, 0-for-4 tonight. last night, 0-for-5. he is 0- for-9 with a walk and three strikeouts. >> rob: scott richmond is now in the game, so. >> bob: 29-year-old starter from north vancouver, canada. >> rob: an extra inning affair out of the bullpen. >> bob: that's a good pitch. boy, i tell you, if i'm sitting behind those guys. >> rob: they were just down there, and don't give them any more time than they need or deserve. they have the little brooms out, they are sweeping off behind there. i mean i have to say they are very original. >> bob: i would have had the spit ball shooter out by about the 5th inning last night. >> rob: they would never be able to get away with that in places like fenway. people are too kind here in washington. >> bob: zimmerman strikes out here. what happened to jesus colome? >> debbi: he probably has a strained quad. probably day-to-day, bob. >> bob: and then tavarez came up. i would love to see adam dunn swing at anything that's close in this at-bat. he does not need our advice but adam did strike out

gets ahead of ryan zimmerman, 0- 1. he was looking fastball and he swung through it. >> jim p.: that's that well located fastball. it was out of the middle of the plate with a little bit of giddyup on it. >> jim h.: david hernandez has always been a strikeout pitcher coming up through the minor leagues. popped foul, wide of first. huff hoping for a play but it stays in the stands. that's a strike for 0-2. he had 614 strikeouts in 530 innings in the minor league. >> rob: very impressive. >> jim p.: i struck out 14 back on the 22nd of may. on the year, 3-2 with a very low earned run average. not a lot of run support down at triple-a norfolk. >> rob: the one thing i do like, 18 walks. not just a power pitcher. >> jim p.: i watch his windup. he's one of these guys that fans on the first base side. pretty good balance. >> jim h.: high fly ball, right center field, chasing jones back but he has a play. adam has it for the out. let's welcome in amber. >> the orioles minor league catching coordinator has been up with the club.

the bat of ryan zimmerman. >> bob: ryan with two rbi's tonight.followed with a bases loaded grounder in the third. at that time the nats led 2-0. >> rob: randy choate still throwing, getting ready for adam dunn, if need be. >> bob: i'm sure adam will be crazy about that match-up the way that guy throws. adam dunn, 0 for 3 tonight. and 1 for 4 with two walks in the series. he had a base hit for an rbi and two walks last night. fastball up and zimmerman late for it. the count is 2-2.

ryan zimmerman, 1-for-2 tonight. it will be zimmerman with his great grandmotherwatching followed by that old guy dunn and the young guy dukes. try chili's new fire-grilled quesadillas, starting at $6.99. flame-grilled tortillas layered with chicken, bacon, cheese, and ranch. crispy on the outside, melted perfection on the inside. new fire-grilled quesadillas. only at chili's. . >> bob: nationals baseball brought to you by southwest airline. book your next trip on southwest. brought to you by ge, imagination at work. st. petersburg is a beautiful town. not exactly a beautiful baseball park but a useful one with the roof and, no, i would not want to be outside in florida tonight. it was a sizzler today. 85th of the game by matt garza and he misses against ryan zimmerman. you see this from outside and you can't really tell but the roof slants. how far is it going? far enough to be run down by b. j. upton. i guess they figure that nobody can hit the roof in the outfield so the roof slants down. it looks like the lean

until august the 15th. >> rob: a win would put a cherry on top of that. >> johnny: zimmerman, base hit to left field. ryanturn, go for second. here is the throw and zimmerman in standing up with a double. >> rob: nice.   . >> johnny: and the nats hav got the tying run at second base.  . >> rob: zimmerman gets a fan right here, just pokes it back up the middle but he hits it hard enough into left center field, wind up on second base with a little bit of hustle. so zimmerman hustling all night tonight pays off. >> johnny: we saw him hustle that last time up on that fielder's choice. he was able to beat it out. ryan at second base, one out here in the bottom of the seventh inning. don will be up for the fourth time tonight, he flew out to babe ruth's in right in the fourth inning. 17 homers, 44 driven in. arthur rhodes delivers and it's low for a ball.   0-9 is dungeons roads. >> rob: ouch. ho ho. well time to either get a hit or a homer. ffer  . >> johnny: the outfield straight

. >> rob: this is an outstanding play right here by ryan zimmerman. airmailed the ball earlier in the ballgame. he puts that behind him right there. he knows i have got a very fast brandon phillips coming down the line. actually on the inside and he hits adam dunn right here. that could have been a nasty collision. >> johnny: jonny gomes for the reds will step in. >> rob: that is the thing. you have to get rid of the ball quickly as an infielder and knowing who is at the plate is part of situational baseball. that is fundamental stuff. gomes takes a ball. >> johnny: tavarez hoping to make it a one, two, three, 8th inning. nobody on and outfield playing it straight away. not too deep either. takes a strike on the outside corner. 92 on the gun for that pitch from tavarez. gomes with a .323 batting average. no homeruns this year. and only 6 rbis. a late swing at a fastball. and it is one ball and two strikes. >> rob: see him trying to get pitch reck nation. gets it a lit -- recognition. gets it a little bit late. back up slider you lucky is not over the

listen to somebody holler got 'em when ryan zimmerman hits the ball. he centered that one, and the coors light freeze cam centered that one. that went into the second deck. and now it's a souvenir. run around, they'll get it. got a little jack from dunn. that was funny. >> bob: diaz is a stays in to replace coghlan in the left field. with the rain falling, top of the ninth. dan meyer, a rather inexperienced closer. especially has one major league save. it's for the marlins this year. >> bob: it's possible he could get the first two hitters, then nunez could come in to face zimmerman because he's warming up. fredi gonzalez is mix and matching his bullpen here with matt lidstrom on the d.l. >> rob: he loves room service. >> bob: 27-year-old lefty. two games for atlanta in 04, oakland in 07-08. guzman flies one out of play. cristian guzman has to lay off of that pitch. he's not going to hit it out of the ballpark. the nats need him slashing ground balls and line drives. >> rob: don't help this kid. he's going to throw one chest high to you, let it go. >>

san francisco, that's when you played the same team in your division 18 times, a nice play by ryan zimmermanugh hop off the dirt in front of home plate, plenty of time. >> johnny: boy, zimmerman just having another tremendous year. especially that hitting streak he had where nobody could get him out. >> rob: 30 straight games is just a phenomenal hitting streak, and it wasn't just a cheapy, 1 for 4 every night, the last 10 games he raised his batting average 60 points and he was hitting the heck out of the ball right at the end. and getting back to your, the reds having trouble here, we were 0-9 in three different trips into san francisco at candlestick park. so sometimes it's just, you know, certain ball park, a certain team has your number, right now they don't play the nationals a lot and dusty baker trying to change things. a different ball club, much better pitching than he has had in the past. >> johnny: johnny hairston jr. led the reds, 25 runs scored, comments in with a batting average of .252, stole four bases, one down, johnny holiday in for bob carpenter tonight. shot to center fi

how about this, ryan zimmerman and milledge tied for homeruns for the season. already. >> johnny: zimmerman's got 11. >> rob: he makes everyone around him better. he is like joey bott with the reds. -- votto with the reds. >> johnny: homerun age 4 in tee ball. i hit my first homerun at age 32 also in tee ball. >> rob: how do you hit a homerun in tee ball? over the fence? it is ante at home plate. -- it is on a tee at home plate. >> johnny: you have a lot of young kids in the outfield that can't run and can't catch the ball and thing bring the ball in. i guess. >> rob: anyway, adam's got to be good -- [audio indiscernible]. >> johnny: imposing figure at 6'6"290. but i don't think you will meet a nicer guy on this ball club than adam dunn. 2-0 fastball. gonzalez at 1st base. adam's numbers for his career. .347, 295 homeruns and 716 driven in. in three of these years in cincinnati, over a hundred rbis in 2004 and 5 and 2007. rob, when you think about 46, 40, 40, 40, 32, his homerun years -- >> rob: in arizona it was 40 last year. so, he has five straight seasons wi

the other thing about ryan zimmerman. he did dh1 game. he never gets a day off. at ball will be hooking well foul. y hit that ball off the end of the bat. >> tomorrow might really help ryan get away from it for a day. >> absolutely, and i mean really get away from it. go to the movies for three straight to get your mind away from it. >> and then come in tuesday and do your work. >> absolutely. we've said this when things really start to go bad for the nationals, dunn wasn't gets a day off, zimmerman wasn't getting a day off because you have to keep your best players out there to try to scratch off wins. >> it's easy to manage your lineup when you're 15 games over .500. manny has never had that luxury. clubbing and scratching every night. 0-2 to dunn now. romero is about to go through seven innings, fanned five, walked three, erased one of those with a double play, but only given the nationals two singles and one double since the 2-run second inning. so he's shut them down. he gets dunn with a fastball. nats had a man on with one out. that's it. on to the 8th innin

ryan zimmerman high-fiving his boys. they prepare to head of to tampa bay. smiles in the dugout for the nationals. 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. for the next minute, i'm gonna show you what it's like to have verizon fios. these are your widgets, they let you put whatever you're watching down here, while you check out local traffic, weather, even your news up there. i've got a news flash you're out of mayo. how did you get in here? door was open. you'd have tons of ways for you to search for content: by actor, director, any word at all. what about chicken? chicken's fine. any word. no i mean do you have any chicken? i want to eat som

ryan zimmerman makes a great play, then falls over the mound. nick johnson getting a night off with a bad foot, a bad shin. i told him before the game, i said, you know what, nick, i said i think you're just going to start hitting every part of your body so you can't hit off the pitchers anymore. he just laughed. >> jim p.: if he was a race horse, they'd give him a lethal injection. >> rob: they'd have to put him down. >> bob: not our nick. here is brian roberts, having a very unusual series. he's 0 for 7 with one walk and four strikeouts. >> jim p.: then he got robbed the last time, gonzalez making a terrific play. >> 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

here's ryan zimmerman, 1 for 2 in the cleanup spot today. mmerman hit cleanup in 15 ballgames, 60 at-bats for frank robinson back in 06. so better than an rbi a game. >> jim p.: does it really make a difference. when we faced him last time, wasn't johnson hitting second. it's the same progression. so you talk, and we know. >> rob: we know. >> bob: i think a lot of it depends on who is giving who protection. >> jim p.: that's the point i was trying to makeo  that doesn't really >> rob: he got a double. then your gave up the home run pitch to dunn. >> bob: beyond that is the resurgence of josh willing he's really hitting the ball well. he's getting up around .270. it took him about a month and a half to get off the interstate. that was a hanger. zimmerman hits a garber off the glove of salazar who did a good job of hanging with it. should be a base hit. zimmerman would be twofor three. >> jim p.: hohocorner. what did ritchie allen say? >> rob: this is a seed, salazar knocks it down. ryan zimmerman, boy, he smelle hit, all of a sudden he kicks

ryan zimmerman, who is 0-5, gets another chance nick johnson on base for the sixth time tonight. >> bob: a huge spot for zimmerman. struck out with the bases loaded looking. strung struck out one on, one out swinging. chance to make up for those two bad ab's and get an extra inning win for the nats. winning run is at second base. backup breaking ball hangs up and in. >> rob: right man in the right

>> rob: the thing we've found with nick, ryan zimmerman and adam dunn is sometimes they take too many pitches. they're so disciplined that in situations where you'd kind of like your guys swinging, they're walking. sometimes it's not that bad to walk your three, four, five guys. >> jim p.: if you're david hernandez, again, this is your third major league start, if you pitch around nick markakis and you're -- nick johnson, you're already trailing by a run, with one swing it can really change your numbers for the afternoon. >> bob: that ball a little bit high, jim joyce is not giving anywhere near a high strike today. >> rob: he's been missing with that curveball up all day. i don't think he was going to give it to him right there. >> jim p.: this is your hanger. >> rob: that was outside the

a pretty good shot from ryan zimmerman.me run number 12 for him this year. >> fastball down, just jumped all over it after two quick outs for sonnanstine. then hernandez sweet little drag bunt there. one of my favorite plays. >> guzman then singles to right field. johnson then walks. here's where we could break the game open. zimmermann swinging at a bad ball down. fortunately they weren't able to turn the double play. it wasn't hit hard enough. hernandez doubles in the 8th to left center field, drove that ball extremely well out there. i haven't seen that kind of power going that way. johnson singles to right. we weren't trying to score there. when you're up that many runs, you just kind of line it back, fire it back to the cut-off man. longoria as he loses the handle of the ball. then adam dunn, ground ball and double play. maybe 6-5-3 as they were playing the shift over. failing to do what we need to do in the third and the 8th. >> only batter to get more than one hit in the ballgame hernandez you see with the double. sc

ryan zimmerman digging for a one out double.that will be his 21st double of the year. >> jim p.: there's your perfect example of the different between the minor leagues. look where it is, middle of the plate. it does not fool quality hitters like ryan zimmerman. >> rob: here's the x-mo swing. i'm not a big proponent for change-ups to right-handed guys. >> jim p.: did i throw some long home runs, jim rice, i thought it was a good pitch until it was about halfway to home plate and i realized it was going to go a long way. it was so much better against lefties, but they just kind of put the front down and then hit it into the upper deck. >> bob: nationals have been retired 10 of 12 times a. lot of that last night. washington had five at-bats last night with the bases loaded, nobody out. they walked twice and hit three ground balls, two of them for double plays. you'd love to see a can of corn fly ball to an outfielder, wouldn't you? >> rob: yep, i tried to throw change-up but it was a dry splitter where i didn't hold the seams. i t

ryan zimmerman down at third. adam dunn in left with a .265 average. elijah dukes in right.l be catching tonight, willie harris in center, hanley ramirez at second and jordan zimmermann on the mound for the nationals -- anderson hernandez at second and jordan zimmermann on the mound for the nationals. they've won 8-10 ballgames and a three-game winning streak. >> there are two guys that kind of jump up aaron hill and adam lind. hill has 15 home runs. this is where their power is coming. from neither one of these guys have done a whole lot in terms of home runs previously. hill's career high with 17 home runs two years ago. lind's previous five was 11 the same year. these guys are locked in this year, seeing a lost good pitches and they're delivering. they both have batting averages over .300 and both outstanding defensive players. defensively, the toronto -- toronto is the best team in baseball. >> one thing about the blue jays, they're still very much contention in the american league east. third place behind the yankees and red sox. >> they're a game behind the yankees and

and ryan zimmerman has amazing range from that third base corner. >> jim: this one a good one. we have a great angle here and you can see zimmerman, what, about four steps. no two steps and a dive for ryan. jim, one thing you will never see, the ball go under his glove, even when he is son the move; he has the glue down coming up. that ball glanced off the thumb of his glove and it is first and second and one out. he really is a remarkable glove man at third base. >> jim: i was doing a game in detroit with brooks and alan trammell caught a ball and brooks was doing color and i was doing play-by-play, and he said the best fielding mechanics that i have seen the a long time. i said maybe we'll come back on the slow mo and now x-mo and you'll show us. and this is a guy with 16 gold gloves, brooks robinson. i used to have trouble keeping my glove down and they told me to lay it on the ground. you can always come up. you can't go down. >> bob: exactly. >> jim: to hear brooks talk about that. this is a guy that would go on to be the human vacuum cleaner and the mvp of the world series

ryan zimmerman in 2005. the starting third baseman.shot of ryan zimmerman, even guys like colton will leams, and they get a chance to fight through and play for potomac, and of course jimmy. and even guys like efforts who are still in the system as well. >> but morrell and will ems are still bakes, they are 20 years old, they could still be playing in college. we have got them developing and they have plenty of time. you see so often a guy who is a hotshot, takes him time to get ready for the big leagues. four years, you got to have around 500 innings or so minimally. you don't see too many jordan zimmer man's that come up with 100 plus innings and you are in the big leagues. >> the hold of the day brought to you by just a for men hair color. just for men m.l.b. holds st. louis in the top spot with 40, followed by new york, milwaukee, and we'll see who after this home stand, the tampa bay bay rays. weather permitting the nationals and the reds game coming up after this. l right. - it's on. - totally on. jimmy, it's on. - it's on. - oh,

it sounds a little bit like ryan zimmerman. >> bob: they called it just as we saw it, double and e.-7, no rbi's. >> rob: now you have to minimize damage. you have to get luke scott, pop him up, strike him out. you have to stop this big inning from happening right now. >> jim: and luke should be trying to hit from the left side, to make it easier for melvin mora who is, what, 150- some at-bats without a home run. a fly ball can score a run. the little thins, to me, when you watch detwiler and bergesen go at it, it doesn't look like it is going to be a high- scoring game unless the bullpens implode. it is the little things, situational hitting. you get the first guy out. bergesen is not certainly at the top of his game, but through the first four that has somewhat kept the nats in control. >> bob: two balls and a strike and a good fastball out on the half to even the count. >> rob: another thing i have noticed with our staff, jim sa guy will hit your best pitch and it will be a jam slot and they'll g away from it. oh, he hit that. sometimes you make great pitches, but they get paid to h

and ryan zimmerman at third. dunn will be in the clean-up spot tnt as the d.h.at left, elijah dukes at right. josh bard will catch and followed by willie harris and anderson hernandez. nick johnson, .419 on-base percentage this year. seven knot the national league. team batting average for washington, .259, tied for sixth in the national league. for the orioles, left fielder nolan reimold, his first career home run came off of mariano rivera for the yankees back on may 20th. he is among the american league leader force the triple counsel. the o's lineup tonight, brian roberts leads off at second. jones will be in center field, nick markakis, after four hits yesterday against the marlins, he'll be in right and then huff, reimold in left field, luke scott the d.l., -- d.h., mora and andino will be playing at shortstop. the team batting average for the o's is .270, and that is tied for sixth best in the american league. welcome back back. johnny holliday along with ray knight. it is nats' extra pre-game on masn brought to you by our friends at verizon wireless. we

we talked about this with ryan zimmerman waiting, waiting. you should be charging the ball. you wait with an open glove and it drops right in front of you. >> bob: tavarez deserves better. he pitched 1 1/3 inning. he should have retired five batters in a row. nats deeper into their bullpen now with ron villone.  >> bob: well, the momentu shifted just a bit. we'll see what ron villone can do about it. a adam lind up and a runner aboard. nobody out in the eighth. lind is 0-3. ron villone, a scoreless third of an inning in new york last night with a strikeout of matsui and a walk of jorge posada. and then tavarez came in, got a big out and nats went ton a 3-0 lead -- on to a 3-0 win. when the nationals gave up the run in the sixth inning, it ended a shut tching they hadn up a amon's solo home run in the bottom of the ninth inningwednesday night. adam lind fishing upstairs. 1-2.  alex rios next.   >> bob: th will  out behind anderson hernandez and then dukes will come in to call him off. that ball took a w

. >> bob: big spot early for ryan zimmerman, fifth in the league with 81 hits. ame last night. zimmerman 0-for-5 with a walk. but his walk in the 11th inning did set up adam dunn's walkoff hit. good speed out there, guzman at second, nick johnson behind him. they play zimmerman absolutely straight away in the outfield. that's outside. 1-1. by the way, the interleague ledger, american league 75, national league 66 including the two games from today. >> rob: it's getting a little tighter. >> bob: yeah, getting up there a little bit. another week to do something about it. and the nats have been doing their part the last few days for the senior circuit. the national league is a little older than the american league. >> rob: check out that last pitch. maybe trying to look too much. look at how far out that arm comes, shows the pitch to the hitter. there you see it from the side angle. >> bob: hitters like to focus on the release point and that's a long way to go with the eyes in a split second. 1-2 delivery. >> rob: it's a good thing with lefties and some of the bullp

leading the way. >> bob: bottom of the fourt coming up. >> rob: two rbi's so far by ryan zimmermanhat one on a home run, and then the story's really the elbow of jordan zimmermann, five strikeouts, 95- mile-per-hour fastball, great breaking balls, you saw that last 3-2 change-up to evan longoria with a man on third. the nats other run came on a bases loaded ground ball in the third. nats had the bases loaded, nobody out, settled for one run. so ryan and jordan doing quite well, andy sonnanstine giving up another home run. he's given up 14 of them this year. so now you're up to date and carlos pena hack as foul ball. to begin the bottom of the fourth inning. nationals by the way have austin kearns in the line-up tonight. you might have heard by now that the nats are without josh willingham. byron kerr will have more on that shortly. a tragedy in the willingham family, and josh left the ball club this morning to go back to alabama. we'll check in with byron shortly. pena, disoab rift, burrell. that ball is going to leave the yard, way out of here. almost to the scoreboard. and pena's

ryan zimmerman leading off. and then elijah dukes. >> rob: put up your dukes. >> johnny: right there. looks like a future national player. new pitcher for the cincinnati reds, carlos fisher who shut out 4 of his 5 opponents this year. 6 games in appearance. 1-0 record. e.r.a. of 2.45. 4 walks, 9 strikeouts. pitched against the cubs on sunday. facing four batters. 1 2/3 against chicago. and the nationals have got the number 3, 4 and 5 hitters in the line-up to face him. ryan zimmerman two balls and a strike. flew to left and walked and flew to right. rob, there's nothing to apologize for now with this nationals pitching. the starters and the bullpen. really on the same page and if the bats get in there well this, we'll be all right. shairon martis looking on. >> rob: a 1.04 e.r.a. in 14 games into the season. our pitching staff has really turned the corner. as i said today, steve mccatty issed howing these guy -- is holding these guys accountable for their performances. >> johnny: and zimmerman draws another walk

. >> rob: that home run in the first inning, the first one in june for ryan zimmerman. >> bob: we're almost halfway through the month. tried to pull that breaking ball away. and evan longoria never could get the handle on it. i don't know why he would peak at nick johnson, now they've given the nats a chance to get back in this game with adam dunn coming up. but he won't be facing the right-hander. >> rob: well, you can't take your eye off the ball. you saw him there. he peaked at nick. trying to sneak a peak at nick and it cost him and error. >> bob: i think that's a classic example of making a play more complicated than it was because the nats are down by five and nick johnson is not going anywhere. so the nats get a break. 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. >> bob: andy sonnanstine solid night. only one w

zimmerman. phillipss to to gonzalez. watch ryan hustle down that first base line. >> johnny: line.johnny. >> rob: let's see those 24-year- old legs run. good job by ryan zimmerman not being turned over in a double play.  . >> johnny: so zimmerman, johnson erased as a force at second and zimmerman on at first. there's one down in the bottom of the sixth. and a adam dunn with cincinnati, led in home runs in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008. in fact when ken griffey, jr. had 35 in '05 adam dunn had 40 with 101 runs driven in. for  and he can still get  done. cueto comes inside, two balls, no-strike count.  elijah dukes is on willie harris. zimmerman with a lead at first base. and it's 2-0. . >> rob: end of the nationals dugout. >> johnny: and tomorrow wired wednesday with manny acta. >> rob: he'll be on headset. we'll pepper him with questions in the third inning, he always likes that. but he does a great job. >> johnny: he sure doe

they didn't have ryan zimmerman or jesus flores and john lannan and jordan zimmerman. the '62 mets didn't have players like that. >> rob: detwiler and gonzalez and dukes. we have fabulous talent here. we have some holes. big deal. i would love to, you know, be where mike rizzo, stan casten and even manny acta saying we have to do this, do that, tighten it up. that's like rebuilding a ferrari. >> bob: 2-2 to willie who hacks one into the bullpen. >> bob: i think the '62 mets were summarized by one thing. their most valuable player was ricky ashden. they gave him a boat. it sank. >> rob: how would you like to be a pittsburgh pirates man. about 25 years ago when i played against them, they were one of the toughest teams. now nate mac lot goes to the braves. >> bob: i would be mad about that. willie harris made an out but he battled for about seven or eight pitches. now, garza is battling in the 100-pitch territory and he has not even pitched 6 innings yet. here is josh bard who is 1-for- 2. 110 pitches, 65 strikes. of course, in this league, you don't have to hit for the

here's zimmerman who took him way deep leading off the second. ryan pitch of the night. he'd only seen two pitches. homered on one, popped up on the other. >> rob: he gets a hard slider there. nolasco pulling another trick out of his magician's hat. he's got a lot of pitches, this kid. >> bob: usually that would indicate fastball, but he tried to go front door with another hook. >> rob: he dropped down, threw like a sidearm slider. >> bob: ronny paulino was considered a very good young defensive catcher when the pirates had him. he and john baker, left-handed batter the platoon here. ricky nolasco career, 31-27. his 62nd career start. he doesn't have that many more starts, about 11 more than john lannan. he did work out of the bullpen some. zimmerman takes another breaking ball out of play. this time right side, 2-2. john lannan, 52 starts now? took him 50 to get his 15th win. that was the one at yankee stadium. ross detwiler next to him. eight career starts. and then jordan zimmermann who will pitch her wednesday, detwiler friday at home when the bra

. >> bob: ryan zimmerman with a tap i.'s one thing i like about garza, that's old style pitching. one thing i like about garza is he only brings the change-up, the breaking ball when he needs an out. >> reporter: ryan zimmerman still in the top 5 in the league in patting average. this is turk into a long inning for matt garza. 13 pitches already, he has not registered an out. nick johnson got a full count and he pulled one to right field. fastball, taken way down and in, ball 2. zimmerman takes one at the knees and that's the first out of the game. >> rob: he has opinion changing eye level all of a sudden in the 1st inning, up, down, up, down. and then he comes in here 2, 2, right down broadway, at the knees and zim can't pull the trigger on that. >> bob: here is adam dunn. this weekend, and, of course, in new york in a role that many feel suits him the best of any and that's dh. because of the base runner, the rays, we'll see how they play it later if adam bats with nobody on but they are not employing anything even nearl

something, long before ryan zimmerman was a gleam in our eye. >> rob: that's his great grandmother?1. that is amazedding. >> i'm just hoping to be up right at 61. >> bob: well, 51 is the new 35. and a base hit to right field for b. j. upton. look out now. this is where the rays can get their base running going. they have a disrupter who stole 18 and they have a disrupter in the batter's box who has stolen 35. crawford bounced tout anderson hernandez up the middle, first time. upton holding. best defense against that, getting ahead in the count. strikes 1. so these two have combined for 53 steals and they only have been caught eight times. >> that total is probably more than 24 teams in baseball. >> quick release, safe at second is b. j. upton. josh bard got rid of that ball in a hurry and that's number 19 for b. j. >> you want your catcher, you see that josh bard getting ready to fire the ball, does a great job, great throw up there. you can't teach speed. b. j. upton is one of the fastest players in the big league. >> once they get some technique to go with that speed, look out. 1-

they haven't had a hit since ryan zimmerman's opposite field sing until the third.so brad bergesen gives up a run on four hits through six. two walks, five strikeouts. he hit a batter, and a slow roller right side and under the glove of brian roberts. we'll see if they give josh bard a base hit. >> jim: i imagine they would. we talked to brian, because they speed the infield up here a little bit, you have to take an angle to get to the ball. because you go back, watch it hit on the grass, and it stays down. yep. again probably a couple of months ago he would have got ton that easily. but, as you said, it is the same for both teams. the orioles have certainly taken advantage of the 14 hits. >> bob: josh bard now hitting .409 in the month of june. he's going to hope they can squeeze 35, 36 days out of this month. here's willie harris who has walked and struck out. but the nationals needed somebody to come alive in that catcher's spot. bard and nieves both capable back-up type guys and the nationals, and rob knows all about this from a pitcher's standpoint, jim, they h

i had a long conversation -- great play right there by ryan zimmerman. >> johnny: not a good throw. a run will score. rosales with a shot to zimmerman's right. amazing he even got to that ball. >> rob: yep. >> johnny: and then rosales goes to second on the overthrow and the reds have got a 1-0 lead. >> rob: getting back to that, i think a lot of it has to do in talking to steve mccatty about giving up singular homeruns instead of 3-run homeruns. right here you see him he is off balance and he probably should have tried to right himself a little more. gotten over the top. this is a fantastic stop right here and you see him throw off that front foot like a quarterback. sometimes you airmail. passes over the middle and they are intercepted. >> johnny: yep. >> rob: 9 out of 10 ryan will make that. as a pitcher you have to get out of this saying he picks me up more than he doesn't. you have to shake that off. >> johnny: a hit, an error, no rbi for rosales. micah owings one of the better hitting pitchers. he won a silver slugger award. >> rob: 4 homers and 15 rbi in '07 and a .333 batting

ryan zimmerman, who is 0-5, gets another chance nick johnson on base for the sixth time tonight. >> bob: a huge spot for zimmerman. struck out with the bases loaded looking. strung struck out one on, one out swinging. chance to make up for those two bad ab's and get an extra inning win for the nats. winning run is at second base. backup breaking ball hangs up and in. >> rob: right man in the right place. >> bob: blue jays have good arms in the outfield all around. slider, 2-0. ryan zimmerman does some dwessing -- gegz up there now and then f he's ever going to get two men on, one out, this will be it. fastball, but he missed. 3-0. adam dunn is next. he misses again. bases loaded with one out and one of the most vektive -- selective, good batting eye hitters in the game coming in in adam dunn. now, they're waving the outfielders in. their defensive coach dwayne murphy waving them all in. they've got to be able to take a shot at home on a fly ball and nationals have the speedy guzman at third. the only runner that really matters right now. adam dunn is 1-4 with a base hit and intentional

ryan zimmerman not enough hits tonight, only 8 for the nats. we have talked about opportunities.he nationals had plenty of chances to get some runs tonight. we've seen this storyline before. bases loaded, nobody out, and they just can't get the runs across. got to drive manny acta nuts. >> it's driving a lot of us nuts. manny is the one getting paid to have to deal with all this stuff. yeah, we're getting in situations every night, where we're getting runners on second and third. then a walk. now the bases are loaded. you've got oh get a good ball to hit. that's a fastball middle in up, you're going to hit that ball on the ground unless you pull it foul or rake it foul. slider away. that's not what you want to do. you've got to get a ball that you can handle and drive in the outfield. that pitch for austin kearns is a ball up and out over the plate. you see the spin of a breaking ball, you take it. you're going to hit that ball on the ground, especially if it's going hard away from you. or you go up to the plate, runners on, bases loaded. you see that the second baseman is back.

out of right field pretty easily here. >> rob: i talked to brooks robinson about the defense of ryan zimmermane loves it. i said who is your favorite third baseman? he said zimmerman mostly bus of his defense and last night was spectacular against the boston red sox. >> jim: it is like all of the great teams i played on. you usually had a gold glover on. -- gold glove. >> bob: and brad bergesen athree up, three down inning. the nationals nail the score and here come the birds in the bottom of the fist! know, maybe other people are content to sit around and wait. wait for something to happen. for business to pick up. but for you, it's time to kick it in gear. time to get going. time to get tough. take control. you're not gonna run and hide. because backing down's not your style. grab your bag. it's on. ( ding ) portability, battery life and power... announcer: for under $1500. we told him you find it, you keep it. this is so sexy. but macs to me are about aesthetics more than they are the computing power. the keyboard is small. that thing is gigantic. it's got four gigs of ram. it's got the pro

. >> johnny: ryan zimmerman against johnny cueto. zimmerman career-wise against this guy, 17 against the reds, 17 for 51 and a pretty good batting average in all these games he has played against cincinnati, .333. breaking ball out -- catches the corner for strike one.  and the 2-1.   the nats have got two in the first inning. and there's that cincinnati defense, hand eye gan behind the plate catching cueto. gonzalez at short, gary hairston jr. at third, the air field, johnny goals at left, bruce in right. >> rob: well and ramon hernandez is plagues first base, former catcher of the baltimore orioles because johnny ba var oh is on the disabled list, you have a catcher at first, but joey ba vat oh missed in the lineup. >> johnny: looking through the record books, his name is displayed prominently. boy did he have some numbers with cincinnati. >> rob: he did, yes he did, and he is working on his sixth straight year with 40 or more home runs. 

ryan zimmerman hits home runs against against a lost guys.hat's the only home run he allowed all year. >> buck: yeah, it was a two-run home run in spacious nats park. other than that, he hasn't given up too many long, fly balls. >> jim: bonifacio swings through it. he's counsel on -- down on strikes. back-to-back k's. for the first time tonight, let's head downstairs and welcome in amber. >> a lot happening with koji uehara. we told you last night he's experiencing soreness in his elbow. toofs it had determined -- today, it was determined when he goes home to the orioles, he will see the team dr. he will examine him and determine whether he's healthy enough to make the scheduled start sunday against the nationals f he is not, most likely it will be david hernandez recalled from triple-a norfolk though dave trembley did not confirm that. he said it was pretty self- explanatory why hernandez was pulled from the game in norfolk last night. >> jim: as dave trembley was asked that, he looked at the reporter about david hernandez and he said, well,

outer half. 1-2 to zimmerman. ryan 1-for-3 with a base hit up the middle tonight. top of the 7th, the nats have not had a hit since the 4th. and they have had only three since the four-hit 1st inning when they scored all three of their runs. >> rob: and if you don't have overpowering stuff which wheeler never has, you per be a strike thrower. last year, 22 walks in 66 innings, 23 walks the year before in 75 innings. go back to a couple of years in houston, 74 walks in 7 -- 19 walks in 74 innings. that's the kind of stuff you need coming out of the bullpen. putting out fires. >> bob: you are not giving the team any additional runners. zimmerman on a pitch inside, charged by longoria. that's it for the nats. 7th inning stretch time on a friday night in st. petersburg, florida. 3-3, nats-rays.  . >> bob: bottom of th inning coming up, 3-3 game. joel hanrahan still on the mound much long way to go here. >> rob: absolutely. manny acta knew this early. they knew we were going to have to score a lot more runs than 3. we have. joel hanrahan has to

ryan zimmerman has plenty of time. takes a little too much off of this and just kind of lobs it over because alberto gonzalez who normally does not play second base is not there yet. great play shown by the x-mo. you saw him kind of pump right there and lobs it. >> bob: that play is a microcosm of zimmerman's season. amazing with the glove, at times erratic with the arm. >> rob: in his defense, since there is nobody there, there is nobody home and he is trying to get it to second base to start the double play. you know, you are putting him in the game for his offensive prowess. >> bob: that ball was hit pretty quick to zimmerman. >> rob: yes, he had plenty of time. >> bob: and nobody is as good with the glove as him. there is no doubt about that. >> rob: now you go back to the question, do you bunt? >> bob: 1-1 to wells, 1-for-4 with a solo homer. all right. this should be two. this should be no trouble there. and mike macdougal has just thrown his third double play in his last three appearances. that was room service

it will come to him. >> ryan zimmerman's first three at-bats thursday evening in new york, doubled off the left field wall, singled to right, rbi double to the gap in left center. we thought he was back, and now he's gone zero for 14. here's adam dunn. >> one ball and two strikes to dunn. didn't look like a swing. 2-2. >> sometimes ryan can get a little scripted with his swing. it's almost like he's in an area where he swings. >> broken bat. i had one hitting coach tell me once, which sounded familiar to something a golf coach said to me once. he said when you're standing there try to hit a line drive over second base. that means you're staying on the ball, squaring up because you're hitting up straightaway. but your point is well-taken, stay on if a little longer and take it the other way. adam dunn place its perfectly right over hill, who was the rover in right field. >> 8-iron in the fareway right there. >> here comes kearns. the red sox are coming, masn, tuesday, wednesday, thursday, unique announcer rotation up at camden yards next weekend as well. jim hunter and i will team up on

. >> here's ryan zimmerman. we said this a couple of times today. the nationals are long from being done in this game. and i guarantee you, there's not one guy in the first base dugout who doesn't think they're going to come back and sweep the series. >> talking to some of the guys yesterday, they expect to win now. they think they're good enough to win every game, and that's what you want out of this ball club. >> zimmerman right to the shortstop, one out. ryan zero for his last 15. here's adam dunn, a base hit last time. >> he goes up hacking. some interesting doings in -- new york. they've taken a 4-3 lead over the mets. tampa bay six back of boston. these blue jays are five back. yankees three out. the red sox in first at 41 and 27 kearns is next. runner in scoring position with one out here in the fifth. they play adam dunn pretty deep. they don't play as dramatic a shift now. the blue jays are the one ball club that really changes defenses against adam dunn based on man on base or not. they want to leave the shortstop at home to stay right beh

ryan zimmerman, after he tied the franchise record, a rough weekend, zero for 10. they've been getting ahead and then tricking him. he has had a hard time identifying the breaking ball and pulling the trigger. >> five walks in four innings, red sox won that ball game 8-2. that was an off-speed pitch and chopped into the ground. >> he needs to be patient. he needs something to get it to the right side of the infield and try to get it through the infield to move the runners up, but it has to be a conscious effort on his part not to

zimmerman and dunn went up there looking to hit 3-run home runs. ryan needs to move the runners up, his job. you need quality at-bats if you're going to get back in the ball game. >> 3-2 again. bard up the middle. off the glove of hill, two runs will score. and the nats are in business. putting the ball in play, testing a good toronto defense, and josh bard gets his ninth and tenth rbis of the year. josh bard gets a pitch he can handle, doesn't try to kill it, hits it on the line. and there you see aaron hill. two runs come in because he deflects it into shallow center field. >> now you have a perfect sacrifice situation with martis, who's done that twice this year. romero took a look at second, then had a hard time getting a handle on it. and it nearly cost himself an out, but a good bunt by martis. did you see what scott rolen did on that play? he came charging in, cutting in front of the runner. >> the pitcher did too good of a job fielding his position and cut in front of scott rolen. school rolen, he's good, but if a guy swings away one time, he's