he was the number 1 pick for tampa bay.e'll take you to the first day just like stephen strasburg felt. how did you feel that day you were drafted. >> that was a big day. there was a bill lull between the day i got drafted and the time i got signed. i wasn't going to go play because i had a long season in college, so i had a lot on my hands and a lot of time to rest up. >> what do you think about stephen strasburg from san diego state? >> i hear he is the real deal. i heard nothing but good stuff about him. so that's good. >> what kind of advice do you have for him as he goes through what you went through? >> just enjoy it. take your time. don't rush it. if he opens up in the big league, good luck to him. that's a big dinse, going from that 7 days to 5 days, that's the big thing for me. you can feel it on your arm every time you go out. during the course of the season where you go 30 to 35 starts whereas in college, you make 15 to 16. >> you are saying, 2008, work in the minor league, not working hard on your arm really hel

from tampa bay st. peters bay, god bless america.  (singing god bless america) ú ♪ ♪ 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. >>> we are all tied up here tropicana field. 4-4. coming up, the senior collegiate all stars will host. come out and catch where the stars of tomorrow where they launched their careers. game time 7:05 p.m. come out early. the admission is free. log on to www.ripkinseniorbaseball.org or call for more information. >> bob: number 29, the appearance for tavarez. detwiler, 48 strikes in 6 inning, gave up 4 runs. he walked 5. interesting he did not strike out a batter today. that's okay pitching to most of the day. you've got to look at the big picture, another step in his development against a very good lineup. he held them down for the most part. tavarez and the bullpen have to do the same thing l

tampa bay has taken the first two games of the three-game set. american league champions, got to the world series before the philies got them in five. >> real solid defense, good starting pitching, good bullpen, more speed than anybody. how many stolen bases? >> 103 right now. and the next closest team would be 67. >> rob: that's the angels. >> the angels. that just shows you when these guys get on, it's got to drive pitchers nuts. had five last night. >> two tonight, seven came in with whatever. but they've got more speed at the top of the line than anybody with crawford and become upton. upton hitting .211. every time he gets on, he has a threat to steal. they're stealing over 85% of the bases a day attempt. so they're just always down there on second base for those big bats. >> this ball club, our ball club had a lead tonight, a lead in the first inning thanks to one swing of the bat. a pretty good shot from ryan zimmerman. that's home run number 12 for him this year. >> fastball down, just jumped all over it after two quick outs for sonnansti

aybar, tampa bay pinch hit rbi. he got the one off the 3rd base bag. the result is a 5-4 loss as they get out of tampa, head to new york against the yankees waiting for something good to start to happen for the ball club. >> we had four runs early off of shields. four doubles. you mentioned dukes, a couple of doubles. gone shall a double. detwiler threw the ball extremely well today. he walked five. three of the five scored. in one situation, he got two quick outs, then walked gross. kapler hits a close line shot. it's part of the ball park where it's the only place you could have possibly hit it to be a home run. the wall is only four foot high. we keep looking for excuses. these things keep coming up that are unyou shall. >> it gets to become beyond belief. you sit back waiting for something to happen and it does. >> it's getting to be laughable that it's something crazy everyday happens. they squeezed, it was successful. we had guys covering. the deal with the bullpen, you've got a stadium there, your bullpen coach, all kinds of people down there. th

tampa bay takes the first of three.in mind tomorrow night, the second game of the three- game series in tropicana, first pitch at about 6:08. because of major league blackout regulation, we'll join the game already in progress at 7:05 here on manz 2. follow the game at masn sports.com. you talked about craig stammen. i think bob and rob touch on this. he deserves a much better fate. he is getting better every outing. he will continue to get better. pretty strong outing against this ball club. >> he put in about 27, 28 innings, johnny and four of those innings have been bad. the rest have been solid. he gave up the five runs the other night in the 1st inning. 1-2-3 in the 1st. then he walks zobrist who immediately steals second base. we have to do something about running the runners on. he walks burrell, gross and then strikes out. and he was aible to do that. a line drive to right field. this throw is just a rocket. i don't know what happened. we have this thing in slow motion. we didn't get a runner at first base. the

have a nice dinner and get pumped up about the tampa bay rays. byron kerr, ray knight with you on nats xtra. missed opportunities. getting the 1st inning going early on. they had chances certainly but left guys on base. >> ray: the last 10 days we have had chances but haven't been able to deliver. ground ball shortstop. fielder's choice there. first, third, single. hit-and-run to advance guzman and he strikes out, durn strike snn strike. not able to -- dunn strikes out. and there's the base hit to right. and then flying out to right field to end that inning. 7th inning, zimmerman walks. willingham walks. still have runners on first and second. there's the walk to willingham and kearns chases. as we talked about earlier, 12 runners left on base. the only real big inning there i thought was when dunn and dukes struck out with runners on second and third after they advanced on a wild pitch. >> byron: something we noticed at the patience at the plate, making the pitchers try to get the strike. got a couple of balls in there. not going for first or se

he got the win in the tampa bay 4-3 victory when kapler hit the game winning home run. he was in the ballgame at the time and inned up finishing the game pretty much winning and saving it. >> bob: 1-1 to guzman. work him over with breaking stuff down and in. almost like having two lead off guys in a row, maybe three with willie harris after those. >> rob: longoria trying to get something down to the left side 3rd. maybe anderson tries to drop down a ball. i doubt longoria can come in to get a bunt. nats down 5-4. >> bob: guzman will be called out. [cheering and applause] the bow and arrow for the first out here. >> rob: he threw four breaking balls in a row then threw 87 in broadway. strike 3. too close to take. you've got to start swinging at some of the pitches. i think rob, one of the big moments is two on, two out, there are times when adam dunn is going to have to expand his strike zone. >> rob: i agree. >> bob: remember when he did it against the royals, grand slam. it was hard for the bullpen to watch their man take three fastballs for strikes. >> rob: screw the

and ben zobrist is going to make this 4-2 tampa bay.manny acta takes jordan zimmermann out, three batters later, three runs for the rays. >> rob: zobrist, the 93-mile an hour sinker, gets plate coverage and he just kills that ball. >> bob: ben zobrist adds to his career high with his 13th home run. the rays have scored four runs tonight, driving all of them in with the long ball. and they lead by two. >> rob: i'm sure manny will be asked about pulling zimmermann after 92 pitches. it was a long five innings for him. >> rob: a loft strikeouts. kind of a heavy amount of work for the young kid. he's the future. this team's so far out of first place he did not need to come out and throw over 100 pitches today. the bullpen's been really good lately. i think they only allowed one home run in about 16, 17 games. it's a team that can put some runs on the board in a hurry. makes pena's bunt look like a genius if you give up the home run to descroab rift. run to zobrist. bergman may not be long for this game. miller light beach bash on june 19, th

two years ago, the tampa bay rays won 66 games. last year, they won the american league pennant with 100. with young teams, folks, it can be done. ÷÷úp you don't do laundry at the beach. you salt-wash everything and let it breeze dry. knit, delicate, permanent press... the ocean doesn't care. so grab your bag. . >> bob: nationals on m brought to you by southwest airline. and by aflac. we've got you under our wing. welcome back to one of the most unusual ballparks you will ever see a baseball game in here at tropicana field in st. pete where the rays are 18-12 this year. the nationals bring their 6-20 road record into here. and there are four rings around this ballpark, a, b, c and d. i'm not going to read this word for word because it would just confuse you. suffice it to say that the bottom two rings, if a ball hits them in fair territory, homerun. if a ball hits one of the top two rings, a or b, right upped the roof in fair territory, keep on running, baby. it's as many as you can get. if it hits one of those ring

nats were swept three at tampa bay, lost 2-3 in this ballpark earlier in the month to the orioles. batting average not good. runs per game, not good. e.r.a., good. a lot of tight ballgames. here is brandon league. league is a resident of honolulu from nick johnson's neighborhood in sacramento. 26 years of age, 6'2", 205. off and on career for the blue jays over the last five years. up and down, up and down. only averaging about 20 games a year. he's been back and forth between toronto and triple-a so much. brand new pitcher, first-pitch swinging. >> rob: you remember he took three strikes -- three strikes his last time, so he wanted to make sure he got a good hack in. figured league would try to get ahead with a fastball. he did and just missed it. >> bob: willie harris has had a fantastic night. 1-3, a double, a walk and a spectacular running catch on vernon wells to end the top of the ninth. nats would go on to get a leadoff man aboard and would never get the man off first base. >> rob: 97 on the last pitch. >> bob: saw this kid on tv during our long rain delay yesterday throwing

more of the tampa bay rays who lead 8-2.elijah dukes first major league home run in his first career at-bat. we already figured it out, but it was carl pavano but it wasn't here, it was at yankee stadium, something elijah can treasure forever. it's pretty cool. we even have the videotape. we'll let you have a look. i was just delighted in the 7th inning stretch here. it's african-american heritage night here and a black rapper artist by the name of black zeppa did "take me out to the ballgame." i've never heard that song booed before. >> rob: i don't think they were booing the song. it was the effort. >> bob: and they have ludacris here after the game. by the way, virginia has tied that ballgame with lsu, 1-1 bottom of the third at the college world series. >> rob: well, i think black zeppa was watching colome throw. kind of slowed him down on his rendition. >> bob: it was about the same pacing. >> rob: as this game has come to a screeching halt. >> bob: that's the worst thing i've seen in a ballpark since two women with ora

the tampa bay rays played their 56th game of the year. hernandez hitting over .500 in his last few games. he's trying to get his batting average up over .270 or so. ryan zimmermann is dh. james shields 27 and 29 career. he should be better than 5-5. they haven't given him the run support like they have for andy sonnanstine. >> last year in 33 start t rays were 23-10. he won 23 of his 33 starts. right now, this is his 99th start of his career. finished them off, this guy old plan, 27. he's the oldest pitcher in the rays rotation. >> bob: the rays defensively bottom four in the league. they've made 44 errors. only seattle with 51 making more. kapler gets to start in left field after homering the win friday night. i don't think the nats pitchers or catcher wills miss crawford not being in the lineup today. we've got curly w's in the house as always. nats trying to improve their road record that stands at 6- 22. >> bob: willie harris leads off. >> rob: be ready. this guy's changeup is almost as -- >> bob: he doesn't walk anybody. he hasn't wa

and pena's 20th of the year gets tampa bay on the board here. becomes only the fifth player in the major leagues with 20 home runs. >> rob: this is going to be a 95-mile an hour fastball down and in, it's supposed to be down and away. that's what happens to those pitches when you throw them down and in to a lefty. you throw that hard, you're going to give up home runs. shake it off, come right back. attack the strike zone some more. >> bob: the rays have hit their 82nd home run, starting the day third in the american league behind the 99 of the yankees and the 90 of the rangers. ben zobrist, the second baseman. and the count's even 1-1. very late swing again, deflecting off catcher -- nieves. >> rob: carlos one of the first strikeouts of the night. he struck out the side in the first inning after an error, then a walk. struck out longoria, pena and zobrist to get out of the first inning. >> bob: carl crawford walked after upton stole second, then j. zimmermann really went to work. >> rob: you saw the first ball that he fouled down the right- fie

top spot with 40, followed by new york, milwaukee, and we'll see who after this home stand, the tampa bayeather 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, 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. . >>> nats extra continues national's park. the next five games, the reds series, the final two of those wednesday 7:00 p.m., followed by the nationals and reds, a special start time. then to tropicana field for the nats. three games on the road before they go to new york against the tampa bay rays. remember on saturday we'll join in progress at 7:05 as the nationals and rays be gyp at 6:00. byron kerr and ray with night with you, they are on the clock right now and guess who is on the board. none other than aaron crow from missouri, ray, is it going to happen? >> i don't

then they head to tampa bay t take on the rays. the saturday game will be joined in progress at 7:05 because of the tampa bay's early start at tropicana field. it's harang and martis coming up next. hey. don't move. 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 some chicken. one of the coolest things you can do with fios... ...is stream your music and your photos from your computer to your tv. slideshows look and sound better than ever. and now is the best time to upgrade to fios all the time. want to tell them why? i do not. because you'll get up to $150 dollars back and over 100 hd channels

evan longoria struggling for tampa bay. remember in april, a .369 batting average? things have changed since then. .296 in may. he's yet to get a hit this month. his current streak of 18 at-bats without a hit is the longest drought of his career. mariners and orioles in baltimore as we continue to swing around the majors. that's jorse lopez, the second home run of the game, eighth of the year, the ms win it, ichiro suzuki on a 14-game hitting streak, against the orioles. seattle has won six of its last seven, hernandez gets the win, 4-0 in his career at camden yards, and the ms win it 4-1. let's go to fenway. tying run on second, top nine, papelbon, posada. flies out to left. and that is that. papelbon with the save, the red sox have beaten the yankees seven times this season without a loss, eight times overall in a row dating back to last season, 6-5 is your final, papelbon with 15 saves on the season. you see all the home runs, youkilis goes yard, so does lowell, teixeira a big night, damon and posada also with home runs. royals and indians in cleveland, that's gi

make this 4-2 tampa bay. manny acta takes jordan zimmermann out, three batters later, three runs for the rays. >> rob: zobrist, the 93-mile an hour sinker, gets plate coverage and he just kills that ball. >> bob: ben zobrist adds to his career high with his 13th home run. the rays have scored four runs tonight, driving all of them in with the long ball. and they lead by two. >> rob: i'm sure manny will be asked about pulling zimmermann after 92 pitches. it was a long five innings for him.

tampa bay, 8-5 lead at the mets. atlanta five hey five in the ninth at boston, 5-5. houston about to win at minnesota 4-1, st. louis 12-5 at kansas city. american league ruling on this day so far. 3-2, 2 minute board. there's a base hit. he had retired the first two batters. the next three all make it aboard, and it's 7-2 toronto. when you're pitching in the ninth inning and down four, your manager wants to see the effort that you might give when it's a 1-run game in the 9th inning. joe has not been able to close it out. >> it looked like a change-up, which you don't want to really throw a lot of those to right- handers because it breaks down and into them. that's what that was. as you said, you want to get the three outs and give your team an opportunity to bat in the ninth, but you just gave them an extra insurance run. >> nats were within grand slam range, but not now. 3-0. >> 27 pitches it will be a 3-2 count now as overbay rips one foul. that ball will be two more runs. overbay will have a five rbi day, and the blue jays lead 9-2. manny does not want to have to

he had a huge season, 28 home runs and 117 rbi's in 2005 with tampa bay.following year, he lost it in part, buck, because of a fractured left foot. he just never could get back in the groove at the plate. >> buck: he fractured the foot and missed significant time and never got his stroke back there and then he bounced from tampa bay to cincinnati. he is kind of a part-time roll there and -- role there and now he is much more comfortable defensively at first. >> jim: 1-2. high fly ball to left field. reimold is back on it. it carries. reaches up and it is over his head. and heading to second base is jorge cantu. adam jones backing up will play it back in. that ball just kept on carrying and all the way to the wall in left field. >> buck: cantu has great extension. he really extends through this ball. it is a down pitch. it looked like it was a splitter. again. he takes the top hand of the -- off the bat, and drives it off the wall as adam jones goes over to back up nolan reimold. it is a two-out double for cantu. >> jim: reimold playing his first game here

came up young with tampa bay. bounced towards third.a foul ball. >> buck: yeah, he came up as a shortstop/second baseman. they weren't sure where to play himment he ended up playing at third base in tampa bay wynn when he had the big year in 2005. drove in 117. he went went to cincinnati, played with the reds for a while. he found a home here. last year at third. this year at first. >> jim: fastball is high. 1-2. >> buck: defensively, most of his problems came from froadz froze. ed he has pretty good hands. doesn't have great range. i think people back in tampa bay felt his position would ultimately be at first base. >> jim: pops it up foul. that will be in the crowd. his family has a big ranch just over the border in texas in mexico. when he retires, he'll become a full-time rancher in mexico. berken deals inside. breaking ball slipped out of

tampa bay defense isn't the best in baseball. that will be to center field for b.j. upton. [cheering and applause] >> bob: nick johnson next then ryan zimmermann. the grand slam flex plan. don't forget the boston series is getting closer and closer. you can get in on that as part of your grand slam flex plan. pick four games, get one free. call or www.nationals.com. nick johnson, base hit first time. stranded there when zimmermann and dunn struck out in the top of the 1st. >> rob: nick was getting so many lits the first two months of the season. now they're starting to pitch him in. first at bat, he pulled to the right side for a single. >> bob: former yankees, nick will be the subject of a lot of attention when we get to the bronx tuesday. [cheering and applause] got jammed. over to zobrist. two outs. despite the ball being in on his trademark, nick got pretty good wood on it. >> rob: got good wood on it, little bit of damage. just enough slow down for zobrist to do a nice play on the turf. >> bob: evidently he stepped on a dime out there. it's loose, but it's sticky loose

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 end of the season, they faced them again in the championship. they beat bedford. >> rob: nice story. pay back. that means be nice to your coaches on the way up. some day you could be working for them or against them. that's a great story. we'd have to do a dick stewart comparison at 1st base. those guys make some of the best managers and gms though. >> bob: i'm learning a lot from mike everyday. he's teaching me evaluation in scouting. you never know. could be working on the strasburg deal now. >> rob: i'd hate to pay his cell phone bill. >> bob: 2-2 to pena who's had a hit, walk, and scored. a little pop up right in the infield. that's the 3rd baseman willie harris. that's a big hitter retired in soft fashion. let's talk about the turn around which the pitchers have engineered here lately. era is down more than a run. the home runs are down. the opponents batting average is down. especially the wa

in the first two innings. >> rob: tampa bay, by the way, still has the red sox number. they are 6-4 against the red sox this season. 10-8 against the red sox last year when they won the division. >> bob: 2-2 again. that's the base hit to right. elijah dukes has a great arm. heads home on the fly and that runner is safe. he got in under the tag. the other runners are hung up now and a bad mistake by the hitter navarro. and manny acta cannot believe that zobrist was safe at home. the rays get a run but the inning is over. @ geico's been saving people money on car insurance for over 70 years. and who doesn't want value for their dollar? been true since the day i made my first dollar. where is that dollar? i got it out to show you... uhh... was it rather old and wrinkly?

this runner should have been out at the plate but it was tampa bay's first run. they steal a couple of bases. craig stammen, five strong innings giving up only one earned run, another unearned on three hits. at&t, your world delivered. 34-year-old joe nelson for the rays. he pitched in 59 games for the rays last year. before that, boston, atlanta and kansas city. he has been with seven different organizations since the rays drafted him in the 4th round in '96. anderson hernandez, 1-for-2 with a base hit to left. dan wheeler throwing. >> rob: dan wheeler played with houston, atlanta. now helped them go to the world series. >> bob: this is a bullpen by committee. randy cate, howell, the lefty had two. troy percival had 6 early. that's a fastball outside. 2-2. on the field here in st. pete. >> rob: talking about public health care, i'm sure, nuclear problems in north korea. >> bob: anderson hernandez hits it off the end of the bat and pops it up. serious bullpen questions. they will solve all of our problems down there, i promise you. ♪ ♪ i always feel like somebody

they have that goofy, artificial surface like they do in tampa bay. that's been a good hitter's park for a long time. unusual numbers for rod barajas who has been around 11 years. 0-2 pitch. don't throw it over the heart of the plate. >> rob: nice. >> bob: he has a pretty hardslider. he'll go 86-87 or so with that slide piece. that's about what tallet throws his fastball. >> rob: i like you're using slang now. you've been around me long enough where you're saying slide piece and damage. i don't want to change your vocabulary too much. >> bob: i'm still not getting a tattoo. sorry. he can't get it. scott rolen is going to score maybe. he does. that kills you in the national league when you let the number eight hitter do that. he got it off the end of the bat. it was not right over the plate, but sometimes that happens. >> rob: well, let's see if they're taking down tallet. >> bob: yes, cito gaston is going to pull his pitcher out of this game just a little flare beyond the reach of anderson hernandez. it was evidently a decision made by the blujts blue

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 some chicken. one of the coolest things you can do with fios...

tampa bay beat new york 9-7 and toronto beaten by kansas city 6- 2. swung on and!missed. jones struckout first time up. adam has an 0-4 going so far in this series. and the 1-1 delivery. cahill got it i that one ripped to the co. that is a fair ball. it will take a hop. and holliday on his way to 2nd base is jones. he has a one out double here in the 4th inning for the orioles second hit. speaking of the man out there time's running out for your chance to win orioles.com possible head sweep stakes. will receive vip seats and parking. it will be against the mets. watch batting practice from the field. hope you'll get in on the contest. it ends at midnight wednesday. enter today at orioles.com. 16 two baggers on the year. scott struck out his first time up. pitch away for a ball. batting in the clean up spot in the shuffle as the d.h. .250 lifetime average against oakland with one career home run against the a's. and ahead on the count. 2-0. >> buck: pretty good change up right there by cahill. mostly sinkers and change ups tonight. he has a knuckle curve ball. he hasn't ne

the yankees lost tampa bay wound up winning the game. in the other game the kansas city toronto game, will lee triples, scores three runs. 5-2 advantage and kansas city with a five run fifth inning. break a five game losing streak. kansas city goes onto beat toronto by a count of 6-2. the rays win 9-7. kansas city stopped the blue jays 6-2. elsewhere in the american league east, boston red sox wound upbeating the texas rangers 8-1. how about this, david ortiz going to have an eye examination on monday and mike lowell hit home runs. john with his fifth win. detroit tigers beat angels 2-1. jackson, remember him. complete game against the angels. now 6-3. rbi single. sacrifice fly. complete look at the american league east score board. rich hill will start for the orioles tomorrow. we'll preview the orioles find game against the oakland a's in oakland when we come back here on masn in a moment. expnchts welcome back. placed on the disabled list by the orioles after an emergency appendectomy. he will return with the club tomorrow night. osca

let's check in on the tampa bay rays over the angels, 9-5, pena solo shot, his 18th home run of the year, aybar has added an rbi single and a home run of his own as well. >> meanwhile the phillies and the mets, they're in the bottom of the eighth, and still tied at four. cole hamels trying to get his fifth straight decision, fifth straight win, he gave up four runs and 11 hits, plus the mets came to tie it, three runs against sean green after mike pelfrey gave up three straight singles to load the bases. feliz and ibanez and rollins have the rbis, pelfrey one, and castillo, another one. taking you out to atlanta, dog night at turner field. start a barkin'. two on, two outs, jason hair me -- jaramillo singles. mclouth throws, seems to be on the money, the pirates go on to hold the lead, and 3-2 in the bottom of the ninth, two outs, matt capps gets norton to fly out to end the game and the danger, garrett anderson had the two-out homer that brought atlanta within one. pittsburgh starter charlie morton left after pitching just one inning due to tightness in his right hammy. the braves see t

tampa bay has since come back and now they lead it 6-4. that national league east is going to be a real dogfight all the way down to the wire. no clear cut dominant team in that division. >> jim: wigginton pops it out behind second base. cody ross coming in. the center fielder takes charge. he has it for the out. one away in the oriole eighth inning. tim wood make his major league debut in relief. he's now gone 1 1/3 inning scoreless. >> buck: you don't think his heart is pounding a little bit right now? there's a guy who was a very late draft pick. no chance -- a chance to play. just kind of worked his way step by step through the minor leagues and here he is making his major league debut tonight. >> jim: this is low to melvin mora. following last season, he was one of the players florida sent to the arizona fall league. he's got to get back to his home state of arizona and get in extra work. chopped towards the hole. there's bonifacio wide of the bag. he gets him. two men down. melvin is hitless on the night. he is now 0-3. time now for

marlins will go to tampa bay to finish out interleague play this year. josh johnson opens up the series in st. petersburg. >> jim: jeremy hermida pinch- hitting for the pitcher sean west. slice it is to left. reimold back on it. he has it for the out. two men down. hermida going after the first pitch. carroll back to first base and back to the top of the lineup for chris coghlan. >> buck: coghlan doubled in his second at-bat sandwiched by two strikeouts. struck out on the first on a breaking ball and struck out in the fourth inning also object a -- also on a breaking ball. had a double as part of the three-run third inning. >> jim: brett carroll leading from first with two men out. sliced foul. this is one of the few stadiums that i have noticed during the game as we're waiting for the orioles to start batting practice in front of the dughts dugouts there are no fences to protect the players on the bench. i guess that's in part because this is a dual stadium and those dugouts do literally disappear when they play football in here. that pitch down and in

i know when we were in tampa bay -- i was watching the tampa bay hitters take batting practice. i thought a little strange. they're taking batting practice at home. usually you do it on the road. i thought they have interleague coming up they have against us. once thence -- once they have to go to a national league park, they have to hit. they'll hit this weekend. i think they're playing the mets, aren't they? >> bob: that sounds right and the red sox will be hitting -- their pitchers will be hitting here next tuesday, wednesday, thursday. >> rob: talked to carlos pena, the first baseman of the rays, he kind of chuckled and said all our pitchers think they can hit intoit do ours. jordan zimmermann is 0-15. >> rob: he said what i usually say. yeah, everybody can hit at 5:00. can you hit at 7:05. bp pitching throwing it about 60 at 5:00 in the afternoon. and telling you what's coming too. >> bob: that's a chopper that hits in or near the plate and that will do it for the nats. anderson hernandez, base hit. got the pitcher out of the way. we go top three, no score. ♪ ♪ (tucci) more

the phillies are trailing in the seventh inning 9-4, tampa bay. marlins are leading here. the marlins are about to win as ramirez gets it at short over to first. inning ends. the phillies lead would be down to half game over the mets and one over the marlins unless they rally back and they're down by five in tampa bay. so, orioles get three on the board in the ninth to get on the board and break up the shutout. marlins go on to win 11-3 and sweep the series and dave trembley going over some final notes before heading back tobaltimore. >> buck: not too many good notes that's for sure as his team really get hand it to them down here in florida. just eight hits and many of them came well after the fact tonight. you saw andrew miller set the tone for this series by pitching a one-hit effort over seven innings in the series opener. it was just all about the marlins offensively here tonight. >> jim: we invite you to join us here tomorrow. more o's action. back home in baltimore, they'll take on the nationals. brad bergesen on the mound goes against ross detwiler. coverage only m

he came up in tampa bay. he was throwing 100 miles per hour on occasion. bishop adam jones, 2-4, the fastball tails in on him and there is an appeal. he went around. he had another hit last inning with another runner in scoring position. he is hitting over .340 in that category this year and that is top eight in the american league. colome has him 0-2. >> jim: the second year in the biography leagues, i think a lot of people lotes sight of that. a great start, terrific center fielder, more home run this is year than he had last year, even though he missed a month with a broken foot. foul ball off of that front foot, the left foot. >> rob: i know some people got fired in seattle for that part of that, but how you let this kid get away i'll never know because he looks 10, 15-year career in the big leagues. if all goats well. and he just looks like he is going to be a special player. >> jim: it is kind of unusual. erik bedard, the year that he got traded was one of the best left-handers in baseball and let alone in the american league, but he only had two mor

don't forget saturday's game against the tampa bay rays. we will join in process at 7 p.m. from triple-play kana field. -- from tropicana field. it is the reds and the nats coming up. 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. (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. ♪ 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. >> byron: jay bruce has beee man for the cincinnati reds as we look at the line-up

here he is getting ready for battle and was taking notes on birds in the tampa bay area. places like around santa bell island, a beautiful place. a lot on the gulf coast of florida he saved. most famously, key west, the dry or the tuegas, great breeding places. >> go back to the beginning. how did you find this place? >> that was it. when i start going to thes, they would all say, did you go here, the headquarters. >> i'm basically asking you these questions for others that need to research. how did you get in the door? >> called mark madison, the historian for u.s. fish & wildlife, and part of his job is to interface with scholars. they helped me to particularly -- with looking material, but with these, with slides. i was talking about -- these are the old lantern slides. there's a box of them, brian. i don't know if you can see this there. gron you can see it. but maybe we could get an image put up. that's craigle in a canoe. >> they've got all of the battles and washington state. they have slides. and of florida, of these early wardens and conservationists. we may not

this is fios and this is big. 4-3, tampa bay knocks off the nats. the nats real sorry had trouble putting together two consecutive wins since going back to may 7th, 89th and 9th when they beat the dodgers, went to arizona, took two from the diamondbacks, have not been able to win two ball games in a row since that time. >> ray: there's basically four facets in a game, pitching, defense, hitting and base running. we can't get all four of them together. >> johnny: how about we start with the pitching tomorrow. this guy, jordan zimmerman. >> ray: our best young prospect, 52 innings, 54 strikeouts. his earned run average is up there but he has only walked just 14 guys and in his last 7 start, he has only walked i go guys. i just love to watch him pitch, always excited toturn on that television. sweeping breaking ball and 7 unearned. he gets all the way back there. he has been knocked out of four games so far this year. only averaging a little over 5 innings and, johnny, in his last five starts, he has given up 10 homeruns. >> johnny: incidentally, first

top five, islanders chose tavares ahead of 6'6", 220-pound victor headman, taken number two by the tampa bayhtning. you see the rest of the top five picks this evening in montreal. and espn the magazine senior editor joins with us a report from montreal. e.j., the esles taking tavares. known as a goal scorer. the isles have the lowest point score last season. will he play right away? >> i get the sense he will play right away. he was off the radar screen for nhl -- he has been on the radar since he was 10 years old. he led the ontario hockey league, they felt he was an exceptional player. and he was allowed to go into that league. and i just expect that he is ready now to make that jump to the national hockey league. the islanders will want to have him on the team, go to training camp. i think with the islanders' situation rebuilding, i think he is a guy that will make the team. he will have a chance to play in the national hockey league this season. >> e.j., what other player in tonight's draft do you think can make an impact right away in the nhl? does anyone come to mind? >> i don't know

mets have an early run at home against tampa bay. the phillies are reeling, aren't they? baltimore at philadelphia. they just can't win at home. >> guzman lays one up the middle . >> how about your scouting report on ricky the rookie. nine home runs and curveball the number two his best pitch. he will change speeds with it, but he can also give up the long ball. nine strikeouts against the phillies in seven innings last outing. >> johnson has had a great series, five for seven, an rbi, four walks. nick stepped out of bed this morning and is on base, the on base percentage .427. >> prostate cancer awareness day with our blue wristbands. >> no blue bats, though. >> two balls. good eye by nick. it was a 38 pitch first inning, romero was warmed up and sitting on the bench. looks like he's stiffened up a little bit. >> batting .318, number six in the league with walks. that's got irritate somebody. 4-run lead, base hit and a walk. he continues to get on base like crazy. it started with an intentional walk in new york the other night, and then he kept getting on base and gettin

check on some of the other games involving our division, including the mets who now lead 2-0 over tampa bay, and gregg dobbs a homer for the phillies leading baltimore at home 1- 04th inning. marlins hosting the yankees later. gonzalez hangs tough. the sunday night game, dodgers and angels. here's our daily update, by the way, rob. american league 81, national league 72. so it's still a 9-game difference. it's been that way a couple of days. >> i like the national league keeping it close. gonzalez up the middle. a couple of crow hops by the pitcher. toronto got a little crossed up as far as who was covering second. the shortstop, scutaro and second baseman hill both got there at the same time. first and third, and willie harris got it done again last time, and he did last night. >> you see the shot that saved a couple runs. then he got things going as far as offensively for the game- winning home run, a double, and there's the swing and game- winning home run. >> welly doubles to right center field today, pushing gonzalez to third. they both scored a josh bard single. now the blue jays have

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 behind nick and keep him close to second base. >> i think regardless of whether adam is on a hot streak or cold streak, he picks so carefully, especially with a base open, and kearns has to make them pay if they walk him. >> interesting, i was listening to a report yesterday about hillman who manages the royals. he went into their series against st. louis and said we're not going to let albert beat us. he's driven in about five runs in the series. just because you say and don't want him to beat you, your pitchers still have to execute something here and there. sometimes there are men on base and you have to pitch to a guy. dad's a hero today

easy day at the park 1-0 tampa bay. rays up 2-1 for p.j. upton. solo shot. sixth run of the year.raves lead 3-1 and top of the ninth, marlins make a game. bases loaded, two outs and floating. going for it. rays win by final of 5-2. upton's home run made history. we'll get to that momentarily. two for four and carl crawford 2-4 and ramirez 1 for 4 and a.j. price getting the win. he's been struggling to get this win. the marlins held to just -- >> you know, with upton's solo home run, rays became the fifth team in the major history to hit 100 home runs and steal 100 bases. of the five teams, rays had the most stolen bases. they could challenge to have the most home runs, as well, but the stats don't necessarily mean victory, only the 2003 marlins actually won the world series the year they did that. >> get you caught up on the windy city rivalry. just saw the score change. 6-0 white sox. dye going yard in this one in bottom of the eighth to extend the lead for the white sox. and these two teams, well, they are pretty even all the way through as far as their matchup is concerned. and

and the mets held on to beat tampa bay at citi field 50-3. be only two games back of philadelphia. and atlanta hammered the red sox 8-2 at fenway tonight against dykes. 3-1. -- dies kay. >> rob: kawakama and d daisuke matsuzaka matched up tonight? >> bob: it was. >> rob: wow, moodia must have been going bonkers. >> bob: 3-1 on rios. beimel walks him with two outs. >> rob: well, he got ahead of him. he got a little too fine on that outer edge. a lefty on deck. not the worst walk in the world. >> bob: that lefty is lyle overbay. >> rob: this is a very good contact hitter, very take russ -- dangerous guy. >> bob: 22 homers, 92 rbi's first gleer toronto looked like he was headed for stardom and then a right hand injury got him in '07 and last year he hit .270 with 15 home runs. >> rob: i saw him a lot when he was with the milwaukee brewers and he's got a really nice swing. built for power. >> bob: 87 rbi's and 72 there after coming over from arizona. >> rob: need to start getting out fans. pitcher gets one strike, two outs in an inning, get them

. >> ray: taking to what rob said a couple of innings ago, ten years it took tampa bay to move that draft pick. >> rob: i talked to mike grissold, he already signed 11 of their 21 draft picks. yes, they will be negotiating with strasburg. will he pitch in the major league? they said, we don't know but no rush. that's what the rays did last year. i often said, bob, in 2007, he was reliever of the year in the summer league up in connecticut. he can pitch out of the bullpen but there is no reason to make him go up there after 110 innings pitched in college and have him go out there and try to start five games in september. >> bob: adam dunn, a perfect night with an rbi hit and two walks. i think, if this is any indication, the rays may be pitching around him almost all weekend. the only hit he got tonight was when matt garza had him 0-2 and gave him something that was too close to the strike zone. other than that, they pitched away from adam dunn, away from the strike zone, that is. and a 1-1 pitch. that was strike 3 with the bases loaded last week, that pitch [ laughter ]. >> bob: we don't

masn will join the game live coverage at 7:05 as the home team tampa bay got to choose the start timeu to join us to follow the game at masn at 7:05 and after the game, we'll carry the as usual nats xtra as well as player interviews and game highlights. that will be saturday from tampa tampa. >> rob: do you still do your breathing stuff before reading? my dad taught know do that. >> johnny: no, i don't. i should have taken a breath there. >> rob: i used to always listen to my dad take a breath before starting a sentence. >> johnny: they told me you were observant in studying people. >> rob: you listen to other people's voices voices and things. they're not real nice to teddy roosevelt. >> johnny: that was a nice gesture to welcome bruce -- >> if things don't work out here, you could be his adviser. you could be down there. >> rob: he needs to win just one. i don't comment on a president again. >> johnny: brandon phillips -- >> rob: i spent a few months in milwaukee watching -- the games got so long watching sausages. >> johnny: they were knocking people over -- >> rob: he was just pla

saturday, the tampa bay rays host the nasals. because of -- nationals p. because of major league baseball blackout between 1:so p.m. and 7:05 p.m., we will join the game in progress. tampa decided to acome dat a concert after the game. and masn is prevented from showing the start of the game. viewers encouraged the follow the game at masn sports.com. after the game, the post game press conference will still be carried as well as post game interviews with yours truly and ray knight. nick johnson will step in as a pinch-hitter. he will face the offerings of jared burton coming in out of the arizona bullpen. nick is overdue. runners at first and second. >> rob: see some tape going up his neck and his shoulder. you watch baseball, you see a lot of shoulders that are taped up like that. might have a shoulder ailment going on with that left shoulder. >> johnny: over the last 10 games, a little bump in the road for nick. 8-38. 0-12 slide right now he is in. but still hitting .313 with 5 homers and 30 driven in. at 2nd base, he's got a potential 31st. low and ball

san francisco bay, moreau bay, california, santa monica bay, long island sound, delaware estuary, tampa bay, sarasota bay, charlotte harbor, florida, indian river lagoon, florida, bartista tarabon, louisiana, maryland coastle bays, massachusetts bays, new hampshire estuaries, new york new jersey harbor, paconic estuary, pimlico's sound, lower columbia river, tilimuk bay, oregon, coastal bays, texas, and galveston bay, texas. i would warn members that 151 members of this body whose districts border these bodies that i mentioned will see that tear funds will be cut for these important programs. a reduction of this size would mean the e.p.a. would stop construction and demobilize eight to 10 large high-cost, ongoing superfund projects such as the site in new jersey, the tar greek site in oklahoma and the new bedford site in massachusetts. e.p.a. would not be able to start any new superfund sites in 2010. after years of reduction under the previous administration. e.p.a. estimates that a reduction of this size would prohibit them from completing construction at as many as nine superfund sites i

and he was taking notes on birds in tampa bay area. and on the gulf coast of florida. and most famously, key west, great bird breeding places. >> go back to the beginning. how did you find this place? >> that was it, when i went to the spots, they said did you go here, the headquarters. >> i am asking this for others, how did you get in the door? >> call mark madison, the historian for fish and wildlife. and part of his job is to interface with scholars. and with these materials, the old lantern slides. there is a box of them. there is craigle. i don't know if you can see it. but that's craigle in a canoe. they have all the battles of oregon and washington state, they have slides. and of florida of these early wardens and conservationists. we may not know who this guy is, paul craigle. he's a hero and known all over, and has a monument in florida. the singer arlo guthrie moved to be near this. >> so you called mark madison. >> come here or other places, at yosemite and to have do -- documents and books. and to check with them, they have the up-to-date numbers on specie

so the nats have given up two unearned runs of the of the four tampa bay has scored tonight.varro, the catcher. now you look at the 9th and the nats will have hernandez, guzman. >> bob: that's why managers say they can wait for the bats. they cannot wait for the gloves. when the gloves betray you, the results are almost immediate, right in your face. breaking ball stays outside. >> rob: villone knowing how important it is to get out of this inning. he has a one-run lead right there. >> bob: that ball is jacked into the corner. that will one hop and go out for a ground rule double. here comes manny acta. joe beimel is ready. ron villone deserved better but the error followed by the homer and he could be the loser. that's why we lowered over a thousand prices. and carry powerful tools from dewalt, milwaukee, ridgid, and more. so you spend less, but drill, saw, and nail... more. more saving. more doing. that's the power of the home depot. right now, save $20 on a ryobi 18v starter kit with drill and circular saw for just $89. on a ryobi 18v starter kit welcome to chili's. someth

the tampa bay rays can win the american league pennant playing in the same division with boston, the yankees, toronto. >> rob: by the way. >> bob: there is not a. >> rob: the same year, the toronto blue jays are the best pitching staff. they won 86, 84 games. they have the best pitching staff in the american league league. a ridiculously tough division. >> bob: they have done it with draft and trades. ground ball to zimmerman, he brings the glove up, makes a dan dandy play -- makes a dandy play. nearly throw it is away but nick johnson makes the play. nick johnson saved a disaster right there. i mean, you are looking at maybe a run throwing if that ball goes down the line. >> rob: there is a look right there. the base runner is going on contact. you see zim looking at the runner and then nick. nick, with his foot on the bag at the end there. >> bob: that will bring up crawford. >> rob: if that. >> bob: if that ball gets away from johnson, bringing yak might score. >> rob: and a runner out third. >> bob: at the barrier and he must have lost the ball in the lights or something. he flin