it will be tavarez now and millar. >> rob: well, very nicely done by julian tavarez. looked him away, away, away and then comes right in, two-seam fastball, drops in on the inner half, absolutely froze overbay. >> bob: kevin millar, 1-for-4 with a business hit tonight. zimmerman really guarding the line at third. nick johnson holding the runner. that's a nice breaking ball. >> rob: it is. >> bob: it's about the speed of a change-up, 84. >> rob: he threw a 93 running fastball that was off the charts. now he comes back with an 83 mile-per-hour change-up. he turned that over like a screw ball. no telling what julian tavarez has learned over 17 years in the big leagues. >> bob: they used to get all over him about the debris that accumulated on the bill of his cap. he got thrown out of a game one time. that's inside and strike 2. >> rob: he accumulated a lot of knowledge over the years, why not a lot of goo. >> bob: look at that. good location. that will now allow the runner to mu. at first is adam lind. on deck, raul chavez, the catcher. breaking ball, low and away, two o

brandon phillips against tavarez and takes a strike. >> rob: think about tavarez over 17 years. you have to keep yourself in great physical condition. the arm is one thing but you need strong legs and a strong trunk. a lot of ab work. >> johnny: tavarez, one major league active pitchers when he came in the season this year, 4th among career holds, 150. arthur rhodes of the red has 193. he has been around a couple of years. >> rob: just a few. >> johnny: i think thinking when they are it is -- i'm thinking when they are sitting out there in the bullpen, the young guys are listening to what tavarez is theying and colome says. >> rob: i hope so. >> johnny: julian grew up as a shortstop. >> rob: arthur rhodes right there. >> johnny: phillips walks away. two balls and two strikes. >> rob: right here, great breaking ball that kind of backs up. doesn't get any better than that when you are pitching. phillips jammed himself. >> johnny: bouncing ball to zimmerman. got to hurry. on the run, throw to first, got it. and phillips can fly, too. nice play by zimmerman and there's two down. >>

tavarez the 0-2 pitch. some nights they have hairston leading off and some nights they have willy taveras leading off. taveras should be the lead off. trying to get one of them to take off the lead-off role. but taveras, the speedster, i don't know if he has a hit this series. 0-3 today. >> johnny: and julian tavarez racks up a strikeout as he heads to the doubt. got him to swing at a bad pitch, rob. that thing was down in the strike zone. >> rob: did a great job. one, two, three inning. keep it right there. give us an opportunity for another comeback. down a run. >> johnny: this is navy day at the ballpark. as tradition would have it, opportunity for all of us to stand up. [singing of god bless america ]. - 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 j

tavarez takes care of longoria.ukes, patterson and gonzalez in the 4-4 game.  >>> nationals will have f six, seven up in the 8th. elijah dukes has had a lot to do with the success of the offense today. >> bob: this kid is some kind of strong. the fastball, he drilled to left center field. then he gets an outside breaking ball. he drills that to left center field. that will put a couple of doubles on the day. he got back to 2nd safely on that ball p.. the corners were in. >> rob: that was was hit sharply. you get caught in between right there. no blame on either guy. >> bob: slider by dan wheeler who pitched here in a scoreless inning friday night. only two hits in this series against the tampa bay bullpen for the nationals in this series series. we should do a study, back to back video of pitchers going into their stretch and some of the odd things they do. dan wheeler looks like he's doing intense meditating. >> rob: i think he's going, "please don't hit it. please don't hit it. ." >> bob: what's differ

tavarez cannot give up another run here.he nationals bullpen has had an absolute nightmare against florida this year. that ball skipped and it was picked up in nifty fashion by wil nieves.   >> bob: front door breaking ball, well off the plate inside. 2-0. the nats in the ninth, guzman, johnson and zimmerman. crucial to keep this a one run game. any one of those guys could tie it up. now they'll pass cantu and take their chances with a slumping dan uggla. you don't want it to go to 2-0, then feel like you have to throw one over the plate to this guy. he could make it 5-2 in a hurry.   >> bob: dan uggla, two strikeouts and a grounder. 0 for 3 tonight. dan uggla coming in batting just .225. with his 0 for 3 tonight, 2 for his last 13. but an all or nothing hitter who can put one over the scoreboard if you make a mistake. he's hit -- he's hit 15 home runs. tavarez turns and faces the runner. he throws that breaking ball about a foot outside. he had hanley rami

julian tavarez has been in the big leagues for almost 20 years. he knows nibbling in the late innings gets you in trouble. the marlins always find different ways to beat the nats. not even close. four hitters ago there were two outs and the bases were empty. and now the marlins get a huge insurance run and lead 4-2. there's just no excuse for what manny acta has to watch here in the 8th inning. and these are two veteran guys, villone and now tavarez. joe beimel. ronny paulino could put this game out of reach. hot shot, zimmerman knocks it down. and how they got the runner at second i don't know on a really bad throw by zimmerman. when this shoe store added aflac to its employee benefits package no direct cost the company... it was a perfect fit. find out more at aflac!... ...forbusiness.com  >> bob: let's have a look at our coors light freeze cam, brought to you by coors light, the world's most refreshing beer. listen to somebody holler got 'em when ryan zimmerman hits the ball. he centered that one, and the coors light freeze cam cent

. >> bob: top of the order, julian tavarez. tavarez, a third of the inning in new york last night getting a key out late. marco scutaro 0-3. manny talked about this bullpen today. they brought in a lot of veteran guys. we saw a total transition from young to not so young as april turned into may and the results were not immediate but lately they've been much better. 2-1 from tavarez. zimmerman was playing shallow like do you on a leadoff guy. one out. >> rob: meet and hop, very nice. >> bob: julian tavarez, 36 years of age. dirk hayhurst throwing for the blue jays. >> rob: what a great baseball name. hey dirk hayhurst. >> bob: and ron villone, that's a pretty good baseball name too. ron told me he really enjoyed going to yankee stadium this past series. grew up a yankee fan. his family actually from thebronx been they went to jersey. tap swing and a foul. aaron hill 1-3 with an infield hit off the glove of jordan zimmermann. one of the best hitters in the american league this year. 91 hits. if he gets another hit tonight, he'll

he and tavarez saved our day. colome has a little strain in his quad. the doctor evaluated him.t anot so bad. right now, he is day-to-day. if we have to make a decision, we'll make one. >> one more question about macdougal. he has been throwing nothing but fastball. is that something that the team suggested him to do or is it a game-by-game? >> it's not mandated that he throw fastball. but when he brought him in to pitch to sheffield, we say, you know, that's something that we instilled. when he does that, why throw a slider or something look that that can get hit. but he is being aggressive. >> willie has been a bench guy for you all along. what he has done over the

so does tavarez when he's throwing well. these two former teammates with a championship ball club in st. louis. they know each other pretty well. calgary stampeders, by the way where vernon wells, ii played. >> rob: did somebody e-mail you that? >> bob: no, i found itmyself. i don't have the stats, so don't ask me. [ laughter ] that's a good slider just off the plate. 2-2. wait something adam lind and then alex rios here right off the end of the bat. guzman there. oops. guzman's ninth error of the year. nationals second of the night. 63rd of the year in ballgame number 65. we really don't want the ball club to come home from a good finish of a road trip and play like that. >> rob: well, he had a little too much time. 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.

julian tavarez has done a great job.t's difficult to pitch in that situation all the time, but beimel has been amazing. >> bob: he was one of the best left-handers in the national league for three years with the dodgers. when we look closer at his statistics from those three seasons, he pitched a lot against right-handed batters. >> rob: he's got a great curveball, a great change-up, he throws across his body. i don't know how many lefties want to really stay in there, but markakis and huff are two of the best at hitting lefties. here's the 0-1 pitch, throws across his body. you see him land towards first base. >> jim p.: reminds me of jamie moyer. he's on the third base side. he's not really stepping that much at you. you know, he's way over on this side. that's the angle of six, eight inches across his body as far as where his front foot lands. we haven't even seen the curveball yet. there it is. saw that in washington when the orioles were over there earlier in the year. >> rob: but he just looks like a reliever, too.

. >> rob: you why julian tavarez -- you had julian tavarez in st. bob: and -- the fan is wrong. you are right. i know had you a fan hounding you on that. t-a-v-a-r-z. >> rob congratulations on your 50th win. >> bob: he joins a select group of relief pitchers. how about this group, trevor hoffman, are another rhodes, mariano rivera, those are the guys with 50 wins active. and julian told me he also found out from a friend of his down in the caribbeans that he is now second all time in caribbean series wins to jose lima. he had no idea. >> rob: lima time. he was telling me a story about his 7-year-old son in the playoffs. on a day off, he will fly down there to be with him, watch his game. >> bob: villone trying to come in through the side door there, just missing. the count is full to ben zobrist. ron villone, one intentional walk. if you take that away, he has had a few walks, 8 of them in 24 innings but he has been pretty unhittable. that ball goes straight up does not hit any girders or rings and josh bard is there to grab it. we are with you tomo

what do you think manny acta said to julian tavarez when he went out there on the mound in the 8th inningtake him out of the ballgame. here's what he said. >> i just told him that keep his delivery simple and stop doing any extra stuff with his legs and stop trying to pull that stuff and just keep his delivery simple so he can throw strikes. but it didn't work. >> and really surprised, ray, because one of the big proponents much putting the ball across the plate, manny acta's always talked about tavarez is here because he can throw strikes. >> i haven't seen it consistently. there's times when he goes out there and he is really effective, but then he'll go through a two or three day period where he can't find the plate. he's got tremendous movement and sometimes it's tough, if you're a little off centered, you have a little bit of balance problem, it's tough to get that ball to come back over that plate. i haven't seen him throw balls consistently for me to think that he's a control type pitcher that when you bring him in the game that you're not sitting over there growing a few more gray

julian tavarez against michel hernandez, reid brignac and b.j. upton for the rays, bottom of the 8th. >> rob: julian tavarez worked a couple of innings for his 50th win in the major leagues. >> bob: guys like mariano rivera, hoffman, wet they ares on that list. >> rob: i think arthur rhodes is on that list. >> bob: threw his bat at the ball. it will be uncatchable down in the bullpen. >> bob: is that ludacris? >> rob: throwing his bat? that's what you call throwing the bat head out there. literally. >> bob: the line on andy sonnanstine who will go 7 1/3, six hits, a walk, five strikeouts. he threw the same number of pitches in 7 1/3 that jordan zimmermann did in five innings, 92. did he go? the appeal takes forever. paul shriver finally says no. >> rob: check this out from the side view. he may have held up. >> bob: that bat broke the plane. look at zimmerman. he always starts the glove down low and then sweeps it up right into the ball. beautifully done for the first out here in the 8th. >> rob: imagine this score is a one run ballgame, this wou

julian tavarez has not pitched a lot lately. wonderful today going after the reds in the middle of their line-up. he turned it over to joe beimel in the top of the 9th ining to get the save. a wonderfully played ballgame. john lannan like you said, great job. turns it over to the bullpen. doesn't get any better than that. winning against a very tough defensive team that like you said some well bunted balls. they are throwing guys out at third. to beat them at their own game, very well played. >> byron: rob, got a question for you, some people might have thought mike macdougal would be the call there. how much confidence does it show to go with beimel in that? >> rob: they got about three or four closers in the bullpen. really macdougal has been pitching a lot. been getting a lot of work. joe beimel who has been throwing the ball as well, it doesn't matter. whoever can get the final 27th out, that is what manny acta needs. >> byron: thank you. rob dibble up in the booth calling the game. ray, the victory at 3-2 breaks a losing sk

i think the big part of it has been having beimel back and having colome and tavarez.eteran guys around those other guys to settle them down. i think they have done a very good job. we are not saying we are going to be lights out the rest of the season. hopefully we are, but they have been pitching pretty good for the last 3 or 4 weeks. macdougal was unavailable today. he threw two innings and pitched the night before. >> having all those runners on base, did you feel like once you have got the first two guys on in the 8th, this was going to be different? you were going to get the runs there? >> yeah. i felt like we got the first two guys on with the right people um at the plate. three's no way we are not going pull it off right here. but they still made it tough. we struggled with the bunt there. then gonzalez came up with a big hit. he didn't get a very good read off the bat. but still, we won and that is what is important. we didn't have a very good homestand but at least we won on get away day and we can build on it. >> heading to tampa. that is a situation where t

tavarez working on an 0-4 night. i forgot macdougal went to wake forest signed by baltimore 21st round, 2nd team all american, 1st team all american by baseball america. he had a heck of a year in the atlantic coast conference in wins and era. he had a personal record against duke in 99. takes a couple of steps. one down in the 11th. i think that's about all willy taveras has. macdougal in his 9thyear in the major leagues. phillips grounded to right, grounded to second. >> rob: he's still -- >> johnny: leaves the ball club in that category. phillips 0-1. nix is next. hernandez after him. >> rob: 17 homers in 06; 30 homers 07. >> johnny: macdougal delivers, a swing and a foul. mike had terrific years with kansas city. 68 games he pitched in 2003. came back a couple of years later, did the same thing. 54 with the white sox two years ago. he racked up 144 innings with kansas city in omaha before he got to the big leagues. 1-2. fouled off the plate at his foot. left hander getting ready in the nationals bullpen. this bal

there's julian tavarez warming up in the bullpen.harry was maybe 75ish, old school pitcher in the major leagues. one of those hard crusty older guys. he just ed you todoyour job. he'd get you ready. >> strikeout number five for sonnanstine. we're back with you tomorrow for the wrap-up of this series, 1:30 2. ross detweiller with a 5.06 e.r.a. owe pone he -- opponents are hitting .268 against him. for the rays, coverage begins at 1:00, "nats xtra" starring johnny holliday and ray knight. >> rob: wow, starring? >> bob: top billing for those boys. >> rob: a broadway show. >> bob: and people think we're the odd couple. >> rob: so you're felix? >> bob: i'm pretty sure you're the messy guy. >> rob: i'm without a doubt the messiest guy you'll ever meet. >> bob: no, you're not. >> rob: except for my cars and my garage, whatever. >> bob: your car is spotless. >> rob: i didn't know whether to strap it or genuflect. >> bob: nick johnson reaching for a pitch away. manny made this point last week when talking about guzman. he said when hitters

tavarez came in as well as villone and beimel. >> our bullpen looks pretty good., we keep talking about young pitchers keeping us in the game giving us a chance to win. their bullpen retired 15 of our last 16 hitters. the only man to get on base was hernandez with a walk. >> i think somebody else had a tough day today. santana with the mets. nationals fly to start a series tuesday night at yankees stadium. jimmy, it's on. - it's on. - oh, yeah, it's on. affirmative, it's on. announcer: southwest airlines announces new service out of bwi airport, with three daily nonstop flights to new york laguardia for just 49 dollars one-way starting june 28th. grab your bag. it's on. - ( ding ) - book now at southwest.com. grab your bag. it's on. 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 in

they are batting .278 as a ball club, second in the american league, detwiler, julian tavarez, thosehey're going to start a new show called gilligan's island. they are stranding everybody these days. how about that, 28 of 29. and so the blue jays, .278, fifth in the american league in runs, fifth in homeruns and alex rios is on fire, .394 over 33 at-bats in his last eight games. his batting average is up to .277. tall order for ross detwiler tonight, but, hey, at this time last night, robb, we were talking about jordan zimmerman having his work cut out for him. that's a daily occurrence for these young pitchers. >> rob: and they have been up to the task. going back to the tampa series, i talked to a lot of the players there, they are still upset that they didn't win more games. there were a lot of great pitches. and ross detwiler in line to not break the chain. the nationals do not have a win in his starts. his job is to put them in line to win. you are showing up against the best offense in the american league and, hopefully, you can rise up to the occasion so that's your pnc bank b

. >> johnny: when you look at macdougal, villone, tavarez, a lot of veteran arms out there getting the job done. >> phil: they noticed with the younger guys out there that a lot of these guys work in pairs. a lot of guys had that deer in the headlight look. the veterans have seen it all. >> well, tomorrow, the nats will go for the sweep. we hope you will be with us. the red sox come into town after an off day on monday. nats and baltimore for a weekend series. phil and i come right back after this. (man) some days my 8:15 bus is just a bus, but other days, like today, it's my office. the boss just emailed me and wants the new proposal asap. no worries though, my smartphone, it's from at&t. i'm on the nation's fastest 3g network. so that proposal? delivered. (announcer) the nation's fastest 3g network. another reason why twice as many smartphone users have chosen at&t. get the blackberry bold for $199.99 after mail-in rebate. only from at&t. it's easy to identify the leaders of tomorrow. they're all around us. which is why pnc created grow up great. a $100 million program that prepares

julian tavarez getting loose. >> rob: excellent people. >> johnny: high infield pop into foul territory goes rosales and now back into fair territory. there's one away as kearns pops up to the 1st baseman. >> rob: before sandy wentk to the san diego office, dusty baker may make a pitching chao he was the pitching umpire who was in charge. >> johnny: baker makes a trip out to the mound to talk to micah owings. he is working into the 6th inning here against washington. got a 2-0 lead. >> rob: and he has only worked into the 7th inning four times so far this year. actually 7 innings once this year. but more than 6, only 4 times in 11 starts. >> johnny: that is jared burton trying to get loose. >> rob: he may give him a hitter or two more. he probably said if this guy gets on, you are done. >> johnny: 101 pitches he has thrown so far. >> rob: it is very humid. very muggy today. >> johnny: harris grabs a bat. he is ondeck. willingham is on first. kearns popped out to the 1st baseman. >> rob: i think man in acta probably senses if the nationals don't get something going soon, they will b

julian tavarez, 6 2/3 innings pitched. 0 e.r.a. 1-0., on the mound for 7 1/3 innings, his e.r.a. is the highest, one hold. and just as these relievers come out of the nationals bullpen to keep washington in the game, you, too, can stay in the game with just for men hair color. the pitching staff is getting it done, starters and relievers. we'll take you to look at matt chico on the mound. @@pp÷÷ . >> johnny: we are back on a beautiful night for baseball here in the nation's capital. joby holiday along with phil wood. this is just the middle game of the three-game set against the jays. right back at you tomorrow night at 2 0-0. and then the red sox come into town and then next weekend against the orioles in baltimore. we'll be on masn 2 for that series against baltimore. tonight, the fashion us that try to make it 4 in a row. let's bring the folks kinds of up in date of what's happening notice minor league with matt chico. then we'll talk about another young man that i'm sure the young fans will be familiar with quickly and that'

. >> bob: julienne tavarez. is scott olsen done.e warming up just in case the nats get a couple of guys aboard, but he's still two spots away. >> rob: for me he's got 78 pitches. if he labors at all, he's out. he's had a great night, great comeback start. he's the future. one of the futures of this franchise. >> bob: this guy is unhittable right now. @@ppxx our 737s fly to over 65 cities across the country every day. woman over p.a.: this is your final boarding call. all passengers... each with an average speed of 590 miles per hour. almost as fast as you. nothing's gonna hold you down. starting august 16th, fly southwest airlines from bwi airport to boston logan for just $49 one-way. bags fly free on southwest so our low fares stay low. grab your bag. it's on. - ( ding ) - book now at southwest.com. is my favorite because it has so much flavor. so i wanted to design a glass that would enhance the taste of boston lager. we did a laser etch on the bottom. it releases the hops aromas this bulb is for collecting aromas. there's a littl

nationals, -- for the marlins, emilio bonifacio, first home run inside the park job against julian tavarez hoping day -- opening day when they faced the nationals. he'll be in the number two hole. the rest of the marlins lineup, chris coghlan in left field leading off the batting order for florida hanley ramirez with the .333 average will be the shortstop. jorge cantu at first. then comes jeremy hermida. dan uggla, cody ross in center, john baker catching and sean west on the mound tonight. bonifacio, 18 infield hits this year. that's third in the national league. now, for manny acta for the washington nationals, elijah dukes .284 batting average. runners in scoring position. overall season average at .237. he has nine outfield assists. that's tops in the major leagues, but only 4-32 his last 10 ballgames. look for elijah to hopefully break out of that slump tonight against the marlins. cristian guzman leads off. he'll be at shortstop. nick johnson, the number two hole. then comes ryan zimmerman, adam dunn, josh willingham in right against his former ball club. elijah will be in center fie

julius tavarez was amazing. ron villone has been unstoppable. one run allowed in 15 appearances since coming on to this ball club. mike mcdougal, he gets released and finds another ball club. and joe beimel, he looks like a reliever. all the chicks dig him. chicks like it when you get your job done. >> bob: debbi taylor has the night off so byron kerr is with us. you have more on this bullpen. >> byron: we talked about that bullpen and it's been a couple of weeks for them as the pitching coach is kind of settling in. so much is made in baseball about who is the middle reliever, who is the guy in the 7th inning. >> i know some guys like to know who is the closer, who is the relief guy. i think guys need to be prepared to pitch. i'm not saying that might not come about or manny and i have not talked about but i like to have guys ready to pitch. >> byron: mcdougal is getting close with that nice action that he had with the royals. >> bob: it doesn't hurt when mcdougal with throw mid-90s with all that sink. two years ago, the tampa bay rays won 66 g

then, tavarez, wells.ry one of them did a very good job and kept us in the game and gave us an opportunity to come back. >> a couple errors you guys -- [ indiscernible ] >> very important. that play willie made we felt from the bench he had no chance getting to that ball. just play very well and other guys played lights out yesterday defense at yankee stadium, today struggled a little bit. it's part of the game. tomorrow we'll be back at it again. >> jordan's role -- [ indiscernible ] your thoughts on that? >> that's something that we are very impressed about with the fact that we in the future might be able to put five starters that are not going to be your automatic, get a bunt down, strikeout if you don't bunt type of pitchers. guys like him and martis and olsen and stammen and lannan is getting better. guys, athletic, detwiler that can run the bases, can slash and do not only bunt but swing the bat once in a while and run down the first-base line like he did when the situation calls for it. so, that wa

joe beimel has got eight, julian tavarez has one.ls coming in keep the nats in the game every time they come out of the pen. you too can stay in the game with just for men hair color. nice having you with us. ben goessling is going to talk with us. we saw terrific plays and then go to the hot corner of our "nats xtra" pregame when we come back with ben goessling.  >>> welcome back "nats xtra pregame on masn tonight. they'll meet tomorrow night at 7:00 and sunday afternoon game on masn 2. then, boston red sox come to town for games tuesday, wednesday and thursday. on the big one, masn hd. we hope you'll be with us here in person if not on masn. manny acta knows one thing is for certain. pitching and defense wins ballgames. >> i don't think it's a secret that pitching and defense wins ballgames. the fact is that we haven't played good defense, and it goes both ways. if you play good defense, it makes your pitching better because there's a thousand of errors that they don't shoip on the box score. fly balls that we don't get to. fl