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 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

nats' sixth hit, or zimmerman's single, a double.and it's one ball and a strike. >> rob: andy fletcher has home plate tonight. he has been generous. we can't just say that that was again dunn. he gave that same strike zone to detwiler, cueto, he has been very consistent all night. so as a hitter you have to go up there knowing he has been a little loose on the engineers tonight, if it's way outside, a breaking ball, he is dunn. >> johnny: david weathers the third cincinnati pitcher, willie harris witch outside.   the last 10 years d weathers leads all pitchers with 668 appearances. >> rob: a lot of work. >> johnny: a lot of work in milwaukee. >> rob: i was just leaving, i that the sat that who will last year and retired, he was coming up in '96, he would be part of that, you know, florida team great guy. great guy to have on your team. one of the nicer players you'll ever come across and be consistent at this level for 20 years pitching in the big leagues. >> he strikes out elijah dukes,

zimmerman on a breaking ball low and away. that one pitch changed the entire at-bat because that would have been a 3-1 pitch and ryan zimmerman is 0-5 tonight. >> rob: accardo makes a good breaking ball pitch down and away and tried to if you will. that pitch, if he makes a mistake with dunn could leave the building. >> bob: adam dunn, 1-3, a single and an intentional walk. first pitch changeup outside.  >> bob: pitcher spo then, alberto gonzalez would hit nor joel hanrahan -- for joel hanrahan. absolutely perfect as a pinch- hitter and those five hits have resulted in four rbi's which is really impressive.  a 1-2 to adam dunn. he went off-speed again missing away 2-2.  that was a fastball he trying to paint. >> rob: from our vantage point, that's a foot outside. on tv, camera is off center in center field. from where we're standing, we've got a good view of it. it was a ball. >> bob: adam dunn to the lef

zimmerman cuts it off to belliard. one down. >> rob: nice job by ryan zimmerman. >> johnny: just makes them and makes them, doesn't he rob. >> rob: what did i say after he airmailed that ball earlier in the game that a run came in on. he has been stellar ever since. as a pitcher, you have to forget the one error and think about the 9 he makes out of 10. he has made some amazing plays right there on bruce. another one on phillips. >> johnny: that is the first out here in the 9th. beimel to face alex gonzalez. breaking ball. inside for a ball. >> rob: and give him a lot of credit on zimmerman's hustle down the 1st base line even though gonzalez took out fi phillips. if he wasn't -- took out phillips. >> johnny: drifting back is guzman calling off willingham and willingham calling off guzman and makes the catch. >> rob: that is the right play. cristian has to keep coming and so he called off willingham. >> johnny: nats xtra post game coming up in just a couple of minutes. hopefully they will be talking about a nationals w

zimmerman up the middle, double play ball, turned by hill, 6-4- 3.erman hits into a double play for the 13th time this year. adam dunn got it done in the 11th last night. >> rob: the big hero. manny acta was telling me he was waiting for him to make contact hard somewhere, thought he could win this ballgame and right there you see him shoot down the right field line. and all they were saying around the batting cage today -- and he was launching second-deck house of representatives. sometimes, it's not a big homerun that wins you ball games. it's just putting the ball in play and that's what he did last night. >> bob: here is another such time. front door breaking ball up to dunn, now hitting .268. that was his 48th rbi of the year last night, 6th in the national league in that. the shift is on. scott rolen, though, those stay somewhat close to third. adam drives the ball to left but it's right at adam lind. that's it for the nats. leadoff hit. guzman stranded. no score after 1. beautiful night here. s of tomorrow. they're all around us. which is why

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 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

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 does. and then covering the bases with adam dunn. a high pop-up behind the plate, the catcher drifting back into the stands. and no play for ryan hanigan, the count is each with two balls and two strikes, 3-1 here in the bottom of the sixth. >> rob: ryan has made a lot of strides in on

walked zimmerman and willingham. and the pitch to kearns and it is 0 balls and two strikes. >> rob: austin's last ten games, 4 hits. no extra base hits. >> johnny: behind in the count now. fisher steps off that rubber. zimmerman, the tying run at second. and the 0-2. fouled out of play down the reefld line -- right field line. >> rob: again they are going fast slow, fast slow. 95 miles an hour fastball from fisher. 83 miles an hour curve ball. >> johnny: and there's no activity in that cincinnati bullpen. here's the pitch to kearns just outside and low. it is one ball and two strikes. >> rob: jesus colome. >> johnny: picked by the reds in the 11th round of that june 2005 first-year player draft. the 1-2 to kearns. checked swing. did he go through, yes he did. and that is the end of the inning. and the nationals threaten but can't get that tying run across. we go to the 8th at nationals park. >> johnny: welcome back. johnny holliday along with rob dibble. the nationals still trying to get back in this ballgame

zimmerman struck out. elijah dukes came into the game .300 this year with runners in scoring position. fastball runs right back to the outer half. >> rob: camp throws side arm. he'll bring this as a two-seam fastball. watch it sink back over the plate what we would kala raido. >> bob: this is a battle now. >> rob: got to be ready for anything if you're elijah. >> bob: tried the same pitch. missed a little low and away with it. 1-1 game. nats outhit the blue jays. fighting another a. l. east team here. now the situation has turned itself around because camp does not want to go to 3-2. josh bard, switch-hitting catcher on deck. nationals want that scoreboard to change right here with one out. got him on a front door slider. the nationals have made two outs this inning by not swinging at 3-2 pitches. that was nasty. >> rob: well, he comes around the side but gets on top of it really nice t comes back down and barajas actually has trouble with it. here is the grip. you see him get on top of it. look at this sp

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,

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 on a borderline pitch in the 9th when we would rather see him hacking. it was 3-2 delivery and he could have been the potential winning run at first. he gets under that one. it's going to stay in the park. second out. elijah dukes had the ford drive of the game that put the nats up. >> rob: cristian guzman, elijah dukes and nick johnson with the doubles. elijah thrown out trying to go to third. ryan zimmerman and adam dunn 0- for-10 tonight with four strikeouts, three of them looking. it's opinion an odd night for the 3-4 guys. dukes pulls off a breaking ball, hits it right off the end of his bat. fair ball. picked by scott role en and a good throw and a good stretch. we are going into the 12th inning. 

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

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 to backup what you just said, brian tallet against right-handed hitters this year, they're batting .218 off him

now it's ryan zimmerman's turn.aseball's success can come like bolts of lightning out of no where, and that's what ryan needs here. zero for 13 in this series and zero for his last 15. we'd love nothing better than to see a sharply hit ball go right to johnson in right field. outside. >> moving up on the plate a little bit. i know he's moved up in the box. this guy throwing breaking balls in front of the plate all day to him. maybe he'll smoke one right back up the box. >> okay over there? >> yeah, little frog in my throat. >> have to do -- hate to do the maneuver on father's day. >> it's eight runs in the fourth for st. louis. we're still a week and a half away from the true halfway point of the season. that's why the nats would like to pile up a whole bunch of wins between now and then and shut off all the emails. 2-2 zimmerman hanging tough here. breaking ball, strikes him out. he's just not seen the breaking ball at all. ryan's been called out on strikes. i think that's five to six times on breaking balls in the

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 lea

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 w

kemp against -- camp against zimmerman. ryan hits the ball hard but right at the centerfielder, vernon wells. we go to the top of the 9th inning. it's going to be another one of those kinds of games. 3-3. we build fish finders. we build battery chargers. we build base camps. we build transporters. we build sanctuaries. we build the technologically advanced jeep grand cherokee. come see what we've built for you. . >> bob: bottom of the order  for the blue jays, top of the 9th in a 3-3 game. they have outhit the nats 9-8. it's always nice to know that our fans are paying attention on what's going on in other parks. what do you think about peter's question from mac lean? >> rob: i don't think it would fit the evolution of the young staff that we have here but in boston, the reason why they thought about going to a six- man rotation is because they brought in smoltz, brought in penny and figured one of those guys comes back, it's good. but daisuke matsuzaka has been so bad they're going to skip him. i'm not a big fan even o

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 average. >> johnny: got 6 career homeruns. one this year ca

here's ryan zimmerman, 1 for 2 in the cleanup spot today.immerman 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 kick

. >> 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. 

: 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 walk. this is really interes

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,

nowhere to put zimmerman with one away in the 8th. he jumps out in the count 0-1. nationals all-time leader in runs and hits and doubles and homers and rbis in games played. and a chance to do some serious damage with a base hit here. outfield shaded just a little to the right. here's zimmerman. outside. nick masset hasn't given up a run since april 24th. only given up one hit his last three games he has appeared in.

zimmerman got the fielder's choice. they threw the ball away, we scored two runs and took the lead. it was a fabulous game, bob, and it was a heck of a way to end the home stand. the next couple of weeks, this is going to be a test for this ball club. >> bob: rob's test is well taken. when you have a well pitched game, a ground ball, a hustle here and there makes a heck of a difference. let's talk about the bullpen, another reason why the games have been competitive lately. i love what manny says about these guys. your role is to go get outs. forget about who pitches when? >> rob: absolutely. you might pitch from the 5th inning. go out there and throw strikes. 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 bu

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 keep them right here. this is the most important inning of the game, 3-3 against the best offense in the american league. >> bob: i think joe west is giving the rays' dugout a hard time because of our lights. he knows everything going on out here. it's the bottom of the 7th. reid brignac, b. j. upton and carl crawford. brignac 0-for-1 with a dprowb a -- a ground ground ball and a walk. that ball right off the mask of josh bard. >> rob: we may have to explain to joe west how much money masn spends to televise these games. he needs to take a chill pill. we have the best crew in the game. top of the order

here's zimmerman who took him way deep leading off the second.first 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 th

zimmerman down the line and that ball is foul. and that's an umpire, paul nort who only went about three or four feet down the line and planted himself and made the call. a lot of umpires don't like to be running down the line and bouncing when they make that call. >> rob: here is a look. i don't know. >> bob: it's hard. >> rob: i saw yellow before i saw white. >> bob: we see white. >> rob: that means it went in front of that foul pole. we should call them fair poles, anyway because if it's hits, that's a homerun and it's fair. i don't get that foul pole. >> bob: looks like that ball crossed it. >> rob: it did. it was a shadow. >> bob: good call by paul nauert. >> bob: and zimmerman. >> rob: that was not much of a breaking ball when you are throwing 95 miles per hour, the replay. see the head down. watch him keep the hand back. strides first but he keeps the hands back long enough to be able to take breaking ball back up the middle. great hitting. >> bob: ryan had the hitting streak going, these were the kind of base hits he was g

: 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

austin kearns is zero for his last 15, zimmerman zero for his last 16. a rough go today for the numbers three and five hitters. alberto gonzalez will be in there. looks like he's reaching for his groin. >> he's done. you can't pitch if you can't extend and land. you've got to be flexible and stretched out, and sometimes you go to just push off the mound, thinking well, i've done this tens of thousands of times, and that one time it gets you. that looks like brandon league. while he's doing that, we'll take a break. one out, bottom of the eighth at national park, blue jays lead it 6-2. rilled 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. . >>> kind of quiet day over in  the navy yard and here at the ballpark as well. more

. >> johnny: zimmerman running and a couple of walks here. >> rob: willingham draws a two-out walk. two-run ballgame. bob carpenter back tomorrow night. here's a 2-1 game bottom of the 7th. austin kearns will step in. he walked in the second and struck out and popped out his last two appearances. >> rob: i don't think they wanted a whole lot to do with josh willingham. i think they wanted to attack austin kearns here, even putting the tying run on at second to do it. >> johnny: fisher walked two. walked zimmerman and willingham. and the pitch to kearns and it is 0 balls and two strikes.

if you throw over zimmerman's head, now, the tying run trots on into second.lways nice to try to throw the runner out at the plate but there is always another part to that story. >> bob: aggressive coaching by nick lava. he has been a good third base coach for a time with cito gaston and before that, with whitey whitey herzog in st. louis. >> rob: good breaking ball. he got a little bit too much of the plate. >> bob: dangerous clean-up hitter on deck. foul tipped. vernon wells trying to put away another one here, with one out, top of the 8th and a 3-2 game. uh-oh. that got away from wil nieves. tying run is at third base with one out. >> rob: he may have crossed wil up on that pitch. >> bob: they're going to call it a passed ball. >> rob: they wanted a breaking ball right there and i think kip gives him a fastball. >> bob: yep. >> rob: little things, communication, fundamentals, cutoff man. >> bob: they won't call it wp for wild pitch but it could have been for wrong pitch. a passed ball on nieves. the infield in. 1-2 to wells. breaking ball popped up. guzman

zimmerman at third base over there. getting the start today, john lannan, from new york. >> jim h.: born on long island. went to college at ciena which is up near albany. >> rob: had a chance to talk to his high school baseball coach when he was up in new york. he's a leader, he's got a big heart. i love watching this kid pitch. doesn't have the best stuff, but he's got the best approach. >> jim p.: but 88 to 93, that should get a lot of guys out if you can command your stuff. we all know he's got a good change-up. >> jim h.: looking at his numbers from last year, he went 9 and 15 and an e.r.a. of 3.91 and not seeing him all the time, the first wonder is how the heck can you go 9 and 15 with that impressive an e.r.a. markakis lifts it to left field. it hung up there just long enough for him and two men down. so markakis is retired and two away. he's not out of it yet, because here comes a red-hot hitter aubrey huff. >> jim p.: of course last year nobody in the american league with more extra-base hits. you can see the n

guzman, johnson, zimmerman for the -- zimmermann for the nats. our great guys fromwalter reed army hospital on georgia avenue. >> rob: i saw a few more of those gentlemen at yankee stadium while we were up there. >> bob: there's cristian guzman. rolen even with the bag at third. guzman jacks one to left and then over to get it lind. cristian guzman has hit the ball in the air twice. get your red on. get a grand slam flex plan. pick four games, get one free. five games to choose from. get a free game. it's that easy. 888-632-nats or nationals.com/grandslam. here is nick johnson. walked his first time.  >> bob: right now, averaging 15 pitches per inning. jordan zimmermann is averaging 20. that didn't feel too good. nick got his foot with that one. the count is 0-2. >> rob: we talked about that with craig stammen that kind of overworking a little witt. -- a little bit. here is the foul ball on the x- mo right off the foot. right off the top. that's going to leave a mark. our x-mo camera, 500 frames per sec

ryan zimmerman, strikes out. starting to pool up. that's number 54. >> rob: i think it's all good now. you would know this more than me. didn't the boston brave go to kansas city and milwaukee and then atlanta? >> bob: no, they went to milwaukee first. the philadelphia athletics went to kansas city. >> rob: some teams have traveled around a little bit. they have gone and then. >> bob: and they are in oakland. it's i how can you deny the history. that's baseball. at the end of the day, that's all good. >> bob: and the royals fans have the st. louis browns who came there in '53, how their team moved around. i mean we have lost two teams in this town. 1 ball, 1 strike to dunn. that ball gets away the nick johnson never saw it. he just fell right out of the glove of raul chavez. he had the catcher and the umpire in his line of sight. >> bob: that ball. >> rob: that ball gets out of the sight. did you see barajas -- or not barajas but chavez much he was looking at the runner. >> bob: thighs try at the breaking ball. >> rob: i think nick w

nick johnston, ryan zimmerman coming up. the ocean doesn't care. so grab your bag.es may be tough today, but the things we all look forward to haven't changed. like owning a home. watching our children grow. and retiring with confidence. so whatever you're looking forward to, m&t bank is here to help you get there. m&t bank. understanding what's important. . >> johnny: quick one-two-th for the cincinnati reds at the top of the first. detwiler sets them down. the lineup for the nats they'll go this way with cristian grews man in short, nick johnston number 2, ryan zimmerman, adams out of the clean-up spot with elijah dukes, willie harris center, hernandez in second base, ross detwiler. they have the .340 average in wins. he is 24 years old and has tremendous poison the mound for such a young guy. >> rob: yes he does and that's one of the things with bulk heads, and it is much a lot like the nationals, the young kid had to develop quickly. >> johnny: johnny questionnaire some winning six, he went 7 innings and more in his previous eight starts. 

and then they went away from that and started expanding their own zones, especially ryan zimmerman when they started struggling, and we can talk about that. peaks and valleys and some guys get depressed. last night against smoltz they started to go back to their old approach. smoltz threw 35 pitches in the first inning. >> jim: 2-1 to harris. low curve ball high and ball three. >> jim: again he gets behind, i'm talking about brad bergesen. he is now 3-1. and you can see him trying not to be predictable, hence the 2-1 curve ball and that is not his strength. his strene spring training to get ahead and throw take ball out of the strike zone. >> jim: 3-2. >> jim: that is the pitch he is going to have to get from brian knight and we have already seen it from markakis, we have seen and brad knight favors the high fastball. >> jim: here are the numbers, jim. >> jim: yes. 115-point swing and maybe 120 points. >> jim: bard will go. 3-2 with two down, and it is inside, ball four and the inning continues. so three straight hits followed by a walk and the call at third looming larger now for both

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

if he pulls that ball, probably goes as far as zimmerman's did.nsecutive great at-bats here in the second. >> rob: nobody was backing josh up. right here he was so comfortable at the plate. waiting for your pitch. that's what you do. you start subtracting pitches. probably can't go after your curveball tonight. he smokes the fastball. >> bob: how about willingham, 21 hits for extra bases. nine home runs and 12 doubles. >> rob: he's kind of a big kid that willingham kid. >> bob: oh, yeah? >> rob: he's large. >> bob: he's really put together. >> rob: he's got extra base poe pension. now, this guy, he needs to be a slasher. put it in play, make some contact. >> bob: josh has always liked hitting here. he certainly did his share against the nationals in this yard. his best year with the marlins. 07 when he hit 21 homers, drove in 89 runs. he was healthy that year. and hernandez has to lay off that pitch. he did says james hoye down at third. anderson hitting at .266 but he's only 6 for his last 29. 3 for 4 with an rbi yesterday. he was spraying the ba

fastball up and zimmerman late for it. the count is 2-2.

a bouncer, zimmerman kn

breaking ball hit to zimmerman. home for one. and first for the double play 5- 2-3. >> jim: u so how did you get do that count? you swung at a lot of balls and then he make as great pitch. you talk about the curve ball, there is a good one. not a great call -- >> rob: not a great throw a great job by bard on that play. >> bob: that's been ryan zimmerman's m.o. this year. when he has a lot of time this make a throw, he'll grip it with just about every finger in his hand and throw changeups all over the infield. when he is in a hurry he is maybe the best throwing third base at his age you'll ever see. so it is second and third, two outs now. top of the order, brian roberts and detwiler oddly enough has struck him out twice. >> rob: i want to ask him, strikeout count, 1-2 count, he still left that pitch up in the zone. maybe afraid as a young guy to jam that into the dirted? >> jim: probably a little bit, yeah. it is always devil to pitch with the bases loaded. right here, if you look at brian roberts, you know what you need to do t

with only the zimmerman homer. man, what a hook.e has shown tonight how effective a right-handed pitcher can be against left- handed batters with a good breaking ball. not everybody can do that. and there's another one. he has struck out willie harris three times tonight.   >> bob: tomorrow night 7:00 on masn 2, when they put craig stammen back in the rotation, he said, cool. he'll be taking on left-hander sean west, a 23-year-old from houston. stammen and west tomorrow night. coverage begins 6:30, "nats xtra." juan villone takes over here. he'll face right-handed hitting wes helms pinch-hitting for ricky nolasco. ron villone still sporting a nice e.r.a., it's his 29th appearance. not good control numbers. 12 strikeouts, but 14 walks. unusual for him.   >> bob: wes helms, as a pinch- hitter this year, 7 for 21 with five rbi's. he's at .33, ron villone nowhere near the plate here. >> rob: ronny's more at the stage of his career where he will pitch around danger more so than challenge it

robert andino 0-2 with a pair of ground balls to ryan zimmerman. not a good place to hit the ball lately. >> rob: now it is like joel is mad and he is throwing the ball with conviction. he threw a great slider to wieters and now he is throwing fastballs. but you shouldn't have to give up a couple of runs. >> jim: you're right. he was a starting pitch mer the minor leagues, so he should have a pretty good sense of how to -- the guy should not be a thrower. he should be a pitcher. >> bob: and then he buries the slider. >> rob: but you have the throw it. you have the throw it. >> jim: you have to finish it. >> rob: you have to have the good follow-through, the mechanics. but but getting back to my point about the hitters, you to believe they can't hit your stuff. >> jim: if you make your pitches. and your defense, the way you pitch them, you're going to throw them away, again, the number one draft choice, matt half good. i said you know what you try to do as a 3eu67er, whether you're relieving, you try to concise the field. the field is big, but if yo

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

zimmerman, dunn and kearns, still very much in this game, and zimmerman is trying to do anything he can to get on base, now 0-14. ryan is a really good bunter, but he guided that one right to the pitcher. >> what did you say, disabled list? >> shoulder strain. >> more of a neck strain after the last few outings. >> whiplash from line drives. >> looking at the ball, oh, my neck. >> ryan just expanding his strike zone and now thinking too much. he's got to get back to relaxing in there, being more patient. 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 h

zimmerman drives the ball. and caught by alexrys were. >> bob: nick johnson could not even think of tagging up i. it's what's more apple pie than justin timber lake. >> bob: some of the words nowadays mean the some sit of what they say. right now with the way he is getting on, he is sick nick. >> rob: or the way he picks his spots, slick nick. >> bob: we already know him as that. a tradition of innovation is firestone. walks leaders in baseball, adrian gonzalez. why would you not walk him. adam dunn, mr. pujols, the prince, lance bergmann in houston and then the little guy who leads off for the blue jay, marco scutaro. >> bob: i know when we looked at the walk statistics, we are like, why are they walking marco scutaro to get to aaron hill who has 90-plus hits? atestimony dunn 0-for-2, a drive to left and a swinging swowt. he may have been guessing correctly, first pitch breaking ball, but he could not get it. >> rob: i'm thinking they are not going to give adam a lot to hit with first base open. >> bob: it is

he said zimmerman mostly bus of his defense and last night was spectacular against the boston red soxim: 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 processing speed that i need. this laptop has got everything i want. ah! announcer: nice work, g. it's a pc. my budget was $1,500. this computer will do everything t

similar to what zimmerman went through a week ago. nick suddenly is 0 for 17 in his last five games. the on-base average is .410, 8th best in the league. and certainly padded up after he really got whacked in that left leg. nick's kind of a walking bruise right now. he's got a couple of areas that are bothering him. >> rob: come on, that old woman kicks you harder than that. the one off the shin is a lot more painful sometimes when it happens, and then that bruise is going to stick there for a long time. but off the top of the foot, there's no padding in your shoe on the top of the foot. that's going to be painful. >> bob: and the swelling went down in the ankle, or the shin. that doesn't mean it stopped hurting. ricky nolasco on the year, 4-6 with a 6.42 e.r.a., but he gets good run support whenever he pitches. a 4.14 e.r.a., but in 10 games over the years, he's 6-1. the nats have hit against him okay in the past, they just haven't been able to stop the marlins. this will be a high drive to center. it's twilight time already here. wi

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