hanley ramirez has really got it going. goi he had 13 r.b.i.s in his last series including two grand slams in one series.ra the last national league playere to hit two grand slams in the same series was robin ventura in 1999. he hit slams in both games of a doubleheader. >> we'll have all the highlights for you on the next "baseball tonight," 10:00 eastern on espn. >> thanks, fellas. the chicago baseball writers who hold hall of fame votes met today to discuss what to do about players tied to performance-enhancing drugs. six of the eight most prestigious sluggers in the steroid era have been directly tied to p.e.d.s -- bonds, mcgwire, sosa, a-rod and manny, leaving just ken griffey, jr., and jim thome unscathed. chris deluca is the national baseball columnist for the "chicago sun-times," one of the hall of fame voters at that meeting. chris, what happened today? >> i think everybody wanted to get together and just talk about this. it's become such a hot issue since the sammy sosa revelation. people needed guidance. rick cal

until manny ramirez gets back on july 3rd. when you think about it, their top home run hitter at the moment is casey blake. not what they expect when they broke camp. >> you mentioned manny ramirez, and the team misses him. but what is the talk in the clubhouse about the outfielder right now. >> the players say he's the only way they can make it to the postseason. as you would expect, they believe they can go quite the distance without him and play good ball. actually they've shown that since the suspension started. they were not quite as strong as they were when they first broke camp. but they're still pretty good. >> on the other hand, they find a lot of the discussion about manny to be a moot point. it's not like he has an injury where it's all speculative as to when he'll return and how good he'll be. because they know they're going to get him back. they find a lot of the questions sort of beside the point. >> jim, good enough to stop by with us here on espnews. thanks so much. >> you're welcome,. >> still to come, roger f

. >> tuesday manny ramirez spoke. against the rules for manny. major league baseball reminded the dodgers that he can not speak with the reporters in the team's clubhouse. according to "espn the magazine" buster olney there will be no fine or suspension for this. >> phil mickelson was emotional speaking to reporters in memphis repairing for his return to the pga tour in the saint jude's classic attt at bethpage black. with his wife amy's breast cancer treatment set to begin soon. >> i have never been this emotional where if i am driving alone, i will just start crying. it's a weird thing. i am looking forward to have a 4 or 5 hour mental break where i can force myself to focus on something else. i am looking forward to that. i am not playing just to play. i think that bethpage is a golf course that suits my game. i love playing on that course. i love playing in the new york area. i am playing here because i believe i can win next week. i don't know when i will be able to play again. i don't know what our treatment schedule will be like after surg

want to ask you about hanley ramirez. do you believe he's one of the top 10 players in the game today? >> yes, he is. actually, i can go back a long way because i remember this young boy at -- when he was a young boy at about 18 years old in the dominican league he had big paws. he had paws like you would think a 6'4", 250-pound man would be. he's some kind of hitter. you've got to treat all great hitters in the middle of the order fairly similar. you've got to try to stay away. you've got to straint them up. i think berken's breaking ball is very important today. if he throws that good slider he's had a bunch of times, he can keep him off balance. if you can keep him the other way, it's ok because it's a lot less damage in right center field on the ground than it is up in the air to left center field. >> dave, the second baseman for the marlins, dan uggla is somebody you've really got to watch out for. his batting average will fool you. he's not hitting much for average, but he can hit the ball out of the ballpark. secon

hanley ramirez swings through it. it's no balls and two strikes. >> buck: obviously, the president of baseball separations -- operations is on the trip andy macphail. there's a lot of conversation going on about preventative moves and whatever you might have to do should the news not be good after the examination tomorrow. >> jim: 0-2, he got him. what a start for rich hill. three strikeouts, three swinging strikeouts, and marlins go in order, three up, three down. so, rich hill looking for his fourth win gets them in order in the first. and a few things we want to pay for. on top of it all, we're still trying to put away some money for the future. with the wish list, we can save up for anything we want. and still have enough to cover the day-t0-day. plus, the savings engine helps our money grow. and that's something we need and want. introducing the virtual wallet from pnc, a high definition, online view of your money. pnc. leading the way. try chili's new fire-grilled quesadillas, starting at $6.99. flame-grilled to

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 two-run shot in the game, 10th home run for this player. >> coming up next, the united states came away from soccer history. history. what a - ( "doorway" playing ) - ♪ i wanna feel you - ( camera clicks ) - ♪ i've gotta shake you off ♪ i watch the doorway ♪ you get right u

. >> major league baseball has reminded manny ramirez and the dodgers he is not allowed it the clubhouse when media is present for the remainder of the suspension that runs through july 2nd. and joe torre on the pros and cons with manny being with the team. >> we want to see him. you know, i'd like to have him here on a regular basis. again, i don't want to make -- i'm all for whatever makes him comfortable. as long as he's working out, that's the most important thing. i told him next week we would talk about his rehab and, you know, and when he's going to go. and where he's going to go. we still have to look at the schedule on that. but that's my number one concern. and i pretty much think everybody in here, i don't think they need to see him every day. i'm just more concerned with manny and what makes him comfortable at this point. >> at 40-20 the dodgers have the best record in baseball, really have not missed manny at all. right now trailing at home to the padres 3-1. and an rbi single for the padres and 0-5 at dodgers stadium, a 3-1 lead in the top of the forth and we will keep you

don't want to walk this as they would say punch and judy hitter with a legitimate power guy hanley ramirez next. you have to challenge bonn faso who has hit one home run this year. that's at the knees. >> rob: he's begging for a walk. >> bob: they list him at 5'1". >> rob: come on, he's not 5'11". >> bob: bonifacio's only career home run this year and that was the inside-the-park home runser that we remember well. if not fondly. but how does this guy lead their hitters in strikeouts. >> rob: because after he hit 5,000 off of us, the rest of the league saw that, they started exploiting his holes and his weaknesses and thng

. >>> and the home run alive in the first at-bat for manny ramirez and we are bringing you every at-bat during his rehab on "espnews." >>> and in a wimbledon debut, melanie oudin pulled off the big upset. wait until you hear what her wait un(announcer)r what her what does greatness taste like? a miller lite. (announcer on call) ...he throws it across the field. he's got something! 30...40...50...he's got it! 40! he's got it! 20...10...he's got it! 5!...endzone! touch down! there are no flags on the field! it's a miracle! (announcer) that's what greatness tastes like. triple hops brewed. great pilsner taste. miller lite. taste greatness. look at this! (laughing) - woooh, nice! - that's a lot of food! yo, those things are so-o good. mmm, amazing. you think anybody can eat that whole thing by themselves? it's like i hit the lottery in food. now get big meals, like our stuffed pizza rolls, pizza mia, the p'zone... and our personal panormous pizza starting at just $5. - here's your check! - look at that! (laughing) - small price! - we just feasted for 5 bucks! the big eat tiny price menu. no

ramirez sprints down the field with the ball and passes to rodinho who passes it. brazil ends up winning it. alexi lalas looks ahead. >> you have to be able to compete. it's not about winning necessarily against the big teams. when you get off the field after the 90 minutes you want to say "i'm proud of the u.s. and i have hope for the future." the progress that this team and sport has made on and off the field in the last 10-20 years is phenomenal, it's so incredible when you compare it to other countries -- the fact is in the united states, we want everything immediately. we want to be able to win the world cup. we want to be able to compete. my problem with this team is it's not necessarily the best players but it's not the best group of players, and as we've seen in any sport it's not necessarily all the great stars and all the best players coming together, it's the proper mix. when you're looking at this team we have to ask ourselves is this the proper mix? is this the proper collection of players that's going to win, that's going to compete at a world-cup lev

and for ramirez, he is scheduled to play two more games, too. five innings on wednesday, and six innings on thursday, then fly back to los angeles for friday. manny of course rescheduled to join the dodgers on the field july 3rd when they face the padres in san diego, the firsts game after his suspension comess to an end. >> all right. so the dodgers with one eye onnt albuquerque,e,e,eye on chicago and the white sox on tuesday. region. inflicting suffering of its own people and many others. to be sure i am aware and international affairs old wounds do not heal easily. however if we look closely at iraq political economics potential is clearly in the gulf nations' strategic interest to support the government and people of iraq. iraq neighbors should lend support with intelligence sharing and increase border control efforts. especially those nations that have thus far failed to live up to pledges to tighten border crossings. iraq moreover should be considered for membership and a regional forum such as the gulf cooperation council. agreed security

ryan howard who hits them off of everybody, then hanley ramirez who does the same thing, grand slam. you consider how far he's come from that tommy john surgery, he's had a very good year. ran into him last night. he said, i hope i'm here for the rest of the year, but i'm sure there's other teams that are looking, hey, this could be a guy that could an pretty good and important addition to the back end of some bullpen. >> rob: you guys talked about where your bullpen was in the game. last time hernandez came out, he had a lot of pitches early on and got him out of the ballgame. that's where the nationals took this lead. >> jim h.: 0-2 on willie harris. fouls it back to stay alive. guzman and johnson to follow. the orioles in the bottom of the ninth, reimold, scott and salazar due up. >> rob: it's very important for the bullpen to try to keep scores the way they found it when they came in the ballgame. if you start giving up tack on runs, very difficult to keep chasing the lead. >> jim p.: a splitter that hangs up. if it's so good, two-seamer, he has to pitch down in the strike zone.

they have been phenomenal this year even without manny ramirez who is less than a week away from coming back. >> bob: two of the five team ifs last place, interesting. >> rob: maybe the one, two, three hitters shouldn't be so good. they should be the four, five, six. >> bob: make, them the one, three, five and put somebody between them. >> jim: they give numbers for everything now. of course when the mets came in, david wright, as he still is, was hitting the highest average in the national league. of course everybody was saying that they should move him from -- that they should move him from fifth to third or fourth, whatever, because if you start looking at the total of at-bats you get in a year, it is something like 780 to 730 depending upon where you hit in the lineup. >> bob: oh, nick johnson takes another one. >> rob: another curve ball. >> bob: he is wearing a shin guard tonight. >> rob: i think that got him in the toe bone. >> bob: the lump on his shin had totally disappeared. so he gets hit for the second straight night >> rob: ouch! last last night it was breaking ball by john

hanley ramirez is hitting .330. in this series, 3-8 with a home run, six rbi's against the orioles. jorge cantu and dan uggla have also done some damage. cody ross, the center fielder for the marlins is hitting .280 with 12 home runs including three grand slams. how impressed are you with cody ross? >> i don't get a chance to sthee guy enough. i like what i see. he has an outstanding swing. he's a very powerful swing. pretty good center fielder. aside of that, this guy has three grand slams on the season. he's somebody now who is really looking for pitches in certain situations. i can tell by watching those replays, he is thinking pull all the time. you know, you just got to be real care informal fastball situation when you have a guy like that who wants to get extended. he's got the bat speed and the leg power and everything to drive the ball out of the ballpark. you don't give into his wishes. you have to pitch him a little backwards at time. make him hit the off-speed stuff for a while. he'll be so anxious to swing at it he'll pop-up and strikeout a little more. >> last nice, cod

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 field tonight with a .237 average. second base will be handled by alberto gonzalez. wil nieves will be catching and craig stammen on the mound for the nationals with a team batting average of .258. time for nig