garza behind hip, 2-0. right now, it's a 30-pitch inning for one of the better young pitchers in the american league. garza 4, e.r.a. 3.55 coming into his 13 starts. top 9 in the league in strikeouts with 70. now, he goes 3-0. >> rob: it's number 31. >> bob: how about that, on the 7th man he is facing this inning. >> rob: here it is, 13 balls, 17 strikes. 30 total. and as i told you, 80% of his pitches, nothing but heaters. >> bob: and the nats might want more here. that's above the belt. he may be a little bit off in his command and control but he is still changing eye level. look at what willie has done here. runners will be going. dukes, he will be going now on a ground ball. race to the bag. garza gets there before willie harris. nats get three runs in the top of the 1st. rbis by adam dunn after singles by guzman and johnson and then the big hit for elijah dukes. it seems i've got three times the bills i used to. and they're getting in the way of things i'd like to do. with the money bar, i can move my

lodge look by garza. long look by garza. and nick will take a fastball upstairs, 2-1. nick jan son one hit away from his 18th multi- hit of the year. came in tied with zimmerman at .316, second on the club to the .327 of guzman. just to show you what a designated hitter will do for you, there are only three teams in the national league that have 300 runs or more, the american league has seven. 2-2 target in. nasty breaking ball. strikeout number 4 for matt garza tonight and he gets three consecutive scoreless innings now after his 1st inning problems. 3-2 gnats. oof! i hope he has that insurance. aflac! you really need it these days. how come? well if you're hurt and can't work it pays you cash... yeah to help with everyday bills like gas, the mortgage... ...and groceries. it's like insurance for daily living. so...what's it called? uhhhhh aflaaac!!!! oh yeah! that's it! aflac. we've got you under our wing. a-a-a-aflaaac! . >> bob: nationals on top o the rays, 3-2. this is and interesting road trip because of the offense that the nationals have to take care of. the

. >> bob: second walk of the night for garza. let's go back to the 1st inning and see what the rbi guys did, the d & d boys in the middle of the line-up. >> rob: that was breaking ball, great pitch recognition and adam dunn gets the first rbi of the ballgame. >> bob: and then the dukes boy, those dukes of hazards. >> rob: elijah dukes coming home with a two-rbi double and matt garza not too pleased. >> bob: early game geico highlights for you. nationals already three runs on six hits. garza came into this game rather unhittable with an opponent batting average of .206. >> rob: who mays boss hog? >> bob: you are not asking me. >> rob: you didn't watch the show, did you? >> i live out by the blond haired guy. snyder? still drives that general lee around town. >> bob: dukes with two men aboard again. nasty breaking ball in the dirt. did he not swing, says paul naert. >> rob: this is a strong young man. we talked about this. watch him hold up the bat. he stops on a dime. >> bob: that .206 by garza, number 2 in the american league lea

there is that nasty breaking ball by garza. fastball, fastball, fastball, get ahead, big breaking ball. >> bob: here is willie harris who bounced out twice. what i'm trying to say, my message to our fans is, we know that this is difficult for you. we certainly do. >> rob: we'll all grow together. >> bob: that's a great way to put it. then when you win, you look back and say, you know what, we did it the right way. >> rob: that's right. >> bob: you can say, i came to the ballpark when we had 75 people there at the end of an extra inning game delayed by rain for two and a half hours. you know, crazy things happen on this journey. >> rob: well, you know, they keep comparing this ball club to the '62 mets. well, seven short years later, they win a world championship and they are the miracle mets. >> bob: the amazings. >> rob: the amazings. >> bob: if you want a little perspective on that, i wrote a blog on that last weekend which is on the masn website. the yankees -- or the mets back then were made up of washed up yankees, new yor

see what matt garza did. >> bob: facing the stolen base king in major league baseball right now. carl crawford has 35 of them in 38 attempts. he is hitting .325, making him even more dangerous. crawford, number 7 in the league. this guy has been in the big leagues now for 7-plus years. after the rays drafted him in the second round in 1999. >> rob: you yo rocco baldelli went up to the boston red sox. but carl crawford and rocco baldelli had never been in the big leagues. lou piniella named them as his opening day starters to take pressure off of them. >> bob: bouncer up the middle. anderson hernandez knew he had to hurry. he played it perfectly. looks like he is wearing some turf shoes tonight and the first two have been retired on a strikeout and grounder. nationals defense, defensively, adam dunn is the dh. so that is a big plus for stammen, retiring two of the fastest players in baseball and here is evan longoria, second in the american league with 34 extra base hits. only mark teixeira has more with 36. raul ibanez is the major league leader with the phillies with 38. you thi

coming up, how the nats were able to get to matt garza early, 3 runs on four hits, 1st inning. craig stammen did well against the bats, not so well against the speed. tomorrow, jordan zimmerman back in the line-up. the game starts at 6:05 but we cannot join you live until 7:05. >> rob: 13 against righties, 6 against lefty for peqa this year. >> bob: shift is on. zimmerman is the only defender on the third base side. anderson hernandez is in a very interesting position. if you threw a line to home plate to him, 2 wouldn't miss nick johnson by much. there is still a wide gap between hernandez and cristian guzman. he was all locked up there and that's strike 2. ron villone, total deception. and way ahead in the count. pretty good success against ron villone, .333. ron must have hung him a breaking ball somewhere. >> rob: much like aubrey huff. aubrey huff has his number. he tried to get him out with a breaking ball, cutter, fastball. >> bob: does he attack on 0-2? and a breaking ball away. bottom of the 7th inning. nats still have outhit the rays, 7-6. 3-3 game. washington has not

his ball moves all over the place, garza. 11-9 last year with 188 innings. he has given up a homerun in every one of his last 6 outings. but he is a guy that throws the ball through the corners with a lot of velocity. straight over the top. nice guy to hit if you like four-seam fastballs. >> byron: the nationals face the world championing in the phillies and now they get the a. l. champions. stammen should be loose and ready to go. >> ray: always feels better to win. that flight will be really good. some guys can relax, smile. you know and play some cards and just in some cases maybe just get some rest. it is hard to rest when you lose all the time. >> sights and sounds, ray good job, >> ray: thank you. >> the reds get ready -- the nationals get ready for the tampa bay rays. big come back victory, the 11th of the season for the national s s today as they beat cincinnati. the final 3-2. we will see you in tampa bay next for the nats. >> we're going to send you out to toronto right now. usain bolt running the 100. >> next to him, in lane two is henry of nearby

matt garza, on the other hand, is just a beast. he comes at you with a fastball that's a four-saler, 95. he is 4-4 with 3.55. he won 11 games last year and lost 9. he doesn't throw anything soft. he comes right at you, relentlessly, in and out, up and down. nine of his starts have been quality starts so he is developing into a very fine pitcher. >> johnny: what scares you about this guy, when you rook at the owe pope exhibit batting average, fourth in american league. >> ray: when he pitches 94, 95, we didn't see any breaking balls there but he has a good breaking ball that just turns down, starts about thigh high and works its way all the way to the ground. >> johnny: the same thing when i was pitching. time to talk to -- ben is down there in tampa. ben, great to see you again. let's talk about elijah dukes, back to where he went to high school there. good week for elijah. >> there has been a lot of attention on it, folks with the local media. it's been a big storely with him being here. he spent a couple of years with the rays an

garza, eight innings, 7k's, just allowed one run in three hits. pat burrell against his former team. two-run shot. the rays, 7-1 the final. the story would be garza. gets 500 on the year. nearly unhittable tonight. he was amazing as burrell does hit the home run against his former team. phillies have lost 7 of 8, and 9 of 11. >> orioles and the marlins. fish looking to get over .500 for the first time since april. matt we'der's throw, the prize possession of the orioles goes into centerfield, and bonafacio, he can run, and he proves it. of comes around to score. so that's more base running. marlins take the 4-2 lead. and they get over .500 on the season. >> reds and the jays. highlights are plentiful tonight here on espnews. checking out the reds and the jays. >> manny ramirez, 0 for 1 with the albuquerque isotopes. walked in his first at bat, grounded on out in his second. we welcome in colleen dominguez who witnessed it all in albuquerque, how are you? is. >> i'm fine. trying to stay dry. they've had rain on and off all day. in fact, manny only

. >> bob: last night matt garza with amazing stuff. then let them off the hook after that. you've got to keep charging every inning. >> bob: the nats had one hit out of the fourth inning yesterday. tonight they had no hits after the third. kearns puts a charge into one, straightaway center field. it keeps on going. but it's caught by b.j. upton. verizon fios has "nats xtra" post-game. how jordan zimmermann was able to sting the rays, but he only lasted five innings tonight. ryan got it going with a home run early. debt wierl storm and james shields for the rays. that guy's legit. suffice to say he has not received the run support andy sonnanstine has. breaking ball low and away. wil nieves 0 for 2. the nats have one base hit below the 3 spot in the batting order. two, pardon me. one by kearns, one by hernandez, a bunt. a two hopper to the shortstop brignac. 15 in a row for sonnanstine. ú how far can you see? at pnc, taking the long view is how we help you take the right path. even to change it when conditions demand. keeping you on the road to achieving your goals. it's

. >> rob: we talked about trading prospects for some players and matt garza came over in the dell mon young

matt garza will oppose him. coverage begin at 7:00 with nats xtra hosted by ray knight and yours truly. laynce nix has moved to left field in place of jonny gomes for cincinnati. and herrera. >> rob: 24-year-old out of, oh december that -- odessa, texas. odessa -- odessa, texas. they can run these guys out there. almost all of them have 25 plus appearances. this is his 26th of the year with a 1.5 e.r.a. >> johnny: daniel ray making his first appearance in this series. left-hander. ball hit that ver taveras. he is hurt. >> rob: right here, herrera -- oh. last night, the 1st baseman charges and it hits him on the instep or ankle of that right leg. he is a tough guy. he is not coming out of game. >> johnny: yeah. herrera stays. anderson hernandez hitting for the pitcher. man on, nobody out, bottom of the 8th, 2-1 lead. the nats trying to tie it up. did it last night in the bottom of the 9th. no reason they can't do it today. grounder to third past the 3rd baseman! hernandez will make the turn and stay at second. --

craig stammen, a real battle, 90 pitches in 5 1/3 and matt garza threw 104 pitches. the nats got hmm out before he could finish 6 innings. willie harris, 0-for-3 matching up with j p howell. >> rob: the third. >> bob: willie harris is 1-for- his last 14. alberto gonzalez running for adam dunn, still at third with two outs. a little bit up and in, 2-1. almost looked like a backup breaking ball. >> rob: he overthrew that. >> trying to hit that right- hand corner there, look at him coming over the top of the strike zone, pulling at that thing down a little more. looked like he slapped it into left. >> bob: carl crawford playing real shallow in left field. that's a running fastball that probably started off the plate and then came back to the outside corner, 2-2. that's an emergency hack by willie harris. >> rob: staying alive, baby. >> bob: josh bard, if it goes any further. a lot of cow bells making noise here on a friday night. 2-2 to willie harris. he tried that same fastball again and missed outside. here. >> rob: here is the pitch coming up, 2-2 pitch, trying to go

. >> bob: matt garza, his e.r.a. in the 1st inning of ball games this year, 0.75. tonight, the nats scored three runs, four hits in that 1st inning. take a look at that. >> ray: he came out and was -- struggled a little bitterliy. guzman singled. hard line drive to right field on a pitch that was up. adam dunn, 0-for-2 pitch, he was not able to do the putaway pitch. dunner drives in an rbi, scores guzman. duke gapped it, scored two runs. just like, that johnny, you would say, just like that, we are up 3-0. bottom of the 1st. stammen is showing you how he works. b. j. upton, sit him down as rob dibble would say, get down, boy. crawford, ground ball to second base, nice little sinker. he gets longoria on a nice play by craig as he ?airs the ball. and that's the way he pitched, you know. they didn't do anything with him. they didn't hit him hard. he walked a couple of guys but overall, he was throwing the ball extremely well. look at how our owe bone ends outscored us in that 1st inning. go ahead and talk to me about it, johnny. >> johnny: thank you, fox. 42-35 the op