Morning journal and courier., 1888-05-18
oN rHE ANxrous sEAr.

The Coming Kale.Harvard Game to
 Re a Desperate StrugeIe-Why Stagg
 Has NOt Pitched Good Ball as Last Season.
 The first base ball game to be played be- tween Yale and Harvard this season will come off to- morrow afternoon at the Yale Field. Supporters of Yale are not at all sanguine of the success of their team, while with Harvard's packers it is just the oppo- site. They feel that they will. surely win. Odds are being offered by them on their team, while very few Yale men as yet care to risk anything. At present everything | looks dubious. A mere blue aspect could | hardly be present. In nearly every quarter there seems to be little outward confidence placed on Yale's chances, while inwardly all are grasping for one single ray of hope for their team. The struggle tomorrow will practically settle which team will secure the | championship.
 ! One thing is true. The Yale team has not ! played the kind of ball so far that warrants | much confidence being placed in their play- ! ing tomorrow. Against the smaller college teams they have done nothing Stagg has | been hit hard, but suppose he has;is it reason \ able to suppose that he has got to win the | championship for Yaie again this yeara He ! has done it for two years and has done his share toward helping Yale Stagg generally pitches winning game, but the trouble has been that the team cannot bat. They are \ terribly weak in that respect. The Yale
 team needs little more confidence in itself. | In all probability each one will walk to the plate tomorrow in mortal terror of Bates; | pitching. If they do he will now them down like blades of grass. Every pitcher has an ! off day, and tomorrow may be just the time
 when Bates will be caught. Stagg, who has
 been hit quite hard so far, may take sudden ! brace and toy with the Harvard men as here tofore. The Harvards are heavy hitters and ] Yale's felders have got to do better playing l than they have been doing It will not do
 to tumble ground balls in the outfeld.
 It seems strange that Ya1e's outisld are not
 hitting the bail any to speak of. Outfe1ders should be selected with a special view to
 their batting ability. Stewart will play his old position at second base, and while he
 cannot hit the broadside of barn, yet his presence will strengthen the team. as was stated in the COURIER some time ago. Then
 he is also needed for his coaching. Moves at ! third base fills the gap which has long been ' weak, and the infeld is probably as strong as | Yale can present. Stagg and Damn went to Cambridge to see Harvard and Princeton play. They found that Bates pitches drop
 ball. Since then Stagg has been pitching ! the same kind of ball to his men, and they say that they can hit Bates drop.
 All this season there has been much said
 of Stagg's inability to pitch such good ball ! as he did last season. No reason has been given, only that he is college pitcher and
 has played out. Stagg himself has never I made any excuses. Bnt COURIER reporter
 learns from certain New Haven physician
 that Stagg is troubled with rheumatism of
 the arm, and has been during the past win- ter. This is why he has not as good com-
 mand over the ball as last season. If it is
 true Stagg is entitled to great praise and
 consideration, for whenever pitcher com
 mences to be hit hard he immediately sets
 up cry that his arm is lame, but through
 all games so far Stagg has not complained
 There is hope for Yale tomorrow. Let
 the players know that you have confidence
 in them and they will play much better.
 There seems to be an awful amount of ignor-
 ance amongst many of those who attend
 these games in regard to the relative
 strength of the opposing teams. Take the
 Jersey Cities and the Cuban Giants for in stance. It would have been big feather ir
 Yale's cap to have beaten these teams. and
 it was no disgrace to be defeated. But after
 Yales victories last season her supporters got false idea that the team was invincible
 If the Yale boys can bat Bates tomorrow, il
 will break his heart and Yale will have nc I trouble in winning the championship