Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-06-03


standards bywhlch play
q ing is judged-felding
and batting "A team
may be playing well whom 1t loses and poorly
when IL wins.
This statement ID likely to meet with .
"humph" Of disbelief. Well. take the New
York team. 1t stands up amongsths leaders
both in batting and fielding, a. shown by the
averages recently published In TIE star. II
good playing means always winning games the
team should stand not lower than third on the
list. whereas it is down among the trailers.
What 10 the reason?
~ can't account for It," said base ball
patron to the writer.
Well, John Ward can and does. He hit the
nail on Its occiput when he said pitcher"
batting averages alone do not indicate teams
strength or worth. Frequently . team is out
batted and outfelded and yet wins. That's
luck, you say. Nonsense, that's good enough
tor . school boy excuse, but sensible men will
not accept it.
It's poor pitching.
Its poor pitching that gave New York such
bad start and it's good pitching that is sending
1t up the list. With trio Of steady pitchers
and the field behind them that the New
Works are the nine would 60 right up the
list.
1t has taken little long to get to it, but
the remarks apply to our own Senator's
It must be confessed that . couple Of the
games played on their trip were ragged, as
Caylor says, "as ragged - q tramp's shirt" but
the majority were well played The error col
umn was mostly filed with ciphers and the
base-hit column with figures. It should be
said that shortly after the team left several Of
them fell under the weather. Lsrkin, Mulvey,
Farrell and Sullivan were all more or less
affected, and had to lay of or do their work
without credit to themselves. Nevertheless it
was not poor playing that lost most OF the
games, but poor pitching.
Undoubtedly the new rule has affected the
pitchers in q way that the trainers Of the rule
did not anticipate. 1t has led to . great deal
Of wildness-what was aimed at was to get more
batting. The opponents Of the change have
pointed to games where only three or four hits
were made and say: 1.-THE new rule does not
seem to help batting much"
They fail to look in the summary and sec
how many were sent to bases on balls. Just
think Of Mullane sending twelve to first on
balls and then say that the new rule has not
caused wildness.
Now some Of the pitchers get accustomed to
the new distance sooner than others. 1t 10
believed that Cleveland had . large share in
having the change made, thinking that Its
pitchers would suffer least by it. Well, until
the eastern trip was begun 1t did seem as
though Cleveland was getting the best Of il
and consequently kept up near the front.
Now other pitchers are settling down, having
gagged the distance, and other clubs are COM
ing to the front The STAR has repeatedly said
Of the local pitchers that they would improve.
They would get accustomed to the distance,
and relieved Of the terrible handicap Of poor
pitching. our team would win games by their
heavy hitting.
The results seem to sustain the prediction.
Louisville has been experimenting with
pitchers, not content to wait until their own
pitchers struck their gait and see where they
are. This new rule is harder on pitchers than
people seem to be aware, and they must be given
time, not to acquire a moro deceptive delivery,
but to gain accuracy.
The benefit Of practice ct the new distance
was shown in the case Of Duryea. He went in
Tuesday morning and pitched grand game,
and the nine won in spite Of the poorest play
ing It had done for some time. So will it be
with the other pitchers. The more practice
they have the more accurate they will be.
The bleachers have caught on to the trick Of
playing the games 10 win, and repeatedly dur
ing the past week have they yelled "Put it over
the plate, let him hit it." The time was when
nothing pleased the bleachers more than to see
the batsman struck out. but now they realize
that there 10 more chance Of putting batsman
out by letting him hit the ball.
Five victories out Of the last seven games is
a very good record-two from Boston, two
from St. Louis and ono from Cincinnati. With
pltCucTS lupEOV0u duQ tQ6 t6am Keeping up It's
batting the nine should be well up on its List
when 1t leaves on its next trip.
A suggestion has been made to The SrAR
which is unique, to say the least, and is not
without its merits. 1t is to change the whole
system Of recording games. 1t is suggested
that fractions Of a run be counted instead of
q whole run. For instance. IL Q bstsman
reaches first base count the side /, for second
base, 8 for third and for home. In this way
men left on bases would not be wasted energy,
as they are now. A stolen base might mean the
winning Of the game. 1t can be seen how
much more exciting 1t would make the game.
Every careless play would be costly Every
good play would count. Bases on balls would
count as much as a base hit, as they really do
now, but do not appear SO in the published
scores. The score would then show the merits
Of a team. as it doesn't now. Good base run
ming would count toward winning. Every hit
would count. Every play would be watched
with interest. 1t is difficult to conceive how
exciting game would become These are a
part Of the advantages urged by the originator
Of the scheme. Now let the base ball cranks
pick out the flaws. Doubtless there are OBJ
tectionable features. What are they2
YEsrERDAY's LEAGUE GAMES.
weighing lost control Of the ball in the eighth
inning of yesterdays game at Philadelphia, and
Chicago hammered his delivery all over the
lot, scoring eight runs. Rain fell during the
entire contest. McGill pitched winning ball.
Attendance, 1.645.
t f$s!!s:ss,Ds's 8 SYSSS 81 & !
f1tchers-wsyhins and McGll.
After apparently settling the New York
Cleveland game yesterday by KNOCKING out a
three-bagger in the fourth inning. with the
bases filled, Roger Connor made two bad errors
in the sixth inning and presented Cleveland
with two runs. Burkett tied the score in the
eighth with q home run, and won IL in the
tenth with a single that scored Hastings. The
batting was heavy on both sides. Davies was
knocked out Of the box in the fourth.
Si:;.l !sast: II 8 Ss9sS9S SS-siS
Pitchers-Crane. Davies and Hastings
Despite the dismal weather 1000 spectators
tourneyed to Eastern Park, Brooklyn. Yesterday
afternoon in the expectation Of Witnessing a
q gallant battle between the followers Of Foutz
and the "Pittsburg kickers." The tide Of battle
turned one way, however. The Ptrtsburgers
were in the game from the start to flush. and
seemed to win at will. They played an agrees
sive game. keeping a move or them all the time.
The Pittsburgers hit Pitcher Kennedy whenever
they chose to and in the fifth and ninth in
nings made single after single. Red Ehret
pitched very good game.
P P5asslsa: S9t1So"So ! :
Pitchers. Kennedy and Ehret.
The champions kept up their gait and won