The Washington times., 1906-07-15
NATIONALS WIN FIRST
AND DROP THE SECOND
Victory in Ten Innings and Defeat III Ihirteen-Most
Interesting Games of Season and More Improve
ment in Team Work
By THOMAS S. RICE.

By THOMA
Never was more baseball furnished
for twenty-five cents in Washington
than was seen by the bleacherites yes
terday at National Park, when Wash
ington beat Cleveland in ten innings by
3 TO ,. and was then beaten by the
mighty Maps in thirteen innings by s
20 4.
It was one Of those days you bark
back to, and when in the years to come
you are 500 knocker in the
Afidwinter Stove League and some rem
iniscent sport is digging up tales of
bygone days, you shift your quid and
remark superclliously. why. that
sin't nothing 10 the time Washington
and Cleveland played the double-header
with two extra inning games way back
in 1905" etc.
Something Doing All the Time.
There were timely hits and unseem-
ly errors. feats OF strength and sad
spectacles of weakness. strategy and
stupidity-an that go to make baseball
the real American game, the most un-
certain of betting propositions and the
cleanest professional pastime ever Of
fered public.
In neither game did Cleveland play
up TO the form expected, in both Wash
ington played, not above the form
of which the individual players are
capable. but above that which the team
as a whole has shown in the last two
months. This divergence from past
made the two contests as close and as
interesting as were ever seen put up
by the same two clubs on the same
afternoon. In the first battle Washing
ton was outbatted by s hits TO and
won. in the second Cleveland out
slugged the Nationals by Il hits to II.
but then only won through an error
and a batter being hit by a pitched
ball.
More improvement Noticeable.
The locals showed more teamwork
than at any time for many weeks, and.
with occasional lapses i'm the way of
letting basemen go unprotected on long
throws. there was little TO find fault
with them on the ground Of not sup
porting each other manfully at critical
moments. The Maps were not on the
job when il came 10 hitting at critical
moments. and had not Smith failed to
go after fly that belonged 10 him in
the thirteenth round Of the second con-
test IL is probable that Cleveland would
have been a twO-time loser.
Patten pitched the first game for
Washington and was the goods He
gave only two bases on balls. kept the
bingles scattered, and pulled himself
out OF several tight places. Opposed to
Patten was Joss. who had everything a
pitched could need He lost because
Washington punched three hits j. 0r two
runs in the third round. and tV'J safe
ties and a sacrifice in the tenth.
Credit to Smith.
For twelve innings Of the second
struggle Smith, although from the
press stand his curves did not appear
particularly deceptive. was able to
make the Maps look foolish when they
most needed hits. In the first inning
he hit Turner and was touched for
two doubles. which netted two tallies
In the seventh session he manipulated
things so that three singles and an
error bore only one credit mark for
the visitors. In the ninth two safe
swats and a long fly were worth but
a lonely run In the thirteenth inning
he went to pieces and was raped for
four singles. which eventuated into the
TWO runs that broke up the game and
enabled the Maps To barely split even
with the despised Nationals.
Lajoie was disappointment in the
first game, falling 70 connect safely In
i've tin at bat. In the second he
made a double which became a run,
and punked out a single which amount
ed 10 nothing
Rah for Stahl and Stanley!
The real heroes with the stick in the
first contention were Joe Stanley and
Jake Stahl. Stanleys timely clout in
the third was responsible for two Of
WashIngton's runs. while it was Stahl's
bang TO center in the tenth which
brought Anderson home with a victory
In his pocket
In the second game the frenzied clout-
ers were Bemis. RhOades. Flick. and
Mil. all of whom got three hits and
were going strong when the festivi-
ties ended.
Almost Kissed Mill.
The fielding honoTs were distributed
on all sides There was glory enough
for all. even if there were seven errors
during the afternoon. Perhaps the
most sensational stunt Of the afternoon
was when Nil ran through the crowd
in right center and pulled down a fly
from Flick that was labeled a two
bagger and would have scored RhOades
with the winning run. He was mobbed
by the enthusiastic roOters, who held
up the game while they gathered around
20 shake his grimy fin ard tell him that
they always knew he was a natural
born ball player
LajOie was an amateur Gibraltar at
second and won applause by his easy
handling OF difficult chances. He had
nineteen chances and accepted all
cleanIy. Bradley did some OF his best
f~fehe af third lake SfahI WIS really