The Washington times., 1907-08-06


first by S to ?, and the second by 5 to 3
Eight out Of the last nine games have
thus been lost by Washington and Man
ager Cantillon is still far behind on that
prediction that his henchmen would win
half the games at home.
OF all the poor exhibitions those Of
yesterday were tho limit. Even Char
ley Jones fell or his perch and dropped
a dear little fly that my little brother
could have held when he was a substi
tute on the freshman team The rest
OF the outfit was as Jones, except Al
tizer, who was more so. Davy was the
limit A poor relation looking for a
touch couldn't slip him anything else
but a fervid knock about the way ne
booted things around short and let 80
by sizzlers he should have cut down.
II was very sad. When Davy makes an
error in the early part Of the game he
keeps right on I'm the same speciality.
Consistency is a jewel. but a display OF
such a jewel at short a la Altizer is
vulgar and garrish, and somebody
should so inform the ex-soldier.
Graham. our young southpaw from
Oakland. Cal has had a sore arm, and
Manager Cantillon didn't know whether
or not il had rounded into shape. After
elght hits had been made of him IN
five innings he came to the conclusion
that the wing was worse instead or
better. and withdrew the hero. Gehring
was put In for practice, and did well
enough. lie was hit four times IN four
innings, but held himself together, and
no runs were made.
Charley Smith was the victim in the
second game. He has also had a weak
whip. and apparently stiu has II. He
was soft N the first three innings, and
mushy in the ninth.
Where, oh where. can an honest.
hard-worlSing ball team get few twirl-
ers who can go the distance2 If ever
slabmen were needed, they are needed
now. NasEingtons batting and base
running has increased 70 a marked de-
gree, as has also the headwork in some
departments, and runs are being made
by the club now that would never have
been made at any other period in the
past three years, but the pitchers are
gong SO badly that the other fellows
arc rolling up scores that couldn't be
beat with an ak. DOh Decker. the
genial and generous privilege man, can
at least throw the con, and we would
suggest that even that would be better
then what some OF the Washington
pitchers have shown lately.
Not an old twirler on the staff is
going good. and nobody knows Ii better
than Cantillon, and the pitchers them
selves Gehrlng IS rounding 20 form,
but the stunts Of the erratic infield be-
hind him are enough to take the heart
out Of the youngster. johnson seemed
wonder in his first game, and il is
almost a cinch bet he win make good,
but for a major league team to have to
depend on two cubs just in from the
alfalfa regions is nightmare.
Stlll. what are you going to do about
II Every major league team with
winning pitcher is holding onto him like
grim death and couldn't let him go
without creating riot lmportatOnS
from the minors must be nurSed along
before they can become consistent per-
formers in the majors, and there you
are. Smith, Hughes. Patten, and Fal-
kenberg are old major leaguers who
have done well in the past, even when
they had behind them teams far infe-
rior to the present Washington aggre-
cation in fielding, batting, and base
running, but II happens 10 be the fall
of the cards that every one Of these
has gone amiss just when he had a
chance to make reputation.
Although Detroit mas taken Ave
straight games from Washington, while
The best the Chicago SOX could do was
three out of four, you will not find m mSny
people in this town willing TO bet lhe
SoX will finish the season behind De-
troit The Tigers have shown well
here largely because the Washington
pitchers were purely punk, and the work
? by the infeld even worse, and II was
comparatively easy 70 tally many times.
This display has been In violent con-
trast to the work Washington did
against St. Louis. In both these series
the home folk did some Of the most
lightning like work afield that has ever
been seen here, and the men who are
falling down now were the very ones
who were scintilating then. The Sox
or Browns had to hammer out their
runs cleanly. and II was very seldom
stuff in the way OF hits, except in one
or two games. Singles had TO sizzle out
OF the diamond before they counted.
Now. how different Yesterday it was
sometimes so long between outs that
the fans roared in triumph when our
brave boys sQuashed a man at first.
For this reason Il has been no trouble
for the Tigers TO cross the plate, and
they have looked stronger than they
really are. Unless their pitchers go
wrong. the SoX will be right there at
the end OF the season, and our old
friend Charley Hickman VIII get slice
OF worlds championship mohey-
caught the last five innings Of the first
game. He reached town at 1 O'Clock in
the afternoon and was playing by 3, so
he hadn't the faintest Idea OF the sig
nalS or system ana nad 10 act entirely
on his judgment. Under these circum-
stances he did not do at all badly. and
Cantillon thinks he will be able TO plug
up the hole left by the injury TO Jack
Warner.
Olmstead. the Topeka pitcher. is not
coming to Washington, after all Mike
Kelley thought he had him on his stan,
but Conniskey received a hot tip he was
a conner, and beat Washington TO him
by half an hour.
BY the way. speaking OF Kelley re-
minds Us that the Washington club is
sparing no expense IN the matter Of
sending scouts on the road for good
men, and Il should receive credit for
trying its best. Blankenship's travel
and through the Western Association 10
look over other men. would be a big
help 10 you or me, gentle reader. while
another man had been touring the
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