Evening star., 1907-09-01
COMMENT ON THE GAME.

Manager Cantillon has always maintained
that Gehring is first-class pitcher, and
the youngster worked out yesterday i'll
way to substantiate this assertion On sew
eral occasions Gehring has done well as
relief pitcher, but in a full game he had
done nothing out of the ordinary until yes
terday's performance. He has been hit up
around the eight and ten bingle mark
couple of times. but his support has always
been ragged, so that a true line on his
work could not be obtained. Yesterday the
boys We're with him to man, and although
Ganley and ,Delehanty lost chances, two
miSplayS could not stop Gehring. He has
a very deceiving delivery as the ball ap-
pears easy to hit, and only after the bats
men have popped up flies or rolled
grounders to the infield do they realize
that they had man in front of them who
outguessing them all the time. Gen
rings work yesterday places him on the
roll of honor with Hughes, Smith and john
son for next season, and with one or two
more good ones the pitching staff will be
hrSt-claSS.
The play on Pete O'Brien, when he was
put out in the first inning trying to steal
second. was most remarkable one and
seldom. If ever. pulled off on a ball field.
When . Brien started to steal second Fer
ris rushed into the diamond to take the
for home on the play. Shaw shot the ball
down to Ferris like a streak. but it went
high and Hobe had to jump in the air after
it. The ball shot through Ferris hands
with only a slight impeachment and then
dropped into the waiting paws of Wagner
on the second sack in time for the latter to
touch out OBrien. Wagner was as much
astonished as was O'Brien when the ball
came through and stuck in his hands, and
the play was discussed on all sides by the
spectators.
Tony Smith showed his first real work
since the return of the team from it's re-
cent western trip. Wiseacres have been
predicting that he was weak on balls batted
10 his left side, as several got away from
him Thursday and Friday, but the kid
went over yesterday after them in good old
Joe Cassidy style, and once again Manager
Cantillon's judgment is upheld. AS yet
Smith has done no batting, but he stands
up to the plate well, and he may overcome
this weakness.
Manager Mcclure and his band of Pill
grims raised a great outcry over the fact
that Unglaub was not allowed to go to
third on his hit in the seventh inning that
carried the ball into the crowd behind
the ropes in right field. .-Unglaub's hit was
a terrific one and for an instant Clymer
lost it in the sun. He recovered himself
quickly and dashed forward, but the ball
was travelling at almost lightning speed
and hit the ground about a foot in front of
his hands, bounding through and went to
the crowd. An overzealouS fan" threw
the ball out. and the Boston players were
under the impression the ball had hit the
fence or a stake and bounded back, which
technically meant that the ball had not
been hit into the crowd An agreement
had been reached between the two cap
tains as soon as the first handful of spec
tators had gone behind the ropes in the
early part of the game that hit into the
crowd Was to be good for only two bases.
1t is lucky for Washington that Sheridan
was behind the bat and knew what he was
about, he refused to stand for the argu-
ment and sent Unglaub back to second.
When Freddy Parent batted for Shaw
in the eighth inning he came within a hair
of pulling off a double and possibly triple.
He caught one of Behring's benders on
the end of his bat, pulled it around into
left and it shot like a streak directly into
o Briens hands. foot higher or to either
side and that ball would be rolling yet.
o Brien clung to it in the coolest manner
possible and tossed the ball to Gehring as
though a catch of this sort were the
mes. ordinary performance for him. The
spectators were edge, expecting Gehring
to DE located in every inning, and when the
smash came off only to be so cleverly inter-
cepIed a yell went up that could have
bCcl heard for blocks.
The Nationals will leave this evening for
Philadelphia so as to be in time for the
morning game tomorrow, Labor day. If
Manager CantillOns plans work out all
right there is trouble ahead for the Ath-
letics Sir Joseph has promised his west.
friends to do his best to keep the PEN
nant in that territory, and for that reason
hes decided to pitch Falkenberg, Smith
aEi Johnson against the QuakerS. Falken-
ierg wanted to work yesterday, as he said
he felt good and strong, but Joe said nay.
Il had intended pitching you today Falk."
said Cantilon, but l owe Connie Mack's
band several trouncings. and l want you
for the opener on Monday. Smith can go
IN in he a johnson 1'ua
dSy. The Athletics have been making mon
keys Of the Nationals about long enough
ana l want it stopped, if such a thing is
IcSS:sle.'
This trio of twrleers is in excellent con-
Ii;!on at present, and if they work up to
;htir best stride the Athletics will have
to 90 Sc NE to win out.
Pitcher Jack Mcdonald, the phenom from
Erie, was in uniform yesterday afternoon,
but passed unnoticed on account of the big
bunch of Nationals cavorting over the lot.
He is Il short, well-built youngster, just
the sort that will last 4 long while, and he
carried himself with the other players as
though he had known them for months in
stead of hours. lie may be given chance
TO work against the Bostons next week.
The series of games between Washington
and Boston just closed was perhaps with
out parallel in recent base ball history.
Al four games We're decided by a single
run. In any one of them hit by either side
at certain times would have decided the
contest the other way. All the games were
marked by exceptionally fine pitching, the
series appropriately closing in this respect
with a battle between twirlers seldom
equdled. In other respects the games were
remarkably even. Some figures to the
series will be interesting 10 the students of
the game.
In the four games Washington made .
runs to Boston's I. Washington made 26
base hits. with a batting percentage OF
.2i6. while Boston made 20 hits, with a per-
ccntage of .lS3. This discrepancy of per-
Centages is due to the fact that the Boston
pitchers gave more free passes than did
those of the home team. Eleven Nationals
walked on balls and two were hit by the
pitcher. while only four BoStonians re-
CeiVed free passes. In this respect the work
of Smith. Johnson. Patten, Oberlin and
Gchring for the Nationals during the four
games was sensational. The Boston pitch
crs. however. struck out "a, while Il of the
NisILnrs tlnn.l In MnIline. the RnstnI,