The San Francisco call., 1908-10-18
By w. J. SIaffery

For the first time that the Seals have
contended for pennant they got away
with a double headed victory on the
valencia street lost yesterday after
noon. 1t was San francisco day
francisco spirit seemed to catch the
crowd from the outset. The home team
won both victories on its merits. aRd
could dispute either of them. They
were slow to start on each occasion,
but once they ofticed up there was no
Pitcher Ralph Willis was the lad be-
hind the meal ticket. He pitched both
games. and If everything broke as
baseball luck would have it, then Port
run But the fates seemed to cast the
die against Willis in the opening game,
and one lonely run robbed him of a
for San Francisco.
Both, games were well played
throughout and attracted big crowd.
The fans did not come in till near the
end or the nrst contest, but once they
started there was no stopping them.
By the time the second battle was well
on its way the bleachers on both sides
were Se19 wei wei. nileo, 4e, ana ia the grsndstand
sprinkling.
The first run Of the first game was
made by Portland, and as far as base
that. WINS was was bad esais and wild eas at the he
outset. issuing pass to Casey. After
Cooney had cIeverly sacrificed the run
ner along. johnson swung in one of
those terrific drives to center, and
Casey came all the way around
This was very nice for Portland till
the fourth. Then the. complexion. Of
white hue for the visitors and as rosy
one as any home team ever took on
Seven runs, aided and abbetted by as
many solid bingling basehits tells the
tale of how San Francisco broke the
struggle up, with Portland helpless
throughout
Bing. bing, bing-one after the other.
the Seals waded into the offerings of
Pitcher Rube Kinsella. Everything he
rad seemed simple for the home play
ers, and they walloped one after the
the fans seemed to think the whole lay
out joke. but they soon realized the
seriousness of 1t all.
The entire Portland team went to
to get to Kinsella. There was many
hit thatI skinned the infield which
the Beavers would have nailed under
ordinary circumstances, but the hearts
of every one of them seemed to fee with
single wallop. They were all power
SIS once the home team started to line
the ball out.
Willis tossed a phenomenal article Of
ball once his team mates jumped into
the lead. He had his old fast curve
working right, and the Beavers seemed
10 ldil IOI IL III the TSSuldIlOn one, two.
three order once he managed to get into
the groove The farther he went the
better Willis got, till at the finish the
game was transformed into a joke
After the bombardment in the fourth
Kinsella was officed to leave the box.
and Southpaw Rose made way for him
But he was very slight Improvement
on the man whose place he took. In
the fifth, sixth and seventh spasms the
Seals got to every twist that Rose DOS
sessed and spent their time we'll by
putting four more men over the jumps
The second contest was the better
exhibition of baseball Instead of a
slugging contest, twas transformed
into battle of the pitchers at the out
set Both Groom and Willis worked
everything they ever possessed. and
after the first couple Of innings the
fans could see nothing more than a
shutout for one of the teams
San Francisco did all its heroic work
in the memorable seventh. With one
out of the way. Hildebrand landed on
Danzig's error, and Zeider shot a sim
gle into the left garden. Bodia bit at
three wide ones but Williams walloped
the ball down to short. and on the aw-
ful wild heave that Cooney made both
Hide and Zeider arrived at the pan
with the only runs of the game.
Outside of the pitching of Willis.
there remains little to tell of the see
ond combat. lest It be the great work
of Groom. But for that unfortunate
error that Cooney made at the most
critical moment of the game. the teams
figured to play on inning after inning
without scoring. as the work bfSud
the two boxmen was fast and sensa-
tional throughout The scores: