Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-06-04
BY j. ED. GRILLo.

not require a magnifying glass 10 ue'
fermine why the -.ationals DO not VIII
more gan es on the road. The reason io'
these continual SlumpS away from hoiHe
is the fact that the team does not pay
as good bail when confronted by ilos'iAe
crowds as il does when playing peioi
those who want to see 1t Wln JUST WHY
this state of affairs should prevail ahlois
a lot of players who have been III H1aJor
league com. ,any for several OF more
wears is quandary, but RECORDS VII
show that while the Nationals are alWd!
a dangerous team at home they nave III
recent years been the easiest KIM vi
Ticking on the road. Primarily the great
trouble just at present is the 1act 'hd'
there is not the required amount OF NIT
ting, but that is not the teams only snort
coming. 1t is not fielding as 1t should.
and what is more. it is not playing lntell-
gent ball AS for the pitching, IL is lar
below the standard , 49,.
lit mas uetH Pu.nted out repeatedly lhat
the only chance the Nationals nave W
win ball games is with air-tlght plichiils'
The same proposition holds GOOD LOT 'l-
most any other team, but it is particular
lly true of the Nationals. Well, the pllcn-
ing has not been anything near what IL
ought to he. Ii pitcher has been apie
to hold his opponents down 10 lew
hits he has usually had one inning IN
which a majority OF the hits nave peen
made and enough runs scored 10 WIN
the game because runs are the haruest
thing the Nationals have to get these
days.
=, But four or five hits per game won't
win many ball games unless the pltch-
Ing is of such character that the other
side finds it difficult TO get run, ana
there has been no such pitching by Nc
.Aleers squad OF twirlers on the present
trip Let a ball team stop hitting. ana
il usually does everything else wrong. IL
rs so with the Nationals. Every mispiay
.pyeves costly. to begin with, and the time
N hit which every team needs to win It's
games is decidedly scarce article. Since
-sle team left home there is but one man
on it who has batted well. and he is sup
posed to be one of the weak StfckerS,
George Mcbride. In every game he has
net only played brilliantly in the held,
Gut it has been his hits which have given
Zen.
:, Even Milan has fallen off. Not that
BE is not hitting the ball as hard as
Ssver. but he is not getting it safe. Cess
4er and Une'aub. the pair that were ex-
rected to do the heavy work for the team.
ere far on their stride. and the least SAID
about the others in the chatting order the
better. There is bound to be a break
some day. but whether it will be on the
Freesnt trip or late in the fall is too tough
= problem to solve.
:. With a two-run lead in the first inning
Che Nationals looked as if they had
brand chance to beat Cleveland yester-
day but just about the time that this
Rad began to assume respectable APP
HearanCe there was sllp-up, ana tneh
same fusillade of hits Off of Groom.
The four runs which Cleveland scored
N the sixth inning were mere gifts. The
aide should have been retired before
Jnan crossed the plate Groom was to
blame for it all. Falkenber". the first
man to face him in this inning. hit
BaI to the right of Unglaub. which the
latter got. but Groom was slow cover
ing the base and Falkenberg beat 1t out.
any time FalkenberS beats out pail
Aandled by an infielder there is some
xhing radically wrong, and there was.
asraney then hunted toward first, and
.nClaub threw to second in plenty OF
time to get Fa'kenberg, but teh throw
<eas wide and Falkenberg reached third.
though Milan, by quick return, got
&raney at second.
>. y sacrifice fly scored Falkenberg. Then
Turner and Lajoie bit safely. and Flick,
who up to this time had not made any
-e'lng that looked like a hit. was walked
nurposeIy to get Stovall UP. Groom put
one in the groove to start with for Stovau,
and a three-base hit TO left resulted,
Which cleared the bases, and the stun
Was off. True even IL this inning mad
got come UP as il did, the Maps would
nave won in the eighth when they pound
ed Groom, but there would probably
have been a great difference had the
Nationals been a run to the good at that
nme as they should have been had
Groom helded his position properly.
Wade Killifer Las made noting that
looks like a base hit in the last six
-sames. but ii at fast is not b ing scored
against Linn, and he will continue at ST. c.
and base Manager McAieer does not
propose to take snap Judgment On AL
infer. He will keep am In the game
& he fnOrnuQhy
~inced himself that he is not 90 Il enough
so play regularly. killIfer feel lag has
teen fair. and 1t would be better. prob
ably, IL he We're hitting, but though ne
Started We'll with the stick, he is not
Meeting the bail at all these days.
There was another shift in the batting
order yesterday, which. however, failed
to bring results. Mcbride, as usual, did
his part. his long fly TO left field in the
first inning scoring the Nationals second
run. 1t should have been scored as a
two-bagser. for Kruger did not have a
Chance to make the catch, but because he
Happened to set one hand on the ball the
local scorers, who can only see hits when
they are made by the local players gave
1t an error for Kruger.
One would suppose that about the least
that could be expected of a p aver draw
lax sa.ary from the major league clubs
would be al least slight familiarity
with the rules, and yet George Browne
proved his absolute ignorance of the rules
in yesterdays anne. and this perhaps
robbed the Nationals of one or more runs
Browne had walked in the sixth and on
wild pitch had reached third base be-
fore a man was out. While pitchinr to
Gessler Falkenberg made a wi d pitch
which struck Umpire Evans the pro-
teCtor Acc ordin@ to the rules the ball
Ia in play and base runner can take as
many bases as possible. Browne, think
ing that he was entitled TO score. started
in, and when motioned back stood half
way between home and third to argue the
question, while Catcher Bemis deliberate
" walked down and touched him with the
ball.
Browne was tangled up in another play
which does not speak well for his base
running. In the first inning with none
mn and he and Milan on first and see
ond. respectively, Gessler made a perfect
bunt which he might have beaten OUT but
Browne stood still near first base and
almost reached first. Perring. OF course
Threw him out.
1t may be that Browne has been out of
the game so lopg that everything seems
new to him; at any rate, 1t seemed so
yesterday
Waiter Johnson is slated to pitch today
and il is most likely that he will be 'op-
posed by Joss.
Lajoie is still hitting at terrific rate,
Yesterday everything that he swung at
went safe and some OF the balls he hit
were intended to be wasted He hit safe
ly. every time up and it did not matter
halt