Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-08-20

player on the team who can be depended
upon with anything like certainty. Muir
ray may hit for four hits on one day and
not meet the bail sauare1y in the next
two games. Bridwell is fairly reliable,
but he is not a hard hitter. Devlin and
Merkle are two hard hitters. but they,
too. are uncertain. When they are in a
batting mood there Is no pitcherswho can
bother them. but there are games when
they do nothing with the ball.
l Il calculated on these chances after /
had been watching the team play awhile
and made up my mind that we would be
just as likely. with the material Of which
the club Is composed, to knock out four
or I'VE runs and win q game without
playing the game too close as we would
be to sacrifice steadily after the first
man got on base.
'DevOre Is as fast as any man in the
Natfonaf League II Doyle follows him
with hard drive mine times out OF ten.
IL the ball is hit safely, Devore will 60 to
third
That's just as good or better than the
sacr1nce game Frequently we have nip
ped. or enough in the first inning. BY
about success. II l had two sure $50
hitters after Doyle wouldn't hesitate q
moment to let him go UP and try to sac
rihce every time that Devore got on first,
for part Of the time Larry would beat
the ball out; but the Giants haven't got
those hitters, and the better way to play
the game, to my way of thinking. is to
get all that you can out OF the speed Of
your first two runners. II both Devore
and Doyle get on the bases it is almost
certain that both Of them will get around
IL they are given any kind Of assistance
by the men who follow them.
Sacrifice Game Lost.
THE other day / played the sacrifice
game to get one run to tie the score. We
tumbIed hard on it simply because the
batters are not reliable. A second day
attempted exactly the same. thing, and
down we went again. That didn't
discourage me-. so far as sacrificing IL
concerned, for have had my mind made
up all OF the season as to which was the
better work for the Giants. But IL did
convince me that had q team which is
not bit certain in using the sacrifice
play" ~.-,..
The New York manager went on to say
that under different conditions he prob
ably would play his men I'm a different
manner.
Make the most OF the material which
one club can make q success OF sacrific-
ing a team which never could get a base
hit after 1t had wasted valuable batters
in trying to sacrifice would be foolish to
continue unless the manager had no as
piration to get out of the second division.
One Of these days. when the Giants have
batters who can be relied upon, we'll give
the critics all the sacrifices that they
want, but when a team hits in streaks
and with such uncertainty "a New York
does this year too much sacrificing would
not do us as much good as to permit the
young fellows to blaze away and get all
they can out of their speed and their pos
sibiIity to hit the ball where the other fell
lows don't happen TO be. ! am almost
sorry that in the last P.ttsburg game I
let Merkle sacrifice after Devlin led off
with a two-base hit. II looked like good
base ball TO do Ii. because, with Deviin
on third, il seemed almost sure that We
might tie the score. Yet you saw what
happened After Devlin got to third he
score on an infield hit. He might better
have been at second than on third"