Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-06-26
NATIONALS STILL IN
THROES OF DEFEAT
HighIanders Have No Trouble
Winning First Game of
Series Here.
JOHNSON HAS ONE
OF HIS RARE POOR DAYS
Locals Star TWirler Fails to
Puzzle New York BatSmen.
Is Given Poor Support.
BY j. ED GRILLO.

d
Nationals. The expected bracing which
was predicted for the team once 1t re-
turned to its own grounds failed to ma
terialize, and i'll the first encounter with
the Highlanders the men of McAleer
went down to defeat by a score of Z to f.
And the game was not near as close
as the score might indicate. for three
of the locals four tallies came in the
ninth, when the visitors had the game
safely stored away and Jack WARRIOR
saw no further reason for exerting him
self.
On few occasions this season have the
locals put up a worse exhibition. That
tired feeling. resulting perhaps from the
long trip and a long eighteen-hour traVei
in a stuffy sleeper. was prevalent from
the bat-boy up. Even the energetic wal
ter Johnson had an off day. There was
nothing mystifying about his delivery
yesterday after the second inning For
that length of time he seemed to be as
good as ever, but from that out IT was
plainly to be seen that he was nowhere
near himself and it would have seemed
charitable to have sent him to the ciuo-
house long before this was done.
1t is perhaps needless to say that II
was not the kind of ball game that
any one could enthuse over, especially
not if one had the Washington end TO
pull for. The error column does not tell
Of al the things that happened On our
side that should not happen on a ball
team which hopes to win. If there was
any redeeming feature to the exhibition
IL was the fact that the umpires mad
q number of close decisions to render at
the plate and on the bases and they
apparently did their work well.
Team Weakens Behind johnson.
Perhaps if johnson had been Johnson
better
showing and perhaps victory would have
crowned their efforts. but to see john
son hit freely is such an unusual thing
that one can hardly blame his support
for being wabbly. But Johnson was hit
hard. 1t might not be classed drub-
bling for any other pitcher, but for john
son it was all of that.
Jack Warhop. the diminutive twirler OF
the visitors, whose little jerky delivery is
responsible for his being in the big
league, has seen better days than yes
te-day, but nevertheless he had the Ma
tionals baffied from the start and only
when he let down in the ninth was he
hit hard. There were few instances
when WARRIOR was in danger, though for
four innings IL was close struggle, In
which, however, there were only a Few
moments during which the visitors re-
unquished the lead which they gained by
scoring a run in the first inning, and
trotted ON even terms with the home
boys.
That the Highlanders did not roll up
bigger score was due to a few lucky
breaks into which the locals stumbled
when danger threatened
Johnson left the game after the seventh
and his protege Bill Hinrich made his
debut in fast company. Now, of course,
conditions were such that il was not
very suspicious time for Bill to be trOtted
out. but trotted out he was and the
natives had a look at Bill He was not
a q =
likely that he will be on the rubber again
very soon.
When Johnson famed Wolters and
Chase in the first inning and LapOrte, the
first man 10 face him in the second. 1t
did seem if he was at his best.
But his good work stopped right there, for
from that period out he was nothing re-
semhi.ng a puzzle TO the opposing bats
men.
He was first scored on in the second,
when he should have retired the side
without a run. He had two out when
Knight hit a sharp grounder at him
which fell from his hands He got the
ball TO first in time to get his man, but
was forced to throw rather hard and
the ball fell out of Cnglaub's mitt.
Knight followed this by stealing second.
getting a fairly good lead ard evidently
catching Street by surprise, for his throw
was both late and wide. Jimmy Austin,
who always hits well against Washing
ton. drove to left for a base and Lelivelt
seemed To be close Egan giving knight
the decision Sweeney followed with a
swinging bunt on which Austin moved to
third having reached second on Lelivelt's
throw TO the plate. On an attempted
double steal Street nailed Austin with
a quick throw TO Conroy.
In the fourth the locals tieu matters up
Lelivelt opened with a clean single and
Elberfeld promptly moved him up with
a sacrifice. Doc Gessler hit safely to left
center. but Laporte made a beautiful stop
OF the ball and perfect ,..row to the
plate and Lelivelt was out trying to
score. GesSier went To second on the
play.
Mcbride There in Pinch.
II was George McBrides turn now, and,
living up TO his pinch hitting record, he
promptly brought Gessler home with a
single 10 left on which Gessler would
probably have persisted al the plate had
not Laporte fumbled the ball.
But the tie did not last long, for in the
first half of the fifth the visitors went to
the front again.
Knight started matters with a long
triple, and scored when Austin hit safely
Sweeney's grounder to Elberfeid was
used in an attempt TO force Austin, but
the throw was late and both were safe.
WARRIOR filed to Mcbride after being I'M
successful in sacrificing. Then followed
1iov MI hat