Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-07-09
PITCHERS, OUT AND IN
FIELDERS NEEDED
CONTINUED from First Page.)

given a chance 1t is hard to make your
self believe that Chicago stands chance
to beat out either Detroit or Philadel-
phia. and yet stranger things have hap
pened In base ball. What Is true Of the
SoX is true of the Cardinals. To have
ventured the opinion early in the season
that st. Louis might be a contender in
the National League race would probably
have brought about a hearing before a
lunacy commission, for no one could have
seen where Bresnahan's team stood a
chance TO be up in the race with New
York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Pittsburg
and Cincinnati, and yet that team is to-
day. within whispering distance of the
leaders and playing more consistent ball
than any of its rivals. Nor does that
team show any signs of going at pace
which II has no right to- In fact, it
seems to improve as the season pro-
Gus slump it is to be a contender, to
the finish. If it does not land on top.
In majority Of the games that John
Henry Las caught he has spoiled his good
work with untimely passed balls. undoubt-
eddy the result of lack of experience.
There Is evidently something In the way
Henry handles pitchers delivery that
makes these passed balls possible, and
some one who is familiar with his weak
ness should coach him in this. But in
structfon of young players who lack ex-
pef1ence seems TO be one thing that is
lacking on the local team. No one seems
to want to assume the authority TO teach
the youngsters in correcting their faults
and this undoubtedly hampers their i'm
provement
The manager of a ball team such as the
Nationals should not be held responsible
for Its showing. There is no code of
strategy that will make an inferior team
win games In a league such as this, but
when a manager finds that he lacks the
N a sArI Inv hn Oh.
his efforts to trying to better conditions.
A managers duty Is to get such material
as he can handle to the best advantage.
successful teams are not made SO by rea-
son of any superior knowledge of the
game by the man in charge but mostly
because of the existence of superior play
ing strength. The successful manager is
the one who secures the proper material,
not the one who IS able to handle 1t after
1t has been secured Washington needs
material. It cannot be pointed out where
because of lack of knowledge of the game
the man in charge can be held responsible
for the poor showing of the teams which
have represented this city in the Ameri-
can League. The fault has always been
in the fact that the team lacked strength.
There have been innumerable games
this season in which the Nationals have
either tied the score or gained q lead
during the closing innings. without max
ing change of pitchers. Other teams
usually call upon their star twirler under
such conditions, figuring that he will hold
the opposition down, and thus have
good chance for victory. But there has
been but one instance this year where
Johnson has been called upon to stop a
batting rally made off one of his team
mates. and then the effort failed. When
Washington played it's final game of the
first series in Detroit the Nationals made
a batting rally, in the eighth inning of a
game which Dolly Gray was pitching.
scoring five runs and giving them a
four-run lead. Gray started the ninth
round but was hit a few times. and the
locals lead was endangered. McAleer
took Gray out and substituted Johnson.
Detroit hit Johnson hard and won the
game . to s. That was on May %. and
since that time Johnson has not been
used asa rescue pitcher. There was all
sorts of unfavorable comment made on
McAleers action on that occasion. He
was charged with having made a grave
the latter had not been in a game
for nearly two weeks. though he
proved that he was in good condition by
coming back the very next day and beat
ing the Tigers with comparative ease.
But in the face of the c1iticism which
was heaped on McAleer for putting John
son in to save that game, he vowed he
would never again use Johnson to save
q game. and he hasn't.
There Is no doubt, however, that had a
switch of pitchers been made in a great
many OF the Nationals games this sea-
son. in which they held a lead up to
within an inning or two of the finish, the
games would have been won. Games in
which as many as seven runs We're scored
by the Nationals have been lost because
the pitcher in action could not go the
route Johnson. being considered one OF
the best pitchers in the league. should be
able to perform as does Ed Walsh of
the White Sox. and come to the rescue
under such conditions. but. as said before,
he has been used but once in such service
and then he failed to deliver. 1t would
be better to use Johnson to finish games
which with good pitching could be won
than to use him in regular turn. and take
he started. But McAleer made up his
mind, after being criticised for using
Johnson in the game May @, never to use
him in the same capacity again, and he
hasn't.