Evening star., 1912-09-07
NOT IOHNSON'S FAULT THAT
HELOST TO WOOD YESTERDAY
Two-bagger, Which Scored Only Run Of
Game, Was Scratch Hit-Nationals
Will Play Exhibition Games.

ordinary batter. it would have been
an easy out. But Lewis being pro-
nounced left fielder. Moeller played
over toward center. and he was just
far enough away to make it impossi-
BILE for him to make. the catch. He
gave great exhibition OF sprlnf1ng
and got close enough to the ball to al
low 1t to hit the tips Of his fingers. but
he could not make the catch and
Speaker scored from second. Had
there been but one man out al the
time Speaker would have been forced
to hug second and there would not
On only two other occasions was Wal
ter in danger of being scored upon
and then he pitched himself out OF
the hole with apparent ease.
No game in a worlds series was
ever fought harder than the one yes
terday The players were keyed up
to the highest pitch. In the first place
Johnson's popularity spurred them on
and then. too. they had financial In
terest, for they had bet on themselves
From the time the game started 10
the finish every man on the team was
on his toes. They tried their best. put
the breaks were against them In that
they were not fortunate enough to
get hit at any one time out OF nve
when the tide could have been turned.
lust TO show how cautious both teams
we're there was but one effort made to
steal a base and that was successfui. lot
Foster pilfered In the eighth after he MT
safely. with but one out. Neitner team
made anything that resembied an erroI.
and on the whole it was one or the pes.
exhibitions of base ball that one could
hope to see.
Griffith's experience during the past
few DAYS must convince him mat ne
needs more hitting strength If he ex-
70 a team
Two of these games have been lost be-
cause of inability of his players TO MT
when they were needed, and there Is ho
fault to find with the pitchers on the
whole OF course. when team mas II
difficult to score runs every little mispiay
counts which would be overlooked II .ne
hitting was such that goodly numper
of runs could be scored. There 1s no
reason for believing that the Nationals
will stand better chance in the next
race than they did in this unless batting
strength is added. That is where the
team is still weak. The new men VINO
have been tried out may be good pan
players but they are not showing the
right sort of ability at the bat. and there
fore are not adding the strength to the
team that is sadly needed.
There must have been a crowd Of 10000
at Yesterdays game, The Wasnington
at least 1000 in the inclosure who came
in free 1t was a wonderful crowd, ana
is probably many as the local ciup
will be able to handle here during the
worlds series. even after temporary
stands are erected.
1t is more than likely that the Ma
tionals and Pittsburgh Pirates will play
a post-season series when the regular sea-
son = over. Manager Griffith heard from
Barney Dreyfuss of the Pittsburgh CLUB
Yesterday in reply to wire which ne
had sent early in the week challenging
the Pirates.
know whether Washington would be IN
terested in such series and Griffith re-
piled that he felt confident the games
would draw WELL Washington. where
the Pirates. with such famous players as
Hans Wagner. have never been seen.
Dreyfuss, on the other hand. gives assur-
ance that the Nationals would be big
rawing card in Pittsburgh. Wnere W al
ter Johnson is idoliZed. The chances are
that series of seven games will be ar
ranged at once under the auspices of the
national commission. which takes charge
of all such interleague games.
Frank Laporte hit Joe Wood harder
than any other man who faced him yes
terday. He did nothing worth while the
first two times up. but in the sixth ne
drove out splendid double to right cen
ter which with a clear field would nave
DceH "a tTipie, dilo III Tie hihth 's -
with sharp single to left. Cnfortu-
nately neither of the drives were produc-
tive.
Dan Moeller is very much discour-
aged He can't understand his batting
slump though he has tried about
everything known to the profession to
bring about change for the better
Had Moeller been hitting in anything
like his old form yesterday the game
would have proven cake walk Tor
johnson. AS il was he was up on two
different occasions-once with the bases
full-when a base hit would nave
scored one or more runs but he failed
TO come through striking out with
the bags occupied in the third and
popping up with Foster on second and
one out in the eighth. Ainsmith who
had such miserable day here We'd
nesday. performed brilliantly behind
Walter Johnson yesterday. He gave
\ spIendid exhibition behind the plate
and sacrificed once. walked another
time. but famed the last two limes
he faced Wood.
Woods victory yesterday was his
fourteenth straight, and he is on a
fair way to equal. If he don't beat,
Johnson's record of sixteen straight
victories. He will work the next time
against Chicago. and unless Waish
should hook up with him and be at his
best he Is almost sure to beat the
White Sox After that he will have
easy games to work. for Stahl Is sure
not to work him against pitchers like
Gregg or Hamilton in Cleveland ana
St Louis. 1t is but natural that stan.