Evening star., 1912-06-27
Nationals and Boston Wind Up Their Strenuous Struggle Tod
UP TO HUGHES TO GET AN
EVEN BREAK WITH BOSTON
Victory Today Would Allow Nationals to
Make Good Showing Against
Leaders in Race.

trio which the Red Sox present. and all
things considered. that infield, with Stahl
on first. does not have to take its hat off
to any in the league. That Carrigan is
not sensational performer behind the
bat must be conceded, for he can no
longer boast of a strong arm, but when it
comes to displaying wisdom in the han
ding of pitchers Carrigan has few equals.
He understands the game thoroughly and
knows the art of working batters. On
the whole the Sox are a more impressive
looking team than the Athletics. There
is no comparison in their outfleldS and
while the infield of Mack's team may
have little on that of the Sox on what
they have shown here the latter team S
pitchers are much more consistent per-
formers.
The greatest change in Bob Groom s
work IS that he is at his best these days
when the pinch Is tightest. There was a
time when misplays behind the tall twirl-
er had the effect of upsetting him, but
he no long0 worries with men on the
bases and seems to have enough in re-
serve under such conditions to pitch him.
self out of holes. Barring a reversal of
form, Groom is in a fair way to establish
splendid pitching record this year. His
work for the past month, during which
he has not lost game. has been most
consistent. and strong and weak teams
have looked alike to him.
Milan was the victim of peculiar play
in the fourth inning of the first game
which had the crowd guessing for a while.
He was on first when Gandil hit a long
fly to left center. Lewis caught the ball
after a long run, falling as he made the
catch. He tossed the ball to speaker who
dropped 1t. From the stands it seemed
that Lewis had failed to make the play.
Milan had overrun second base, and, see
ing that the ball was caught, returned to
hrst. but in so doing. failed to retouch
second and when the ball was thrown to
that base he and Gandil were both de-
clared out
Morgan joined Moeller on the hospital
list during the closing innings Of the first
game, Schaefer taking his place at sec
ond- Morgan is suffering from charley
horse. and it may be several days-be-
fore he will be able to return to his posi-
ton. In the meantime either Schaefer
or night will fill his place. Knight,
having turned his home uniform over to
Vaughn, who joined the team yesterday,
had to don a travelling uniform, which
barred him from the game yesterday
Better base ball than the series with
Boston has furnished has not been seen
able to give the Red Sox the battle of
their lives, and if the team We're hitting
anywhere near its normal gait it would
annex more victories The first game
yesterday was a beauty from a specta-
tors viewpoint Boston scored two runs
in the first inning on Yerkes' triple
Speakers double and Gardners hit, but
never reached the goal thereafter. The
Nationals had an uphill fight on their
hands. and finally won in the tenth be-
fore a man was retired. MoelIer's hit
and O'Brien's wild throw followed by an
nfield out gave the locals run in the
first. They tied the score in the sixth on
hits by Walker, Foster and Milan, and
then got the run they needed in the tenth
on a walk to Walker, and Fosters clever
hit. which Lewis allowed to get away
from him, thus allowing Walker to score
from first base. The score: