Evening star., 1912-09-15
LOOSE FIELDING CAUSE
OF NATIONALS DEFEAT
CONTINUED from First Page.)

day spent all of last season and the
greater part Of this as q member Of the
Tigers, but he has never proved a suc-
cess. So poor was his showing that he
was sent to Providence early in the sea-
on, but he also failed to make good there
Yet today the Nationals were unable to
hit him at the right time. and he had to
be given credit for pitching a good game
of ball, though he seemed to have but
little, and was just getting away.
None OF the young pitchers whom Jen-
nings has hown in the series here has
looked impressive, and the chances are
that weakness in the pitching staff will
be the teams weakness again next sea-
son.
Five bases We're stolen by the Tigers
yesterday, but the fault was not so much
with Williams throwing as with CashiOn,
who gives the base runners too much of a
lead. pitcher who cannot hold runners
on the bases Is a serious handicap to
catcher. Any time runner has more OF
a start than he is entitled to it is next
to impossible for catcher to throw him
out regardless of how good an arm he
may possess.
Williams carried off the hitting honors
of his team, getting three clean drives
in four trips to the plate.
1t is not unlikely that Griffith will be
suspended for his run-in with Umpire
Hart in the eighth inning, when the lat
ter declared Shanks out on an infield
play when he was clearly safe. Griffith
for the first time this season seemed to
lose his temper. and refused to leave the
field for some ten minutes, finally being
persuaded to go to the clubhouse by I'm
pire Connolly
The umpiring this year has been abso-
lutely disgraceful and the umpires cover
up their own mistakes by chasing pro-
testing ball players off OF the field. 1t
Is very evident that Ban Johnson viii
have to rejuvenate his entire staff. An
other season of such umpiring as has
been in vogue this. season will not have
a tendency to help the game. It is but
natural for a player to insist UPON his
rights, and some of the decisions handed
down by the umpires this year have been
SO palpably wrong that even the partisan
crowds have jeered and hoofed the offf-
cials when decisions came which favor
ed their team.
One trouble with most OF Griffith's
young pitchers is that they aret badly in
need of work, and he has never heen in
position to give them all lhey need.
Earlier in the season it looked as If
the Nationals had a chance for the flag
and since that hope went gilmmering
they are in fight for second place and
Grifhth naturally cannot take any cnaHce
of working his youngsters any more than
is absolutely necessary. But 1t is g
detriment to the young players who need
experience and Griffith has a scheme
which, If he can carry out. will probably
solve the problem. The California League
does not end it's season until very late
in October and Griffith is thinking seri-
ously Of sending several of his young
sters to one OF the coast clubs to finish
the season. This would. no doubt. be a
satisfactory arrangement for the players,
for they would get an extra months sal
ary and. incidentally be given an oppor-
tunity of working regularly and getting
the experience they SO badly are in
need Of.
All that Jennings can be given credit
for having for next season is nucleus
for winner Cobb. Crawford. Bush and
Stanage are still good players, but the
rest of the team does not promise much,
and will not be able to help win any
pennants, that is a certainty. OF course,
Hughey is going to have a carload OF
recruits to report In the spring, but
when one stops to think what a small
percentage of young players make good
every spring. then his prospects are, in
deed. none too bright. But at that he
will have an advantage over some of the
other weak teams in that he has a
nucleus of great strength to build around
something that some of the other teams
cannot boast of.