Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-06-14
ON Hughes Will Try to Work Old "oodoo Against Cleveland Today
AMBITIOUS TO
CLEAN UP IN CLEVELAND
Should They Do So 1t Would Be Feat
Unheard OF in Modern Base
Ball Annals.
BY J. ED GR1LLo.
Special Dispatch to The Star.

i BY ]. ED GRILLO.
/ Special Dispatch to The Star
! CLEVELAND, June 1.-THE ambition
of the Nationals to go through the entire
invasion OF the four western cities with
out losing a ball game stands a fair
chance Of being realized. The entering
! wedge to this proposition was perfectly
installed Yesterday when the Nationals
won their fourteenth consecutive game in
the opener of the series with Cleveland.
/ Judged on the sort of front the Maps
/ displayed yesterday, the series should be
| easier than either of those in Chicago
i or Detroit, where a clean sweep was
made Griffith is lucky enough to catch
the local aggregation in a seriously
crippled condition. and while this does not
| altogether indicate victory, yet it sounds
rather encoura ging Most of the good
| ball players Harry Davis has at his COM
mand are on the hospital list and several
Of those he is playing should be there.
This makes the prospects for a clean
sweep look rather bright, and yet no one
can ever tell what will happen in base
| ball
| Compared with their work in the other
cities the Nationals did not look impress
| siye yesterday. notwithstanding the fact
| that they won in gallop. 1t seems to
| have been the history Of the team to
| always put up its weakest game on the
| occasion Of it's first appearance in city.
! so that there is no reason for predicting
| the breaking of the winning streak as a
result of their performance here yester-
| day.
! TODAY and as he has always been q
| stumbling block for all Cleveland teams
| that he has met, and there have been
many, the chances for the fifteenth vic
Besides, Hughes has shown brilliant form
on this trip and with anything like an
ordinary break he should not be bothered
| to any extent If his teammates can get
some runs for him. and it must be said
for them that they have not failed in
| this respect in many weeks.
| If a clean sweep should he made here
| it would establish two records which may
| never be equaled. 1t would mean that
| the team had won seventeen consecutive
games on the road and that it had gone
| through entire western trip without
never been heard of before in the his
| tory of base ball since that sport was
placed on a modern basis, and yet it
seems to be within the grasp of the Ma
| tionals to accomplish this. Much, of
| course, depends on waht sort of showing
| the youngster who is selected to pitch
Saturdays game will make. There is
| every reason to have confidence in
Hughes today. but as Petty will not re-
port here until Sunday, the day on which
Johnson is almost sure to work, one of
| the recruits will have TO step on the
| mound on Saturday. Their work, it must
be conceded, has been of a high order.
| and yet they may find teams that they
cannot stop and Cleveland may be one
| of them. IL Petty was here and ready
there would almost be a cinch that all
| Of the four games would go to the Ma
tionals. but he has wired Griffith that he
cannot report until Sunday. and the
chances are that his presence then will
not be especially beneficial. because it
is Walter Johnson's work day.
! If everything goes well. however, Crit
fifth may not use johnson here at ALL SO
as to have him for the game in Washing
| ton Tuesday. which would mean that he
could work him in one of the games in
Philadelphia the latter part of next week
On the other hard, If he uses him here
Sunday he is almost certain to work in
two OF the six games which the Nationals
will be forced to play the last four days
| of next week in Philadelphia.
| But leave it to Griffith to handle this
| end Of it. No one gives these details
and the manipulation of the pitching staff
| more consideration than he, and let it be
| said right here that any time an opposing
| club pounds one of Griffith's pitchers il
| will be because he has no one else to sub
| stitute, for it does not take him long to
| determine when one of his twirlers is slip
| ping. There is no game regardless OF
| which of the twirlers may be working
! that Griffith has not figured out a relief
and in many instances the first sign of
weakness means dismissal from the game
and change of twirlers. This scheme
has been decidedly successful on this trip
for there is no doubt that several games
| have been saved because Griffith was
quick to see that the pitcher working was
not showing his good form.
| There are no doubt many reasons adj
vanced for the brilliant work of the Ma
| tionals on the present trip. but to large
| extent the fact that Griffith has a for
| midable team should be attributed to his
| having the greatest catching staff in the
| country when 1t comes to stopping oppos-
| ing teams from running bases. 1t is sell
dom that a base is pilfered against the
| Nationals. while on the other hand
| Grtfhth's team has had many an advant-
| age because of its ability to run bases
! on the opposing catchers. Stop a team
| from running bases and it is placed under
a severe handicap. and that Is exactly
] what Griffith's catchers have been doing
| A perusal of the box scores of the games
| will show that opposing players seldom
| have stolen base, while there on an
| average of two or three stolen every day
| by the Nationals. This is one advantage
which the team has. and 1t is a most i'm
| portant one.
| There were but six hits made off Groom
| yesterday, but, strange to say, four
i of them We're for extra bases While
| Groom pitched we'll enough to win, 1t was
| by no means a brilliant performance,
principally for the reason that he seemed
| to lack control. Not that he walked a
| lot of batters, for there was but one who
reached first in this manner. but he got
| himself in the hole on a great many bat
+, tiers and then had to lay it over and take
a chance. In three Of the four instances
| where the ball was hit for extra bases
| Groom had three and two on the batter
and they hit that fast ball hard nearly
| every time.
| Comments by those in the stands in
foreign parts are always interesting and
| not unusually amusing. Having made
| fourteen straight games. the Nationals
have naturally become an attraction. and
their every movement is carefully watch
ed One often hears 1t said that 1t is
strange that the team should win so
many games when 1t does nothing that
| Is brilliant But the fact is overlooked
| that the team is scoring a whole lot of
runs It Is averaging nearly seven per
game since It left home. and this is the
real reason for it's many victories. That
| 10 -,