Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-07-02

series Friday. Five games in three days.
| If the Nationals take a brace they should
win q majority Of these games.
| The switch Of Jack knight to Jersey
in return for Infielder Roach was a bust
ness move pure and simples Knight was
| one of the highest salaried men on the
team. yet he has never shown enough
| since coming here to warrant his being
played regularly. Naturally Griffith fig
ured that Knight was getting too much
money to warm any bench. so he made
the trade for Roach, which gives him
every bit as good q utility player at a
much smaller salary.
Roach was with New York for cou-
pie Of seasons two years ago. He did
not play regularly, but held his own
| whenever he had g. chance to break into
the game. He Is a peppery youngster
who will come in handy in the event of
any of the regulars being incapacitated.
knight left for Jersey City last night
and Roach is expected to report to Crit
| fifth here today.
Had Bob Groom received good support
| he might have won his game yesterday.
| His felders put him in the hole several
! times, and he was not able to pull him
self out. Groom's worst inning was the
sixth, and yet, II he had been properly
supported he would have gotten out of
| that round with but one run being scored
| He should not have been scored on In the
for three bases because Walker allowed
| it to pass through his legs.
The spectacle Of an assistant umpire
| being reversed twice In one inning was
the rather unusual procedure which the
crowd at yesterdays game witnessed. It
| happened In the sixth. Baker was on
second when McInnis hit to Foster. Fos-
| ter touched Baker as he passed him, but
| Westervelt who was expecting a play
/ nsfo Dol
and called him safe. There was an ap-
peal made to Umpire Evans behind the
bat and he ruled Baker out. McInnis,
in the argument, had left first base and
to Gandil who touched McInnis and
Westervelt called him out Evans also
reversed that decision on the ground that
he had called time minute before while
the players were arguing with Westervelt
over his decision.
| It Is good system and a fair one to
have umpires help each other out in such
| instances. II one man Is not In posi-
ton to see play which is right in front
OF the other there can be no objection
to having them consult before making
a decision. Westervelt, however, Is prov
ing himself incompetent, and 1t does not
seem right to place him in charge of the
game at any time. Today, for instance
he will be the umpire-in-chief, though
he was twice reversed yesterday by the
official who will be his assistant today.
| II the Nationals were hitting up to
their form that Athletic outheld would
be made to look foolish on several of the
local batters. This was demonstrated
yesterday. Mack's f1elders seem to be
laboring under the impression that both
Foster and Gandil are decided right field
hitters and they play in that direction
The fact Of the matter is that Foster
and Gandil hit into left as often as they
do into any field. Foster hit a liner into
| left yesterday and he got three bases
toward center for him Gandil got a
double into the same territory for similar
| reasons. But hits have been SO scarce
| that the fact that the Athletics outfeld
was playing wrong did not cut much fig
| ure.
Long Tom Hughes viii in all probability
| work against the Athletics today. Hughes
has pitched splendid ball against the
champions this year, but, Of Course. his
team will have to make some runs behind
him II he Is expected to win. Either
Coombs or Bender will do the twirling
for the visitors.
Brown. who pitched for the visitors
yesterday, will have to be reckoned with
in the future. He has won his last three
games in most impressive style, beating
the Nationals twice and New York once.
He seems to have a lot Of stuff and is
sure to help out the champions pitching
staff considerably. Early in the season
Thrown was unable to finish game,
Iproving rather easy for the batters, but
he has greatly improved since then.
Believing that the present batting slump
Is the result OF lack Of practice, Manager
lGrif1th had his players out this morn
ling doing hitting in the hope of improv-
ing the general offensive work of the
team. No team could have hit better
than did the locals on their recent trip,
and yet there was no morning practice
INDUCED in then.
Eddie Collins has not boosted his bat
ting average during his stay here, hav-
ing made but one hit in the four games.
He has been on the bases a whole lot,
though, and incidentally has hit the bali
hard but has been unable to get it safe.
| Were it not for Baker the Athletics
would hardly stand a chance to be in the
race The value of this wonderful hitter
has been shown here, for every one of the
four victories can be directly attributed to
Bakers timely hitting 1t seems to make
no difference to him who is pitching, for
Baker seems able to come through with
lit He has been thorn in the Nationals
side all season There has not been a
game won by the Athletics from the To-
cas- ,nis year in which Baker did not have
q hand
For Ave innings yesterday it was a
splendid ball game. Groom was pitching
gilt edged ball, and Brown was not far
} behind him. The score stood to 1 in the
Nationals favor, and 1t seemed that the
losing streak was on a fair way to be
broken. But in the sixth the hopes were
, shattered. Oldring. the first man up, hi
the first ball pitched for three bases Col
!, lltns flied out. and Oldring was held on
third. But Milan mufred Bakers fly. Nc
. Innis hit to Foster, who touched Baker
as he tried to pass him. Westervelt de-
clared him safe, but Evans said he was