Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-06-08
By J. ED GRILLo.
special Dispatch TO Tho Star.

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CHICAGO, June Starring accidents
to several OF tho most valuable men on
the team. there does not seem to be a
chance for anything to prevent the Ma
tonals from finishing in The first division.
While II is possible that the team is In a
particularly good stride just now, and
has been ever since il came west, there
is no getting away from the fact that II
Is a good ball team-much better. in
fact. than any one has suspected 1T of
being
Granting that the present pace IS alb
normal. il is nevertheless proving that
tho material for a first division team Is
at hand. and If the team remains intact
1t is sure to he the surprise of the present
campaign.
Eight straight games have now been
won on tho road. and in every one of
these Griffith's team has shown supe-
riority over it's opponents. Not in the
history of base ball has there ever been
an instance where team has played
such consistently good ball as have the
Nationals since the final game in Bos-
ton TO date. Yesterdays victory was in
many ways the best achievement of them
all. for the reason that the men of Crit
nth were up against a pttCfltr VINO Has
been moving down opponents with a
rather disagreeable regularity. For six
innings he seemed to have the situation
well in hand, and. although Groom was
pitching one of the best games OF his
career. the fact that Lange had n one
run lead placed a handicap on the Ma
icnals which il seemed impossible to
overcome. But there is no such word as
quit in the vocabulary of the team. They
stick to their work ike Trojans. and the
"a "a
They chung 10 Lange like leeches yester-
day.
Though he was striking them out and
forcing them to offer easy chances to
his support. they never gave him mo-
ments rest. and the reward for this
tenacity came in the seventh inning. when
the lead was gained.
During the past two weeks the team
has stood every test. 1t has been over
whelmingly beaten. 1t has been forced
10 come from behind; in fact. 1t has done
everything that could be asked of it, and
it has never even faltered-let alone
failed. The brilliant showing causes one
10 enthuse and while, OF course, it
higher honors. yet II can be conserva-
lively said that Washington has a ball
team which will have to be reckoned
with by those teams which expect to
play In the next world series.
The present winning streak has not
caused Griffith to forget the future. He
is attending to the clubs affairs along
the same lines that he adopted when he
took charge of the team, and. figuring
on the future he has refused to waive
on Ed Bradley. the first baseman of the
Boston Red sox. on whom waivers have
been asked. Griffith does not want Brad
ley for his own use, but he considers
him too valuable ball player to put on
the market for $3.50. He figures that
IL he can get Bradley he can use him
in some sort of a deal with some minor
league club whereby he will be able to
secure the kind of a player that Ire
wants. There is, of course, no great
likelihood OF McAleer turning Bradley
over to Griffith, but, for all that, Grif-
sent into the minors without his getting
chance to do something with him.
While of course there is no such thing
as reliable dope in base ball, ii begins to
look very much as IL the Nationals were
going to make a clean sweep OF the
series with the leaders, just as they did
with the tail-enders In st. Louis. Grant
ing that Chicago has great ball team,
il must also be admitted that Washing
Ton has the White Sox on the run. HAY
ing beaten their two best pitchers, Walsh
and LANCE, there Is but little left Tor
them to come back with today. and the
chances are that Griffith will work john
son. though this is doubtful. The old
fox is doing a lot of figuring these days.
lie undoubtedly could win with Johnson
working today, but he seems to think
that Engel or Musser would have a
chance. now that the best pitchers of
the Sox have been worked and beaten.
For this reason he figures it a waste OF
Johnson 10 work him. and he may come
hack with Musser or Engel, keeping
Johnson In reserve. If he can get away
with this il would give him Johnson for
that Is the one place where he is anxious
to make a determined stand. for if the
Nationals can take a majority of the
games from the Tigers there Is strong
probability of their coming back 10 their
own grounds in second place.
In the future, unless something unfore-
seen happens. Bob Groom will never be
asked until he has had four DAYS
rest The performance Of the tall right
handler against the Sox yesterday after
four-day ay-off proves that good
work is not to be expected of him IL he Is
forced 10 work out of turn. and whenever
Il is possible 10 give him this amount OF
rest il will be done from this out.
Groom pitched a brilliant game of bail
Yesterday. He allowed but five scattered
base hits, and was never I'm position
had excellent control and worked through
the nine innings. displaying every conf
dence. which had very encouraging eff
feet on his teammates.
With every game Griffiths team of
youngsters seems to he improving. IL is