The Washington herald., 1912-08-11
By "cHRIsrY" rArHEwsoN,

Il a
| Star rwirier Of the GisntA
Frank Chance has again claimed tn
pennant for the Chicago Cubs. and II
| admit that he has some grounds In tn
light Of the events of the last week
They, the events, have done the Giant
| no particular good.
| Chance figures that IL he can get bacl
to Chicago with his club only abou
feight games behind the Giants then h
can meet US In 9 series on his hom
grounds and bring the margin down I,
a very fine edge He hopes to, have Vi
leave Chicago leading by only a few
games and counts on US having a tougl
battle with the other clubs in the wes
while he is playing the Boston ant
Brooklyn teams.
Frank Chance adds, In published state
ments. that II he can pull up to within
a game or two of the Giants while We
are on this Western trip he can swing
East for the last journey around thu
circuit and grab the pennant. He main
tains that he has the greatest road team
in the league and that once he is or
even terms. there will be PRACTICAL!
nothing to IT, So says Chapce. Of the
Cubs.
Overlooks One Fact.
But in his calculations the Chicago
leader has overlooked one fact. He has
argued from the premise that the Giants
will continue to play the same kind c1
ball that they have been exhibiting for
the last week. II the club does, then
there may be something In what he says
but the club will not continue along the
same lines with McGraw at it's head. He
will make a complete renovation before
he will nePr0ft the Ann IN u-ay
1t has been travelling. The question
which has been fired at me time after
time in the last week is. What is the
matter with the Giants?"
That Is about as hard to answer as
that other puzzler about the age of Ann.
One fault Is they are not winning ball
games with any great amount of regu-
larty. This is due primarily to three
causes-the batters are not hitting. the
pitchers are not pitching. and the fielders
are failing to field The number OF men
that the Giants have had left on the
bases in the last week reads like a CEN
sus takers report in a tenament district.
This shows that the men who have ar
rived to the plate In the pinches have
failed to come through with the punch
which would have scattered the oppo-
sition. That used to be the Giants long
suit-producing the hits in the crushes.
OhiS ohc mas SDO"n COnslstent
form in the last week. and that Is Tes-
reau- He started a game against Pitts
burg which ,he should have won, but
errors interfered with good prospects
and he was taken out to let a man BAT
FOR him Many followers of the club
are shedding tears over Marquard. They
are wrong. "Rube'' will come around
all right and pitch lot OF good ball yet
before the season is out. He is just
L. -
still from his long winning streak which
carried with IT great strain on both
his body and nerves. All he needs are a
couple of good games for a tonic. and
he will be as good as ever. IL not better
He pitched beautiful ball in his second
start against the Pirates on Thursday.
Giants Ont of Luck.
As is often the case under the cir
have tried lately has broken for them
This Is almost always true of a team
that is leading. When things continue
to break" against a club, the players
lose confidence in their ability to work
any play, and il is this lack of con-
fidence that is a handicap. Almost syery
time that We tried the hit and run last
week the batter poked into a double
play, thereby nipping a very nourishing
r respect IN the bud. When we attempted
the sacrifice, two or three times the bat
tel bunted foul fly. Nothing We tried
vent through for us. Whereas when we
used to win them right along, every
thing that was sprung worked. We had
the old confidence of victory in our sys-
TENS. man who plays any game will
tell you that this is true. Some DAYS
you go out and feel that You can do
AWNING tru fe t.,
the quintessence of confidence. But at
other times the ball comes up to the
plate and looks as big as n balloon, and
yet you can't hit II. ! don't understand
the psychology of IL. but I kn,w when
that old feeling has settled into a ball
cub. 1t usually loses a lot Of games
until 1t is routed out
OToole and Hendrix are two Pittsburg
Fltchers who have been wild all season.
ard II mas always been our plan of bat
lie to wait these men out and make them
Fitch to US. We tried 1t in the late
series with the Pirates. and o'Toole
n particular gave many bases on balls
setting men on the sacks in most every
inning, but he would recover his control
the situation pinched. Every
me Of the so-called inside" plays failed
IS. After We had lost that third game
to Eittsburg on Wednesday, McGraw
called us aside in the clubhouse and
said:
NOW. we won't try anything to-
morrow but the old wallop Every
man Is to go up there. and IL he sees
/ ball he likes. let him wing It. Just
straight baseball. that's all. I'm tired
of sending man down to steal and
Ind the batter lining the ball over
second base for what would have been
clean hit. except that the shortstop
was going to cover"
We cast inside" baseball to the
winds in that fourth game. and what
vas the result? We won II. There Is
40 chance but what the Giants will
brace, and / look to see them have a
brilliant trip Though the West. The
players are the Kind of men who get