The Washington herald., 1912-08-04

games before they went away. 1t
is fighting and well-balanced ball
-lub, and one to be reckoned with.
Slunp Proves Fatal.
Many followers of baseball regard q
margin of ten games or more at this stage
of the race unbeatable, but a slump soon
proves how quickly such a lead can be
cut down when a club travelling as fast
as the Cubs are is directly behind.
/ never. saw Tinker and Evers play
better ball than they did in the series.
and. II they are going back would like
to have a team composed of 'has-beens
Evers is hitting the ball right on the nose
all the time, and is a hard man to pitch
TO because of his great eye.
Evers keeps that whole Chicago mfleld
on its toes, and can do and accomplish
more things than any other man playing
ball. I think For instance, he can be
wrangling with the umpire, kidding the
crowd, exchanging a little repartee with
the coacher at first base. and touching a
man out trying to steal second all at
once. without ever starting a sweat
Cubs Going Good.
Chance is being supplied with good
pitching just at present. and. coupling
this with the fast work of the other play
ers he is likely to drive his team close
to the Giants before the fight is finally
settled. Understand. I am not predicting
that the Giants viii lose, but 1 still
maintain that the race will not be pro-
cession. In another one of these articles
/ showed how the schedule broke sothat
the Giants are now up against string
of tough games to the middle OF Sep
TENDER mostly with the Western clubs.
Then there is hard series scheduled
with the Quakers, who have just slipped
behind the scenes and altered their make
I'D from that Of soft snap to the rigging
OF an outside pennant contender, although
they got a very late start in the latter
role.
All the Chicago pitchers are going well
with the exception of Lavender. He APP
pears to have fallen of the brilliant
form which he showed against US on our
last Western invasion McGraw, one OF
the keenest judges of a pitcher that ever
looked them over from the coaching
box. says that he is not star. MACY
seems to know intuitively. after watch-'
ing a man work through a game. wheth-
er he will be a sensational performer or
not Pittsburg has a young pitcher named
Warner a left handler. He went into a
game against the Giants after oTooie
had started IL and had been taken out
was on our last trip West The Pits
burg papers hailed him as coming
wonder.
The club which has been the sensa-
ton of the National League for the last
couple of weeks is the Philadelphia team
and, while 1t will not win the pennant'
4, NAV have a lot to do with deciding
who does. The Quakers have one OF
the best pitching stats In the league
now with the addition of Eppa Rixey.
the Young college star from the Uni
yersity of Virginia, who has pitched phe-
nomenal ball. They are playing oang-up
baseball at present and would be up
fighting with the leaders If they had
shown anything like this along about
the first of May.
Pittsburg has fallen OF. The team
seems to have played in hard luck all
season, losing many games by only one
run or So Clarke admits now that he
needs more speed. In the game which
we won from O'Toole in Pittsburg. the
Pirates made ten hits of Marquard tol
the four made by the Giants. but they
could not get anywhere on the transpor-
tation. A Pittsburg batter would hit the
ball a hard wallop to the outfield and
make only one base on It. whereas many
of the Giants would travel Two sacks
on the same kind Of hit
Cincinnati Is the most changed bah
club that I have ever seen In my iffe
When we first played the Reds this sea-
son they were leading the league and
sprinkling pepper all over the diamond, |
with Hank" O'Day smiling entirely over |
his face, andl his face not at all used TO |
it. But now they are in the second d. }
vision and still coasting. Hank looks
again. They say he has not
smiled for q month. The team is play |
ing Iistlessly and WIN have to brace up \
II It Is to keep at the top OF the second
division even.
The season has arrived at that stage
where there Is little TO say about the
three remaining and 80 far undiscussed
clubs, ST. Louis, Brooklyn, and Boston.
They are just in the league and that
is all The Cardinals are the most danger
Gus Of the trio. and are liable to show
a Hash any time. especially when they
are playing the Giants this week. 1t rs
a habit of theirs But take It straight
from me, the Cubs are still the old fight
ing machine, and they are dangerous.
Copyright lsiz, hy Mcclure NewFnp9 syndicats)
REFORMATION CHALLENGES.