Evening star., 1912-08-29
BY J. ED GRILLO.

landerS. EnSei mas not sldi teu san
in weeks. and his last appearance was III
Chicago. when he finished a game ror
johnson i'm which the score was very iop-'
sided. 1t is most likely that Engel VIII
he opposed by Ford. the star twirier OF
the visitors. Manager Wolverton mas
made several changes in his lineup lie
has Mcmillan playing short and leading
off. while Paddock. a newcomer, plays
third. with Simmons at second.
Jack I.elivelt, once a MEMBER OF 'le
Nationals. has been placed in center neld'
and in the few games he has played mas
hit like fiend.
The game will be called at $50
With virtually all hope of beating out
Boston gone glimmering. the Nationals
will have to get a hustle on themselves
II they expect to finish in front OF the
athletics. The teams playing of late has
been anything but encouraging. The MT
ting has been weak. and the teams gen
eral playing has been somewhat listless
compared to what 1t was earlier in the
season.
There is lack of aggressiveness on
Grifiths team just now. Some OF his
PLAYERS appear to have gone stale and
OF what is known as pepper" before the
team can expect to make any sort OF a
showing again.
Because there is now no chance 10 WIN
the pennant the players need not be dis
couraged. To finish second is wonder
full achievement and it can be accom-
plished if every man under Griffith will
hustle from this out For some unac-
countable reason the Nationals have play
ed their best ball away from home this
season With very few exceptions the
team has never looked as strong on its
own grounds it did on the road ana
this has proven a great handicap to It's
pennant aspire tons.
Poor pIayin~ was responsible for the
three victories which the Browns took
here. and unless there is Improvement IN
tire playing the Highlanders may repeat
the dose. which would mean that Wash
ington VIII drop into third place to stay
there. But brace at this time would
work wonders. Philadelphia, like Wash
in2ton. is out of the pennant race. The
flag is sure to go TO Boston. and team
which has had a taste OF world series is
not apt to hustle it's hardest once 1t real
izes that ii is out of the running 1t
matters little to the Athletics whether
they finish second or third If they cannot
be tirst. but with Washington it should
he different. for the higher the Nationals
can finish the greater will be the reversal
of form the team has displayed this sea-
son.
There was no chance to get any sort OF
a line on Bill kenworthy, who played left
field in place of Shanks yesterday He
had but one chance in the field and got
appears to be fairly fast runner. but it
will take several games TO show just
how well he fits into left field.
Those Browns look like champions
when they are playing the Nationals. No
team has played better ball against the
locals or had more good breaks than the
tailenders and yesterday was not an eX-
ception to the rule When pitcher al
lows but four hits and strikes out twelve
men he ought to win his game, but
Johnson lost his because of his own
wildness and some miscues by his bat
terry partner. Ainsmith. Whenever Wal
ter Is wild it is next to impossible for any
man to catch him successfully. When
his fast ball sails to either side 1t is very
apt TO get away from the catcher. who
must be directly in front of that terrific
speed to handle the bali. This was the
trouble with Ainsmith yesterday.
Neither team was entitled to any runs,
sll being nothing more than gifts. The
work of the Browns outfield was the
worst seen here this season and was re-
Sponsible for both the runs scored off
Powell while battery errors and passes
helped the Browns to their three talles.
one would not suspect that this is
Bobby Wallace's eighteenth wear in the
major leagues. There is no better short
stop in the game today than the veteran,
and nc does not show the slightest indi-
cation of going back. He still covers a
lot of ground and his arm shows no signs
Of Weakening. To his brilliant work
much of the credit for the three games
the Browns won here is due. Wallace is
now the oldest infieldcr i'm either ma jor
league in point of service. and it seems
that lie still has many years Of base ball
before him.
Jack Powell has been pitching eighteen
wears i'll the majors. and is just good
now as he ever was, though il Is quite a
strain for him TO have to run or move
about in the infield. Powell always looks
easy 10 hit. but he has perfect control
and knows how to use the stuff he has.
In one respect the Nationals have failed
TO take advantage of conditions which
presented themselves of late. Not one OF
the pitchers used against them by the
Browns can field his position, vet not
once during the four games was an effort
made To bunt on these pitchers Allison,
Hamilton and Baumgardner are all weak
when ii comes to fielding their positions
and this is one way of heating any one
of them. The Athletics. for instance,
ing game. and il was surprising that the
loeals did not try 10 lay the ball down
during the series. There has been a lack
Of bunting by the Nationals all season
Fast men like Moeller and Milan should
mix their play more, so as to disconcer,
tho opposing infields. 1t would increase
their chances for getting hits through sc
per cent.
If Pete Compton can keep up the
hitting pace he set during the series
here he will have no trouble making
il interesting for Cobb as a leader o1
the hitters in the league. In the -four
games Compton got eight hits though
he failed to get any off of Groom In
the first game OF the series. To dat.
Compton is hitting only about ESQ
but ne seems TO have found the loca
pitchers very much to his liking ant
greatly helped his average.
The Nationals were first to score IL
the second inning Compton muffee
kenworthy bunted safely, and afte
Mcbride had flied out, Ainsmith hit ;
grounder TO Wallace. which allowed
Morgan 10 score.
In the third the Browns took tn
lead. After Wallace had flied out
Johnson walked Krichell He then hi
Powell and walked Shotten, filing tn,
bases. Compton singled to right, scor
ing krichell, but Powell was held oil
third. passed ball allowed him L
score.
In the last half of this inning th
locals tied the score. Moeller reached
second when his little fly behind sec
ond was allowed to fall safe Foster
out put him on third, and he scores