Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-05-08

1
was Improving.
road than at home. and there is no
getting away from the fact that they
grounds than when on their own bat
tlefield.
Notwithstanding the fact that George
Mcbride may not figure well up in the
averages among the hitters, he gets his
share of timely hits and that. after all.
is what counts 1t is matter of record
that Mcbride, though he Is far down IN
the batting order. where he is more or less
handicapped. comes pretty near to MAX
ing as many productive hits as any MEM
Der of the team. He was in evidence
again yesterday, when his three-base hit
in the second inning brought home
Shanks with the second run the team
scored. He hit safely once after that
but after Cicotte got put out Of the game
he was famed twice by Lange. who, by
the way. appeared to be In unusually
good form. the Nationals failing to score
on him during the five innings that he
off1ciated on the slab.
If Frank Laporte starts to hit up to his
normal stride, as would be indicated by
his performance yesterday. it is going to
be a whole lot easier for the Nationals to
win their games. Yesterday he got a
triple the first time UP. and paved the
way for the two runs the Nationals got
in the second inning. and he started an
other inning. the sixth, with a clean wal
lOp for a base. While Laporte has made
| an occasional hit since he took Fosters
place, he has been off his normal stride.
| but he appears to be recovering his gait,
and. if he does, runs are going to be more
plentiful for the Nationals.
IF the weather is good and warm today
Cashion will probably make his debut Of
the season, though 1t is more likely that
Bob Groom will be sent to the slab, and
Groom. If he is right, stands good
chance of winning for it was apparent
yesterday that few of The Sox are fond
of curve ball pitching, and Hughes gave
them plenty of hooks. Griffith does not
propose to work Johnson until Friday or
Saturday. and the chances are that IL he
wins today tnat he won't work him until
Saturday, preferring to give his other
pitchers chance to improve themselves
by experience.
Cicotte has been decidedly successful
| for the Sox this spring. but he did not
| look good against the Nationals yeSter-
| day. They hit him fairly hard from the
outset. and. had he remained in the
game the chances are that the score
| would not have been as close as 1t was.
LANCE on the other hand. showed good
| form and was not scored on.
| The one pitcher that the Nationals
| have to fear here is Doc White. Not
| only is Doc showing a lot of stuff this
| spring. but even when he had nothing
| he was always troublesome for the Ma
! tionals. 1t is his slow ball which both
e.s Griffith's men. and the Old Fox pro-
| poses to offset this advantage by fur
! nishing his team a lot of long light viii
| tends that with these bats White will
| be easier, for it is hard to hit him with
a regulation bat, because he has so lit
| tie on the ball.
Mr.. Griffith did not make a. change in
/ his batting order leaving Ainsmith in
| third place, and Eddie again failed to
| show anything with the stick. going out
| on two easy infield plays and tanning
| twice. Griffith, however. believes that
Ainsmith is natural hitter and he does
not believe that his present batting
| slump gives a correct idea of his value
/ as hitter. and for that reason he pro-
poses to continue him in his present po-
| sitiOn in the batting order until the re-
| turn of Gandil or Foster, when there is
! apt to be change.
| With two out in the NINTH Hughes
walked Schalk and Zeider was sent in to
| run for him. The change proved good.
| for Zeider stole second. Hughes had two
strikes on Lange. when he apparently
swung at wide one, but Umpire Hide
brand called it a ball There was a kick
| from both Ainsmith and Hughes, but
Hughes finally took the ball and then
struck LANCE out.
| Howard Shanks is of the greatest value
/ to his team because Of his ability to back
up plays. No matter where a play may
up. and many games have been saved in
this way. Yesterday when Lord singled
| to right field and Moeller fumbled the
ball, making a throw to third base to
\ OrA aoI,t fhCf
| Shanks had come i'm from his position in
\ left field and was standing behind La
| porte, ready to get the Nban II 1t was
thrown wide. His position attracted. the
attention of the crowd and created lot
of comment.
| All the scoring in yesterdays game was
done in the first four innings. After that
both sides had chances. but neither could
| get the necessary hit or break.
| In the opener, after Hughes had
famed Rath, Lord got single to right
and reached second when Moeller FUN
a high throw to first and Williams. in
stead Of using both hands, tried to snag
the ball with his mitt, and it rolled to the
stand. Lord scoring.
| In the second the visitors took the
lead. After Williams had been retired.
! Laporte drove the ball down the right
! field foul line for three bases. Morgan
forced him at the plate. with tap to
1 ClCOtte, ana SnankS nit TO weaver, VINO
| threw far over Bortons head. and, of
course, Morgan scored. while Shanks
went to second. Mcbride came along at
this juncture with a clean triple to left
and Shanks scored.
| Another run came in the third and Alva
/ Williams proved the right man to psp-
duce 1t. Milan had been walked AFTER
Moeller was retired. and then, just to
keep in practice. Milan stole second. Will
liams came through with clean swat to
| right field for base and Milan cantered
home. That ended the scoring of the
| Nationals, but the Sox got their final
run in the fourth. when Hughes walked
| Mattick to start with. Schaller hit safe
| ly, and Weaver moved both men up with
a sacrifice. Schalk struck out. and, when
Ainsmith tried to catch Schaller mapping
of second. his throw was low, and. be-
fore the ball could be recovered Mattick
scored. Hughes. however, took care of
Easterly. a pinch hitter. who grounded to
! Morgan.
! After that Hughes had men on the
bases in every inning except one. but he
was always master Of the situation
/ LANCE too. was effective, and, like
Hughes. had but one inning that he was
not in danger.
! The score:
| WASHINGTON. Alb. r. H. 20. A. E..
Moeller, IF. o 1