Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-05-07
WESTERN TEAMS
MAY Be Stronger
Athletics and Nationals Apt to
Find Harder Shedding With
Them Than in East.
PITCHERS SEEM TO
BE GOING BETTER
Only Two or Three Eastern
HurIers Doing Well, While
WesternerS Are Good.
BY j. ED GRILLO.
Special Dispatch to The Star.

Special Dispatch I" The Star.
| CHICAGO, May THAT the two strong
eastern teams. the Nationals and Ath-
letics. will have harder shedding in the
| west than they have encountered in the
east is the general impression in this
section. This is based on the belief that
the pitchers of the western teams are
in better form than those of the east.
and that their work will stand over that
| of their rivals. 1t is pointed out that
| barring Johnson, Plank. Heating and
| perhaps one other pitcher, none OF the
| eastern teams seems to have its twilres
| in form, while. on the other hand, every
| team in the west has two three
| twirlers who are showing their best form.
| There are, for instance, Vean Gregg,
| Cy Falkenberg. Fred Blanding. Cleve-
land: Tex. Russell. Doc White. Carl
Weilman. Dwight Stone and Baumgard-
ner. all of whom are going we'll and
figure TO win majority of their games.
while both Dubuc and Mullin of Detroit
are pitching high-grade ball.
/ Because of this supposed difference in
] the pitchers both the Athletics and Ma
tionals are. expected to drop considerable
of the lead they have gained though. OF
| course, this remains to be seen. The
fact that the two eastern teams appear
| 10 be stronger than any of their western
| rivals also must be taken into consldera-
| ton. and pitching against them may not
| be easy a matter is expected.
| There is, nevertheless. considerable
| curiosity to the outcome of the first
| conflict between the east and the west
| The present invasion should give fairly
good line on the relative strength of
| the eastern and western contenders
| 1t is more than likely that Carl Cashion
will make his debut of the season here
| today. Cashion has been showing such
good form in practice that Griffith thinks
| he is ready to hold up his end. If Cash
| ion is not worked Tom Hughes will be
called upon. and. at any rate, he will be
held in reserve Bob Groom is picked for
Thursdays game and Johnson for either
/ Friday Saturday. while Joe Engel is
sure to have another chance here.
Walter Johnson is on a fair way to
beat Jack Coombs' record of pitching
/ consecutive innings without allowing OPP
| posed teams to score. That honor is
now held by the Athletics star. who
| worked in fifty-two consecutive innings
without being scored on. Johnson has
pitched forty-three and twO-thirds in
nings, in none of which the opposing
team scored. and there is chance for
him to pass Coombs' mark when he works
against the White Sox.
When Griffith ordered Johnson to warm
up Monday at Boston after the Nationals
had tied the score the crowd went into
an uproar. cheering and applauding.
| Though the coming into the game Of
Johnson made the Red SOX chances for
victory look rather slim the fans were
! so pleased at the chance of seeing john
son pitch that they actually went into
ecstasy. In every city the Nationals
visit Johnson is the center of attraction.
| His mere walking across the field the
days when he is not pitching brings forth
ripples of applause. and whenever he is
announced as working he is given an ova-
| ton.
| Schaefer has the world beat for calling
the turn. a fact which the fans in other
cities have learned to their sorrow. In
Boston Monday. after Morgan had been
given a life on an error. Schaefer an
/ nounced to the stands that If Shanks
/ would follow with a hit he would bat for
the pitcher and hit safely and that the
game would then be won. 1t happened
just so. too. for Shanks hit safely and
after Mcbride had been retired Schaefer.
batting for Engel, filled the bases with a
base hit TO left. and then came Moellers
terrific liner. which cleared the bases.
While il is. of course. true that the Red
Sox We're badly crippled during the Ma
! tionals' stay there. having both Wagner
and Lewis out. not to speak of Stahl.
it is nevertheless fact that the Nationals
We're also badly weakened because of
the injuries TO Gandil and the illness of
Foster. There are not two more valuable
men on the team than this pair. and it
is needless to say that both were badly
missed in the Boston series.
| If Ray keeps up the pace he has set
on the present trip he will undoubtedly
be the find of the season.
! Morgan is not only hitting harder than
any of his teammates. but he is fielding
his position TO perfection, his only fault
being an occasional blunder resulting
from inexperience. Morgan did more than
his share to beat the Red SOx, his eight
hits in twelve trips to the plate being re-
Isponsible for many of the Nationals
runs.
The chances are that Gandil will break
into the games here In Chicago. His
bruised big toe is mending very rapidly
lnow. and he will play just as soon as he
can move about While Alva Williams
comes pretty near to holding up Gandil >
end so far as hitting is concerned. he is
not near the fielder nor does he possess
the first baseman's speed.
The Athletics owe their present lead en-
tirely to their success against the Yam
KEGS and Red Sox. and IL is questionable
whether the game Mack's men have put
up win be good enough to make much of
an impression in the west. Plank seems
| to be Mack's only reliable pitcher Ben
der Is inconsistent. while the corps OF
young twirlers are not steady perform
| ers. Cleveland is the team in the west
| which promises To be the most trouble
} some Birmingham not only has a strong
; hitting team but his pitchers are work
! ing in good form and he has been win
ming consistently all spring from the
other western clubs. Whether the Maps
will be able to keep up this gait against
the eastern teams remains to be seen.
though il is not likely that Boston will be
Very troublesome in its present condition.
Henriksep has a remarkable record
against Walter Johnson. In the last two
games that Walter finished at Boston
: the little Swede faced him three times
and he got a clean base hit on every &C.
casion. and, strangely enough. he made
these hits on the first ball pitched
But while Henriksen appears to be a
good hitter, he is not nearly so good a
fielder as Duffy Lewis. while his throw
ing is lamentably weak. so that his
: presence in the lineup does not help the
Sox much.
Ii would assure the Nationals of a
splendid chance to remain contenders II
the flag race. even though they did no,
succeed in finishing at the top, IL Car
! Cashion should show the improvement
that has Joe Engel With these two
l youngsters In form Griffith would have q
pitching staff which would compare IA
Q vorahly with any in the leagle, for ht
would then have at least four twirlers