Evening star., 1914-08-22
ENGEl W|[LFACE
THE TIGERS TODAY
Grhfith's Youthful TWirIer Like
iy to Be Pitted Against
CoveIeskie.
MCBRIDE LATEST PLAYER
TO ENTER CONTRACT FOLD
Johnson and Boehling Are Only
Players of Importance Not
Now in Line.
BY ]. ED GRILLO.

Joe Engel is slated to pitch the open
ing game of the series with Detroit to-
day. Though Walter johnson did not
have to exert himself In the four innings
he pitched yesterday, the fact that he
worked In the final inning the day be-
fcre eliminates him from consideration
for today.
Jennings undoubtedly will use Coveles-
kie. his pitching star. who on several oc-
casions this season has proven a STUN
bling block for the Nationals. Coveies-
kie won his game from the Athletics the
other day. indicating that he is In good
form and will be hard to beat.
The Tigers will appear here in double
header Monday. and it is more than like
" that johnson and Ayers will pitch
against them on that occasion.
Ty Cobb Is now in the Tigers lineup,
and while he is not going at his best, his
presence on the team always makes a
big difference in its playing.
George Mcbride yesterday signed one
year contract with the Washington club.
The new contract is said to call for q
material increase in salary. as have all OF
McBride's contracts in recent years. The
signing Of Mcbride puts the entire in
only one of the quartet who is signed to
a one-year contract, the other three be-
ing tied up with three-year agreements
Barring Walter Johnson and Joe
Boehling Manager Griffith has succeeded
in signing every valuable member of his
team for next season or longer. 1t is
only a question of time when he will
have another chat with johnson regard
ing his intentions. 1t is understood that
Grifiith's offer to Johnson early this sea-
son. when the Feds were after the great
pitcher In New York. was $4,000 a year
for five years and 1t is not likely that
Walter will turn this proposition down.
So far as Boehling is concerned it should
not be a hard matter to get him in line.
The Richmond boy has not had good
season and is not in a position to make
any exorbitant demands.
1t is doubtful If at any time this year
Walter johnson was able to display snch
excellent form as he did in the three and
two-fhirds innings he worked against the
Browns yesterday. johnson was abso-
lutely invincible and it Is a pity that the
game could not have been finished. for
there might have been a chance for him
to hang up a no-hit record
The Browns were retired in order in
every inning and four Of them struck out.
In the second and third innings he pitched
fourteen consecutive strikes and he did
his work SO easily that he seemed only
to be toying with his opponents.
In the first inning he retired Howard,
Shotten and Pratt on three balls hit at
him. The drives of Shotten and Pratt
were high bounders which with most any
one but johnson on the rubber might
have bounded over second base for base
hits. johnson having to do some tall
stretching to reach the ball. AS a fielder
johnson has no equal among the pitchers,
though at the outset of his career this
was his greatest weakness. But practice
of a persistent nature has developed
Johnson into a wonderful fielder Of his
position.
The Tigers will play off a postponed
game Monday. when a double header will
be staged. There are but two postponed
games on the Nationals home list; one
OF these Is with Detroit and the other
with the Athletics. There have been
very few games postponed on the local
grounds this season, and the games in
question are the result of tie scores.
There was not game played in the
American League yesterday, rain pre-
venting all Of them. And as these post
ponements all came on the last day of
the series, none of them will ever be
played off.
Mike Mitchell was none the worse for
the accident he met with on the day pre-
vious, when Layan's throw hit him in
the temple. Mike was in the line-up yes
terday and aside from a slight discolora-
tion of the temple there was no evidence
of the accident.