Evening star., 1914-04-18
b0EHL|NG IS MORE
EFFICIENT PITCHER
Nationals Star SouthpaW
Should Be of Greater Value
Than in 1913.
MCBRIDE PLAYS SPLENDID
BALL IN THE SH0RTFIELD
Accepts Many Chances Apparently
Going for Hits-In New
York Today.
BY j. ED GRILLO.

NEW YORK. April 1>-Atl DOUBTS as
to whether Joe Bochling would be as val
uable a pitcher to the team this year as
he was last We're eliminated by his per
formance yesterday. Ii his work against
the Red SoX can be taken as criterion
Eochling is Just about 1Oc per cent more
efficient twirlcr now than he was at any
time last season In yesterdays game
Eoehling gave every appearance of a fin
ished pitcher. He was cool. used
Sood judgment i'm working on the various
batters. and had almost perfect control
What is more. his motion is smoother
now than it used to he. He no longer
whirls his head as he used TO. and in
every respect has probably improved
more than any one CT last years twirlers.
Pitching such as he did yesterday is go
lag TO make it possible for him to run
Walter johnson a hard race for honors-
Incidentally. it is being proved that Grif-
fifth is in possession of a very high class
pitching staff. Every one Of the three
games that have been played against
Boston indicate this. johnson, Ayers and
Boehing showed like artists. and Griffith
believes that before the season is a month
old he viii have two o. three others do
nS almost as well.
ConcedinG that the Nationals. when at
their best. are not a strong hitting team.
they are sure TO do whole lot better
n this respect in due time. To date the
teams hitting has not been MP to its
standard. and this has been its only short
coming. In every other respect the nine
seems to be one of the best in the cir
cult and when it gets into its real bat
ting form il will not be long creating
the impression that it has a chance to
win the pennant. Its fielding has been J
of the highest order: its last two ap-
pearances have not been marred by any |
sort OF misplay. and. when the grounds ,
get dry and sprinting is possible. il will !,
also show great speed on the bases
George Mcbride played one of his won !
derful games at Shortfield yesterday. /
There were nine grounders hit into his !
territory. and several of them looked |
like base hits. while others were bound ,
ing so badly that If he had been un- /
able to handle them ne could not have |
been charged with an error. But Mcbride ,
finished through the hard day without /
anything that resembied an error. and to ;
this was due the shut-out. to certain |
extent at least. Even the final play of |
the day was beauty. Jauvrin. VINO had |
batted for Leonard. reached first on a !
pass and was sacrificed to second by
Hooper SO that E.ngle. a risht-hander. |
might face Boheling in final attempt !
TO score a run. He did nit the ball
hard but Mcbride got in front of it. |
and. though Janvrin tried to disconcert |
him by hurdling the ball while on his !
way to third. Mac picked il up cleanly t
and made a perfect throw to first, which |
ended the game.
Merito Aeosta had a new experience |
yesterday. He was banished from the |
field for making more noise than I'M +
pire Connoly thought was necessary. or
il may he that Connolly mistooll some /
OF the Cuban's Spanish for plain English. !
Leonard also pitched a good game of :
a winner nine times out of ten. but ii |
was his misfortune to be stac:i.d against |
5oehlng. one of the best Ieft-handers in ,
the league. Had the field been dry in |
gotten away SO easily. ard the chances /
are the Nationals would have scored five /
or SIN more runs. 1t was his good for !
tune to have his iniieiders gra5 OFF ap- |
parent base hits because of the soggy |
condition of thel ground. when on a dry (
field they would have gone through TO !
the oatiield. !
Morgan's double in the ninth. which !
paved the way for the run which won |
the game. would have been held to a !
single had not Speaker attempted to |
catch il on the fly. He started on a !
hard run forward but the ball struck in
front OF him. and then got through his !
legs. The outiield. however. was too |
soft To- allow the bali TO roll very far. SO
that Hooper managed to get it before
Morgan had turned second.
Walter johnson is slated to pitch the
game today against New York. Walter
has had three DAYS rest and should be az
his best. in which event another shutout
is most probable.
That Griffith has the right idea about
putting his players through strenuous
course of bunting practice just as soon
as they get back home @:as demonstrated
in Yesterdays game. when in the seventh
n aQrAsT HVf.tfH Id
Morgan attempted to move him UP to
second base. H., made two futile attempts
10 lay the bail Down. and finally struck
out. GandH however, made UP for Nor
Sahs failure by stealing second.
Despite the fact that Dan Moeller bat
ted Tight-handed against Leonard he nit
better Yesterday than he has for some
time. and came through with two singles
lie sas unable to get one of these when
the Eases were fun in the ninth. however
when he was famed.
AIoeller SCENE to be gradually getting
into his batting stride. and believes that
lie viii hit much better this year than he
did last
Scott. the Sox's new shortstop undoubt-
edly saved the game on Two or three oc-
casions by brilliant stops which prevent
ed hits with runners second or third
and yet his misplays were largely respon-
sible for the run the Nationals secured
in the ninth. With one out and Morgan
on second. Shanks hit a sharp grounder to
Scott. whose throw 10 first was wide and
S+~sj Skanks. HE followed this by pick
tno up Henry grounder and THROWN.
II home when there was no chance TO
make "a play there. the result being that
Morgan scored when more experienced
shortstop might have turned Henry's
grounder into d double play. He also
funbled McBride's grounder, for about
this time he was badly ratified.
Both teams reSorted to strategic meas
uTeS in effort to get run. but
neither was successful in this respect.
in the eighth inning. when Boehling was
walked with one out. Moeller deliberately
moved him up to second with Sacri-
fee. ar unusual play after one hand is
down. But IL WIS done because Foster.
better chance TO hit safely than Moeiier.
batting from the right side of the plate.
which he is not accustomed to. Foster
came through with Il hit, too. but
Boehling could not score because Yerkes
knocked il down with one hand
In the ninth inning Boston tried the
same trick. but also failed. Janvrin was
walked with one out. and Hooper, a
1eft-hander. sacrificed him to second
to bring him home but EngIe hit to Me-
Bride and ended the game.
Nick Altrock, who. by the way. has
done much to help develop Boehiing, was
enthusiastic over Boehlng's work yes
terday ard predicts that the Richmond
southpaw will be a sensation of even
greater magnitude this year than he was