Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-06-15
AFFORD JOHNSON
NO OFFENSIVE AID
Griffmen Appear Unable to Get
Runs for Him and Do Not
Bat Well.
NATIONALS PLAY POOREST
AGAINST WEAKER CLUBS
Failure to Take Advantage of
Lowly Opponents Hurting Teams
Chances for Pennant.
BY ]. ED GRILLO.

CLEVELAND Ohio, June 15.-Whether
ii is because of overconfidence or a mere
coincidence. it is a fact nevertheless that
the Nationals seldom do any hitting when
Walter johnson is pitching for them In
the last two games that Walter has been
on the rubber his teammates have failed
to get a single run. Whether the players
go into these games confident that victory
will come to them without their putting
forth their best efforts or whether it is
Just one of the freak breaks OF the game
to leave Walter runless is hard to say.
but facts are facts. In no less than six
games this spring have the Nationals
gone scoreless on days when Johnson has
ofhciated. and. of coure. he never had a
chance to win these games.
But for all that. Walte~ is not pitching
UP to his usual form. He seemed to have
a lot of stuff yesterday, but the time
when he could groove the ball and get
away with it seems to have passed, for
nowadays the opposing hitters crack out
hits whenever he attempts to do this.
Johnsons principal trouble appears to be
that he Is too true. The batterS get a
toe hold when facing him and do not have
the least fear of being hit If he were a
trif1e wilder, and made standing at the
plate more dangerous task. things might
break better for him. Unless there is a
vast improvement i'm Walters pitching
there is no reason for counting on vic
tories in games he works. Not only does
the team fail to hit behind him. but it
appears to be no task for his opponents
to get all the runs they need
Griffith has decided to use Joe Boehl-
ing in the second game of the series to-
day. Though it is Jim Shaws turn. Griff
figures that Boehling stands better
chance of bringing home the bacon,
hence he has selected him.
poorer ball the Nationals seem to play.
Put them up against real rival and the
Griffmen Seem to hustle and look more
Impressive than when they are opposed
by team which has no chance to beat
them. The Nap outfit is not only in a
crippled condition. having many of its
best players out of the game, but the
team is playing poorly. yet it outclassed
the Nationals yesterday. Griffith has
been trying to drill the fact into his
players all season that they must feast
on the weak teams if they are to stand
any chance of finishing up in the race,
but these talks do not seem to have
brought about the desired effect. for the
team continues to play poorly whenever
it figures on having cinch.
Walter Johnson is as much at loss
to explain the hitting of opposing teams
against him as are his teammates, but
the fact remains that he is nowhere
near the effective pitcher now that he
used to be. His fast ball is no longer
puzzling. and the batters seem able to
pick it out and hit it hard. Most of the
six hits made off him yesterday were
hard-hit line drives to the outfleld, and
vet it was noticeable that whenever he
kept the ball out of the groove that he
scored more or less strikeouts. In the
sixth inning. for instance. he made no
apparent effort to get thte ball over the
center of the plate, and vet he famed
Johnston. Olsen and Hartford in rapid
succession.
Bowman did not look impressive, not
withstanding that he shut out the Ma
tionals. He seems to be another Rankin
Johnson, far as having the Indian
sign on 1.-THE Griffmen. for while there
We're a lot of balls hit hard. most of
these were right at some waiting fielder
and We're recorded as outs. The most
serious mistake the Nationals made
against Bowman was to hit at too many
bad balls. Time and time again he had
himself in the hole a batter. only to
be helped out of it by having them hit
with three balls and one strike on them,
and most of the time when the ball was
not over. Because Of this practice Bow
man is charged with but one pass, though
with few exceptions he was in the hole
on nearly every man who faced him.
There is a least one other pitcher on
the Maps staff who is going to make it
hard for the Griffmen during the series
here. He is Steen. who. few days
ago. scored shut-out over the Ath-
letics. The chances are that he will
70 ed against Roeblinp TODAY
Remembering Johnson's prowess
against his team. Manager Birmingham
decided not to waste one of his regular
pitchers yesterday, so he put in Bow
man. but it is questionable whether any
Of his star twirlers could have gotten
away better than did this youngster.
Manager Carrigan of the Red Sox
worked a similar scheme with Rankin
Johnson. and yet that youth has two
1-to-0 victories over the great Walter.
1t seems to be a good scheme to admit
defeat when Johnson is pitching, and
All the Nationals hitting was done
by Moeller, Gandil and Morgan and the
latter two were robbed of clean hits
bats In the seventh inning Gandil. the
first man up, sent sharp drive toward
right field. AS Wood was playing far
over toward center at the time it
Johnston leaped in the air. stretched
his gloved hand into space and came
down with the ball.
Morgan hit a terrific liner to center
in the ninth. 1t was a low hit, and
looked for all the world like a base
knock. but Leibold. by a remarkable
run, caught the ball off his shoe tops
and ended the game.
Howard Shanks left Immediately after
yesterdays game for Monaco Pa, his
home He will return here at noon to-