Evening star., 1915-03-14

Harper, who held them to one safe
blow in five innings.
present pace with the bat he is sure
| to wind up with very creditabie
average next October. The Nationals
captain, who has been practicing right
field hitting, the knack of which ne
seems to have acquired, has made
eight hits in the six games played this
week, and three of them have been
extra-base drives. What difference
| 1t would make in the teams offensive
strength if Mcbride should hit around
| the $50 mark the coming season.
| Massey. like Rondeau. is having
trouble with charley horse and is not
| in shape to do himself justice. He
| had to play in the afternoon game to-
day, however, because Howard Shan@<s
was given permission to get an early
start for Washington, where he Will
spend Sunday with Mrs. Shanks.
! This Virginia team is apt to cut
some figure during the regular college
season this spring. 1t has strong lot
| of throwers and fair hitters, and
good infeld in all but third base, where
Capt. White, an outfielder. is trying. to
| fill in. He may improve with practice.
but Virginia is not as well fortified at
third base as in its other positions.
Dan Moeller evidently is out to set
a base-stealing record this season; he
| is burning the paths. To date he has
pi1fered six, three of which came yes
terday. and Dan is not near fast
as he will be later on when his legs
grow stronger
| Walter Johnson pitched to the bat
ters for ten minutes this afternoon.
after putting in about half an hour
| fielding bunts at top speed. Walter is
| working hard these days. trying to get
himself into first-class condition. He
figures he will be ready to pitch at
his best in about ten days. He pro-
poses, however, to go slow in round
ing himself into form, for he blames
his method of training too fast last
| season as the cause of losing SO many
| games. Walter can already display a
| lot of speed, but he is holding back
| and doing little more than tossing the
ball, because he wants to acquire his
| condition gradually. Walter, by the
| way, is taking on weight. as he usu-
| ally does when his working days be-
gin.
There will be no practice Sunday.
| Manager Griffith figures that after six
days of strenuous work the players
| will be benefited by days rest, and
will be i'll better form Monday morning
| than they have been any time since
| they started to work here. Last year
permission for Sunday workout. was
obtained from the university authori-
| ties because at that time the Nationals
! were far back in their training, and
Griffith could not afford to let a good,
| clear day go by without getting his
been different and the regulars have not
| missed a day since they have been
| here, hence the observing of the Sab
| bath tomorrow.
Little Acosta's third base playing in
| the morning game was nothing short
| of marvellous. The little fellow had
| lot of chances, and he handled them
all perfectly. though some of them
We're most difficult. The ability of the
little Cuban is one of the astonishing
developments of the training camp.
| lie is hitting well and seems able to
| accomplish any task that is put up
| to him. 1t is hard to see how Griffith
| can keep him out of the regular line
up If he keeps up the present pace
| Acosta has now been with the team
| three years, and in that time has de-
! veloped remarkably. He seems to be
| Mayor Tom Fisher of Alexandria was
! a visitor at the Nationals camp today
| and witnessed the game in the after
noon Mayor Fisher is an ardent Ma
| tional fan and he was very much i'm
l
| Griffmen did.
| Manager Griffith suffered a slight
| bruise on the side of his right eye as
| the result of being hit during practice
by a ball which bounded after Acosta
| threw it across the diamond. There is
| quite lump on the spot where the
ball hit, but it is nothing serious.
| The reason for Doc Ayers slump last
| fan. when he failed to make anything
like a good showing IN any OF the
luted by him to the fact that for some
lunaccountable reason he gained a lot
of flesh and when the season ended
weighed 224 pounds. which made it
Impossible for him to get the stun on
the ball required to make him effec-