Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-10-06
LUDERUS SAYS
ALEX CAN WIN
ALL HIS GAMES
Philly Leader Believes
Grover Is in Best Condi-
tion of His Career.
BosToNs PITCHERS S
By FRED LUDERUs
Captain and First Baseman Of the Champion
PhilliesO


pench must have players upon whom he
can rely to carry out his plans and this
burden must be largely borne by the
pitchers In series, such ms the one
IN which we are about TO engage the Red
Sox, It Is essential that club have at
least two winning hurlers, or they can
not hope to come through victorious.
Our club is very fortunate in having a
man who Is capable of pitching three
games In tho short space of six days
This man, needless to say. is Grover
alexander. As the series now begin on
Friday, Alex could not only go i'm and
pitch the opening day. Monday and We'd
nesday but he could be at his best in
every one of the three games. Having
reached this conclusion about Alex, and
TINS opinion, by the way, is shared by
every man on our club, including Pat
Moran, 1t is not difficult to go further
and say that IL we can select one other
winning pitcher we will cop the cham
pionship. 1 say tbs will happen, but of
course, mean that II will be the case
IN the event the team plays the game
which It has been playing and which
think 1t is capable of playing against the
American League champions. 1 know that
even with Alex in there and one of the
Hed Sox pitchers going well, we might
possibly lose by booting away the game,
but 1t is not likely to happen.
ALEX IN TIP-TOP FORM
AT no time in his career has Alexander
been In as good condition to go into a
WORLDS series as he is today, and as all of
our fellows know that, the confidence of
the Phillies can readily be understood. I
think that the reason for Alexis great
condition today is the way he has been
handled all year by Moran. When you
look over the figures for the season II
might IN
has been overworked, but he hasn't,
though he is credited with 81 victories
and 10 defeats. In the first place, he is
big, strong pitcher. who does his best
when he gets a lot of work. When Alex
lays Off too long he seems to get a little
out of the run of things and he must
pitch to get back in the best form. That
is the reason we had him cut on the field
yesterday afternoon pitching. He and
Chalmers both had a good workout, which
1 think is ESSENTIAL to both of them to be
in their best form in the worlds series.
AS say, Alex seems to have worked a
lot this year, but as a matter of fact he
hasn't done nearly as much this season
as he was compelled to do in the. past.
The average fan does not realize that
many pitchers throw away a great career
in the bull PEN" Only five times this
year has Alex been sent to the pen to
there every day, which means that he has
really given his arm the work that he
would have given It in pitching almost
twice the number of games in which he
was actually used. Furthermore, Alex
has been used very little this season in re-
lief work. One of the reasons for this is
that our pitchers have been handled so
we'll that they were able TO go through the
majority OF their games without being
relieved.
PITCHERS GET FAIR CHANCE.
Pat Moran is not a manager who be-
lieves in yanlxing a pitcher from the box
as soon as he gives base on balls or
yields a base hit. On the other hand
he keeps them in a long time, sometimes
longer than most people would think
proper. But he has proven that he knows
each Individual pitcher on his club and
knows just when to take him out II he
has to remove him at all. over in Brook
lyn the other day, when George Chal-
mers seemed to be going badly at times,
was sure that Pat would take him out In
fact, several times i saw him get up
from the bench, which / knew meant
that he was going to call on relief
pitcher, but each time he seemed to con-
slider the question again and sat down.
The result was that Chalmers did come
through in good shape, we won the game
and put Brooklyn out of the race for the
pennant that same afternoon.
When we begin the worlds series our
pitchers will be worked Just the same.
There will be no pitchr in the bull-pen
from the time the game begins until 1t
is finished. Only when the man in the
box shows signs of weakening will any
one be sent to warm up, and he will not
he nut in unless there Is very good evil
dence that he is not able to get back
into his pitching stride.
AFTER TUESDAY-wHO?
To get back to Alex, he will be in there
Monday again, for he will have had both
Saturday and Sunday in which to get his
rest. What will happen after Tuesdays
game is another problem, provided. of
course, that the series is not ended in
four games, and 1 don't believe there is
a chance for that to happen. Should the
series be tied up then, or If the Red Sox
should have three games to our one, am
sure that Alex would be back in there
wednesday with only ones days rest. He
says himself that he can do that, and
think that he can and get away with IL
in good style. And / am sure. further
more, that Alex win win every game in
which he starts He may not know as
much about the Red Sox batters as he
does OF some of the hitters in our own
league. but he is one Of the quickest men
in baseball to learn what to pitch and
what not to pitch 10 a given batter. I'll
bet that he can tell right now what he
is going to throw up there to Gardner,
Hoblitzel, Speaker. Lewis OF any OF the
other players on the Red Sox club. Then
Alexander has so much stun that even II
he makes a miscalculation on the kind
of ball he should use against a batter,
he is more than likely TO make his op-
ponents become an easy victim on a fiy
or a ground ball. He has his curve look
ing almost like fast ball now. II breaks
just as the average pitchers fast one does
and actually seems TO gain speed after
the break.
CHALMERS IS A WONDER.
George Chalmers. who is likely To ba
seen In one OF the games, Is In hne trim
right now When his curve is working
right. he has a wonder. Then ne uses
the spitball and has a fadaway which
he throws with telling effect, because he
knows when TO use them. Another thing
about Chalmers Is that he Is going al
his best when he Is In the hole. / don't
mean by that that he let's up Just be-
cause his club happens to make a couple
OF runs for him, but when he gets men
on the bases. whether II is through hit
ting or through misplays, he comes back
stronger tnan ever and pitches the best
ball that Is In him. That Is the kind OF
a pitcher that wins. ana Chalmers has