Evening star., 1915-05-21
BYJ. ED GRII4LO.


effect tho piling up Of lot of post
poned games will have on the Ma
uonals' chances this season. when these
Idle days are made UP for by the play
ing Of double-heAders, will prove in
terestfng later in the campaign.
As matters now stand the Griffmen
have two postponed games in Boston.
two in St. Louis, and unless there Is q
change in the weather here today they
also will have two with the Indians.
This means the playing of six double
headers and the exhausting of most any
pitching star. But Griffith hopes to be
better supplied with twirlers than his
rivals. in which event the doub1e-head-
ers may prove of beneft and do much
to raise the Nationals standing in the
race.
But there Is little II any chance of
the Griffmen showing the improved
form that is hoped for If these idle
days continue. To date the weather
has had as much to do with the team S
slump as anything else.
Barring about two or three days,
| when real summer weather prevailed,
the Nationals have been forced to play
in weather resembling that of the win
ter months, and naturally the players
have not shown their real FORM
1t will not be at all surprising II
some of the pitchers who have not yet
had a chance to make their appearance
| on the rubber this spring will not be
given a chance to do so until tne
double header season rolls around. As
matters now stand. 1t keeps Griffith
| busy trying to keep his four regulars
in form. He is pitching Johnson. Boeh-
ling, Gallia and Shaw. and 1t Is no easy
matter to keep them on edge Wnen
rainy days interfere. For this reason
Hopper. Engel. Ayers and Bentley do
| not get chance to break into the line
up. for there is not enough work on
| hand to keep the regular twirlers busy.
Morton, the young Cleveland pitcher
who has shown such remarkable form
this year. believes he Is entitled to
match game with Waiter Johnson.
When the Nationals reached here yes
| terday morning they were greeted by
challenge from Morton to Walter y ohm
| son. Seeing chance to have sucn
game draw more than an ordinary
crowd. an effort is being made to ar,
| range the meeting of this pair OF speed
| artists for next Saturday.
Despite the fact that the local team
| has made a fairly good showing this
| spring it Is not drawing the crowds
it needs to make both ends meet. For
some unaccountable reason the fans
| here are not impressed with the pres
ent management of the team. They
do not take kindly to Birmingham. and
| the team would have to do lot of
winning before any interest could be
aroused
| For more than two hours yesterday
afternoon the members of the Washing
ton team were put through a course
| Of real strenuous practice, and not un-
til it began to rain did they wend thei-
the work was beneficial. There was
batting and fielding practice and all
the pitchers took a long workout both
at pitching and fielding bunts.
1 Walter Johnson, for instance, pitched
fully half an hour to the batters and
then fielded bunts for another half
hour. He was thoroughly drenched
with perspration when he finished his
exercise and undoubtedly was bene-
| flied thereby.
Jim Shaw and Joe Boehling did SINH
lar stunts. and, in fact. there was not
| a player in the squad who was not
| tired out when the end came
| The practice was marked by an ac-
cident to Jack Bentley. who sprained
his ankle severely while working at
structions to don a mitt and cover the
bag, being anxious to develop him into
a first baseman. Bentley. however.
made misstep in touching the bag
house because he could not put his
weight on his injured ankle. Trainer
Martin has him in charge and he thinks
! that Bentley will be able to go back
/ to work in two or three days.
| One thing that this season is bring
| ing about is the development of
! successor for George Mcbride. Doug
| las Neff Is a wonderfully improved ball
player since he has been getting plen-
| ty of work before every game. He is
| giving whirlwind exhibitions at short
| field and is the talk of the Nationals
camp. Griffith also gives him a chance
| to indulge in hitting practice every
| day and Nen now is ready to All a
position on the infeld any time he is
| called upon.
| Manager Grifith and Owner Charles
/ Somers were in conference late yes
| terday afternoon. and it is not unlikely
| that some sort of deal will develop.
| Somers is anxious to get some new
/ faces on his team and Griffith is not
| adverse TO a similar policy for the Ma
| tionals. But il is not going to be an
| easy matter TO frame up such a trans
action, for the very good reason that
| neither feels that he can spare the
players wanted by the other 1t is
| known that Grifith last season tried
| to persuade Somers to make a trade
| which would give the Nationals Terry
! Turner. whom Griffith considers the
best utility man in either league. But
this fell through. for Somers realized
| that his team could not spare tho bril-
| liant veteran.
!. 1t is Grlfith's intention TO pitch Jim
Shaw against the Indians today and