Evening star., 1916-05-21

even though he pitched airtight ball:
This spring. however in the two full
games he has pitched his teammates
have furnished him an abundance OF
tallies In his first game against De
troit they scored nine runs in the nrst
inning and fifteen in eight innings. IN
which he allowed the same amount OF
runs as Yesterday; assterday 1s epasl nere .ne
formance against Detroit by scoring
thirteen runs for Galla.
It is to be hoped that some OF these
runs will be kept for later games
will not be asked to hold the other
teams down to a single run only to
be beaten.
John Henrys injured thumb seems
to have entirely recovered. He was
able to grip his bat properly yester-
day. getting a hit i'll four trips to the
plate and walking twice. Only one of
Speaker, who singled in the third after
two men were out He attempted to
steal second, but John got the ball
down to Mcbride before Speaker was
within two yards of the bag
When John Henry is in form he is
about everything that one could ex-
pect of a catcher.
Henri Rondeau gradually is getting
into his batting stride. In the last
eight games the Frenchman has not
failed to get one or more hits per game.
Those who are familiar with Ron
deaus career insist that he does not do
his best hitting until late in June or the
first of July. Last year he did not get
a start until the end of June and then
he hit over the 400 mark during the
remainder of the season.
If Rondeau comes up to expectations
this year, he will do whole lot TO help
win games for the Nationals. for when
he is in his best form he not only hits
consistently. but he makes lot of eX-
ira base drives, frequently when there
are men on the bases.
There is no getting away from the
fact that Griffith made en-strike
when he gave Ray Morgan another
chance. That is taking for granted
that Morgan continues to give his busi-
ness the attention he has to date.
Morgan is playing beautifully in the
field is fast on his feet and is begin
ming to hit in his best form. having
gone through the last nine games with
out missing getting hit or more a
day Yesterday he got single and
triple and a base on balls and on an
other occasion reached first on one of
WambSglnns' fumbles.
1t would not be at all surprising to
see Morgan hit around the 800 mark
this season. He now is near that mark
and he is sure to go along at good
fore he is taking care of himself and
attending strictly to business.
Howard Shanks still is leading the
team in hitting. Barring one day
when he walked twice, he has hit in
every game in the last ten. and in five
of them he has made two hits. This
is an excellent showing, and if he can
continue this pace during the rest of
the season. and there is no reason for
expecting him to slump. he will be one
of the most valuable outfielderS in the
league.
Shanks has no equal among the left
felders. He is a remarkable fielder
and thrower and what he has hereto
fore lacked in the matter of batting
seems to have come to him at last and
he now is going along at terrific pace
and is showing the confidence which
he formerly did not display.
When klepfer was at the bat in the
fifth inning and made an effort to bunt
and Umpire Chill called a ball. the
crowd. realizing that the attempt to
bunt palpable. roasted Chill. and
when O'Loughlin. who stood in the CEN
ter of the diamond. was appealed to,
he reversed Chill and called the ball a
strike. President Minor was sitting
with President Ban johnson when the
incident occurred. Minor was emphatic
in voicing the opinion that Chill erred
klepfer had made a genuine attempt
to bunt
But President Johnson, who. of
course upholds his umpires on all oc-
casions, stoutly maintained that he did
not think that klepfer had attempted
10 hunt. I<lepfer then made another
attempt to bunt. Chill this time called
a strike. whereupon Minor remarked
that Klepfer had done exactly the
same thing before. Johnson earn
estly reitera ted that such was not the
case ON the next ball pitched klepfer
swung and Chill waved him out. This
was the first intimation that either
Minor or johnson had that the de-
cision had been reversed and all the
occupants of the box had a laugh at
Johnsons expense.
The Nationals will have the distinc-
tion of playing in both national con-
vention cities during the coming
conventions. They open in Chica-
go June 10. three days after the
convention starts, and it is estimated