New Britain herald., 1918-05-20
,I0HNSON'S CIRCUIT
 IS WELL BALANCED
Very Close Pennant Race Is
 Looked for This Season

will be fought this season. Baseball critics do not recall a field which ap- peared as evenly balanced as the eight teams composing the American league in 1918. The war really has turned blessing in disguise to the junior circuit.
 The Boston Red Sox have been strong enough to lead the league, with the exception of Two days. all spring. If big Ernie Shore were added to Barrow's crack pitching staff, Duffy Lewis in left field and Barry, McNally, Janvrin and Gainor available for the infield, Boston today would be a few miles ahead of any of it's competitors.
 The loss of Joe Jackson will be a big loss to the White Sox, and will weaken 1t sufficiently to keep it from getting away to any kind of a lead. Manager Rowland has had a. lot of tough luck this spring, as Eddie Col lins, Felsch, Gandil and Weaver have been absent from his lineup for long spells. Cicotte hasn't won game yet, but in his last contest he was defeated 1 to 0, in Washington. That would indicate that he again is get ting into form.
 White Sox-Y an8ees Series.
 The series between the Yankees and White Sox. which opens today, should prove very interesting, inas- much as it will be the first visit of the White Sox to the Polo Grounds since winning the worlds champion ship from the Giants last fall.
 The Yankees continue to go pretty of games played with the Tigers and differently the Yankees might have made a clean sweep of the Brown game.
 Thormahlen pitched a beautiful game against St. Louis. as did Rus sell, both pitchers holding down Jones' men to four hits. AS Thor mahlen has not been scored on for eighteen successive innings he seems to deserve more regular work. Cald- wells work continues disappointing. though his arm is better now than it was a few weeks ago. But he doesn't seem to have the stamina to go through a nine inning game.
 The Athletic and Washingtons have been playing great ball recently, Both Clarence Walker and George Burns, obtained by Mack in his mid winter deals, are doing some terrific hitting for Connie. Cleveland con- tinues to go we'll with a patched up team.
 The Browns are rather hard proposition to figure out. According to latest figures they lead the Ameri- can league in hitting, but do not ap- pear to have any real hitters on the c1l so ,>J vii for game than any other player in base ball the. Browns should remain around the 800 mark for the rest of the season.
 Detroit so far has been the big dis appointment of the league. After winning their first game in the East from the Yankees the Tigers have lost six straight games. With men like Cobb, Heilnan, Veach. Bush, Young and Witt the club should be able to do better.
 Distressing Week for Giants.
 The Giants just put in most distressing week in the West and all talk of beating the record of the 1906 Cubs, who won 116 games, is for the nom ent Side-tracked. Their big lead will prop them up for a while, but by another fortnight it is possi- bIe that they will be pressed hard by both Cincinnati and Chicago. If the Reds are permitted to play Toney all year they will be dangerous oppo- nents as they have just as hard hitting team as the Giants especial Iy with Lee Magee playing in his Federal league form.
 The absence of Doyle no doubt was greatly responsible for the decline of the Giants, as Larry had been the big gun of the Giant attacks. How ever. the Giants won their last four games in the East including full series with Philadelphia, with Rod riguez at second base. The operation performed on Doyle came at a most distressing time. as Larry in his joy on being returned to the Giants was playing the game of his life and hit ting harder than at any time in his career.
 Niehoff, who will play second base for the Giants until further notice, is not a world beatcr. but the Giants will welcome him with open arms. He was good enough to play regularly on a team in Philadelphia which won one championship and did not finish below second place in three years
 A freak feature of the intersection al warfare is that the Braves and Phillies, who wore so helpless before the Giants, are going real well in the West Both caused the Cubs a lot of trouble, and just before the Eastern invasion Chicago had run off nine straight victories over the supposed " stronger opposition in the West. rhe Cubs had to divide four games with the Braves, while the Philies k also beat them twice before Vaughn started Chicago back on the winning ! avs again.
 Brooklyns were run over by the
 t going Reds last week. but they