Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-05-02
BY DENMAN THOMPSON.

| heavy toll on his club that 1t shortly
will be reduced to the point where der
ricking as@ir:- S.tcher will be out
of the question; where such -. S2own
strategic moves as the use Of pinch
! hitters or substitute runners will be
impossible. and where the Punishment
of an athlete for too liberal display
of oratory will prove nothing less than
q calamity.
! With Yingling already having de-
parted hence and Du Mont and Char
rity to go at the end of the week. Griff
will have a ball club numbering only
eighteen members. including Joe Casey.
the catcher purchased from Minneapo-
| lis. and Merito Acosta, left at WASH
| ington to recuperate from an attack of
| the grip. Aside from the regulars,
| these players include two utility out
| fielders-Schulte and Acosta-two sub
| catchers in Casey and Berman, one ex-
Z, ira infielder in Mcbride, and a total of
nve pitchers-Johnson, Ayers. Shaw,
Harper and Craft. Craft, of course. is
not regular. and although Harper
| should be, he will have to- demonstrate
! that some dependence can be placed in
him before he can be regarded as such.
What is more, there is no assurance
that two Of these eighteen-Lavan and
| team longer than a few weeks, the
former due to his naval afiiliations and
the latter because Of his class 1 status
| In the draft. so with the club now
| Of numbers. the removal OF two addi-
ttonal athletes will place it in a posi-
lively skeletonized form.
| then. will have to work in turn. re-
gardless of the condition of the wealth
err or their particular fitness for duty
the day they are due. and they will
have to go the route, no matter how
rudely they may be treated by opposing
batsmen. If Lavan is summoned,
| George Mcbride will be sent back to
ms old station at short, and in the
event. then. that one of the infielders
is incapacitated Shanks will have to be
called in from the garden, which will
give Schultz Hanks job in left and
leave only staff man for pinch hit
ting or emergency roles.
Where athletes needed to bolster I'D
the depleted ranks of the Grirmen
are to be obtained is a problem. With
the dtsbanding of nearly all the minor
leagues. 1t was figured that diamond
market: that all a manager would have
to do would be to whistle and he would
be swamped under an avalanche of job
less ball players anxious to get
chance to earn their bread and butter.
Such has not proved the case, how
ever. any number of clubs having need
OF utility material having sought in
vain Tor players of even fair minor
league reputation. A case in point is
that Of the Red Socks, who, despite I'M
limited financial backing, have picked
up Frank Truesdale. once a member
OF the New York Yankees and for sew
eral years back a minor Lacquer re-
garded as having ne chance of ever
Players Grin must have and players
he will obtain if he expects to pilot
team through the championship sea-
son. but from whence they are to come
Jim Shaw In scheduled to do box
work In the third and Anal contest of
the series with the Hub outfit today.
Torrance against the Yankees his last
time out. and Is expected to duplicate
this performance. II Southpaw Leonard
Is not called upon for duty by Manager
barrew Shaw will draw Joe Bush as
his opponent. Bush has been going
like house afire this spring. His
record thus far is unsmirched, with
three victories and no defeats. But
80 was that of Carl Mays until yester-
day. when he was polished off by the
Grifmen in fine shape.
The Nationals will leave Beantown
this evening for Philadelphia. where to-
morrow they will open a three-eame
series with Connie Mack's rehabilftated
club. Yancy Ayers is booked for the
hurting role in the first contest at Shibe
Park, with Harper due the following
day. Hackensack Harry has made three
to last three innings in any of them, but
he will go the route Saturday against
the Athletics, regardless of the form he
shows. What Harper needs is work and
that is Just what he is going to get.
the southpaw would pitch the entire
game Saturday even ii he walks nine
men in a row"
'In the event hit is needed in a late
inning to produce a run Harper may be
Saturday" the pilot said today. II am
going to send him in to pitch and he
will have to stay there regardless of
the consequences. 1t will be up to him
cine. for I'll be deaf to all s. O. S. sig
nails"
Griff is much wrought up over the
work Umpire Nallin has been doing in
Evans Nallin has worked In all but
four Of the contests of the Nationals to
date and, according to the pilot, their
poor work has cost him several vic
tories.
johnson yesterday more nearly re-
sembled the Walter Of old than at
any time since the race got under
way. and. through his skill In holding
the Red Sox to four scattered hits.
| BANKED the pace settlers, while his
mates rang UP five earned runs as the
result of one large. juicy inning with
Carl Mays, of subway hurting and bean
ball fame. as the victim.
1t was early apparent that Mays was
in for a fine pummeling. Shanks single
| in the second and Shotton's long double
| In the third constituting the handWrit-
ing on the wall. 1t was not until the
| fourth that the Nationals actually got
under way, however, but what they did
| then was enough, sufficient and plenty
Shanks had been laid away when
| Mays got up to his old tricks and
soaked Judge on the right fin with a
| fast curve. Morgan;s bingle to left
placed Joe on second, and. after Foster
| had lifted to Hooper, Ainsmith regis-
! tered the pair of them with a drive to
the corner in right that was good for
three sacks. johnson duplicated the
feat of his battery partner by pound
| ing the ball to the bleachers In left
center. Hhotton looked over four wide
| ones, neatly pilfered second and
| scored with Johnson when Johnny La
van crashed . single over second base.
Aside from singles by Foster and
Shelton In the sixth, this ended the
| offensive efforts OF the visitors, but
they could afford to rest on their oars,
1 o. III he