The Washington times., 1918-05-06
GRIFFS INTRENCH
At LAST, BATTLE
ATHLETICS TODAY
By ROBERT W. MAXWELL.

PHILADELPHIA, May 6.-Frmly
intrenched in eighth place among
the Who's Who" in the American
League. the Senators resumed their
{ atterk on the Athletics here today.
Grin and his hired men are very
much peeved ove- the results OF the
! last pair OF games, and a supreme
effort will IL made 20 make the home
boys bite the dust or something like
that ere the golden sun sinks in the
/ West.
, Thus far the washington ciab has
been a sort Of a paradox. Some days
it looked like a first division team,
but on others It was the reverse. The
club is going through 4 series OF ups
and downs, but with an average OF
about eight downs to every up.
Sometimes the pitching is good, but
the fielding is of color. on other oc-
casions everything is fine except the
hitting, and the result is another
defeat.
We are not playing up to our true
form" said Griffith, but expect
to see the boys in there playing hard
in a short time. We have been
weakened by the draft, and II Will
take some hard work to get the team
around in shape again. / am not q
bit discouraged, however, but will
keep plugging until the weak spots
have been patched Up. The long stay
on the home grounds will help US
considerably as we can practice every
morning"
FeeIa RIce'H Absence
The loss OF Sam Rice before the
season opened was a severe blow, and
now that Yingling, Dumont, and
Charity have departed. the outlook
cannot be called rosy. YinglinE and
Dumont were looked upon 10 win
many games for the Griffmen this
year, and Charity would have been
an able substitute for AinEmith. II
is hard 10 get pitchers these days. so
the missing hurlers are not likely 10
be replaced.
Washington has a good fielding
team, the pitching staff, with John
son, Ayres, Harper, and Shaw, can
win a few games. but the weakest
thing OF all is the hitting. Griff
fact, he hasn't a decent cleanup
man. The team lacks that offensive
punch which il necessary 10 win ball
games
Shsnks. Shottsn. Milan, Morgan and
Judge are hitting the ball, but they
cannot step in and throw a scare into
the opposing pitchers in a pinch.
Frank Schultz will do soms good
hitting for the Senators this year.
and should be the leading pinch hit
ter on tho club.
It's rather early to make predIc-
tions. so It would be bad form to
guess where Grin and his hirelinES
will finish this season. The baseball
race is too uncertain. because no one
can tell what will happen in the next
two months.
Washington has lost several men
already. and LAvan and Craft are
likely 10 go al any minute But how
about the other clubs? They have not
been kicked by the army mule as yet.
and until that time comes. we must
go along and hope for the best.
Mack In Same Boat.
Take the Athletics as an example
Connie Mack has the best bail club
he has had since 1914. but several Of |
the most likely players are eligible for
service. George Burns. the
sLugglng hrst baseman. 10 on the
ragged edge. and Davidson, shannon !
ana a couple OF others are likely TO /
be called. Connie, however. is saying |
about the draft. He will not |
announce the names OF the men who /
are on the verge Of being called. be- |
cause, he says, the more the men read |
! bout II the more they will worry, 1
and their game naturally will suffer. |
At that. II sounds like good dope.
Right now the Athletic look like q |
ball club. They are in .
afth place. but II won't be for long. |
They have q long series ~ games 10 |
play on the home lot and before the
md Of the month the team should be
TOinE EeeA l.