Evening star., 1919-05-02
DAYS. REST
WOULD AID GR|FFS
Team Is Far From Its Best
Little Chance of Game
With Macks Today. -
BY DENMAN THOMPSON.

/ PHILADELPHIA. May From
present weather indications the Ma
! tionals will do well to get in one Of the
three games scheduled to be played here
before they return home Sunday with
the Athletics to give capital fans the last
! opportunity they will have for seeing
major league base ball until the end of
; the month. 1t rained all day yester-
Gay and the night before. and with the
! wind from the east the outlook for base
Eall this afternoon is not encourag ging.
! The downpour Yesterday drowned all
! chance for the shekel harvest that
would have attended May day frolic
for the formal Inauguration of the
American League season in Philadel-
phia. Whether it is today, tomorrow
or Monday. the first game staged will
be opening day, but once the date
glamor. excitement and interest Of the
event Is lost, and as result William
Eerrington Fowler. the senatorial sec
retary, muses. with a sinking heart over
the certainty there will be no ;urnstile
hot boxes to demand his attention in
IQuakertown this year.
Given an additional day of rest it is
| likely Johnson, rather than Hovtk. will
be assigned to bear the brunt of the
burden of subjugating the AS in the
initial contest. whenever it is played.
and if it should go over till tomorrow it
is likely Scott Perry, Walters opponent
in the thirteen-inning combat that
served to lift the lid in Washington
last week. again will be with him.
Eliminating from consideration the
financial loss. it will be to the best in
terests of the Nationals if couple of
poStponementS are neceSsitated here.
The pitching staff IS far from ready and
\ no3ReShjff of
the regular positions is contemplated
for some time yet, until the actors cast
for the roles at left, short and second
have learned their lines and are able to
speak their pieces without strttering.
OF the hurlers only Harper and
Johnson have demonstrated they are
anywhere near their true form. Ayers
arm has not rounded into shape. How
1lk still is nursing pulled tendon
in his leg and Shaw and Thompson
have failed to exhibit the stuff ex-
pected Of them.
Another handicap that has initiated
greatly against the club has been the
failure of Shanks and Rice to get into
their batting strides. AS rule How
ard is sluCging demon in the spring
of the year. He also led the team last
season in the business of driving i'll
runs, yet in the six games contested
to date he has made only two hits.
neither OF which inquired In the man
'ufacture of a tally. In one less game
Rice, who occupies the cleanup posi-
! ton in the batting order, has made
only four hits, and none of them
drove in runs. Judge with seven and
Foster with ten safeties have carried
the greater part of the hitting burden
for the Griffs.
The formers collection includes
three triples and double, but it so
happened base was occupied by
mate on only one of these occasions.
With Leonard slated to cover sec
ond until Janvrin recovers his
strength sufficiently to do himself
justice, it might be a good idea to
place him at the top of the batting
list and assign the cleanup job to
Judge pending the time Rice gets his
eye on the ball. Leonard is a splendid
waiter. He gets on the bases fire.
Quently, and with Judge coming up
fourth the extra base wallops he is
delivering this spring would count
for something.
! If ground conditions are too bad for
| practice today manager Griffith may
have some of his athletes timber up
under the cover of the spacious stands
at Shibe Park.
Members of the Washington team
last night attended a performance Of
Seventeen" as guests of the man
agement Of a local theater.