Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-07-07
NATIONALS ON PAR
WITH THE YANKS
Showing in Present Series
=, Proves A. L. Is Strong
All Down the Line.
MENOSKY'S HOMER WINS
BY DENMAN THOMPSON

NEW YORK. July That the diff
$srence between the league leader
and the average second division club
In the American League at this stage
OF the race is mighty slight has been
shown in the games the Nationals
have played 50 far in the present
'seTies with the Yankees There is
ra"ticaily nothing To choose between
them right now. The difference in the
Sta ndinS of the two clubs is the re-
suit of the earlier sea son miSfortuntS
of the Nationals.
The Griffs played the Yankees off
their feet yesterday afternoon. and
they did the same thing in the second
game Of Saturdays double-h header
They may not repeat in todayS game
the final one of the series. but whether
they do or not the fact remains that
when they meet the IankS at this
stage of the season il is a toSS-up
V ffch will he returned the winner
Fir ishiuc on the long end of the
score today the Nationals can break
even on the series
y One inning was enough for the
&rifs to put the game in the bat
bag Yesterday. Mike MenoSky made
one OF those long hits of his to right
int he fourth inning. and as sam Rice
was on ahead of him it made for
~
came over a few minutes earlier In
tie same session rs Il result OF
Mf!ans triTle and Rice's infeld boun-l-
er, were annie in the Nationals 3-to-l
Viatofy. Joe Leonard was on hrst
Rt<e again. and his playing was Il
spnrCe of keen satisfaction to Man
a-6r Griffith. Joe didn't figure IN the
81 orinG OF any of Il" runs. bat ne
let the Nationals with the stick ana
got the scoring run under way with
- single. his second of the game.
l,eenard raped sharply to center to
,olt5n the fourth, but Foster hit nm
IN O. double play on the hlt-and-
run and then il was up to Milan, Rice
and Menosky to do the rough work.
TlEy did it to the queens taste
In none of the other innings did
the Nationals have a chance to score
on Russell. but this wasn't Leonard $
fault. Joe led off in the opening SEES
sion with single. only to be forced
h. Foster. who in turn died stea ing
The utility infielder shot a long nara
drive to right in the ninth. and WICK
land had to make a sensational! run
ming catch to cheat him of an extra
base hit.
While Russell was keeping the Ma
tonals off the paths well the IAN
KEGS were getting on. but dong niue
efst at Johnson's expense They GOT
their lone tally in the sixth on EIpp
double and Pratt's single, after two
were out However. they had one
man on in every other inning except
the second. third and ninth. In the
third they put two on. but in the
other two sessions mentioned not one
of 1 hem SAW first
in spite of this base path acIlEit!
Jo6nsou was never in danger of los
taS his game. When he had to pi'ch
he did so There was an example OF
this in the seventh, when. with one
ol1t and Russell on second through
a double. Walter famed Wlckland
Then Peck flied to Milan.
, Before this Peck got his twenty-sev-
enth consecutive game mt IL was d
a.La hIo,x however The ball bound
ed TOO high for Johnson. JanVrln got
~ ON the base path, and WICK, VINO
had reached first through single.
ran into Hal, knocking the pan out
"A 6ie hands Janvrin and everybody
else kicked. but Evans called WICK
safe.