Evening star., 1921-07-23


the poor form of the pitchers which
initiated against the success of the
Nationals-that and an exceedingly
sievelike defense, for plenty of power
on attack was demonstrated. Toward
midseason the fingers took a decided
brace. but to offset this there was an
appreciable falling off in stickwork.
| and the fielding, already bad, got
worse.
Last I'm Fielding Averaees.
Averages do not always provide an
accurate gauge. As far as figures of
the Grinmen are concerned the statis-
tics are eloquent. They show WASH
ington a the bottom of the heap. and
with club average sinking lower
and lower. yet they do not include
countless errors of judgment and
omission. such as fly balls dropping
| untouched for hits because two or
more players deferred one to another.
ground balls to the outfeld being
| momentarily fumbled. weak throws to
| the bases and failure of pitchers to
cover first base and back up throws
| to the other sacks.
Brilliant at times, but uncertain, too.
because he cannot trust his throwing
arm. O'Rourke has large number of
misplays charged against him, and
recently the redoubtable Harris has
developed a streak OF strongarm work
which has proved costly.
than anything else which has con-
tributed to the Nationals recent lack
OF success. for with the pitching
greatly improved the team would
| have more than held it's own regard
less Of the sloppy defense. for the
! fielding has been uniformly faulty all
season.
Fail to Make Hits Count.
| In the total of safeties attained the
| shortcomings of the club are not SO
apparent, the trouble being with the
failure to make the swats count. A
| csse in point was the game in Chi
| cago July 5. when the Nationals out
eleven innings by a score of 4 to 2.
| Tn the first Cleveland game they reg
| istered sixteen hits aginst eleven
| for the Indians. but were licked s
| to 4. and in another Cleveland game
| they succeeded. to 4, although OBJ
i tanning ten safeties against seven
| for their opponents.
| Right now Judge and Rice, two of
!, the best hitters of McBrides roster.
ere in the throes of slump: The
| first baseman's batting optics have
become deranged only recently, he
| having gone hitless in the last four
| games. but It is the failure of Rice
| to come through in the measure that
| his ability and past performances
warrant which has proved the great
est drawback to the Nationals from
IN offensive standpoint.
| When the club left Washington the
night OF July 3 Rice had a batting
average of .334 and topped all the
Griffmen but Charity. as BELTS a
player stationed third in the batting
order. In the twenty contests played
since Rice has made only nineteen
hits in Seventy-eight times at bat,
an average of .244.
But these figures give no adequate
| idea Of Rice's failure to measure ur
to specifications as sticksmith ir enc
of the cleanup positions. In the las,
twenty games Sam has "batted in
only four runs. one on a lucky Texas
Lacquer and two on sacrifice flies
while on another occasion he stole
home.
| Furthermore. the fact that he has
crossed the plate only four times in
| that period. while it may be charge
able largely against the players who
| follow him in the batting order. also
| indicates Sam has not been on the
| bases with any great degree of fire.
uuency. Sam is good hitter. That
| fact esta ablished. il Is not conceivable
| that the slump he now is In Will con-
| tinue. but it is a fact that his failure
| to maintain the Rice standard at pat
| has been a serious drawback to the
| team on its present trip.
Shanks Playing Great Ball.
The current tour has its bright side.
however. For one thing. Shanks of
| late has been fielding around the hot
corner like combination OF Bill
bradley and Jimmy Collins in the
Cleveland series. particularly. and