The Washington herald., 1922-07-02

Bu 4E-o u-O
Cincinnati .....15-l Al 81
Chicago ........20-1 81 81
Boston ...50-l l2-1 s-l
...5o-1 1871 I'll
Giants Have Attack.
The Giants have demonstrated
their power in attack. in defensive
work and speed. Their weakness
in pitching is quite as pronounced
as the preseason dope indicated
that II would be. Further than
that the frequent and serious i'm
juries to Groh have hurt the team.
But In spite Of weak pitching and
the collapse of the youngsters who
were supposed to strengthen the
in hitting, in run getting. in base
running, anG in the majority Of
branches of fielding. The reserve
power of the Giants is greater than
that OF any Of the other teams. and
in spite of pitching weakness about
the only chance for any team to
beat them out is a train wreck or
the sudden 20 per cent pitching i'm
provement of the Cardinals.
The dope in March said that the
Cardinals were the second best team
in the National, that they would be
in attack and the only team
really dangerous to the Giants. The
FIRST half OF the season has amply
proved that the dope was correct I
figure that the Cardinals lost their
chance OF the championship through
failure TO add consistency ~ ,ne
pitching stan. One more consistent
pitcher. capable of winning better
than 50 per cent of his games, would
so relieve the others that the Csrdi-
mails would wade through. There 10
no sign that the needed aid to the
pitching department is developing. Be-
sides that the team Is spotty. 1t
figured to be one OF the most vicious
hitting teams in the circuit. yet we
ind its team batting average third in
the list. which indicates a spotty at
lacking lineup. The great hitting
Hornsby. of course. has helped the
SO that there must be vital
weakness elsewhere in the lineup
and a spotty lineup which causes
breaks in batting rallies will not help
in these days when the managers arc
throwing all baseball science to the
winds and telling the batters to rap
the first ball pitched.
Pirates Weaker.
Brooklyn. which figured only fourth
in the spring dope. now is up third
in thee ngurs. partly because IL has
developed a little more strength
(chieny in catching) than the dope
indicated. but more because Pitts
burgh is not living up to its figured
strength. On paper the Pirates are
just as strong as they were figured
to be. On the field they are not The
strangest freak perhaps in National
League dope is the failure OF the Pitts
burgh pitchers against the New York
Giants. Any student Of the game
would be compelled to figure Hamil-
ton. Adams and Hooper about as dan
gerous a trio against the Giants as
any three in the circuit; yet they have
failed wretchedly. and, in fact. the
Giants owe the preponderance of their
lead in the league to the overwhelm-
ing of Pittsburgh. The showing Of
Pittsburgh in its series against the
Giants on the Polo Grounds was but
little short of disgracefuL No clear
explanation of the fact that as sooa
as they struck New York the team
quit hitting and the pitchers quit
pitching has yet been advanced.
The Robins on the other hand,
after being hammered all around
by the Giants during earlier sea-
son series, have given the McGraw
outfit a hard battle recently and
shown better form. In fact. the
Giants fear the Robin pitchers
more than they do those of any
other club in the circuit.
Reuther Aids Robins.
The sudden advance in Brooklyn
stock is due largely to the greas
work of Dutch Reuther. who, hav-
ing settled down to serious work.
Is about the best left handler in the
business. II this fellow does not
win twenty six games for his team
this year IL will be q surprise to
me. He doped to win close to thirty
and despite the early slump of the
team. is almost half way to thar
mark.
1 believe that the Brooklyn chan
ces were wrecked during the earl,
spring training. The pitchers came
into top far too early. went back
and have had a dard time trying
to regain their proper form.
Cincinnati, rather hopeless at
the start, has improved under Nor.
ans handling. Had Rousch been
In the lineup from the start and
starting properly the team would
have perhaps six more games to its
credit and would be close up.
Boston Dtsappeints.
Az to the Cubs. of course. no one
figured them a real chance at top
honors. 1t is team in process
of building and It 10 being built
right. The theory has been to get
the right sort of fellows and TO
keep only willing workers and fell
lows who would hustle whether tn
team is in first or last place. Its
low standing during the early
months was due to paucity Of hit
ting. but with Miller clouting. as
he has been, the hghting picked
up and the team has moved up In
batting strength and In consist
ency. It has as good as a lighting
chance to beat out Cincinnati for
the top honors in the second di-
vision.
/ Frankly. Boston is a disappoint-
ment. A lot Of the Eastern critics
had an idea that Mitchell would
get his team to working and put
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