Evening star., 1924-10-09

1t would be permitting the heart to
run away with the mind to say that
johnson d"srr! cd to wir hut it is
only simple justice 70 say that all
the breaks Of the game were against
him. Yesterday. as in Washincton
last Saturday he was always on the
wrong side Of ne foul line.
Oriole Jack Bentley. his rival Of
the pitching sl"b. hit a home run off
him that accounted for two runs and
was fair by less than the breadth Of
his broad shoulders and time after
time Washington hits that might have
saved him curved off over the foul
lines and went for nothing.
The Veterans Arm Wenkens.
But he did not pitch a winning
game. Only his f"hting heart has
come through those eruelling IS
Years unscathed No longer does his
arm respond tn the call of his heart
and head. 1t was not as strong even
as on the day he lost to Nehf. That
day he showed flashes of the terrific
speed that in his heyday made him
the most feared pitcher of them al.
but Yesterday his fast ball was
hardly a respectable shadow of the
fast ball of his youth. The Big Train
has run onto ii siding at last. 1t
is on the final leg Of long journey,
ing is not to be happy one.
For nearly IS gears Washington
has banked on johnson TO bring it
a pennant and a world championship,
and now that h" has finally helped to
win the Ieunant is seems a. il he is
destined To H. the on" most reSpon-
siblc for the loss uf the bigger cham
pion snip. Ii one put sentiment aside
"a hard thing :" do in this case
u In.
far in tni~ series, he discovers that
johnson i$ NOR" responsible Tor
WaShiEgton'S present plight than any
other one man, and thls is not alone
because he has lost TWO of the thee
games that the CLANS nave won, but
also bec"use he has introduced senii-
ment into a situation in wni1n Scnt-
ment has no real place.
The proc: Of that statement is not
hard to find H. has been left in to
the bitter end in two Z mes. where
sound and unpreiUdi"ed base ball
Judgment would haE, dictated that he
be relieved. u hts first game he gave
IA hits Ycsterda! the Giants made
only one less i foW Of these - safe
blows were iuc'y y. but for the most
part they n been solid home runs,
for instance.
Harris Let Sentiment Rule.
In Washington on Saturday Harris
did not e. en- go TO the trouble of hav-
ing another pitcher warm up. F ed
Marberry. who was N the bull pen,
stood up time or Two. but i. he
threw q ball Il ali nobody c1iught him
in the act It w"s the -ame yester-
day IN the ei&h;h Curly Ogden was
ordered to warm Up. but there never
was any interti"u OF using him un-
less Jchns0n's coil 3se v-&S so COM
plcte Il. it would have been kinder
TO have L ken him cut than 10 have
left him in
While Harris attitude en- be read
lily appreciated, thtt is no gainsaying
the fact that it has proved a sore det-
ultimate victory.
Bentley pitched good ball for seven
innings yesterday and hit home run,
but when he faltered ever so slightly
in the eighth the stern McGraW vast
ed no time or sympathy on him. Some
even thought the calling in of Nc
Quillan was an excess of caution, but
there can be no real fault to find with
strategy that works. Conjecture may
have it that Bentley would have
saved his own game, but that is only
conjecture. The facts were that Nc
Qullan saved it for him and that's
history.
The Harris attitude is the finer, but
it doesn't get the same results. Where
the Washington manager has showed
to best advantage in this series was
in the one instance when he, too, lost
no time in withdrawing a faltering
pitcher, Mogridgc. Neither name, nor
fame sways McGraw in the slightest
when he thinks it is to the best inter-
estS of his team to replace, or shift
DlaVer. He chased GpOrga Kelly ono