The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1925-10-08
GRIFFMEN IN FINE, TRIM,
SAYS WALTER JOHNSON

~ 41A n
Continued from First Pagel
series for the first time must
have had q certain effect upon
them.
Walter Is Delighted
Naturally, I am delighted to have
started in with a victory. That is
what I wanted to do a year ago
| against the Giants, failing for sew
eral reasons. Yesterday fe.t con-
ndent of winning, even though by
q single run. 1t seemed that all
my preparation simply had to bring
about this result.
pitcher. He proved that to me in
the fifth inning, when he struck
out Muddy Ruel and myself with
| the bases filled. / know how good
he was because swung three times
myself and hit only the chilly air.
1t took great courage to face that
situation and 1t took great pitching
ability to dispose Of two batters as
he did. Then, too, he had strike
on Sam Rice when Sambo caught
one he liked for that single to
center and we had two more runs.
The Pirates have evidently been
thinking lot about this series.
This brings about certain condi-
ton that now should have worn off.
From now on / look for them to
be even tougher to beat than they
were yesterday, when only three runs
separated them from US.
Never Felt Better
AS for myself. 1 never felt better
in my life, and though I had to
work my hardest, really. believe
can come back for Saturdays
game If Bucky wants me In there.
For two weeks in Washington /
took special training stunts just for
this series. and like race horse /
was ready for the bell. My arm
never bothered me In the least, and
as / failed to hit safely ] did not
risk another case Of charley horse.
Today Stan Coveleslkie will at
tempt to turn back the Pirates, and
the old boy is ready to show them
something. He worked out with
me in preparation for this series,
and though bothered for a while by
a lame back, he is now In perfect
condition. Unless the boys go to
pieces behind him, he ought to win
his game today.
The Pirates looked like a pretty
sweet team, even in defeat. For
instance, look at Pie Traynor's stop
OF Ruel's liner in the third. Of
Wrighf's jumping catch OF my liner
in the eighth, and Grantham's catch
of GosIln's liner in the fourth.
These three plays were worth the
price Of admission, I'd say.
TraynOr q Great Player
They hurt our feeling, too, I
might add.
Traynor looks like great bail
player. Against me he belted a
home run among the fans, In right
field, and singled in the same di-
rection. Then he sent two long
flys to centerfield. All four times
he got hold OF the ball in fine
style, and I found him very diff
/ficult to fool up there at the plate.
He is sure to cause US trouble be-
fore this series ends.
Kiki Cuyler didn't look so well,
but he is a youngster and palpably
worrying. But this IL all over
series game, and today should be
more like his real self. He struck
out twice yesterday, but he also
got one OF his teams five hits. He
Is not easy to fool, and looked
him over carefully every time he
faced me. Cuyler and Traynor are
quite likely to star for the Pirates,
before we are done with this series.
Steadiness, 1t seems to me, is
bound to give US the eventual vic
tory In this series. At times the
Pirates seemed about to break
loose and throw the ball around.
That they didn't was a bit surpris-
Ing 1t spoke well for the influ-
ence exerted at once by Manager
McKetchnie. AS for US, we just went
right along and played our best.
Like ANY Other Game
"A world series game is just like
any other game. il you make it So"
says Bucky Harris We are going
to make every one just another ball
game. How many games will this
series go? Well, If we can win in
four games, we'll do it. Some of
the boys want to do that if only
to have the laugh on Eddie Eynon,
our club secretary, who will have
the tough job Of giving back all
that money to fans holding stubs
for the fifth game. Eddie can't see
anything to laugh in that. But we
can.
AS a matter of fact, five games
may end this series next Sunday in
Washington. We don't want to
make the jump back mere, and will
do our best to end it by Sunday.
Used Plenty Of Speed
What did find the Pirates
weakest in? Well, that's hard to
say. I used q lot Of curves, but /
also called on plenty of speed, too.
would say / about split even.
Some OF the batsmen got more
curves than others. But on The
whole game, simply mixed up
my stuff.
/ Coveleskie has a tantilizing spit
ter that has won him twenty games
this year with only five defeats.
The Pirates viii find It hard to
hit safely and they viii also find
Al a.