Evening star., 1925-03-20

LdCD was the pltCHlfS nero Oh
the recent series for the world bas,
superb form at present, the Giants
faces them for the third time.
Ruether has been improving rapidly
since his debut last Saturday. while
Mogridge appears to be ready for a
performance even more auspicious
than that at st. Petersburg Tuesday.
So far as pitching is concerned. the
Nationals seem 10 have a fine chance
to register a victory over the New
Workers in the third game of the
little world series.
Herold Ruel will be behind the bat
at the outset of hostilities at Sara
sofa and probably the Nationals first
string receiver will stick to his task
the greater part of the route. Sup
porting Muddy and the lot of south
paw slabmen will be the same cast
that represented Washington in the
first game of the 1924 world cham
pionship struggle.
The team facing the Giants tomor-
row will be a far better one than
that which faced them in the two
games on the east coast of Florida
last week. For a time after those
contests, the Nationals developed
slowly, but in the past two days they
have made great strides and yester
day at Plant City played real cham
pionship base ball.
Giants Also Improved.
The Giants, too, probably have bet
tered themselves considerably since
last they met their former world
series opponents, but 1t Is doubtful
if they have advanced more than
Bucky Harris aggregation. Victories
SO far have been few for the Harris
hut no hei ir
play in many ways and their pitchers
generally are as far advanced as
ought to be expected at this stage
of the training season.
In preparation for tomorrew's game,
the Nationals were to get a lengthy
workout today. There being no con-
test scheduled, Manager Harris had
planned this morning to hold two
drills, devoting most of the time in
each to much batting practice. The
Athletes have had their swatting
optics cleared to a great extent in
the past two engagements, but Harris
desires better results, of course, and
Will continue to pay much attention
to wand drilling.
Yesterday was a twodrill day for
most of the squad. All of those who
journeyed to Plant City in the after
noon to tackle the American Associa
tion, went through a morning work
out in the field here. There was a
long clouting practice for every one
and an unusually long fielding ses-
sion for outfelders Wild Matthews
and Roy Carlyle.
Manager Harris had expected to
start Matthews in a game or two this
week, but changed his mind. On
second thought. he decided it would
be better to employ his regular outer
garden combination as much as pos
sible and test Matthews and Carlyle
at other times. The veteran Memo
Liebold, being known quantity,
causes Harris no concern.
Johnson's Injury Is Trivial.
1t developed last night that one
casualty resulted from the morning
practice. Walter Johnson, while jog
ging around the practice field track,
after finishing his workout on the dia-
mond, stepped into a depression and
hurt his left leg. He did not report
the accident to Trainer Mike Martin
until after the latter had returned from
Plant City. After thorough eXami-
nation, Trainer Martin declared the
injury not at all serious, and said
Walter would be ready for today's
practice.
The veteran pitcher also is COM
salary wing, but neither he nor
Trainer Martin is worrying about it.
Both assert that 1t is a natural con-
sequence from the greater effort
Johnson has been putting into his
practice the past few days, and that
it will soon disappear.
Walters left arm is troubling him
more than anything else. When
struck on that limb by a ball from
Carlyle's bat during clouting practice
the other day, the pitcher was bruised
more severely than at first thought.
There is considerable swelling about
the point where the ball hit and that
part of the arm is black from the
blow. The remainder of the arm, from
the wrist to elbow, is badly discolored
and quite sore to the touch. For that
reason Johnson is fielding as little
as possible. Martin, though, hopes to
have the limb in good condition
within a week.
Easily Defeat Bush's Team.
The Nationals breezed along in fine
style in disposing of Indianapolis yes
terday. Although a minor league out
fit. DOME Bushs club has beaten the
Indians twice and the Giants once
this Spring and was quite At to make
a. deal of trouble for the world cham
pions, but the champions went about
their work in almost nlQSeaSon form
at bat and afield, and their three
young pitchers gave good accounts
of themselves.
Jim Mcnamara and ]. Benson Brill
heart, southpaws, and Harry Kelley,
right-hander, did the hurting. with
the first mentioned toiling in the
initial block of innings. Mcnamara,
although said to have a sore arm,
pitched excellently. He was reached
for a hit an inning. but was quite
steady and remarkably effective with
men on the bases.
Kelley was inclined to be wild in
the second block of three innings, but
when he did get the ball across the
American Association batters found
II difficult to hit safely. Brillheart
who finished the game, was hit freely
in the last two rounds, but most of
the time he was using a fast ball that
seemed just to the liking of the op-
position, His curve ball, which has
been SO effective, was as much so as
ever yesterday, but Manager Harris
ordered him to use 1t sparingly.
The Nationals got the bulk of their
runs off Carman Hill, a big right
handler, who pitched the first four
frames for Indianapolis. In the sec
ond round, Goslin walked and was
doubled to third by Judge. McNally's
retirement scored Goslin and sent
Judge to the far corner. Joe could