Evening star., 1925-07-15

The White SoX, the Tigers and the
Browns are too far down in the flag
race to merit serious consideration as
contenders for first place, although
they are formidable opponents in bat
tie, but the Athletics, dispossessed
of the leading position by the Nation
ais last month, are persistently cling
ing to the heels of the latter, and still
constitute a serious menace.
While puerile pitching has hurt
the Nationals more than anything else
since coming West, they also have
been hurt by their inability to get
much out of their attack Hits from
the bats of the champions have been
plentiful generally, but they have not
brought results. Solid socks rarely
have been clustered, nor have they
often followed the issue of passes by
generous opposing pitchers, and slab
men of the enemy have been big
hearted in the matter of walking
Nationals.
Boss Buclxy Hitting Well.
Several of the Nationals have been
doing valiant work with the fail dur
ing the trip, notably Manager Bucky
Harris, but two men who occupy inn
portant positions in the batting order
have failed to produce when the pro-
duction would be worth while. Goose
Goslin and Ossie Bluege generally
have found opposing hurting battling
at crucial moments in the past eight
days.
They have slammed opportunely in
few instances, and so often has a
game so stood that a blow by either
of them would mean victory for the
Nationals that their failures have
been felt keenly. Goslin seems to
have temporarily lost the knack of
timing his swing. Instead of batting
in the smooth way he did last month,
he has been swinging vigorously. only
TO hoist easy chances. In St. Louis.
the Goose apparently was swinging
for homerS or nothing. He could not
keep his eyes off the stnad back of
the short right field, but he got little
with his efforts
Bluege has fallen into his old habit
of keeping his bat on his shoulder
while the enemy hurlers whiz the ball
by, frequently for strikes. AS a re-
suit, Ossie often finds himself COM
PEELED to swing when the pitching
count is decidedly against him and
there is little likelihood of having any
thing good to swing against.
Fail to Hit i'm Pinches.
With the cleanup batter and the
man heading the lower portion of the
hitting order having fallen into such
evil ways, the attack of the Nationals
could not be consistently good. On
total hits alone, the club looms as
powerful extensively, but considering
opportune hitting only it has been
woefully weak since coming west II
has its good days, but they have been
too few and far between recently.
Seeking to relieve this condition,
Manager Harris is experimenting with
a shifted batting order. He has eX-
changed places with Bluege, trusting
the move to second position may help
Ossie and that his own hitting will
supply the punch that was lacking in
the lower end of the order.
The shifted batting order brought
the Nationals no luck in the final
game with the Browns. They We're
beaten, IA to 3, and with the loss went
the series, one game to.three. The de-
feat also reduced the champions lead
over the Athletics to one and one-half
games.
Russell Easy for Browns.
Allen Russell started a game for the
Nationals for the second time this
year and hurled seven innings. He
seemed to have nothing the Browns
did not like. They slammed him for
16 hits and scored in punches, being
particularly effective in several in
niqgs after two batters had been re-
tired. Curly Ogden toiled in the
eighth, perhaps to get a workout. He
got it, for the Browns raised their hit
Total TO 10.
Dave Danforth opposed the Ma
tionals, and the left-hander went along
we'll for eight innings, allowing but
six hits and a run. He lost his con-
troll for a time in the ninth, but was
so far ahead that it did not matter.
The Browns did not wait long to
grab a flock of runs. They wasted
two hits in the first inning, and when
their first two batters in the second
inning hit safely, only to be quickly
erased, 1t looked as though they would
go scoreless. But, after Robertson
had forced Hargrave for the second
out, Danforth singled and Harry Rice
walked, filing the sacks. Lamotte
then drove his three clubmates home
with a line double between McNeely
and Sam Rice.
Hargrave's Double Hurts.
In the third session the Browns did
more scoring after two were out. Will
liams walked, only to be caught in a
double play with McManus, but Jacob