Evening star., 1925-06-30

If the Griffs were an aggregation
given to being unfavorably affected
by the Importance of an occasion, or
unduly impressed with the reputation
of foeman. they would not today be
within striking distance of the cir
cults summit.
Altogether unimpressed by the fact
that they were facing a finger no
team had been able to subjuGate this
season, the Nationals yesterday dis
played an utter disregard for the
widely respected prowess of Mr.. Sam
uel Gray and inflicted on the youth
full Texan the only setback charged
against him in 10 starts. thus at
tanning their third win in four games
of the series to date and climbing to
within half a game of top place in
the standings.
Judge Supplies the Punch.
1t was Joe Judge, whose recent
woeful batting slump had his mates
as much worried as himself, who sup
piled the punch that resulted in Mr.
Samuel Gray washing up ahead of the
regular scheduled time with Earl Nc
Neely Supplementing Joe'S offensive
efforts against Rube Walberg at
later period. But a large share of
credit for the second straight defeat
of the Macklets is due Stanislaus
Coveleskie. aged exponent of the damp
delivery, whose sparkling box work
inspired his supporters to work afield
bordering on the spectacular.
Coveleskie had to contend with the
elements as well as the bunch of
Mackian maulers who are showing
their heels to all rival outfits in the
art of pasting that pill Starting op-
erations with low-hanging clouds
threatening deluge at any minute.
Covey was interrupted in his work by
rain that halted play for three-quar-
terS of an hour during the second
inning, but although a drizzle that
set in shortly after play was resumed
and increased steadily to the proper
tions of a steady rain until the
seventh, added much superfiuous
moisture to the artificial brand that
constitutes his chief stock in trade.
he showed no sign of faltering and
with a little more consideration from
Dame Fortune would have achieved
the shut-out his efforts deserved.
How the AS Were Baked.
In the initial session, with Hale on
the far corner following a lucky
Texas League double. it was Peckin-
paugh who came to the rescue with
a fine play of Simmons roller close
to the middle cushion.
After yielding a bingle to Welch
in the second and running the risk
of cooling off while Jupe Pluvius
had his long inning, Covey forced Gal
loway tohit into a force play.
Bluege bobbed up with a scintillat-
ing bit of one-hand bunt fielding that
snuffed Hale in the third: double plays
by the alright inner Gordon behind
Covey nullified Safeties by Lamar and
Poole in the succeeding sessions. and
McNeely drew the spotlight with a
spiffy effort that scotched Hales bid
for an extra base blow in the sixth.
Another twoply killing frustrated
the AS after Lamar singled in the
seventh and Covey turned in a pair
of strikeouts to offset his only pass
that TO Cochrane in the eighth.
Macks Avert Shutout.
1t was high looper to short cen
ter by Dykes in the final frame that
enabled the Macks to escape the igno-
miny of a shutout. Peck chased out
and contrived to get under the ball,
but was unable to hold it. 1t went
for a double and became a run when
Lamar uncorked his third safety of
the afternoon.
Gray started as il to breeze through
the pastime. A single by Ruel that
was ingulfed in a double play was
all the Griffs accomplished for three
innings, but line drives by Goslin
and Harris had indicated the range
was being found, and in the fourth.
with Rice and Goslin on the runways
by virtue of successive safetieS, Judge
sealed Gray's fate with, a ripping
double down the right field line to
cash both of his mates.
b Walberg proved effective in his first
two rounds, but was bumped in the
eighth. He started the trouble by
passing Ruel, and, following Covey's
sacrifice, McNeely added to it with a
wallop to center that cashed Muddy.
Harris then beat out a hot smash to
Hale, and when the third baseman's
low throw got past Poole, Earl con-
tinued to third, and then tailed by
reaching the plate ahead of Poole's
toss to Cochrane OF Rice's roller, al
though a double played ensued, Coch-
rane nipping Rice at second with
IL L.