Evening star., 1926-05-22

a continuation of the Nationals
present slump-that win YESTERDAY
did not prove by any means that they
had recovered from their dismal flop
through the three games here ana the
two in Philadelphia with the Mack.
men. within the next five DAYS Woulu
put them dangerously near. il not into.
the second division at the outset "t
their first Western invasion at the
year.
Slab Weakness Hurts.
It's not So difficult for Mana aGer
RuckV Harris to diagnose his cluh
malay. hut he is not hndlnE II $"
sy 10 discover a remedy that might
~ least relieve the condition II NOT
remove it altogether. Pitching weak.
ness. more than anything else. has
affected the Nationals lately. There
have been some fla shes of good mound
work hv members of the Champions
slab staff, but they have been few
and far between.
Defensive weakness is natural
consequence of pitching weakness. ana
4 club deficient in both these depart
ments- Of the game soon becomes un-
able TO organize its offense properly.
il may make hits, plenty of them, but
frequently it will not get real value
being hammered by the opposition
day after day. club, in desperation,
is apt to take too many chances IN
attack and suffer repeated setback
for its daring.
The work of the National pitchers
Yesterday was a fine example Of the
brand of stuff they have been feed
ing 10 opposing clubs for some time.
DntC; Ruether did fairly well in the
first inning. hut after that had moth
Ing much more than his glove. He
went from had to worse. until his gen
erositv compelled his removal by Man
aser Harris in the fifth. Dutch was
comhed for nine safeties. totalinG II
bases. and gave six passes. Two of
the walks were in the fourth frame
and three in the fifth.
Marberry Inconsistent.
And after filling the bases Dutch
had pitched three poor ones to Geh-
ringer. With the Tigers only run
behind the Nationals. and hut one of
them out. the Dutchman was yanked
and Fred Marberry hustled to the hill.
Fred eased the club of the trouble
with his high, hard ones at that time.
Gehringer ending his term at bat
with ffy to Goslin not so far back of
third base. while Fothergill forced out
Blue with a roller TO Bucky Harris.
But the Tigers got to the relief
hurler for the tying talley in The sixth
and after two were out. too. Then
Warner drilled a double and scampe.ed
home IS O'Rourke singled to center
When McNeely let Blackie's hit brush
bv the Tiger got to third base, and
while pitching to Collins Marberry
as on the day before. forgot TO bother
about the man on the hase. While
Fred was delibera ting on the hill
o'Rourke set sail for home and was
nipped at the plate in an exceptionally
close play.
Before all this happened the Ma
tionals had forced Cobb TO remove Lii
Stoner and Ken Holloway before the
second inning started, and had given
Rip Collins some rough trea tment
Five hits. a. pass. a hit batter and a
Tyger error had netted the Champs
6 tallies. Again in the sixth they fell
upon Collins to shatter the tie bunch
ing 2 safeties with a couple Of walks
for markers.
Ferguson Not Strong.
They needed all these runs and a
couple of the they cleaned off CLYDE
Barfoot with wallops. one a homer
by Joe Judge. in their last two hat
ting turns. for Alex Ferguson. who
twirled the last three innings against
the Tigers. was not in any kind OF
pitching form.
Alex got by the seventh inning O. X =.
hut three Tyger hits produced , mark
ers in the eighth. and another pair Of
alien scores crossed in the ninth as a
result Of hits before Heilmann con
cIuded the affair with pop to Rluese