Evening star., 1926-06-20

Second place after the game Of
September % is the real goal Of the
league champions of the past two sea
sons and to attain that objective
theyll have to do some fast playing
between now and the finish. for il
will take mighty effort to regain any
considerable part Of the lost ground.
That the club apparently has given
up hope of capturing a third success
siye pe nnant does not mean that II
has ceased to try to win games. 1t
win pat up a good battle most Of the
time. even though il often gets in.
different pitching and on occasions
some of its members seem to be tor
dispirited to play the brand Of base
ball they are capable of playing.
Must Hustle. at That.
To finish even in second place the
Nationals will have to put forth their
b st efforts from now on. The team
that wins the American League pen
nant this year has got to beat off five
other clubs. at least and the club
that gets the runnerup position will
have to do almost as well as the flag
outfit. Even though the winner may
have a fine advantage over others in
the field at the finish il will not have
won hree zing.
Some of these days Manager Bucky
Harris vii discover q batting order and
an outtield organization that Will sat
isty him. In the meantime. repeated
experiments with both may handicap
the club a great deal The club lacks
a center fielder who can field. hit and
throw. 1t has some players pos.
sessinE a couple of these qualifica-
tions, but until it finds one who can
do all three the pasture formation is
not apt to be very effective.
Harris had high hopes that the Tex
Jeanes-J ohnny Tobin alteration in
center would fill the bill. He tried it
two days and decided it was not ef-
ficient. He occasionally switches Sam
Rice from right to center. although
Sam repeatedly has demonstrated that
he is at home only in right field,
Realize the Weak Points.
The manager has made all these
moves in desperate attempt to
bolster his defense without taking
much if anything from the offensive.
No one realizes more than he the
weak points of his outfield material.
But Bucky has been trusting that
some one Of them would show enough
all-around ability to fill the place
permanently. Now he evidently fig
ureS that it is impossible to draw
well rounded outfield from the
talent at hand and that he may as
well fill in daily with the man best
fitted to fulfill the requirements Of
the occasion.
Hitting by the Nationals during
the jaunt through the West has been
so streaky ana generally SO weak
that the pilot has endeaVored TO get
strong attack by arranging his
batterS according to their most re-
cent efforts. A good day at bat for
National generally has earned him
the next day place in the offensive
formation, where his hitting may be
really productive of results. unfor-
tunately the good hitters of one day
usually have not done we'll the next.
Repeated failure have brought re-
peated changes in batting order.
And there is no relief in sight.
Friends TO Honor johnson.
Base ball enthusiasts of Coffeyville,
| kans., will have their innings at
Sportsman Park Sunday afternoon.
1t will be Coffeyville day and fans
from that city will be at hand to
| watch their former fellow towns
man, Walter Johnson, in action
| against the Browns. The Big Train
went through long drills yesterday
and today in preparation for his
slab assignment in the final tilt OF
the series between the Nationals and
Browns. Milton CASTOR probably
will oppose Barney.
Immediately after tomorrow s
| game, the Nationals are to board
rattler for Washington, where
| they are due to arrive shortly
after 10 o'clock Monday night. Should
they fail to catch this train they, vii
| have to take one that will not get them
| into their home town until o'clocE
/ Tuesday morning. And that would
! not be so good, considering that they
must tackle the Yanks in a double
header in Clark Griffith's stadium
| Tuesday afternoon.
May Start at 3 Again.
Maybe the Nationals will go back
to the O'Clock starting hour for their
games when they begin their Ions
| home stand next month. The shift
to $50 was not particularly popular
with the fans And the suporstitiouS
point out that after the starting time
change went into effect the Ma
tionals lost of the II games played
at home before the present trip was