Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-07-21

mat 1dHkSS stump proven CIV
Almost every club which starts off w
kind of reaction. Higgins got baC
Bob Meusel and Waite Hoyt just at
ting in. Then Babe Ruth hasn't be
trouble. And when Babe isn't hittii
The slump of the Yankees con
other American League club owners,
walkover of 1928. when New York
threatened after Decoration day. Ht
in the American League, and probabl
The Yankee pennant percentage
has again been reduced this week,
from 800 to $50. That's a drop Of
.040 in the last two weeks. still
consider Higgins club the favorite,
but it now looks as though 1t will be
hard pressed. However, l expect the
Yanks to get their second wind in the
near future. Bob Meusers return
now is scheduled for middle August,
and Hoyt is about ready to take his
regular turn on the mound.
Mack's Philadelphia. team has taken
full advantage of the Yankee slump,
and day by day has been drawing
closer TO the slipping New Workers.
No club in either league is fighting
harder for games this year than the
Athletics. | don't know whether 1t is
Kid Gleason's fighting spirit, but it Is
games in the eighth and ninth innings.
1t truly is one club which isn't licked
until the last man is out.
Mack shifts his lineup, throws in
his pinch hitters, and jockeys about
his pitchers, but he is willing games.
When the Aathletics slid out of the
1925 race on an August losing streak
of twelve straight I frequently heard
the clubs gameness questioned. The
Athletics learned lot during that
fatal string of reverses, and today
there isn't a gamer, harder lighting
club in the two majors.
Griffmen Lack Pitchers.
Washington continues to show i'm
provement, and "Bucky" Harris an
nounces that his team still is very
much in the race. The Nationals
especially have come forward in their
hitting, but Harris hasn't sufficient
pitching for another hard drive to the
wire.
The White Sox haven't been going
so well in the East, as their strong
pitchers have had difficulty in stand
ing up. lyons, Blankenship and
Faber were all hammered in Philadel-
phia. The Sox continue to do their
share of hammering themselves, and
when they meet the Yankees in their
six-game series this week a lot Of
hits should fly around Yankee
Stadium.
Speaker still has his Indians going
strong, and Cleveland is due to give
the Athletics a tough time OF 1t this
week Just as the Mackmen can
beat the Yanks, so the Clevelanders
can beat Philadelphia. They enjoy
a 6-to-2 edge on the Quaker City team.
Detroit continues to founder,
though the Tigers played good ball
in New York, and held the Yanks
to an even break. The Browns show
ed a vast improvement in their gen
eral play just before they came East,
but this is proving another tough
Eastern jaunt for them. Bobbie
Quinn and Lee Foht continue to ex-
now are a fairly respectable tailender.
Giants Master of Reds.
The Giants certainly know the COM
bination for beating Cincinnati, even
though they have trouble in beating
the lowly Braves and other teams.
When the Reds were last in the East
the Giants hurled them back three
straight games, and they 1ammed four
more defeats down their Threats In
Redland last week.
McGraws club is putting in the
strong western trip which / predicted
for it last week. The National League
race continues so close that any kind
of a continued drive could send the
Giants to the top. Repeatedly have
warned against undertaking the
Giants because they happened to be
in the second division. Being in the
second division doesn't amount to
anything in a race where only four
defeats separate the first four CLUBS
in the losing column
The Giants put over a double VIC
tory against the Pirates before capac-
ity crowd last week, but Pittsburgh
has them on the seasons games,
eight to four. Back around 1921 and
1922 the Giants used to beat Pitts
burgh off themselves, but in the last
three years the Pirates have had
quite an edge on the McGraw entry.
The Giant cleanup in Cincinnati
again put the Pirates within striking
distance of first place, and did lot
to wipe out the lead that the Reds
piled up while the Pirates were on
their sevens straight losing streak,
InfieId Troubles Develop.
Both of these western contenders
have developed infield troubles. The
Reds grabbed Everett Scott over the
interleague waiver routea TO take the
place of the weak hitting Emmer at
short. "Scotty" cracked out three hits
in his first game in Cincinnati, but
the player who reeled off 1907 con-
secutive games in the American
League injured himself in his second
game as National Lacquer.
Eddie Moore has fallen down badly
at second for the Pirates, and Johnny
Rawlings has been given aother trial
at the bag. Joe Cronin, a budding
young infielder farmed out to New
Haven. has been recalled and may be
showed into the second place gap.
Moore went to pieces at time when
Glenn Wright's bad knee forced his
retirement to the side lines. Between
the illness of Carey, the injuries of
Wright and Traynor, Barnhart,s col
lapse as batter, Moore's letdown at
second and wavering pitching staff,
McKechnie's pennant journey has not
taken him over any smooth, well
paved roads this season.
The outstanding feature of the Pi-
rate play recently has beer the splen-
did hitting of George Grantham, the
former Cub. which. along with that