Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-07-14

r q f5 = y IS 30
The injuries to, the Yankees really
saved the American League race, and
prevented q repetition of the season of
1928, when New York won by 1914
games. Higgins club has had It's
share of misfortunes. Ruth is play.
ing. but stiH under difficulties. His
legs are not yet right. Meusel will
not be back until middle August. The
pitching has sagged. and Pennock.
star of the STAFF; lis showing the effects
of his hard work In the first half of
Whe season, !. Koenig, the youthful
shortstop. has been benched because
Of his Inability to stop grounders in
the pinches.
Yanks Have Much to Spare.
That big Yankee lead has been re-
duced. but there remains a lot of day.
light between the Yanks and the
second place club. When New York
reeled on those is straight in May ]
said those victories would serve as q
valuable reservoir for the midsummer
slump, which was inevitable. The
question is how much defiation that
lead can stand. 1t is my opinion that
1t will be further reduced. but still
feel confident New York will pull
4NGNCllHclSSot i nave ICs
duced the Yankee pennant chances
percentage from .625 to 500.
What has helped the Yankees is
that no club beneath, them has been
capable OF any concentrated drive to
catch up with the faltering New
Workers.. The Athletics. White Sox,
Indians and Nationals have, been
polishing or each other in turn. ~
Recently the Mackmen have shown
substantial Improvement. Their feat
of winning 10 out of Is games from
New York has been q godsend to the
league. The Athletics have clicked
of more hits in the past fortnight.
but they remain a poor seventh in
the vital department OF batting.
Howard Ehmke. the former Red Sox,
has hardly come up to expectations.
He has not added the strength to the
club which Connie Mack confidential
ly anticipated when he sacrificed
Harriss, tHeimach and Bing Miller to
bring the tall finger to Philadelphia.
Toss-Up for Second.
1t remains q toas-up between the
Athletics and the White Sox for Sec
ond place. The White Sox have more
good pitchers and q stronger offense
than Mack, but the Chicago team has
lacked consistency. It Is million
dollar team one sday@ and a. team Of
dubs the next. But when 1t Is re-
called that the White Sox were tall
anders in 1924, 1t is quite feather
in Eddie Collins cap to have the club
In the race two years later.
Cincinnati is not g. great team, and
IL IL does win it will be because of
Pittsburgh's breakdown. Nevertheless,
the Reds deserve great credit for the
Anrh SrryIaf ar uynt rfrO md this Z
punch that they have developed ~
they boom along. Leading their
league in batting with their shQrtstop
hitting 1873, is a trick in itself
Cincinnati owes much OF its recent
success to the fine comeback made
by Carl Mays, the former tfuublks
some Yankee. Hendricks wss on the
point Of letting out Mays when the ]
Reds were slumpinET through the
East a month ago.. As get it Carl
had some trouble with Hendricks and
would have been waived oift had not
Pittsburgh held up waivers. Anyway.
Cincinnati retains Carl. and he has
been winning ever since. DonOhue,
Rixey and Mays recently have been \
steady winners, though Luque Is not
the pitcher he was.
The Pirates have regafneds some OF
the ground lost during that late June
losing streak of seven straight.
though the champions are not playing
the ball that boosters of the club /
think it Is capable of. This is the sea-
son of the year when looked for the
Pirates to show most of their smoke.
They play the weaker teams Of the
East, the Phillies, Braves. Chants and i
Dodgers, for nearly. two solid months,
but the Phillies, doormats for other
clubs, raise the very deuce with the
world champions every time these
Pennsylvania teams get in the same \
arena.
, McKechnie's pitching problem is