Evening star., 1927-05-04

emily are paying little attention
to the critics who saw little
chance for Bob O'Farrell's team
to repeat this year. / was not
particularly impressed fifth the CARDS
in the South, but / have seen the light
At the start of the season | placed 81.
J,o,,is fourth, with a pennant percent
age of .450. Last week it was jacked
nm to third. and today / rank it second.
The Pirates took quite flop after
winning seven of their first eight
!, games. and the Pittsburgh percentage
on the pennant chances exchange has
been lowered from 600 to $50. The
Cardinals were boosted so points TINS
week, from .475 to .52o.
O'Farrelrs catching has been moth
ing short of amazing. Alexander.
Sherdel. Haines and Rhem have
pitched unhittable and unbeatable
ball. Haines heretofore has never
been considered as much of Spring
pitcher. but he has been WOW so far.
Rhem Jumped in without any train
ing and is getting off to as good a
start as in 1926.
= THE Pirates suffered their first real
. blow in ST. Louis, and it was blow
:, to the Pirate morale as much as any
thing else. Two of the Pittsburgh
twirling aces, Aldridge and Kremer,
4 held the Cards to three runs in two
:. pames. but the Buccaneers lost both.
AIeck beat the former, 2 to i, and
Hajnes beat Kremer, ! to o. Those
were hard defeats for DOME Bush to
take, and his club has been hounder'
!. ing more or less ever since.
Still Favors Pirates.
The only apprehension felt about the
Pirates has been in the pitching de-
partment. I would not admit that the
Pirate pitching was as bad as some
: would paint it. However, so far the
clubs pitching staff has consisted
: largely of Kremer and Meadows. The
: spectacled Carmen Hill has failed TO
show the expected improvement and
= Joe Bush's arm apparently is through
But Pittsburg has strong offensive
power and the Pirates still are my
=, favorites.
: In the first 10 days of the race
the Giants did not look any too good,
: but recently they have taken full ad-
vantage of the soft picking in the
/ East, And as my co-worker, John
:. McGraw, pointed out the other day,
: pennants are won on the victories
: which are tammed down the throats
= of the second division teams. AS
! rule the contenders come very close
= to breaking even.
3 Hornsby continues to hit in his
i best form. Judging from his early
Q start, he is due for another 400 bat.
: ting average, and he has been a big
; factor in New York's recent run OF
victories.
Reds Counted Out.
The Cubs, my National League
: ''dark horses again are going a little
: better. but il doesn't look now as
: though Mccarthy will have as formid-
able a team q ne did last year. Gin
cinnati already mas shown enough to
convince even its most loyal hackers
T. that the club will not be contender
as it was year ago.
Darcy Flowers should brace up the 1
weakened Dodger infield, but he is |
only an average player, and Brooklyn
needs a new team outside of the bat
teries. The Phillies continue to hold
UP, and with Carlson, Scott, Ferguson
and Pruett going fairly well, they
should put up a fight for the top of
the National Leagues second division.
The Braves already have blown up.
AS I now see the National League
race. it looks like Pittsburgh, St
Louis and New York fighting it out
for the pennant, a big gap in the mid
die, and then Chicago, Cincinnati,
Philadelphia, Boston and Brooklyn on
the other end of the procession
In the American League my dope
is coming out pretty well. / placed
the Athletics and Yankees in group /,
with the Tigers the outside contender.
After going through their first four
game series at Yankee Stadium with
out winning a game, the Athletics
have braced up and now are right up
with the American League champions.
AS Come to Life.
However, am surprised at the
weak pitching of the Athletics. There
is scarcely a game in which Connie
Mack gets by with his starting pitcher.
Eddie Rommel has been almost use
less so far, and Ehmke has not per-
formed up to expectations. Hard hit
ting, which has overcome a lot of big
leads, has given the club its victories.
And Cobb, the 40-year-old gladiator,
has been in. almost every Philadelphia
rally.
Huggins' pitching staff was pretty
well knocked to pieces last week, and
just as little Miller was in a quandry
as to who he would pitch, a lot of
rain and cold descended on New York,
and the Yankees put in three days
toasting their toes. That gave Ruether
a chance to recover from a wrenched
side, Hoyt to regain his strength after
colu ana Pennock q lew more days
10 get over an injury to his foot.
Babe Ruth's batting start has not
: been as impressive as that of Rogers
Hornsby on the Giants, but / think
this talk about Ruth having "Kleig
eyes" is a lot of bunk. The Babe will
be right up with the leading hitters
in another week.
Griffs Need johnson.
The American League brand of
pitching seems to be pretty poor all
along the line. Washington has 13
pitchers. but many of them are little
more than names on the score card.
Thurston, former White Sox, won a
well pitched game for Bucky Harris,
put lately he, too, has been taking his
bumps. They need old Walter John.
son for the anchor man of the staff.
Walter is about ready TO resume firing,
and he is needed.
Ray Schalk is getting about as good
pitching as any manager in the league,
and his team is giving a splendid ac-
count of itself. Old Roger Peckin-
paugh has been benched, and Bill
Iiunnefield is now playing shortstop
and hitting well. Aaron Ward. the
CORNER Yankee, is hitting down with
the pitchers
Big George Uhle is doing little for
The Indians this Spring, and Cleveland
2s getting off to an uncertain start.
Bernie Neis, Speakers successor in