Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-08-10
BY JOHN b. KELLER.

LEVEN games back Of the
- Yankees after trouncinG the in.
dians, 10 ., yesterday, the
IL Nationals were to enter a four.
game series with the league
leaders this afternoon with only an
outside chance for the pennant. even
should they sweep the set. Bucky
Harris IS a fighter in base ball. one
of the greatest In the game. and he
heads a fighting lot Of players. too
but the odds are greatly against the
Nationals in this years flag chase.
-Four victories for the Washington
warriors would leave them still seven
full games hack Of the pace settlers
with the Yanks having - more games
to play and the locals a. The NapkS
then could drag along NJ n fffty-fifty
rate and capture the flaG for the sec
ord successive time. unless the Ma
tioTais won 80 OF their remaining ~
enc5 Gcnonts.
For Washington 20 set the cham
Ti0TShjN. the YankS would have 10
slump and slump badly from now on
and the Nationals would have 10 play
At 4 terrific clip to the finish Of the
campaign. Had Rucky Harris bunch
many more games 10 play With the
EucN,oN after the series starting TO-
d9y is f1aC chances would be much
brighter. bat only three more remain
on the schedule after The present lot
IS disposed of and these three will he
contested at the fag end Of the race.
Set Loss Would Annoy Yanks.
However. four wins in a row or
even three wins in four starts by the
Nationals IN this series would haraSs
the Yankees no little and certainly
So -. d
final fight through the Western sec.
tor that is 10 get under way next
Tuesday. Such a success might mean
that the flag struggle would be carried
rieht down 10 the three-game series
between Nationals and Yankees that
- 10 he played in New York on
September 90 and 80 and September !.
On the other hand. only an even
break or worse in this series and
thereafter the Nationals simply will
be playing out the season. 1t would
he a case Of a very good ball club
waging hopeless fight.
There are many who believe a
Yankee slump has started They
remember last year when the New
Workers went into August With
tremendous lead. then cracked and
barely managed 10 stave off a de-
terrined flag hid made by the Indians
But those looking for the Yanks TO
crack perhaps do not stop 20 think
how badly they must crack to lose all
their advantage.
Won With Low Rating.
At this stage of the campaign last
sea son. the Yankees were in first place
with a lead of nine and one-haIf
games over the Tribe. The Yanks had
As games TO go 10 the finish and the
Indians, 40. The Yanks won but 20
of the As, while the Indians won 25
Of their -. Yet the Yankees staggered
to the end and victory by three full
games. They won a pennant by TAX
ing only 81 games. The Yanks' win
ming percentage for the year was SOL
The Tigers won in 1908 with .5SS, the
only club in the American League to
get a flag with a lower winning per-
centage than the New Workers had
last year.
At last. the Nationals yesterday dis.
covered a left-hander Of Jack Mccall.
listers pitching staff they could solve
and managed to get an even break in
the series with the Tribe to make their
record for the home stand against the
Western clubs read IL victories and 4
defeats. But beating the massive Gar
land Buckeye was nothing new to
the Washington athletes. They have
trimmed him regularly since he DON
ned Cleveland uniform.
They socked Buckeye for 10 hits
which mixed with three passes and
one OF the three errors charged against