Evening star., 1927-10-02

/
djatcly his effectiveness dWindled tC
almost nothing.
RiCe's Work Below Par.
Rice only at rare intervals during
/ the season has flashed the ability that
made him SO worth while in other
! years. For nearly the first half of
the flag campaign Sam found it all
! but impossible to drive the ball to
| safety and as he began the struggle
to regain his batting eyp, his work
1tield slumpod into mcdiocrity. At
! times, Sam has been a power at bat
and in the garden. but generally he
! has not rated high in either depart
ment. This failure To produce on the
part Of Il man who had been such a
consistent .300.class hitter and more
than average fielder hurt the Nation
ais no little.
Tho intield has been troublesome,
too, from the start. Shortstop has
been problem for Manager Harris
all season. 1t was thought at the out
set of the campaign that Buddy Myer
would flt quite we'll into the notch
that Roger Peckinpaugh had filed so
capably. Yet Myer failed 10 satisfy
from the outset and in May was
traded for the veteran Topper Rigney
The eX-Red SoX and Tiger short
fielder proved not quite the player
needed, so Manage Harris shifted to
Bob Reeves, youngSter brought up last
year from Georgia Tech.
For player with nothing but col
lege base bah experience behind him,
Reeves did well. but plainly lacked
polish and his frequent erratic per
foTnances marred the clubs defense.
ho hot
consistent, at times looming as a
natural hitter with plenty OF power
and again appearing to he the easiest
sort of a proposition for pitcher.
Yct the former Georgia Tech boy has
revealed enough to convince the
poNersthat be that he is worthy of
much consideration before the make
up of next year 5 edition of the Nation.
ais Is settled.
Weakness i'm Infield.
The club has not been so we'll serv.
cd at first and third bases. While in
the game the veteran Joe Judge has
handled himself in his usual smooth
style around the initial sack But. as
in other seasons, Joe has been quite
prone TO injury and has been out of
action a deal of the time, and the
club has not been able to put n ca
pable substitute at Judges station. At
bat Judge has not had a particularly
successful season, at least not one
favorably with his recent
years in offcnse.
OsSie Bluegc at third base certainly
has not been the agile and adept play
or of recent seasons. He has not been
so many of the remarkable
stops fans were accustomed TO see
him accomplish in the past; he has
not been taking throws cleanly and
has failed to meet incoming runners
at third az he was wont to do before
the 1926 campaign got under way.
Yet Bluege has performed at times in
a manner that would indicate he still
retains much of his fine third basing
ability. Perhaps this has been just an
on season for player still quite
young as base ball players go.
However, the season has not been
without its bright spots for the club.
1t has witnessed the development of
fine young pitchers in Irving Hadley.
Horace Lisenbee and the left handed
Bob Burke. Had!ey and Lisenbee as
regular starters have convinced all
hands that they should be worthy
members Of the Nationals mound staff
for seasons, while the 21-year.old
relief work, looms as fine possibility
for starting duty in the near future.
Braxton Great Help.
The season has shown that the Ma
tionals have in Garland Braxton,
5outhpaw, 4 stout-heartcd pitcher
equaling Fred Marberry as a worker
in relief roles, and one capable of TAX
ing over the major portion of such
work should it be decided to make a
regular starter of Fred. Braxton's
fine performance stamps him as one
Of the most valuable members of the
club.
The season also has brought to
light the fact that Benny Tate de-
serves more consideration as catcher.
Getting an opportunity to work be-
hind the bat frequently after Muddy
Ruel. who caught a fine season, was
granted a much-needed rest, Tate has
performed admirably and should be
seen in action more often next year.
Despite the. many troubles that have
besct them, the Nationals can show
4 fairly good record for the year. They
nave lost but two series, those to the
lcaGue-champlOn Yankees and the
Athletics. The Tigers were
battled TO q stand-off. while the1
Browns, White Sox, indians and Red
SoX were drubbed.
During their winning splurge. the
Nationals went along TO string of
10 victories. The glory of that was
dimmed somewhat when they ran into
4 losing streak OF j. games during
their last tour of the West, but even
that disaster which cost them second
place did not prevent them from fight
ing their way out of the depths to the
snow position
"A good team went wrong this year,
but it's no hollow shell that Manager
Harris has left for the foundation Of
his team for another year.