Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-07-11

Harris hurlers are likely 10
find plenty to do in Detroit.
Club batting statistics OF the
American League do not in
dictate fairly the offensive strength OF
the Tigers. whom the Nationals are to
tackle in a series of five games to
he PLAYED in four days, starting TO-
morrow. George Moriarty's regulars
generally are real pitcher punishers, a
lnt of maulers apt to make an after
noon miserable for an opposing slab
man at any time.
Latest figures for club batting show
the Tigers to be macing the hall at
about .290 clip. And there are four
clubs in the junior major circuit sock
ing the apple better than the Bengal
bunch. The Washington club is not
one Of the four. though. Yet a
perusal of the batting averages OF the
men now playing daily under Man
Rger Moriarty's direction shows the
Tigers to he much more formidable
in attack than might be expected
from their club average.
Jack Warner. who plays third base
and heads the batting order for
Moriarty, has a rating of .2S0 with
the fail. Following Warner in the
hitting list is young Charley Gehring-
err, second sacker. All Gehrincer
slams the hall for is .335. Moriarty
kept Gehringer on the bench for
time this season, using the veteran
Marty McManus at the keystone
sack. Marty, though, hit for only
.345, so it's no wonder the young fell
low was put on the job
Heinie Manush. centerfielder, holds
third place in the Tiger attacking
order and he has been banging the
ball for an even 800 throughout the
campaign. But Heinie has been hit
ting much better than that recently,
a poor spell at bat during the early
part of June preventing his season
figures from being fatter.
Wingo i'm Cleanup Role.
In the cleanup position of the De-
troit order, is Red Wingo, despite a
season hitting mark of only .219. Red,
PLAYING leftfield as an understudy to
that rotund swatter Bob Fothergill
while the latter is temporarily out of
action, is another whose general aver
age does not reveal his present bat
ting worth. Red is biting the ball
at a great rate now and is really
dangerous man whenever ne steps
to the plate.
Right behind Wingo come two
sturdy sluggers. the powerful Harry.
Heilmann and the agile Johnny Neun.
Heilmann. who refused to be Kept
from his rightfield job very long this
season, is banging away at 1888 rate
and he is getting plenty of extra
base hits, too. Neun wrested the
first base task from LII Blue mainly
because the latter hit for only .27l.
Neun has been hitting for $40. In
seventh place. Jack Tavener peppery
little shortstop. has clubbing aver
age of PIT. That is a dozen points
better than he hit last year.
Larry Woodall and John Brassler,
sharing the catching job for the
Tigers are clouting in fine style.
Woodall mas a season mark OF .34l
and Bassler one of .319. They are
regular hitters.
There are no wonders with the
fail among the hurlers of the Ben
gals. But Moriarty does not need any
sluggers in the ninth berth of the
batting order with such an army of
offensive talent stringing along from
the lead-off to the eighth position.
incidentally. to make them more |
formidable the Tigers have been
playing such a fine game afield this
season that they now are second only
to the Yankees in defensive ability, |
30 it would seem the Nationals have
their work cut out for them during
the next four days. The series will
be opened with single game to-
morrow, the dodble-header to be play
ed not being scheduled until Wed
nesday.
Red-HOt Series Due.
The series ought to he of the red
hot variety. The fight in the Ameri-
can League outside OF first and last
places isn't so worse. The top and
cellar positions virtually are definitely
settled. 1t doesn't seem possible for
any club to catch the Yanks, unless
they should meet with series of fear
full accidents. Nor does any club ap-