Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-09-06

IA I hand information Tnr i no on the
NV Yankees, now striving 50
' desperately to hold then
slim lead over the Athletics,
I wens to see them play their double
header with Washington yesterday.
The first conclusion l reached was
that not half enough credit has been
given Miller Higgins.
Most of us have carelcsSly assumed
that Higgins was handling a team
which would not take much managing
to win a pennant. We have been de-
claring that his club should walk In:
that he has a team OF supcrplaysrS.
The main thing wrong with that Is the
verb. He had a team of SuperplayerS.
If Higgins pulls the team he nov
has through to victory he deserves
double portion of praise. II has great
players on it, but it IS not great team
With Lazzeri in there 1t might ioo'
a lot better The San Francisco ltalial
was the king pin which held tne m M
field together. Both his spirit and his
bat are missed Without Lazzeri koenlg
isn't within 30 per cent of his full cI-
flciency. It is q common thing TO maze
one ball players value Increased or de-
creased by the man playing next TO
him. Arthur Fletcher used to say that
he was a vastly better shortstop when
HerZog was playing thhd paSe'
Yanks' Right Side Strong.
The Yankees are strong on the right
side. Ruth and Gehrig are great play
ers. Durocher is a good fielder, buL
he can't hit with LazZeri. nor is n
as institutional to his team. COMBS
is, to my mind. AS valuable as any
center fielder in the game. Meusel Is
a fine player, but ne hasn't been hit
ting as we'll as he used to hit. The
left side of the Yankee infield is weak
| and the catchers are not mucn Win
| the stick. Not one of them has batteo
/ in a dozen runs this season.
The truth is that the team batting
strength of the Yankees has fallen off.
What always made them a terror 10
other teams was the terrific power OF
their attack. They never worried over
a few runs, because they always figured
that they could blast the opposing
pitcher off the hill and win battles
through the superiority OF their ar
tillery. So they could. but they can't
&c it any more or, at least they can
count on doing it.
The batting order of the yankees
used to be known as murderers row.
II a pitcher could hold those sluggerS
safe one time out of three he went out
ana bought IIAIIloClA oAi6AA' NO
appreciation.
Sad sam Jones beat the Yanks yes
terdav for the second time in a week
and scored his fourth straight victory
over them.
It is true that the Yanks did some
weird base running, that Pipgras walk
ed a pitcher with man on base and
nobody out. and that Robertson booted
a bunt about, but what would nave
three runs by the enemy have meant 10
the Yankees in the old days? Less than
a raindron on an April day. II tney
don't start slamming the ball again,
murderers' row is likely to become
legend and Ring Lardner probably Will
nickname the Yankees the hitleSs Won
ders.
To be sure, the Higgins boys did
considerably better in the second game.
but in that contest they got accom-
modati1g help from Washington. That
they are not the clouting club of old
is plainly shown by the attitude of OPP
posing teams. When pitcher pitches
to Babe Ruth, as Burke did. with men
on second and third and one out, you
can jolly well make up your mind that
all the pomp of yesterday comes close
to being one with Nineveh and Tyre.
1t is true that the Babe avenged this
insult to his dignity by scoring both
runners with single, but in former
times the catcher would frantically
have signaled for four balls, just as
wide of the plate as possible. Now the
pitchers are b. ginning to treat Ruth
not as the Sultan of Swat. but as any
commoner.
Yankee Pitchers Not to Blame.
When the Yanks hit they make tn
Kohinoor look like a glass marble.
When they don't hit they are just an
other ball club. They can't blame
their present troubles on their pitch
ers. They have been getting pitchinG
which was plenty good enough. The
just have been getting men on tn"
bases and leaving them there.
| Meanwhile the Athletics have been
approaching like bat out of the lower
region. They have two immediate dis
at home and they play a double-header
with the Boston Red Sox today and
another one tomorrow. Two double
headers in two days are tough on any
club which is trying to make a clean
sweep of its remaining games, although
if you have to play double headers if
may be. just as well to play them with
the Red SOX.
The Mackmen play their fifth game
in three days with Boston ON Saturday
and then move to New York for those
last four games with the Yanks. This
should be a small world series.
The double-header at the Yankee
Stadium on Sunday is likely to break
attendance records All reserved seats
have been sold for days, but there are
some $4,000 unreserved seats and quite
bit of standing room. The crowd is
likely. in case of good break in the
weather. to move out to the grounds
carly Not only will newspaper men
from New York and Philadelphia be on
hand, but other big league and minor
league cities have announced their in
tention of sending reporters
A big time should be had by all
| Copyright 1928. by North American News
| Daner Alliance.l