New Britain herald., 1929-05-10

Habit is a powerful force, as may be seen from the standing of the clubs in the American league today. Yes, there they are. with 8 percent axe of 750 just when everybody had agreed that the pupils of Prof. Mil- Ter Higgins were plunging into the midst of batting slump overdue for almost three years.
 At the precise moment when the other seven clubs began to take hope, the Yankees began to hit-and they haven't stopped yet. Eight aolid blows of Sammy Gray in eight rounds and two more off Ed Stre- lecki in the ninth netted the cham pions enough margin for to , victory over the Browns at Sports mans park yesterday, cleanup of three games in St. Louis, six straight in the West and seven straight, East and west.
 The death blow yesterday was dealt by Signor Antonio Lazzeri. who thoughtlessly drove one of Gray's choice blenders into the left field seats in the sixth after Koenig had doubled and Ruth and Gehrig had singled. The big inning not , only broke l to l tie beyond re. pair, but also placed the game be- yond the reach of any generosity of Henry Johnson. who celebrated his return to duty as starting pitcher by franking nine Browns to first base
 The wildness of Mir. Johnson did little or no damage, as the Browns were too busy ducking Yankee blows to do any substantial hitting on their own account. They did get seven hits from time to time, but not in the pinches. Eleven of the Howley troops died on base
 The position of the Yankees is little different today from what it was this time last year. except that the Athletics are holding to the pace of the champions. The Browns, ambitious before the Yankees began to hit. already are four losing games behind the Hugmen and three to the rear Of the second place Athletics. Again habit figures. The Yankees have traditional habit of knocking or In person any club that seems dangerous. and it appears that the Browns unwittingly advertised them- selves as something of a ball team by cleaning up the West before the Champions arrived.
 The Athletics matched strides with the Tanks yesterday by winning their fnal clash in Chicago by 3 to behind the steady pitching of George Earshaw. The Macks now have only Cleveland and Detroit te face but 50 have the Yankees; which makes 1t unreasonable to suppose that the McGillicuddy troops will register any marked gain through the rest of the invasion. The Yankee lead over the As neverthe- less remains just half a game. and almost anything can mapped to half . game.
 Washington broke up Detroits six-game winning streak yesterday. { to ,. perhaps to ease the shock of the Yankee arrival at Navin Field today. Cleveland nosed out the Red Sox by | to ! in . we'll played game.
 The reaction from a no-hit party found the Giants cracking up under the impact of Earl Sheely's eighth inning home run at the Polo Grounds yesterday. Two Pirates were aboard when Earls mace de- scended, and Burleigh Grimes pulled out his sixth straight triumph over the Clan McGraw since he was traded down the river to Pittsburgh before the start of the 1928 season. The score was to 3. including a beautiful homer within the field by Bill Terry in the fourth.
 Meanwhile the Cubs and the Car dinals were marching step for step with each other into a more sub stantial lead With Old Alex the Great at his best, the Cards trimmed Harry Seibold and the Braves by 5 to 1 in Boston while the Cubs were Gorging on milk and honey in Flat bush. The Robins were subdued by II to 2. and even the two eluded Drillmaster Robinson until the final round. when Jake Flowers hit a homer with Hendrick on base. Hack Wilson helped the Cubs with his hfth home run and Kiki Cuyler got three hits as Perce Malone register ed his fifth straight of the season.
 The Cub-Cardinal dual triumph left Generals Mccarthy and South worth running one-two in that or der with just game between them Boston still is only slightly to the rear
 The Cincinnati Reds broke up a ] three-game winning streak for the Phillies when Jakie May came to the rescue of Kenneth Ash and pulled the HerdriCks troops through