Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-07-28

tionals hope to recover a
deal of the ground they
lost during their recent western
invasion, so that they may again
be in the thick of the pennant
running when they return to the
West in September for the last
time this season. During this
stay in the East the Washington
club is scheduled to play 80
games, 81 of them in Griffith
Stadium. It has kept itself
around the top of the league at
the expense of Eastern rivals,
who are to be encountered in %
of the 80 games, and it has been
q whale of home club this year.
Before they have the Western clubs
as guests for the last time in the cam
paign, the Nationals will carry the big
fight to the Athletics. OF the next en-
fragments on the Nationals books four
are with the world champions. Two are
to be contested in Washington this week
and as many in Philadelphia next week.
Between these short series the john
son band will have an opportunity to
widen the gap between 1t and the third
place Yankees for they are to be met
in New York in a double header Satur-
0dX anu III SAAlSAO OAA"S ~ASAANNJ
Tuesday of next week.
Thus the schedule offers the Nation
ais great chance to repair some OF
the damage they suffered during their
second invasion of the West this year.
And TO help them along little they
have scheduled for next Sunday In
Washington twin bill with the Red
Sox, an -outfit they have trimmed IL
times In IA starts.
The last home stand against the West
will open August 8. 1t will be IT.
game affair. Then will follow more tus-
sells with the AS, Yankees and Red
Sox. If the Nationals perform in this
impending sojourn in the East as they
did in their last in the same section
when they won 20 of "a games played,
they should be pretty much in the race
when they head for the West Septem-
Der z.
.VYTHAT a walloping the washington
w club took in its second invasion
of the West. In all, 19 games
were played and IL were bagged by the
opposition. Not series was won by the
Nationals. The Tigers licked them three
games to two, the Browns three games
to one and the White Sox three games
to one. In Cleveland they managed to
break even with the Indians in SIX
games.
A poor record, very poor, for club
In the pennant chase. At that, however,
the Nationals managed to stick IN Sec
ond place.
The West has hurt the Washington
cause much this season. OF 81 games
started In that section Manager Walter
Johnson's club has won but IL. They
have done no better than break even in
eight games in Detroit, in ChAeSgo they
have lost four of seven gamGs~-A Cleve-
land five of eight games and in st.
Louis six of eight games. Plenty OF
punishment there.
When they went West the second
time the Nationals underwent serious
form reversal. Their pitchers, who had
performed remarkably for more than
three weeks. became unsteady, their
batting, while respectable, so far as
averages went, was not timely, there
was more faulty fielding than formerly
and worst of all there was general
let-down in spirit. AS long as they
were setting the pace the Nationals
looked themselves, but once caught or
overhauled more often than not they
showed no fight.
THE loss of their hitting and fielding
i star, Heinie Manush. shortly before
they left the East was quite blow
TO them Heinie had provided the
DuuCn LIl6y ildQ ldCkCQ carly III
campaign and his flne effort was an
inspiration to the others. When leg
injury forced his retirement the club
became IMPOSED and it went from bad
20 worse as the Western tour progressed.
Not until Manush's return to the line
up in the final series. with the White
Sox. did the Nationals resume their
normal pace.
ERED MARBERRY was the only
IL really successful pitcher the Ma
tionals showed in the West this
month. He started five times and scored
three wins and in the other games the
Nationals we're victors, although credit
for the wins went to hurlers who sue
ceeded Marberry. Lloyd Brown won
twice both times as a relief man, and
Inn once when NE attempted to rescue
xAEaff mate Al Crowder won one game
and lost two Bump Hadley won one, an
extra inning game in which he took over
the pitching task late. and lost three.
$ari Fischer lost one, Bob Burke, as
relief slabman, lost two and Sam Jones
as a starter lost three. Jones, though,
pitched well in two of the three losses
and was the victim Of poor support more
than anything else.
That it is quite possible for club
TO have a fine batting mark and not
gain much from it is seen in the batting
statistics of the Washington club The
Nationals have hit for 1902 over the
season and during the 10 games of the
second Western invasion they wallopeo
for .299, an average better than held by
most of their rivals in the league, yet
they took severe lacing.
Turing the trip the Nationals got
- many passes and they whacked 1913
safeties TO score LOT runs. That
was averaging 1.85 hits to the run.
That average is not fairly indicative Of
what the Nationals accomplished with
their hitting However, 4 OF their 19
games were big score games for them
and likewise big hitting games. In
them. the Nationals gathered SO hits
for Al runs. Deduct these hits and runs
from the trip totals and the johnson
band made 1875 hits for go runs In 10
games. That was averaging 225 hits
per run. A lot of hitting for run
when considered in bulk.
Some of those who slammed the ball
for fat averages did not do the slam
ming when 1t would have helped
greatly. They we're remarkable hitters
with no one on the runway, but when
hits meant runs they lacked power.
Others who drove over runs were
streaky hitters. Their drive was con-
fined to two or three games, each of
which they pounded over a flock OF
tallies. There was nothing consistent
in the Washington attack during the
tour.
all except the pitchers and one or two
substitutes who did little playing:
psnush .......s 500