Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-07-04
REFUSES TO WORRY
OVER FLOP IN WEST
BIuege Sensation on Road.
Changed Batting Stance
Harmful to Cronin.
BY JOHN b. KELLER.

BY JOHN b. KELLER.
"A YEW YORK, July Any
M ball club isn't shot, by any
means" says Walter john
son of his Nationals.
eve had a tough time OF 1t IN
the West, true, but We'll come
back, believe, and show the 1oiks
at home there still is plenty OF
fight in the club"
Being held to an even breaK IN
Is games by the not-So-good west
ern outfits and losing ground 10
the league-leading Athletics TO the
extent of one game has not les
sened the confidence Of the wash
ington manager in his charges.
"Why I'm not worrying about our
poor trip" declared Walter. we ougnt
to have done better, for we are lar
superior to those clubs that beat us.
perhaps we would have gone along at
a faster pace but for the hot weather.
No doubt it bothered several OF the
PLAYERS considerably. I'm not onerlng
that as an alibi, however. 1t was just
as hot for the clubs that beat us. we
simply did not play the game we are
capable of playing but were TOO gooo
to remain in slump any great length
Of time. ~ :, 49, Climb Of
all. and I know the players haven't lost
faith in themselves, even though tney
were pretty downcast after the string
of defeats they suffered Down in their
hearts, though, they feel they are
strong enough to carry on the fgnt!
and that spirit Is bound to assert itself
soon," contends the manager.
Our club is a good ball club ana
we'll be in that pennant fight right
down to the finish
TOE CRONINS failure in the West to
bat I'D to the fine standard he had
set in the East Is attributed to too
much experimenting with his stance
at the plate. After the first few days
of his slump Joe abandoned that char
acteriStic Suuared-off stance and tried
several ways perhaps suitable to other
players who were hitting, but too
strange to him to improve his batting
AS result Cronin steadily went from
bad to worse at bat.
Other Nationals cautioned Joe against
attempting to change his batting stance.
"Stick to the style you followed when
hitting so WELL" he was advised.
Though things aren't breaking so well
for you, don't give up style that you
know helped you at bat" veterans OF
the club told Joe. "A batting slump
Is nothing new. The best of them have
them. But really good batter doesn't
shake of a slump by changing his way
of swinging at the ball. Stick to the
old style and you'll get out of the slump
quicker than in any other way"
But Joe persisted in pressing and ex-
perimenting at the plate, despite the
sage warnings of the old-timers, and
consequently did not help himself.
Now he admits his mistake and said
today he was ready to resume his usual
stance and continue it. Il may not
get going right away" he said. But
realize now that after getting set in a
batting way there's no good reason to
try others when one begins to miss the
hits From now on for me it's the
stance at the plate that put me up
around the top Of the batters. II l
slump, too bad, but I'll fight 1t out
along the old line hereafter"
WASHINGTON was not without its
w sensational player during the re-
cent swing around the West, despite
a rather poor showing for club with
high hope of battling to the American
League pennant. Ossie Bluege never
before played finer base ball around the
third sack than he did on the held OF
the inland sector of the circuit.
In all four cities where the Ma
tionals performed Ossie drew great ap-
plause from the fans-and in those
western towns the fans are quite biased,
too-and was featured almost daily IN
the SPORTS columns of the Midwestern
press.
Plays seemingly impossible were al
most daily occurances with Bluege. he
scintillated as a retriever OF bunts,
rushing in for bare-hand pick-ups ana
making marvellous throws without a
chance to recover his balance. Leap
ing catches of liners and stops OF
particularly hard-hit balls were made
to look easy by the Nationals third
baseman.
At times it appeared Bluege must
have reached back of himself to get
drives that looked certain hits as they
left the bat. In every way his fielding
was marvellous
And to make himself more valuable
to his club, Ossie was one of the few
Nationals not to fall into the almost
general batting slump. In fact, he
stung the ball so viciously he made a
trip average well above his season mark.
After the independence day double
header the Nationals are to make a
quick getaway. They are to arrive
in Washington around midnight to-
night. Home will be pleasant to them
after the sWelterinP daYs of this tour