Evening star., 1932-06-28
OPTIMISM FOUNDED
ON RECORD IN EAST
Fears No Drop Into Second
Division as Yankees, AS
Are BattIed.
BY JOHN B. KELLER.

n yEW YORK, June 28.-Play-
M ing eight games in seven
4 days with their great
rivals, the Yankees and
the Athletics. the Nationals must
battle desperately to remain in
the upper bracket of the Amer
lean League.
Thrown back to fourth place
yesterday as they idled while the
AS twice walloped the Red Sox,
Johnson's charges can i'll afford
to lose much ground between now
and next week as both the In
dianS and the Browns, in the sec
ond division, are too close to the
first for comfort.
In fact, the Nationals are but one
and a half games ahead of the lower
lot Of the league and unless they break
even at least in their tussling with New
York and Philadelphia they may find
themselves down under after July 4.
Manager johnson, however, has high
hope of his club keeping its head up.
He feels that his hurting staff, which
for some time has not been functioning
so very WE'LL is in better trim now and
that real results from it may be ex-
pected. OF course, johnson doesn't look
for any great splurge by his club at
present, but at that he looks for no
damaging slump.
johnson points to the Nationals
record for their battling with the
Yankees and the Athletics. His club
has licked the Yanks in of Is
games and it has trounced the AS in
z of a dozen meetings. His club
does its best fighting against these
rivals, the Washington manager con-
tends, and he fears no let-down by the
Nationals with the issue squarely up to
them.
A FTER all, there's good reason for
n Manager Johnson's optimism. The
East has been the pleasant spot
for the Nationals. OF their 81 victories,
they have scored "a against rivals OF
the leagues seaboard sector. While 10
have been scored over the last-place
Red Sox, no other club In the circuit
can show as fine a record against the
Yanks as Washington's and only the
New Yorkers have defeated the Ath-
letics more than has the Capital crew.
The Western contingent has held
back the Nationals. In all, the johnson
band has played 26 games with the
inland outfits and has won but 13 OF
them That's not the kind of base ball
to get a pennant- aspiring club any
where.
unfortunately, the Nationals have
little more tussling with the East this
season. After winding up a week S
games with the Yanks and AS they will
have but five more engagements with
the leading New Yorkers and only six
more with the third-place Mack horde.
Seven more are to be played with the
Red Sox.. That's 18 more games with
Eastern foes.
Different with the schedule with the
Westerners. After July 4. the Nation
ais still win have 81 games to play with
the clubs of the inland sector, "a in
Grifith Stadium in Washington and
% out West. That doesn't make the
fith's hirelings.
WHILE here the Nationals viii be
wv showing their wares to their big
boss as well as to New York fam
dom. President Griffith came up with
his club last night and during the
pastiming today and tomorrow VIII nave
q seat in a field box right next to the
Nationals dugout. He'll be watching
closely. Griffith, who undoubtedly
knows more base ball than any other
major league club owner Of today, never
misses a move in a ball game.
The Washington prexy will leave New
York after tomorrow's game, but he ex-
poets to rejoin his club in Philadelphia,
where it is to play three Tits the last
two days of the week.
other Washington fans are here for
the two-game series, among them Bill
Richardson, vice president Of the club