Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1932-09-25
EDGE OVER MACKS
At STAKE IN GAME
Johnson Will Use Regulars.
Club Is a Disappointment
to Capital Fans.
BY JOHN B. KELLER.
w YASHINGTON'S ball club
M a good ball club gone
Y wrong, many feebmakes

its final bow of the sea-
son in Griffith Stadium this
afternoon.
With third place already safely
tucked away, nothing more will be
at stake than the advantage in
the annual battling with the Ath-
letics. The Nationals now hold
the edge over the AS, II games to
10, so they need a win today to
cop the series.
This affair being the final fling, Man.
ager Walter johnson will shoot Al
Crowder at the second-place Mackmen.
Connie Mack never tells before game
time just who his slab choice will be.
However, the boys up Philadelphia way
yesterday were guessing that Lew
Krausse, Highlander, would be on the
firing line for the White Elephants this
afternoon and probably their guess is
as good as any others.
johnson has said he will start the
regular Washington lineup. Mack may
have In some strangers, but It's a safe
bet Jimmy Foxx will be on the job for
the AS. Jimmy's still hankering for a
few home runs.
WINNING more than 80 games in a
w season is no mean feat for any
major league ball club. This has
been done by the Nationals this year.
yet to Capital fans their clubs work
has been disappointment. They ex-
pected more.
As the Nationals have performed in
the last half of the campaign, perhaps
club to enjoy greater success. Over the
early going OF the race the Johnson
led band travelled at little better than
a 500 pace. Since midway of the sea-
son, though, the Nationals have sped
along at clip we'll toward 700.
A startling reversal of form and one
occurring with the club having Carl
Reynolds, player who has done much
valuable hitting for them in the first
half of the campaign. out of action
much of the second half
Capital fandom cannot understand
why club able to make such Roadway
since the middle Of July was unable to
make any worthwhile progress up to
that time.
GENERALLY, Washington has had
" little more to call on in its scrap
ping with the other clubs of the
American League this year than a
smooth-working defense and a pair of
good pitchers. Its batting has been
spasmodic and outside of Monte Weaver
and Al Crowder it has been woefully
weak on the hill.
Although five Nationals who have
been in more than 80 games have bat
fa haf thn ci,It,
has had only three 800 batters in action
regularly Heinie Manush, one of the
leagues best stickerS, and Joe Cronin
have been on the job almost continually
but Sam Rice, Dave Harris, and Carl
Reynolds, other 300 batters, have gen.
orally shared the right field burden.
The greater part of the season has
seen the Nationals take the field with
six batters hitting under the coveted
300 in the lineup. Although some
thing like a .280-class batting club on
paper, the Nationals haven't been
nearly so effective on the field as those
figures seem to indicate.
IT is unusual for a major club having
i two pitchers winning more than 20
games each to wind up in no bet
ter than third place. But the Nationals
have had the unhappy faculty of doing
the unusual-with reverse English-this
year.
In Weaver, the Nationals have put
forth the most sensational rookie
pitcher of the year. His feat of turning
in % wins is remarkable. In C-owder,
the club has one of the greatest vet
Grams of the league. Finishing with
string Of IA wins, Crowder has season
record of % victories against Is de-
facts ClInarh fOI. tho n1d-fjvoar
Back of these two the Nationals have
had little in pitching way. The left
handed part of their curving corps
failed them miserably. Lloyd Brown
started slowly, rallied for time, then
became poorer than ever. Carl Fischer,
OF whom much was expected, never got
going and in mid-June was traded
along with a bunch of cash to the
Browns for Dick Coffman. This proved
a poor deal, for Coffman lost continually
until the last week of the season.
The greatest pitching disappointment
Of the season has been Fred Marberry.
One OF the clubs mainstays last year,
Marberry was counted upon for a great
helping hand this year. But the big
fellow never managed to get under way
until the middle of August. too late to
be of much value to his club.
Last season Marberry won 16 games
and lost four; this season. he has won
eight games and lost four.
THIS season the Washington club
i has had several players SO severely
injured they were out of commits
sion a great length of time. However
these misfortunes didn't handicap the
Nationals particularly.
When Joe Judges leg gave away, Joe
Kuhel came on to fill the veterans
shoes most acceptably at first base and
perform much better at bat. While
Reynolds was out for six weeks nurs-
ing the jaw broken by Bill Dickey's
fist during the Yankee double-header
here July 4, Rice and Harris carried
on well in right field and we're strong
extensively. A crippled limb kept Roy
Spencer from behind the bat much of
the time, but Moe Berg and Howard
Maple filled in acceptably.
Looking for a mechanical reason
why the Nationals have done no better
this season. one may lay it to unbal-
anced hitting and too much mediocre
pitching.
There may be other reasons why the
Washington ball club has enjoyed no
greater success. If there be, one must
search for them beyond the ball field.
q