The Washington times., 1932-05-25
JUNIOR LOOP
STRENGTH
IN EAST
By BABE RUTH

that the strength is in the East,
AS was generally believed, in spite
of the i'll fortune of the Boston
Red Sox in this interSectional
series. The Sox won two of their
IL games against the Western
teams but, even with this added
In, the East had the better OF
the conflict. The nine straight
victories of the Yankees was the
big factor in the result. Wash
1ngton's failure to get better than
an even break with the western
teams was something OF a sur
prise, as was the inability OF the
Mackmen to do better than break
even with the Indians and Tigers.
An outstanding feature Of his
antersectional clash was the string
of shutouts. From Friday, May
6, to Tuesday, May II, Is games,
of a total of "a played, resulted
in one team being shut out. 1t
isn't likely that any similar
stretch of games in either league
during the season will show any
such highly effective pitching.
Western teams took the greater
part of the whitewash, as ten OF
these games went against them,
with five going against the East
ern teams. The answer is that a
number Of pitchers became par
ticularly effective at the same
time. Some of these pitchers
may not score another ShutouV
all season.
Torment Griffmen
It looks as if the st. Louis
Browns are again going to torment
the Washington Senators IN a
year when Walter Johnson's team
is rated as a strong pennant con-
tender. Surely nothing in the
first six weeks of the playing
season has been more surprising
than the ability of the Browns to
tame the Senators, a feat which
had battled every other team IN
our league.
,Johnson's men had lost only
five of their first "a games this
wear when the Browns dropped
into washington for a four-game
series. The Senators were riding
nigh, at the top of the league,
and Killefer's team was well
down in the second division. More
than that the Browns were having
= rather bad road trip. But they
beat the league leaders four in a
row, shutting washington cut in
the first two games and running
up big scores in the next two.
The four setbacks dropped the
Senators out of the league leader
ship.
Recalls Other Seasons
The fact that one team wins
four straight from another IS not
in itself surprising, because that
is likely to happen anytime. But
when the st. Louis Browns can
step up that way and knock
off Washington it recalls other
seasons and emphasizes one OF
( those peculiar twists of baseball
which defy explanation. TWO
wears ago Washington might have
won a pennant but for its inabil-
itv to beat the Browns. washing
ton players and washington fans
will tell you to this day that st.
Louis knocked the Senators out OF
a pennant that year.
On the seasons play in 1880
the Browns were a poor sixth, a
full 80 games behind the second
place Senators. That year
Washington ran riot against the
Yankees with something like IT
victories in % games, and John
sons team also won the seasons
series with the Athletics. The
Senators, in fact, were the only
team to gain the seasons honorS
over the champion AS, who went
on to world championship. But
shat Washington team which
could beat the AS and the
Yankees couldn't win the sea-
sons honors from the Browns.
No Explanation
There is no way to explain it.
The same condition has prevailed
before in baseball and you will
see instances of it every year,
There is a striking example of
- it now in the National League
where the Cincinnati Reds ap-
pear to be so helpless against the
st. Louis Cardinals. In 1929 and
again in 1880 the Reds won only
three games from the Cards,
losing 19 each year. Last year
the Reds won two from st. Louis
and lost 20. This year Cincin-
natl is much stronger and has
been well ahead of the Cards
almost from the opening day of
the season, but Streets team won
five of the first six games played
with the Reds.
I rather look for the st. Louis
Cincinnati spell to fade out as
this season goes along. 1t is a
certainty that Cincinnati will win
more than three games from the
Cardinals, something it couldn t
do in any of the three years. But
that st. Louis-Washington puzzle
may go on and on. Surely there
was every reason for the Sena,
tors to show to advantage this
spring. They had outplayed all
opponents until the Browns came
along and then in four days they
lost almost as many games as
they had lost in five weeks.