Evening star., 1932-04-16


i American League, the Ma
tionals now are to get their
first acid test of the season. How
they fare in the quartet of tuSSles
with the circuit champion Ath-
letics, starting today, after trim
ming the not-So-strong Red Sox
three times in a row ought to in
dicate what reasonably may be
expected of Walter Johnson's S
hopefulS in the early going of the
campaign.
In the fitting with the Red Sox in
Washington and Boston the Nationals
HaSned some high-claSS pitching by
CroWder, the veteran, and Weaver. the
recruit. They did not get much hurting
from Marberry, but both Brown and
Fischer. the left-handers. looked pretty
good in relief roles. Defensively the
Washington club acquitted itself ad-
mlrably, but it was not SO startling in
attack.
While the Washington pitching in
general was good in the Red Sox settos
they possibly did not accurately gauge
the strength Of the Nationals hurting
resources. The Red Sox are anything
buG bunch of hard and clever hitters
and pitchers who locked particularly
good against them might not shine SO
brightly against some other lot, particu-
larly the Athletics.
II Manager johnson is able to pro-
ouce in this series of four games with
the league champions two pitchers able
10 check the usually powerful batters
under the guidance of Connie Mack the
NQflOl0olC hn i
peclalIy formidable, at least in the early
contention for the American League
laurels. ~
on the other hand, should the Ath-
letlcs manage to overpower the John
Sonlan mound ensemble the Nationals
might ind themselves out of the going
before the race is fairly well started.
WHILE the Nationals were in train
wv ing In the South much was told
OF their power in attack. Hitting
was to be their forte. it seemed. So far
IT has not been in the championship
games.
OF course, the Red Sox showed the
Nationals some pretty good pitching
put they may expect to see better pitch
ing produced by some other rivals, The
Athletics, for instance, undoubtedly
VIII reveal greater ability on the mound
than did the club Washington defeated
three times.
Just 81 hits were made by the Ma
tlonals in the trio of contests and Of
the 81 just 4 were of the extra-base
variety. No startling punch seen in
that
That astounding offensive which
marked the Nationals progress through
q long string of games in which minor
league pitching was encountered was
mot left in the South. perhaps, but it
has not revealed itself since the club
PECAN facing hurting of big league
brder
The sooner it shows itself the better
FOR Washington slabmen, for they can
Enan fair share of the burden as they
have to date
WHERE'S nothing spectacular about
- Monte Weaver's pitching, but the
recruit purchased late last season
From the Baltimore Orioles goes about
pis business on the hill calmly and pre-
cisely and does a thoroughly work
manlike Job.
In limiting the Red Sox to four hits
and banking them, to 0. yesterday
Weaver certainly wasted no effort. His
pitching has flnesse. He's not of the
type that draws back and fires away at
hls catching target apparently without
thought or care as to how the ball may
go so long as it reaches the mark. In
stead, he seems to carefully weigh the
situation before winding up and try
for a spot" with his throw Each
pitch of Weaver's is a studied pitch.
His control yesterday was somewhat
wabbly and he issued five passes. Sew
eral times it was plain he was en-
oeavoring to keep his pitch low and
pver the outside corner of the plate, but
he threw trifle too low and too wide.
Those slips accounted for three of the
walks the Red Sox got
The only really poor pitching done by
Weaver was in the third inning. when
he walked Lisenbee the Boston hurler,
who opened the inning, by throwing
four high and wide ones in succession.
1T seemed that Weaver was letting the
ball get away from him too quickly.
Rothrock, the next batter. found
Weaver for a single, but then the
Washington hurler steadied and was in
me command of affairs to the finish.
But one Red SoX runner got to third
base and only two others reached
second off Weaver's pitching. He gave
a splendid exhibition. Much more should
be heard OF him this season.
OFF Lisenbee, the former Washington