The Washington times., 1933-07-28


The Griffmen can be put down
as such a team today. For yeS.
terday our gallant band of per.
formers under the direction Of
Manager Joe Cronln went out
and gathered 2 to 0 lead
against the New York Yankees
in the first game of the i'm.
portant series now in progress,
practically gave it away, in fact,
almost saw the complete deci-
sion go against them, then all Of
a sudden unleashed one final
dying grasp to leave the field
with a 10-inning to 2 triumph
in tow, much to the pleasure of
some 10000 who attended to wit.
ness the fun.
In short, fans, it was fight
ing, struggling, breath-taking vic.
tory the Griffs won on the battle
Scared ball field at Griffith Sta
dium yesterday. 1t started out
to be as early as the first in
ming when Buddy Myer opened
the Griffs' end of the first with
triple only to be left stranded
when Charlie Ruffing, the YAM
kee pitcher, retired Goslin,
Manush and Cronin in order, the
latter two by the strikeout route.
Bolton Delivers
It ended in just as dramatic
terms, if not more so, in the
tenth when Pinch Hitter Cliff
Bolton, up for Jack Russell, de-
livered his timely single down
the left field line which scored
Joe Kuhel with the deciding run.
But apparently happenings like
these will always be part OF
Griff- Yankee games. They've cer-
tainly followed the rule in every
respect to date and promise to
keep in momentum until the two
teams have finished meeting
each other for the season.
The pitching the Griffs received
yesterday was all that could be
desired when every conceivable
angle is considered. First off,
Lefty Walter Stewart hurled as
if his whole heart and soul de- !
pended upon a triumph during !
the first eight innings he occupied
the mound, while Jack Russell,
who followed him. twirled just
as strenuously, if not more so,
because the situation called for
topnotch pitching in the final
innings of the game when the
Yanks threatened to almost snatch
the verdict right out Of the fire.
Gehrig Fails
Probably the chief reason why
the Yankees did not win was
because of Lou Gehrig's inability
to crash through with base hit
in the pinches. In the eighth
against Stewart, the big first
baseman rolled weakly to Myer.
with the bases loaded. this put
out ending the frame, while in
the tenth his short fly to Manush
was too close to the infield to
allow Combs to score from third
for what would have proved
very large marker for the Yanks
at the time. Russell was the
pitcher when Gehrig failed in this
frame.
But it was in the ninth where
the Griffs almost threw the game
away. Chapman, first up for
the Yanks. doubled. With the
infield drawn in, Lazzeri shot a
grasser to Kuhel instead of bunt-
ing, and Chapman was caught
between second and third. He
managed to scamper back to sec.
ond in the rundown which fol-
lowed, and all because Bluege's
throw was too late to "get him"
at the middle sack.
Ben Safe Again
Then almost Immediately fol-
lowing. SeWell had a swell chance
to catch Ben off second when
the Yankee performer ambled too
far off the bag on Russell'S first
pitch to Lazzeri. But his throw
was bit off the mark which re-
suited in Chapman's life" again
as the player slid under Cronin
by the time the ball did reach
that section of the diamond.
However, the game is all over
now and the main theme song
today is that the Griffs won and
are in first place by a two-game
margin where only one-game
was held before yester.
day.
Maybe incidents of the same
breath-taking variety will not
occur again in the remaining con-
tests of the series. At any rate
they'll be different, may the
breaks still favor the Griffs in a
set of trays they need more than
ever at this important stage Of
the season,