Evening star., 1936-03-24

last few days had drawn attention to
what appears to be the only current
question mark concerning the young
infielder. Against the Cincinnati Reds
in Tampa last Saturday the kid threw
away a ball that cost 7-to-5 decision.
Yesterday he tossed another ball away
in identical fashion to aid the Mon
treal Royals in building up a 4-to-0
lead In an exhibition tilt eventually
won BY the Griffs. IA to a.
Harris Cites Own Case.
I EW1S, upon whose head has poured
nothing but words of praise, was
not unaware of the manner in which
he created the impression OF a faulty
wing. and Harris, fearful he might lose
confidence, took him aside before turn
ing to his critics.
IF you think you're scattery,
Buddy" he told the youngster, you
should have seen me when was your
age. I was twice as wild and I only
had half the distance you have to
throw. Forget it."
While Harris was taking initial pre-
cautions against Lewis losing conf
dence, one of the real heart tugs OF
this training season was forthcoming,
A little later the man who is losing his
Job to boy stepped into the picture.
Ossie Bluege, the veteran whose years
are not in keeping with the Washing
ton clubs rebuilding policy. drew
Lewis aside.
Il know Just what you're doing.
Buddy" explained Ossie. Il watched
you yesterday when you made that bad
peg. Unconsciously. you don't watch
Joe Kuhel when you make your throw
but, instead, you watch the runner
and throw half-blind to first base"
Bluege Offers Cure.
"THATS IT." chimed IN Harris.
= That's all there Is to Lewis arm
trouble as lot of people would like
to view 1t. He hasn't got the best arm
in the league but it's good enough. If
he can't make the grade don't know
o thing about ball players and I'll ad-
nit defeat. But for the time being
have patience with the boy.
The pep talk he received from Harris
and Bluege didn't hurt Lewis. whose
thumb on the right hand. incidentally,
has been stiff since boyhood. The tail
North Carolina youngster took 1t pretty
hard in Tampa when he picked up a
grounder hit by Billy Myers of the
Reds and tossed it away for a two
base error to open the fifth inning.
The miscue directly was responsible
for the scoring of four unearned runs.
enabling the Reds to take Al lead
and hold it to the end thereby becom-
ing the first major league club to whip
the Nationals.
Yesterday at Tinker Field. with the
score at 90. Buddy picked up a
grounder by Sankey to open the third
inning and made a three-base wild
throw. 1t started Montreal on four
run rally against Earl Whitehill, who
was making his first appearance of the
year. Eventually the Nationals. held
hitless for three frames. got the range
and blasted the Royals to fare-the-
we'll.
Whitehill, Newsom Impressive.
WH1TEH1LL despite leaving the
game with our side trailing, 40,
was impressive in his debut He
breezed through the first couple of
innings. and while he was hit hard in
the third frame, Earl looked good.
Buck Newsom. who pitched the last
six frames and got credit for the VIC
tory. was little short of great. He stop
ped the hard-hitting Royals with only
two hits. one of which was fly which
Johnny Stone lost in the sun, and the
Griffs meanwhile blasted 13 hits, which
included home runs by Dee Miles and
Jake Powell. The latter became the
second player ever to hit ball over
the left-field fence at Tinker Field
when he teed off on Phil Hensiek, an
ex-Nat. in the eighth inning. Nobly
Jimmy Foxx had done the trick here
before.