Evening star., 1936-09-25
RUNNER]UP BERTH
STILL ATTA|NABLE.
Worth $500 a Man to Finish
Ahead of Chisox-Yanks
Invade Tomorrow.
BY FRANCIS E. STAN.
I'm. thu f4rsf tirne In moro =

= Exsf14NSAS ne . nav
- than you'd like to remember.
the Nationals today faced the
4 final three games Of an Ameri.
can league season with lot Of the
old do-re-mi and . measure Of pres
tiee hanging on the outcomes.
Still holding . mathematical chance
Of running second and slightly better
than IN even chance Of finishing in
third place. they were to oppose the
Red Sox in . farewell affair today 1T
the stadium and then prepare to swing
into action tomorrow and Sunday IN
. two-game series with the Yankees.
who might well hold the destiny Of
the Nationals In the collective palms
Of their paws.
There 10 one thing about this run
ner.up scrap for second place. - far
a. the Nationals are concerned, and
that 10 that nobody can help them
much. What they accomplish they
will do themselves, although co-opera-
ton with the Indians and Browns
would be appreciated.
Today the drifYs found themselves
half q game ahead Of the fourth place
White sox, who will play three more
games this year and all with the
browns. II Washington loses its half
a.game margin 1t will lose third place
because the White Sox will win by .
single percentage point. The second
place Tigers have only two games to
play and both are with the Indians.
In order for Washington to finish IN
second place the Tribe must win both
games from Detroit while washington
takes today's game from Boston and
the remaining two tits from New
York.
Have Best Of Schedule.
THE Grin's second-place chances,
- of course, are not bright. Fur
thermore, they have nobody to blame
except themselves. They threw away
enough chances to win the runner-up
berth hands down. But, be that ~ 1t
may. they have . great chance OF
finishing in third place and its strict
" up to them.
As far as the rest Of the schedule
goes. Chicago has the edge over the
WashinEtons, at least on paper. Push
Ing over the Browns stacks up as an
easy assignment and yet the last three
times the White Sox tried 1t they were
beaten. For the Mats. pushing over
the Red Sox and Yanks is much
harder and yet there is . chance that
Boston's Gold Flops will take another
on the chin and that Joe Mccarthy
Yankees will be too busy thinking OF
the world series to bother with win
ming the final American League series
Of the year.
Right now the Mats thoughts
amount to keeping pace with the
White sox. II they lose. the Gri1s
can afford to lose. but only then
Any advantage gained by the sos
in the three remaining games -fol
each club will prove fatal to the
Gridith A. G. and by the narroweSt
Of margins.
Doush Rides on Each Game.
"a PPROXINdATELY 500 potatoes per
man will rest upon every pitch
for the Grifmen during the next
three games. II the Pale Hose over
haul the Mats, 1t will mean that
Chicago's players will collect, per man,
about 81 900 q their share Of third
place sugar. II the Mats lose out
to them, 1t will mean that they collect
only about $500 per man.
On the other hand, If the Indians
beat the Tigers in their two remaining
battles and the driffs win all three
Of their games the Washingtons would
collect about $500 per man when
the world series divvy is made.
Despite the fact that Buck Newsom
has been about - effective against
the Red sox Is he has been against
any other club in the league this
season, Manager Bucky Harris is con-
sidering starting Jimmy De Shong to-
day. when the ladies will have their
final free ding Of the year. Thus. for
the two games with the Yanks tomor-
row and Sunday, Harris would have
available the rotund Earl Whitehul
and Newsom.
whitehill. one of the leagues best left
handlers. who has helped the south
paws to take 10 games from the Yanks
this season, is certain to start one
Of the games. probably Sundays. This.
then, would leave either Newsom or
Cascarella to pitch on Saturday. and.
Of the pair, Joseph has been the
more successful this year.