Evening star., 1938-05-19
FRESHLY INSPIRED
CLUB FACES TRIBE
With Wes Again in FettIe,
Chance of Top Bracket
Finish Returns.
By FRANCIS E. STAN,
Stan Correspondent Of The Star,

Stan Correspondent Of The Star.
CLEVELAND, May 10. - Wesley
Cheek Ferrell. Washington's handsome
and unpredictable pitcher. today had
hurled the Senators back into the
thick Of the American League PEN
nant race. to all outward appearances.
Beginning today the Griffs were to
open one OF those crucial series against
the Cleveland Indians. Ordinarily the
developments Of yesterday would have
been forgotten. But what Wesley
Cheek did In Detroit yesterday, as he
broke the Mats four-game losing
streak. fingers in memory.
Peeved at uncomplimentary news
paper men, Ferrell grabbed the ball
in an unexpected pitching assignment
and with q siX-hit performance ne
whipped the Tigers. to /. Ferrell.
whose failure against the Red Sox
last week started the losing streak,
ended it In a brilliant manner. BY
the same token he raised the bedrag-
gled hopes of the Senators. The bell
COW OF the pitching stan. you see,
pIUNVu llulloClA " oS coiAASSAAAAAe "a -
major league pitcher. after all.
Tiger Sluggers Easy for Wes.
BY now it may be old stuff but that
game Of Ferrell's yesterday seems
worth reviving for analytical purposes.
Wesley, who has been allowing six
earned runs per game. held the slug
ging Tigers to a single run yesterday
a tremendous home run by Chet Laabs
in the seventh inning. Wes had a
fair fast ball. remarkable control, and
a curve ball that had the Detroit
sluggers standing on their heads.
There have been better games
pitched this year by Washington
hurlers. but not many. Dutch Leon
ards l3-inning shutout over the
Indians was. of course. better game.
So might have been Ferrells 4-to-3
victory over the Yankees during the
first week of play But they were the
only games that stood above Wes'
game yesterday.
Ferrell stopped Charlie Gehringer,
Hank Greenberg and Rudy York as
completely as any pitcher could hope
to do. He forced Gehrineer to hit
into a double play Greenberg did
not get ball out OF the infield. And,
as for York -.
Well, Rudy walked to the plate four
times. Once he fouled a ball. He
topped one down to the third base
line, foul by many yards. That was
the only time his bat nicked . ball.
He famed four times and left the
impression that he could have batted
for a week against Ferrell without
making a base hit.
Wes Still Good. Says Rick.
Wes. too angry at the newspaper
men to speak, stalked of the slab
with nothing to say. But Brother
E;ck, the catcher, had few words
10 make public.
Yves still is pretty good pitcher
explained Ricky He showed some
thing todsy and when the weather
gets warmer he'll show still more.
Yves needs his control and he needs
fairly warm weather He only had
his control yesterday. Gosh knows
it wasn't warm"
Ferrell's victory yesterday may mean
a great deal to the Griffs. Ever since
the season opened the Washington
firm had been fearful Of its pitching.
Naturally the Senators looked toward
Ferrell to be the spearhead, but after
he hurled his fine game against the
Yankees in his second start. Yves did
not look so impressive and the Grift-
men began to wonder about him.
1t was only natural. Dutch Leonard
had been a pleasant surprise and
Pete Appleton's relief pitching had
been close to par for the course. But
if Ferrell couldn't deliver, the Griffs
felt themselves lost. It took that
exhibition yesterday to re-establish
their confidence.
Stone Stars as Cleaner-Upper.
Wesley gave up only two hits in
the first six innings yesterday in
Detroit and by that time the Mats
had clinched the game against Baron
Boots Poffenberger. They scored
run in the first inning when Johnny
Stone tripled home Buddy Lewis. In
the third Stoney scored Lewis again
with a single. In the nth Wes hit
home run and singles by Al Simmons
and Stone drove across the fourth and
fifth runs.
Not until Laabs hit his homer in
the seventh did the Tigers do anything
to Yves. And, once this homer was
smacked, they quit for the afternoon.
Manager Bucky Harris jubilantly re-
garded the victory today. He shifted
his batting order yesterday when he
denoted Zeke Bonura to fifth place
in the batting order and placed Stone
in the cleanup spot. It worked all
right. Stone made double and two
singles and drove across three runs.
Today, with Willis Hudlin due to
face Jimmy De Shong. the Cleveland
series was to open. This set may pro-
vide the tip-off on the Griffs. They
aren't potential flag winners. but they
ought to finish in the first division.