Evening star., 1938-05-16
By FRANCIS E. STAN.
Stan CORRESPONDENT of The Star.

DETROIT, May 16-Beaten three
straight times by the Red Sox, losers
Of four of their last five games, and
hurled to the bottom Of the American
Leagues first division, Washington's
limping Senators began the second
lap of their tour here today with Man
ager Bucky Harris desperately trying
to find a remedy.
Bucky, in fact. was sufficiently
desperate this morning to nominate
Ken Chase, the perennial rookie. as
the Grif1s' starting pitcher against
the Tigers This. in itself, is signif1-
cant. The popular and widespread
belief was that Harris had more or
less given up on Chase as a starter
long before the championship season
started
OF what he has shown so far this
year, Chase is facing prohibitive odds.
Still, aren't the Mats as a whole?
They proved something of sensations
during the first three weeks of the sea-
son, moving to the head of the class.
But a majority Of their games were at
home, where they won IA and lost
only 5 In the friendly environment
of Griffith Stadium. So far the Sem
ators are no road club and they face
nearly two weeks Of campaigning on
foreign fields.
Sox Series Staggers Morale.
II pennants are won and lost on the
road, it behooves the Harrismen to
put on the brakes. That three-game
licking the Red Sox handed the Mats
in Boston brought their percentage OF
victory on the road to an alarming low.
In fact, Washington has lost six Of its
eight games on enemy battlefields.
The Griffs got of on the wrong foot
when they invaded New York during
the first week of the season and lost
two out of three games. A two-day
invasion of Philadelphia followed and
the AS managed to get an even break.
In Boston they were wiped out.
The true extent of the late-lamented
Red Sox series may not be known for
a few days yet. The Griffs may have
lost more than three ball games and
first place. They may have lost their
confidence and morale.
It did no good, you see, to watch
Wesley Ferrell pounded in 10-to-0
defeat in the series opener. Wesley
is the ace Of the Washington pitching
staff, or is supposed to be. But SO far
the handsome hurler has given only
two passable performances and of
late he has gone from bad to worse.
Western Clubs Seek Revenge.
The Griffs' morale was dealt an
other blow when the Red Sox took
the second game in II innings by
1919 score. In this battle the Mats
seemingly had it sewed up. but Dutch
Leonard. Pete Appleton. Harry Kelley
and Elon Hogsett. the same four
hurlers whose work has been so sur
prisingly pleasant, suddenly blew up
at the same time and the game was
thrown away.
Monte Weaver was asked to break
the spell of the Sox yesterday, and
Monte delivered an eight-hit per-
formance. But Boston won, 4 to 3,
and if you want a contributing cause
there was the Washington base run
ming. The Griffs did not run the
sacks like a club playing smart, heads
up ball They ran like q panicky
bunch Of athletes, running doubles
into outs at third base and holding
bases when they should have moved
forward another notch.
The Senators now move into the
West with the Tigers, White Sox, In
dians and Browns thirsting for re-
venge. At home the Grifis merrily
romped over the Western clubs in
their climb to the top Of the league.
They won two out of three games
from the Tigers and duplicated the
record against the Indians, who were