Evening star., 1941-04-23
Morale, Famed
Batting Punch
Disappears
Barely Escape No-Hit
Humiliation; Casey
Giants Nemesis
BY JUDSON BAILEY.
Associated Press Sports Writer.

The Detroit Tigers plight Is
something to ponder these days.
The American League champions
are in the cellar, with only one
victory in five games and with
more grief lying in wait for the
day that Hank Greenberg is in
Quoted into the Army.
Nobody expected the Bengals to
repeat their surprise pennant tri-
umph of last year, but their COL
lapse this spring is one of the new
seasons mysteries.
Fighting spirit, as much as any
other single factor, carried Detroit
to championship last year, but its
morale apparently is gone. The
team performed miserably in the
grapefruit grind, and this same
sluggishness has carried over into
the official season. The Tigers
pitching has been good. but their
famed hitting has been a myth
and their fielding frightful.
Nearly Pitches NO-Hitter.
Yesterday Bill Dietrich of the
Chicago White Sox almost pitched
no-hitter against them. The be-
spectacled right handler, who
pranced into baseball's select So
Ciety with a nO-hitter against the
Browns in 1887, didn't give a safety
until he had one out in the ninth.
Then came an error, a single by
Greenberg and a homer by Rudy
York. The no-hitter was gone, but
the game still went to Chicago. 6-3
Those famous sluggerS in Tiger
uniforms have made only "a hits
In five games, never more than
six in any one contest. Greenberg
hasn't hit a home run. In three of
the affairs, they have made three
errors. The net result has been to
nullify four well-pitched ball games
and cast grave doubt on whether
the champions even will make the
first division.
Dietrich's conquest, his second in
eight days, was not the only pitch
ing classic yesterday
John Wander Nicer of Cincinnati
gave Chicago fans a glimpse of his
1898 double no-hit form with a A.
hit. 12-Strikeout performance that
bested Bill Lee and smothered the
Cubs, 10. Lee allowed only five
SafetieS, but in the sixth inning
Lonny Frey beat out a scratch
single, went to third on two sue
ceSsive wild pitches and scored on a
single by Ival Goodman.
Casey Again Beats Giants.
Hugh Casey subdued the New
York Giants for the second time in
three days to give the Brooklyn
Dodgers IA victory. He allowed
only seyen hits and three errors
figured IN the Giants scoring. Dolph
Camilli drove in five runs with a
homer and a single. The loss. how
ever, did not knock the Giants out
of the National League lead.
The Boston Red SoX, likewise. held
onto the American League lead
although beaten for the second
straight day by the Washington
Senators, 1875.
Less McCrabb held the New York
Yankees to six safeties, three of
them homers, as the Philadelphia
Athletics nudged out a 6-5 decision
with five runs in a sloppy sixth
inning. The winning marker scored
on Dick Siebert's single with the
bases loaded in the ninth.
Eden Auker's crafty eight-hit
hurting gave the st. Louis Browns
a 6-3 verdict over the Cleveland
Indians. although the Brownies were
rationed seven hits by Al Minar and
Clint Brown.
The senior circuit came up with
two marathon games. In one, the
PhillieS snapped a SiX-game losing
streak with two runs in the 14th
inning to beat the Boston Bees, Ga;
in the other, the ST. Louis Cardinals
edged past the Pittsburgh Pirates,
9-8, with two runs in the 18th after
Pittsburgh had scored once.