Evening star., 1942-03-17
None His BeIted
Major Atching
For .30Mark
Power BaAer Still
Needed; Mound Mob
Subdues Hdgers
BY BURToNkAwKINs,
Star staff CoRspon6ent.

ORLANDO, Fla. March 17.-1n-
dexed with the Pf S, Browns and
Athletics as one major league
baseballs more ineA clubs when 1t
headed south sev@l weeks ago,
Washington sudden has become
the cum laude teaEof the Citrus
Circuit. There is TT that at any
moment the Mats HI commence
behaving as they'r4supposed to,
but in the meantimaheir conduct
Is refreshing.
1t might be propeAat this time
to burst out in rasfAf civic pride
and stamp the Mats d a threat to
the Yankees. After allthey've won
seven of eight games kaihst crack
major league oppositid displaying
pltcnlng ana power "a route, but
in this instance seem isn't be-
neVlng. The Mats stilA have those
question marks at feYspots.
Without the aid of 4kir leading
pitcher. Dutch Leonard the Mats
in eight games have bssed two
4-hitters, brace of 54tters and
a pair OF 7-hitters at e opposi-
ton. There Is a suspiciolthey NAV
come up with one of theest pitch
ing STATS in the league but that
power problem hasn't bal solved.
No slugger In Linepp.
The Mats have beatenlhe Yam
KEGS, 81: the Indians, ,jO-7. the
Red Sox, 1872, and yesterday
thumped the Dodgers, 10-aat Day.
tona Beach. This wouldkeem to
indicate. the Mats have Sundant
power, Dut you may be exased for
reserving opinion. IL
Washington's lineup doeh't own
a hitter who belted maid leae11e
pitching for 300 average st sea
son. Mickey Vernon is thaclosest
approach with his mark ofl299 in
1941, but the residue was farehind
Bob Repass was .317 hitterin the
American Association, but tire is
more than a slight differere be-
tween the pitching in that trcuit
and what he will be required face
In the American League.
A proper retort might be thu this
Is another year-that the .25thit-
ters Of last season may blasou1
this season in unison. That puld
occur, OF course, but it wouf be
comparable TO the United Nalons
whipping the Axis with peashoArs
The Mats don't possess a const-
erlt power hitter despite their rednt
antics. Vernon, Jake Earlysor
Bruce Campbell might improveto
the point whereby one could fuNl
the role but that merely places d.
subject on the cenjectural sid
It's a point that requires previn
There are no great throwing arm
in Washington's outf1eld, and 4
the 'infield there are three new
comers-two of them rockies. Short
stop Repass is calculated to retail
that job for some years-he's clevel
af1eld and seems steady at bat-brss
Prexy Clark Grifflth would have tt|
hit the jackpot to have Third Base
man Stan Gale and Second Base
man Frank Croucl1er make good the
same season.
f Pitching Pleases Harris.
There is no guarantee that Repass
Will continue to click, of course, but
twice in two days he pulled plays
that only good shortstops make, rae
ing over behind Gale to take sharp
grounders and force runners at
second. His baseball instinct prob
ably is the best in the Washington
lineup.
Washington's pitching is a source
of delight to Manager Bucky Harris.
In their last four games Washing
ton pitchers have yielded only six
runs and you could have kayoed
Harris with a powder puff yesterday
when such specimens as Bill zinser,
Bill Kennedy and Phil Mccullough
restricted the National League
Champion Dodgers to five hits.
Again the Mats clustered runs for
a big inning and on this occasion
they wasted no time. Tom Drake
walked three Mats and hit fourth
in the first inning, with Stan Spence
and Gale inserting singles and
Repass delivering a triple to pro-
duce five runs after two were out.
zinser and Mccullough each
blanked the Dodgers in their three
inning assignments. Brooklyn OBJ
tanned its only run off Kennedy In
the fourth inning, when Mickey
Owen singled to score Dolph Camilli,
who had walked and moved to sec
ond as Dixie Walker also walked.
Gale contributed four singles to
the Mats 12-hit attack, while Re-
pass triple and two singles batted
in four Washington runs.
Brooklyn was to invade the Mats
training base here today, with Steve
Walter Masterson and Ray
Scarborough slated to bid for WASH
ingtOn's sixth straight victory.