Evening star., 1946-04-20
.Binks, Rookie GooIsby
To Share Job in Left;
|Yanks Cop in 9Th
By Burton Howkins
Stor Stof4 Correspondent

NEW YORK, April 20.-Jeff
Heath, who was obtained principally
to bolster the Mats attack and be a
slueger in the midst of slap hitters,
has fizzled his way out of a job. His
OIL batting during a four-game
Washington losing streak has be-
come unbearable to Manager Ossie
Bluege.
Heath, despite an opening game
home run, has been huge handicap
to the Mats. who have seen him flub
two .grounders. strike out five times
and belt the ball beyond the infeld
only twice, including his home run
blast.
A hitter with less glowing repu-
tation than Heaths wouldn't have
been tolerated under the circum-
stances by Bluege, who now is toss
ing in the towel on jeff and taking
his chances on George Binks or Ray
Goolsby.
Heath, who came to the Mats from
Cleveland in exchange for George
Case, has been having a horrible
time of it. His home run has been
his only hit in IA attempts and his
strikeouts have been coming at DAM
aging moments for the Mats.
Normally power hitter, Heath re-
ported two months late to the In
dians last season, but finished the
year leading Cleveland in runs bat
ted in and owned a respectable .305
average He failed to impress in
spring training this year and is
showing no sign of swapping out Of
his slump.
Mats Pitching Pathetic.
Bluege also is increasing his ration
of aspirin due to the pathetic pitch
ing the Mats have been getting.
Ossie has employed IA pitchers in
losing four games, twice using five
pitchers a game. and the only par
ticularly effective performer has
been Sid Hudson. who has Sparkled
in brace of relief roles
Supposedly equipped with one Of
the leagues more talented pitching
staffs, Bluege has seen his hurlerS
ioouC Zo "olho hlIS ll4O UiI &C bdt
ters in four games. When the
Mats pitchers aren't hitting bat
tiers, they're being swatted, as IS
hits rattling Off Boston and New
York bats would testify.
Il can't figure it," says Bluege
These pitchers of ours will have
to wake up to the fact that all
the really good ball players are out
of the service and that they have
to pitch more carefully than they
did last season.
The Mats seemingly were en- route
to their first victory here yesterday,
entering the ninth inning with a
6-5 advantage. but Johnny Nigel
ing dssipated that lead with one
out by walking Snuffy Stirnweiss,
clipping Tommy Heinrich with
pitched ball, tossing a double to Joe
Di Maggie which fetched Stirnweiss
across with the tying run, then
being victimized by Johnny Lin
dells long fly to Stan Spence that
scored Heinrich.
Evans Homer Not Enough.
The Yankees battered Mickey
Haefner for four runs in the second
inning to grasp Al lead after the
Mats had obtained two runs in the
first lining on successive doubles by
Buddy Lewis and Stan Spence, plus
a single by Jack Sanford.
Singles by Sanford and Cecil
Travis and Jerry Priddy's long fly
produced another Washington run
in the third. but the Yankees took
a 5-3 lead in the sixth when they
nicked Walter Masterson for run.
Al Evans home run into the left
field stands reduced the Yankees
margin to Sd in the seventh and
the Mats manufactured two runs in
the eighth to squirt in frent, 6-5.
Sanford struck out to open the
eighth, but was safe when Bill
Dickey dropped the third strike.
Travis singled to left, sending San
ford to third, and Priddy's single to
right scored Sanford and shifted
Travis to second. Heath advanced
the runners with an infield out be-
fore an intentional pass to Evans
filled the bases.
In that situation, Goolsby batted
for Marino Pieretti and took third
strike, but Gil Torres walked, scor-
ing Travis.
Herb Karpel replaced Joe Page
at that point and retired Buddy
Lewis on a pop f1y. Then along
came the Yankees half of the ninth
inning and Niggeling,s collanSe.