Evening star., 1947-05-16
Mats Are Much Better
Than Record Shows,
Tribe 5 Chief Holds
BY Burton Hawkins

By Burton Hawkins
Lou Boudreau, who murdered the
Mats last night, isn't prepared to
bury the body. The personable young
fellow who manages the Cleveland
Indians and behaves himself beauti-
fully at shortstop is willing to kick
the Mats around while they're down,
but he isn't convinced Washington's
baseball club is candidate for .
comm.
Right now the Mats are down, !"
says Lou. Their spirit Is saggdng
because they're not hitting and they
are not getting any breaks, but
they'll snap out Of 1t. Washington
has a pretty fair sort Of club and 1t
will create plenty OF trouble.
II believe the weather has had Q lot
to do with Washington's troubles, /"
continued Lou. After all. they
haven't been playing much. They've
lost that edge they had when they
came north from spring training.
Athletes have to keep playing to
stay in shape. Now that Washington
has a few games under its belt 1t
probably will start to play better,
but I hope it delays any improve
lment until we leave town.
Don't forget, Stan Spence isn't
in center field and that hurts Wash
|ington tremendously. He's . good
ball player and he covers q lot OF
ground In that outheld. When he
gets back in the lineup the club will
look a lot better, defensively and
extensively.
Likes Boston for Flag.
"On what I've seen Of the teams,
I'd say Boston would have to be
favored for the pennant, with De-
troit and New York as chief con-
tenders, but think Cleveland and
Washington will make it interest
ling for all of them. It figures to be
q tough race"
Boudreau, who Is hitting snappy
1854, personally dealt the Mats a
large dose OF Illustration last night
as Washington absorbed its fourth
straight defeat, 9-1, before 6,863
fans. He wl1acked across four runs
and scored another, but 1t was his
defensive brilliance which stuck q
stiletto in the Mats.
The Mats were trailing, Is, In
the third inning and had two on
with two out when Mickey Vernon
rammed blow back Of second base.
Boudreau came from nowhere with
q spectacular dive to nip the ball,
then from a sprawling position
tipped it to Joe Gordon, forcing
Joe Grace at second. With that
play the luckless Mats withered and
became easy victims Of Rookie
Bryan Stephens, who scattered eight
hits.
That defeat has prompted a
shakeup in the Mats batting order
and the installation of 40-year- -old
Rick Ferrell as Washington's CATCH
.er. "I believe Rick will steady our
pitchers, says Manager Ossie
Bluege II don't know yet what
changes I'll make in our batting
order, but there will be some altera-
tons"
Bluege plans a pep talk to the
Mats before tonight's tussle with
the Indians. There simply isn't any
sense in bawling 'em out at this
point. says Ossie, The best thing,
they can do Is keep their chins up
and keep battling. It's too early in
the race to become downhearted."
Masterson Hurting Tonight.
The Mats, who have mustered
six runs In their last six games, will
rely on Walter Masterson to snap
their string Of losses tonight and
Masterson is relying on the Mats to
snap their hitting slump. Eleven
times this season the Mats have
failed to produce more than two
runs for their pitchers. Don Black,
who has won two and lost two, will
pitch for Cleveland.
Cleveland got a run in the first
inning last night of Early Wynn on
Hal Peck's single, George Metko-
vich's double and Boudreau's infield
out. The Mats locked the score in
the second when Mark Christman
singled Vernon across, but Pat Seer
eys triple to the left field corner
with two on fetched the Indians
81 lead in the third.
The Indians boosted their advan-
tage to Al In the fourth when a
Cecil Travis error permitted Boud-
reau to score from third. Boudreau
whacked double with the bases
loaded to present the Indians three
more runs In the sixth OF Luther
Knerr and Metkovich slammed him
for q triple with two on in the
seventh to increase the score to its
final proportions. Cleveland mauled
Wynn, Knerr and Ray Scarborough
for IA hits.