Evening star., 1951-05-17
.Dente Benched
For Hitter;;
.Grasso Injured
Will Be Out q Week;
Morrero to Oppose
Hutchinson Today
By Burton Hawkins

Catcher Mickey Grasso was out
of action with a fractured finger
and Sam Dente was out of &C
ton, period, as Rookie Gene Ver-
BILE took over the Mats shortstop
job against the Tigers today.
Desperate in an attempt to perk
up the Mats, trying to avoid fifth
straight defeat, Manager Bucky
Harris brought Verble off the
bench in the hope he'll tone up
the lower end of the batting
order.
Bob Kuzava had been slated to
start for the Mats this afternoon
against Freddy Hutchinson, but
ISacroiliac trouble shelved the
left-hander and Harris decided to
give Chico Marrero the job of
trying to salvage one game from
the Tigers. ssslA
The Mats will have to get along
without Grasso for at least a
week, for he suffered a fracture
of the middle joint of his right
little finger when clipped by a
foul tip off Hoot Evers' bat in
the second inning last night as
the Mats took another beating, IL.
Verble Hitting Only .174.
Trainer George Lentz estimated
IGrasso, who previously sat out
several games with a banged
thumb. will be able to play after
la week with his finger bandaged.
Meanwhile, Mike Guerra will
handle the Mats catching exclu-
.sively.
Verble came off the bench with
"a .174 batting average against
.Dente's slightly less embarrassing
.224 mark, but Bucky is in no
mood to Owed on figures these
days. He's using Verble in the
hope it will have a needing eff
feet on the remainder of the club.
Hes an inspirational type player
who helped us earlier" Bucky
said, land we've reached the point
where we could use some inspira-
tion-and fewer bases on balls"
Dente played in all except one
.of the Mats games in 1949, all of
them last year and all so far this
year, but his batting average has
fallen steadily with each sue
cesSive season. Verble early this
year ran Second Baseman Cass
Michaels out of a job temporarily
before he was benched for light
hitting.
40 Walks in a Games.
Harris doesn't view Verble as a
cure-all for what ails. the Mats.
Bucky's pitching suddenly has
gone sour. handing out 40 bases
on balls in only four games. In
these four defeats, the Mats have
permitted 81 runs, with "a of them
the direct result of walks.
The Mats bolstered their pitch
ing staff yesterday with the ac-
Iquisition of Hank Wyse, a 33-
Iyear-old righthander who won %
games with the 1916 Cubs. Wyse
had ola record with the Athle-
tics last season, enjoying a 40
record against Washington.
Wyse. who has experienced
difficulty locating his hotel room
on occasion, was fined $3.50 by
Connie Mack last season when he
.dldnt appear at the AS hotel in
Cleveland after losing a close
decision to the Indians.
Wyse comes to the Mats with a
IL record, being purchased for
Sl2,5OO yesterday when Phila-
delphia was forced to trim its
roster to Is players along with
other major league clubs.
Sima Gets His Bumps.
Al Sima failed to survive four
innings last night as the Tigers
sandwiched three singles among
four walks to score five runs in
the fourth and grab a 60 lead.
mat was more margin than Dizzy
Trout required. for he set the Mats
down with four hits, allowing only
one in the last five innings.
Jerry Priddy's triple and Don
KolloWayS grounder got the
Tigers off to 10 lead in the first
inning. and Sima proceeded to
hand them the game in the fourth.
He permitted singles by Holloway
(See MATS, Page C-2.)