Evening star., 1952-07-14
Is His in s Games
No Aid 10 Pitchers;
Consuegra 10 Start
By Burton Hawkins

The theory that the Mats hit.
ting would improve simply because
1t couldn't get much worse is being
exploded. The club Is begged
down in its worst slump of the
season and will fade rapidly as q
pennant factor unless there's an
immediate definite Improvement.
AS the Mats went into this after
Moons game with Cleveland seek
ing to salvage one game Of the
series after dropping 10 and 2-1
decisions yesterday at Griffith
Stadium. they had accumulated
only seven runs In six gaines.
They had a total Of as hits over
that period.
Bucky Harris has tried juggling
his batting order. For the first
time since 1949 Eddie Yost, bat
ting 1872, was yanked from the
leadoff spot in the second game
yesterday. Jim Busby. batting
.188, was moved into the No. po-I
sition, with Yost hitting fifth and
Pete Runnels sixth.
Too Many Below ZOO.
There was no electrifying
change as the result Of that move.
Busby and Yost, who had gone
hitless in the first game. repeated
the process in the second.
Bucky is burdened with too
many hitters struggling to reach
the 200 mark. a level which never
has been regarded enthusiastically
in the industry. He has a regular
catcher. Mickey Grasso. batting
.198. His Second-string catcher,
Hal Keller, is batting .143.
Ken Wood. who plays leftfield
occasionally against left-handed
isn't disturbing the
leagues pitchers with his ITO
mark. And Jerry Snyder, who had
been operating at second base
against left-handers. is hitting
whatsoever. When he gets
his next hit it will be his first.
Bucky's cleanup hitter, Mickey
Vernon. has driven in a single run
in 10 games.
Two weeks ago the Mats ad-
to second place, only three
games off the pace. Since then
they've retreated to fifth and are
regarding the pennant race from a
more respectful distance.
Consuegra to Start.
Sandy Consuegra, trusted with
his first start since May 4, was to|
pitch today against the Indians
Sam Jones. Sandy had permit
ted only one run in his last "a in
nings Of relief work and was hop
ing to utilize today's game as a
stepping stone to a regular start
ing job.
There was nothing wrong with
the Mats pitching yesterday. Con-
ME Marrero held the Indians to
four hits in the opener, but was
the victim of Mike Garcia's two
hit pitching before a crowd of 26.-
ITO, largest Of the season here.
The run of Marrero was taint-
ed, too, with Busby misjudging
Harry Simpsons well-kissed drive
into a triple in the second inning
Merrill Combs followed with a sim
gle and the resulting run was suf-
f1cent margin for Garcia. who
notched his 18th win.
Jackie Jensen made a brave bid
to tie the score with two out in the
ninth when he rammed q double
against the wire rail atop the left
centerfield wall. Larry, Dolby
quickly extinguished the Mats
hopes when he streaked in to grab
Vernon's liner to center for the
game-ending out.
First Run i'm 18 Innings.
Scoreless for Is inning, the Mats
finally produced a run in the sew
enth inning of the second game
when Jensen doubled of Steve
Gromek, Vernon beat out q bunt
and Runnels singled before Mickey
Harris, an ex-teammate. arrived
on the scene to stop such non-l
sense.
With one out in the eighth,
Bobby Avila singled of Randy
Gumpert and with two out All
Rosen doomed his 17th homer Of
the year into the bleacfers. Gum
pert entered the inning with al
three-hit shutout In his grasp
and emerged from it with his
fourth defeat against two VIC
tories. IS
NOTES: Eight Of the IS games
between the Mats and Indians
have been decided by one run,
with Washington winning five.
Rosen's homer was his second
hit in % tries. His last pre-
vious hit also was a home run.
The Tigers will be in tomor-
row for a twi-night double header
starting at 6 o'clock.
The Mats have swept only one
Of 13 double-headers, splitting
seven and losing both games five
times. Washington's pinch
hitters are delivering at q meager
It's clip. !. The Mats last four
games have been decided by one
run.
FIRST GAME
A.H.O.A. Washington A.HOE.
O Yost,3b % oil
O O Q 0 CoanN 8 4 OIL
Avila. .2b 3 2 2 JenSen,n al 2 IL
Mitchell,n 4 O 3 O Vernon,lb 6 ii
Rosen.3b 4 O 0 Runnels,SS 2 IL
Doby.cf 3 0 3 0 Busby.cf 3 O 8 O.
Sp'n. 1b-rf 3 1850 Baker 2b 3 O O 81
Combs.SS 3 ! j Grasso.c o.
Hegan,c 0 sRapp O QI
Garcia,p 3 O O Keller,c o o.
Marrero.p o.
Totals 80 2715 Totals 2s 81 z
fnA AAp L.