Evening star., 1952-04-12
Club Success Hinge!
On Runne|s' Hitting,
Clark Griffith Says
By Burton Howkins

By Burton Hawkins
The Mats open a two-game
series with the Pirates this after
noon at Griffith Stadium as their
last training activity before Tues
days official league opener against
the Red Sox.
Murry Dickson, the Pittsburgh
ace right-hander who won &c
games last year and who is picked
to hurl the Pirates opener next
Tuesday night, was one of the
moundsmen selected by Manager
Billy Meyer to 60 against the
Mats. Others were HOWE Pollett
and Bob Friend.
Washington is countering with
Sid Hudson, Chico Marrero and
Harley Grossman.
In looking ahead to the cham
pionship season. President Clark
Griffith called Pete Runnels the
player who could make the Mats
respectable club. IF he comes
through for us, we're going to be
lot tougher than expected"
Expects No Brilliance Afield.
From his shortstop, with only
half season of experience be-
hind him, Griffith anticipates no
heroics. He doesn't expect Run
nels to possess the brilliance of
Phil RiZzuto or Peewee Reese
afield. Griffith will settle merely
for adequacy at shortstop if Run
nels delivers with a bat in his
hand.
Our pitching is improved over
last year," Griffith said. "Cass
Michaels is a better ball player
than he was last season. We're
not hitting-particularly Runnels
and Irv Noren-but We'll do bet
ter in that respect. If Runnels
can handle the routine plays at
shortstop and develop as he
should as hitter, We'll have a
far better team"
The Mats have received splen-
did pitching this spring. but with
opening day rapidly approaching.
their starting staff isn't set.
Manager Bucky Harris admits
Don johnson has been a disap-
pointmSnt, and the spot he was
saving for Don-Thursday's game
with the Red Sox-now is open.
POrterfield to Pitch Opener.
"I'll use Bob Porterf1eld Tues
day and Sid Hudson Wednesday
against Boston," Harris said. 1.-THE
starting pitcher for Thursdays
game is a question mark. I want
to start Chico Marrero against
the Yankees Friday in New York,
then shoot Porterfield at them
Saturday"
Harris search for another start
er narrowS to johnson and Julio
Moreno. Bucky has a surplus of
relief pitchers in Bobo Newsom,
Tom Ferrick, Joe Haynes, Mickey
Harris, Raul Sanchez, Sandy Con-
suegra, Grossman and Bunky
Stewart, but he's pressed for a
pitcher who can 60 the distance
Marrero, AZ years old, will be
employed only once a week in an
effort to keep him at top form
Sanchez, Grossman and Stewart
are considered too green for start
ing roles and Bucky doesn't want
to trust starting assignments to
any of the others.
Moreno was we'll thumped in his
last start against the Reds, but
Bucky liked him nevertheless. II
thought he looked better than at
any time I've seen him." Harris
said, "but they whacked him all
over the place. Still, on the same
day, we blasted Ewell Blackwell
and he isn't the sort of pitcher
you'd throw over your shoulder If
you had a chance to grab him. It
might have been one of those
days"
Mats Squad Trimmed.
The Mats squad was trimmed to
% players yesterday when they
sent Pitchers Buck Fleshman and
Gerald Lane to Chattanooga.
Both of them need to work reg
Iularly to develop" Griffith said,
land there was no assurance that
they'd get steady work with us"
Griffith says he's claiming every
right-handed hitter who appears
on the waiver list in an effort to
bolster the Mats reserve, but he
hasn't met with success. 1--WE
need a couple of right-handed
pinch hitterS," Griffith said, "but
they're hard to find"
The Mats worked out yesterday
after devoting half hour to pho
tographers. Missing was Ferrick,
who remained home with a bad
cold.