Evening star., 1954-06-08
Lemon, McDermott
Meet as Tribe Seeks
No. 6 Over Senators
By Burton Hawkins

Chief tormenters of the Sem
ators with their late rallies this
season. the Indians move into
Griffith Stadium tonight for the
opener of three-game series,
determined to maintain their
unblemished record against the
Washington club. while protect
ing a slim league lead.
Manager Al Lopez. who occa-
sionally will gamble with second
flight pitchers against the Sen
ators in order to save the top
three members of his staff for
sturdier opposition, has mapped
no such strategy this time.
He's firing Bob Lemon, Early
Wynn and Mike Garcia here,
and this isn't intended to touch
off demonstrations of joy in
Washington's clubhouse. The
Senators have a four-game los
ing streak operating and would
relish softer touches at this
time.
Indians Hold SO Margin.
The Senators have two sad
strings functioning, in fact, for
they've dropped five in a row
to Cleveland, which has spe-
cialized in coming from behind
to nip Bucky Harris team.
Maury McDermott, involved in
one of the more narrowing epi-
sodes with the Indians, will
oppose Lemon tonight.
Maury was coaSting along with
a I'll lead in the ninth inning of
a game at Cleveland. He had a
one-hitter in his grasp and life
was never lovelier, but he ex-
ploded without notice, the In
dians tied the score with a six
run outburst and won in the
eleventh, 81.
There was another occasion
when the Senators held a 4-3
lead entering the bottom of the
eighth, but Bobby Avila hon.
cred to tie the score, Dave Philley
doubled and Larry Dolby singled
to permit the Indians to escape
with a Sd triumph.
In still another instance. john
ny Schmitz had the Indians
whipped with two out in the
ninth but Dolby singled across
Avila with the tying run and
Cleveland won in the 10th.
Avila to Miss Series.
The Indians got some bad news
yesterday when X-rays showed
that Second Baseman BobbyAvila
had a chip fracture of his right
thumb which will keep him out
of the lineup for three to six
days. The thumb was jammed
when Hank Bauer slid into him
in Yankee Stadium last Wednes-
day. Avila, the leagues leading
hitter with 1881 average,
learned of the fracture on his
28th birthday.
Cleveland was supposed to be
Jolted by the absence of al
Rosen, slugging first basefnan.
but thus far he hasn't been
missed to the point where it has
hurt. Rosen returned to Cleve-
land after X-rays showed he had
broken finger, and after his
departure the Indians swept
three games from the Athletics.
He will be out from eight to
10 days more.
Bill Glynn has supplanted
Rosen at first base and WASH
ington fans will get their first
glimpse of Rudy Regalado,
rookie third baseman, in action
here. The high promise shown
py Hegalaoo prompted Lopez to
bench Glynn at a time when
he was batting over 400. shift
RoSen from third base to first
and install Regalado at third
That daring venture has
worked out admirably. Regalado
has responded by batting a re-
spectacle .286
Harris originally had planned
to employ Dean Stone, rookie
lefthander with a 80 record, in
the series opener but a blister on
Stones finger still is bothering
him. If he's able. Dean will
pitch tomorrow night, with Bob
Porterfield due to work Thurs
day afternoon.