The Catholic times. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1951-current, 1960-07-08
of TIMES
Going
DOWn
BY LOU FABRo
Times Sports EDITOR

The Columbus Jets last week crashed into last
place in the International League standings, and after
viewing the w~reckage, it would take a genuine optimist
to say things really aren't bad.
Actually, things are awful.
Columbus is hopelessly out of the running Tor the
league championship. And chances that the Jets VIII
escape the second division are less than even. A base
ment finish is being whispered since someone mas 10
finish last and the Jets recent performance makes
them strong contenders for that spot.
But there are two or three other teams In the
league which may save the Jets from that fate.
REVIEWING THE 1860 SEASON QUICKLY. the
Jets were cruising along in fourth place with a l7l4
record back on May "A. Then they suffered a sudden
flameout and the power dive to last place began.
Frantic maniulation on the controls just couldn't
pull the club out of its dive and the crash into the
basement occurred on June %. The team lost II of
its last Al games to make it into the dungeon.
Fhe Jets suffered a similar fate last year. They
were blinking their eyes in first place on June 3 when
the club started to stall. The Jets then zoomed down
ward-like the stock market did in 1929-and made it
TO the bottom by July 2. Their record during that dive
was seven wins and "a losses.
OF COURSE, THE e LAST YEAR shook off
the losing habit and finished the season in second
place, just So games behind first place.
Any chance that the Jets will pull a similar stunt
this year is pretty dim. When the Jets were langulsh'
ing in last place last year, they we're only l1h games
behind the pacesetters; this year, 10 big games separ-
ated the Jets from first place Toronto, the club that
finished last in 1859.
"What happened is the question asked most
lIGuuCILly ny tnC ldlos II D IO pAuplC 10 VII
less you want to consider the trite one that the Jets
are scoring less runs than the other clubs.
At the beginning of the season, there was strong
optimism Shared by this cOrner) that the Jets would
repeat their 1859 finish or might even possibly win the
crown. The Jets really looked great-especially on
paper,
balanced out by some bright signs. For example, the
Jets hit only one home run in their spring exhibition
games. But the pitching looking good, even sparkling at
times.
Extensively, the Jets have been fair. The team
batting average hoyers around the .244 mark. Five
other teams in the league show batting average be-
tween ,242 and .246, Columbus also has been getting
its fair share Of home runs.
Kinks developed in the offense when some high
l~ytouted players failed to live up to advance billing.
On the bases, the Jets don't have the speed and
daring that they had last year. AT times, the baserun-
ming has been downright sloppy.
DEFENsIvELY, COLUMBUS HASN'T DONE so
WELL. The old sparkle and smoothness just aren't
there. In fact the Jets rank last in club fielding.
Pitching? 1t was supposed to be outstanding. And
1t has been on many occasions. But during the plunge,
the pitching took a turn for the worse. During this
stretch, the hurlers developed a habit of serving up
gopher pitches at critical moments.
On the other hand, some sterling pitching per-
formances were oyershadowed by complete lack of
support from the hitters. But, that's baseball.
WE HESITATE TO SAY ANYTHING ABOUT
the managing because second guessing is an easy
thing, especially when you have the luxury OF time to
aid you in figuring decisions. But fans nave been puz-
zled by some managerial decisions which just didn't
add up right, no matter how you looked at them,
What about the second half of the season? It's
not all gloom and doom but it isn't a path of roses,
either. The Jets surely will fare better than they did
during the past six weeks. just as surely, however,
they won't do as well as they did in the second half
of 1859.