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ed wilth each other and were not.
ashamed of the association.
For instance, in the second inning
Capt. Larry Doyle of the Giants ex
ploded a noisy triple to the bleachers
in right center. Bud Schulte attempt
ed to head off the pill, and Tommy
Leach backed him up perfectly. When
the ball got past Schulte, Leach was
right there to grab it, and made such
a quick return to the infield that
Doyle was safe at third by a very
narrow margin. This backing up is
something new, and a very pleasing
sign of awakened mentality.
After Doyle had been run down
between third and home on Merkle's
bounder to Zim, on which Fred reach
ed second, Heinie, Saier and Bres
nahan turned another swell play.
Murray rolled to third and Zim made
a noble attempt to get him at first,
but Red beat the ball for a hit Mer
kle, running wild, tried to score all
the way from second, but Saier was
on the alert, and pegged perfectly to
Bresnahan, who threw himself across
Merkle's path for the putout. Then
Murray was. nipped stealing, Roger
to Evers. That is only a sample of
the stellar defensive work the Cubs
exhibited throughout the game. Zim,
Evers, Bridwell and Saier managed
to get in front of most everything
that was hit, and they knew what to
do with the ball after picking it up.
On the contrary, the Giants crack
ed together. In the inning the Cubs
scored four times the Giants erred
thrice, Tesreau handed out a pass,
and two hits were registered. Not
one of these runs was earned, but
the daring baserunning of the home
guard had a lot to do with forcing
the errors, as the Giants were kept up
in the-,air after they had once as
cended. Cheney easily outpitched Tesreau
and deserved a shutout Only one
run, manufactured by Evers single
and Zim's triple, shoiild have scored
against Tesreau, but it would have
been enough.
In order that we should not be ,ac-.
cused of crabbing over a lost game,
we have waited until the Cubs gave
their best exhibition of the year be
fore discussing the merits of Ward
Miller and Mike Mitchell in left field.
As is well known, Manager Evers
puts Ward in the field when a right
hander pitches, and stations Mike out
there when a southpaw performs for
the enemy. This is supposed to be
inside baseball, and is alleged to in
crease the batting power of the team.
But the increased bingling is not
strikingly apparent Mitchell is away
ahead of Miller in the batting aver
ages, and all of his clouting has not
been done against left-handers. Mil
ler is a cleaner fielder than Mitchell,
but hasn't as good an arm. He may
be a betted baserunner, but back in
the days when the kids played "town
ball" it was necessary to reach first
before any baserunning could be
done. If MitcheUwas allowed to stay
in the game fora longer period it
is reasonable to believe he would do
as well as the majority of gardeners.
He certainly hit with Cincinnati. It
must be remembered that Mike's
regular position is right field, and the
shift to the opposite wing of the sub
urbs affects his fielding, especially as
he is playing one of the most difficult
stations in the league. That Cub left
field is a blazing sun spot and the
pavilion jutting out into the green
is bound to bother any man who has
not studied its angles. Several out
fielders have been tried there, and
only one has done any better than
Mitchell. That was Jimmy Sheckard,
who handled the hot shots off the
stand like a billiard player. Mike has
improved over the fielding form he
showed at the start of the season,
which is indication that he has
studied his new position.
The White Sox have lost five
games on the Eastern trip, and eight
out of the last nine they have played.
These disasters have Rlunged them
down the percentage table, and today
they are a hopeless fourth and only
half a game ahead of the Boston Red.