When Doak and Mathewson Meet, One Naturally Looks for a Pitched Battle

CARDS DEFEAT OF MATTY PUTS CLUB IN SECOND PLACE
First Time in History in History National Leaguers Have Been So High Late in Season
For First Time in Its Horrible History, Cardinals Team is in Second Place With the Season Two-Thirds Spent
Doak Gets Win, Improving Record to 13-4 With 2.08 ERA, Now Leading the National League in Pitching

August 12, 1914 Age 23

By W. J. O’Connor Of the Post-Dispatch Sporting Staff.

FOR the first time in its horrible history, the St. Louis National League team today is in second place, with the season more than two-thirds spent. The Cardinals literally swam into their present haven, or perhaps they were washed ashore, for it was a storm which broke in sudden fury and stopped yesterday’s game at the end of the fifth inning that helped to put the club where it is this minute.

Boston deadlocked with the Reds, 0-0, in 18 frames, while the Cubs, rent with dissensions, yielded another to Brooklyn. For that reason the 3-2 conquest of Hug’s men over Mathewson put the St. Louis array directly in front of what a military man would call their objective, the same being the Giants.

Luck was with the Cardinals yesterday for the first time on this trip. Old Cozy Dolan lost another ball in the phantom sun and almost lost the game for Willie Doak, but a pair of timely taps by Zinn Beck and Jack Miller gave the Cards enough runs to salt away the game, after rain broke it up in five innings, .

Day Was Fine for Ducks.

McGraw fought desperately to stave off defeat and, after a 30-minute rest, during which time rain fell in torrents, the Giant manager made every lawful effort to force the umpires to resume play. The field was several inches deep In water, in spots; but McGraw, Donlin & Co., aided by Henry Fabian, a ‘ ground keeper, removed the rubber wraps from the diamond and argued that the game could be continued. Huggins splashed around in the puddles and finally prevailed upon Umpire Hart to cancel the conquest.

Today the Cardinals, flushed with the glory of having attained second place, will tackle the Giants in the farewell Eastern battle, and if another victory can be wrenched from the would-be champions, Manager Huggins will entrain for the West, perfectly satisfied with the showing made on this trip. The Giants lead has been cut to 5 1/2 games, and if Old Master Sallee, the super-excellent southpaw, can sideswipe Rube Marquard in the final fracas, the Cards will start home with a record of seven victories and nine defeats.

From here the club proceeds to Pittsburg for a double-header with the Pirates and then it advances on Chicago, where two more battles will be fought. The Cards predict that if today’s game is won from the Giants they will make a clean sweep in Pittsburgh and Chicago and re-enter St. Louis next week with a record of more frames won than lost on an excursion that started rather disastrously.

Willie Doak Now Leads All National Pitchers

AS a result of his victory over Christy Mathewson in their five-inning duel at New York Tuesday, Willie Doak, who is ill with lumbago, by the way, now leads the National League pitchers, including even the famed Christy Mathewson.

Although Matty Is supposed to have a stiffer team back of him, one that fought for the world’s championship during the last three seasons, Doak has won 14 games and lost five for a percentage of .737, while Matty has won 19 games and lost seven for an average of .731.

Cards Unable to Score Runs When J. Miller and Wilson Fail to Swat

The success of the Cardinals at the Polo Grounds, where they have won two out of three games, may easily be found in the batting marks of John Miller, the Kearney (N. J.) boniface, and Chief Wilson the silent man from Texas. The Cards, in three games, have scored eight runs against the Giants. Wilson drove home four of these runs, while Miller pumped in three. Wilson scored one himself, giving these two men almost all the credit for all the runs made by the Cardinals in this intense series.

Wilson and Miller are the main attacking force of the Cardinal club. When they can’t connect for the hits the Cards look like a second division club.

The five frames were crowded with weird baseball. Merkle’s error on Wilson, Dressen’s infield out and Beck’s single gave the Cards a run in the second inning. Dolan’s two-base muff in the face of an imaginary sun put Fletcher in a position to score on an out and Hug’s error in the Giants’ half of the second inning.

The Cards took the lead and the game In the third when Doak and Huggins advanced on Magee’s clever sacrifice and scored, after Dolan had fanned, on Jack Miller’s ripping single to center. Bescher’s walk, a couple of outs and Robertson’s single gave the Giants their last run in the third.

Bases Filled, No Score.

The Cards filled the bases in the fifth and didn’t score because two men were nailed at the plate. Doak got a life on Fletcher’s fumble. Hug singled. Then Magee hit a pop fly back of third. Burns saw a chance to turn a double play. He trapped the ball and fired it to second, intending to force Huggins with a chance of getting Doak, who hadn’t moved off the bag. But Hug outguessed Burns. The Cardinal manager was half way between first and second, and when he saw Burns trap the ball he bolted for second and bumped into Doyle, who muffed Burns’ throw. Doak then went to third and Magee was safe at first, filling the bases. Dolan hit to Fletcher, who nailed Doak at the plate on a toss to Meyers. Miller lammed a liner to Bescher, but Bob’s great throw to Meyers doubled Huggins at the plate. The Indian had our manager completely blocked off the rubber.

The Cardinals pulled two double plays in the abbreviated show. Wilson’s toss to Dressen doubled Bescher off first in the opening inning, while Hug acted as the middle man in a two-ply killing with Beck and Dressen that stopped a rally in the second inning. Doak was unsteady and Hug exercised great Judgment in sending him to the stable after Mathewson had made his second single in the fifth frame.

This is the third time Matty has been beaten by the Cards this season. The victory goes to Doak and makes him the undisputed leader of the N. L. pitchers for the current season.

bill doak

When Doak and Mathewson Meet, One Naturally Looks for a Pitched Battle

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