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Show 00 PITCHING STAFF OF BOSTON NATIONALS Boston. Aug 4. No twiriinc staff eer gave more promise of standing all the opposing batters of the league' on their heads than did the galaxy of stellar hoxmen mustared for the battle bat-tle of 1913 by Stahl, until recently manager of the world's champion Boston Red Sox. According to the dope and past per-1 formances the only batters that had aj possible chance against Joe Wood, Charley Hall, Ray Collins, Hugh Be-dleni Be-dleni and Buck O'Brien, were the heavy swat-smiths of the Philadelphia Athletics. But een thpe famous ar-tillenmen ar-tillenmen were not expected to raakp any noticeable Impression on the phenomenal hurlers of B-?antown who had been the sensation of the mer-lcin mer-lcin league in 1912. Four of Stahl' hurlers had pitched for averages that I totaled up about the finO mark and O'Brien, winning five more games than he had lost was credited with .581. The Red Hosed moundsmen did not hesitate to dis-illuslon their admlr- ' ers as soon as the championship cam- j pcilcn of 1913 waB over. They slump- j ed with a thump and a bump right at ihc starting line. The losing fever developed b the Boston pitchers proved contaslous and eventually their team mates of the inner an 1 outer defences proved very effective aides in fumbllne away a game that one of the pitchers seemed for some reason or other unable to lose single handed. Indeed. O'Brien's case was so manifest mani-fest that Dr Stahl, in an effort to put an end to the epidemic quarantined him with the Chicago White Sox W hile the change may have lightened the Red Sox burden to a certain extent, ex-tent, it is not known that O'Brien a exile helped him any or added any much needed strength to the White Sox staff. A comparison of the pitching averages aver-ages of these former stars for this season and 1912, will give an accurate idea of how their brlllianc has been dimmed. Last season. Wood, who was the pitching sensation of the year, had a j grand total average of .872 He won 34 games and lost but 5. So far this I season his average is well below the 700 mark He has already lost as many games as he dropped all of last season, but his victories do not yet total 15 In 1912, Hugh Bedient was cred Ited with a total average of 667. He won 20 games and lost but 10. This year his average is hovering abou' the 50ii mark, and considers himself lucky according to reports from the inside Charley Hall won 15 and lost but 8, last vear, for an average of 652.; This season he was out of the gam-' for a spell with a bad leg. What chance he did have in the box this season, f'harley did not show muh. 1 -r 1 miiwmi 111 mm mm I His average Is way below the .30 mark. Ray Collins had 11 wins against 8 set hacks last year. His average was .636 After getting away to a bad staort at the beginning of the present season, this veteran recovered and settled down to his true form He, manages to keep his average up near the 667 mark. Lost year O'Brien got better than even break, with 18 wins and 13 defeats. de-feats. This season he has apparently hit the toboggan for keeps. His average av-erage is below the 300 mark, and his, team-mates hold out little hope for his eer climbing back. Just what caused this sudden reversal re-versal of form in the Roston pitchers Is unexplained. During the last world series there were rumors of a fight In the dressing room In which O'Brien and Wood were said to have been the, principals. In an affair of this kind It Is inevitable that the players ar bound to lake sides The formlnc of factions has heen the ruination of more than one good club and the Boston Bos-ton Red Sox was no exception to the rule |