Monday, August 12, 1951

W L Pct. GB
Spokane ..... 79 40 .664 —
Vancouver ... 77 43 .639 2½
Salem ....... 62 57 .521 17
Wenatchee ... 57 61 .483 21½
Victoria .... 54 68 .446 26½
Tri-City .... 52 68 .430 28
Tacoma ...... 50 69 .420 29
Yakima ...... 48 72 .400 31½

VICTORIA [Colonist, Aug. 14]—Reg Patterson, business manager of the Victoria Athletics, announced last night that he had completed a deal with Modesto which will bring the A’s two catchers in time for tonight’s game at Wenatchee. And that won’t be soon enough.
Vancouver Capilanos literally stole a game for Bob Snyder last night, giving the smooth right-hander his 22nd victory, as they made it three in a row with a 6-4 conquest.
BASES PILFERED
Taking liberties on the bases as Al Kubasek again filled in for the injured Milt Martin, the Caps pilfered ten bases. Five of the thefts came in the fourth inning and were directly responsible for the first three runs of the game. The Caps’ base-running proclivities also threw an extra burden on pitcher John Tierney, who did well enough to have earned the win.
At the plate, Kubasek did much better. Getting a big hand each time up, he managed a perfect evening with two singles and two bases on balls.
SHOULD BE DIFFERENT
It should be different tonight—unless Rocco Cardinale and Jack Reddick take the same road Bill Carr travelled from California. Cardinale, who has had a fine record in the California State League for the past two seasons with averages of .315 and .318, has been purchased outright. Reddick is a rookie assigned to the A’s. No information is available at the moment on his baseball background.
Hopes that the A’s would be able to get righthander Jerry Barta from Vancouver fell through last night. With clubs allowed to carry extra players after tomorrow, the Caås have decided to keep Barta around for the stretch drive.
CROWD 3,500
A “Fan Appreciation Night” crowd of 3,500 was on hand to see the last game of a home stand which started so auspiciously and ended so disastrously. Although the A’s won eight of 12 this time, the last three defeats cost them dearly in their late fight to overhaul Wenatchee for the last playoff spot.
The clubs leaves for Wenatchee this morning for three games with the Chiefs and need a series sweep to get back into contention. The A’s are only five games out with 24 left to play but are eight games behind on the all-important losing side.
Manager Bob Sturgeon has his three southpaws—Jim Hedgecock, Jim Propst and Ben Lorino—ready to shoot at the Chiefs in that order.
NOT AT BEST
Snyder could have been beat last night. Not at his best, the smooth righthander walked six and seemed to tire in the late innings. In the eighth, the A’s had one run in and the bags loaded with no one out, managed only one more run. They managed to get the tying run to the plate in the ninth but couldn’t go on. Hal Jackson had a chance both times to make himself a hero, struck out the first time, rolled to second for the game-ending out on the last try.
Vancouver manager Bill Schuster played the game under protest from the third inning, got the thumb in the eighth for becoming too articulate over a ball-and-strike decision. The protest, and it seemed a good one, was based on a decision in which plate-umpire Dick Valencourt disallowed a run.
BASES LOADED
With one out and the bases loaded, Ray Tran grounded to Sturgeon at second. Sturgeon attempted to tag Bob McGuire, who had been on first base, but the runner ran back toward the sack he had just vacated. Sturgeon then threw the ball to first, retiring Tran, and McGuire was tagged out at second by Jim Clark, who took Jackson’s throw. The runner who bad been at third had scored before the third out was made and since there was no force at second, it appeared the run would count. Valencourt ruled that McGuire was out for moving back towards first base.
Defensively, Ben Jeffey provided the game’s highlight with a sensational catch of Dick Sinovic’s line drive in the second inning while Marv Diercks robbed Tran of a hit in the fifth with a grab of a sinking liner..
Vancouver .... 000 300 210—6-9-1
Victoria ........ 000 000 022—4-9-0
Snyder and Ritchey; Tierney. Prior (8) and Kubasek.

Exhibition
Tri-City ...... 001 000 103— 5- 9-2
Pendelton ... 100 216 00x—10-17-3
Johnson and Pesut; Sperling and Nelson.

TACOMA, Aug. 14 — Vancouver's John Ritchey enjoyed a 9-for-25 week at the plate in games through Sunday to maintain his Western International league-leading batting average of .362, but a sensational spurt by teammate Dick Sinovic leaves the outcome of the willow chase in doubt.
Sinovic made 16 hits in 26 times at bat — including a six-for-six performance Saturday against Victoria — to hike his mark 16 points to .349, the runner-up figure. Tri-Ciy's Buddy Peterson meanwhile slumped 18 points to .328 in relinquishing the second spot.
K Chorlton, Tacoma outfielder, is third at .348, but it now appears he won't reach the required 400 times at bat in the remaining three and one-half weeks of the season and thus can't be considered a contender.
The battle for runs-batted-in honors remains warm, with Sinovic and Ken Richardson of Spokane now tied for first place with 92 apiece and Butch Moran of Tacoma third with 90.
The only contest apparently "sewed up" is the home run derby, in which Will Hafey of Wenatchee is far in front with 21, as compared with the runner-up of 11 reached by no fewer than four rivals — Peterson and Vic Buccola of Tri-City, Bill White of Victoria and Jim Marshall of Wenatchee.
The leaders, as released today from the office of Robert B. Abel, W-I president:
G AB H RBI HR Ave.
Ritchey, Van ....... 112 373 135 66 6 .362
Sinovic, Van ....... 118 458 160 92 7 .349
Chorlton, Tac ....... 71 282 98 33 1 .348
Richardson, Spok ... 103 356 119 92 9 .334
Baxes, Yak ......... 120 440 146 52 6 .332
Vanni, Spok ........ 115 500 165 53 1 .330
Peterson, T-C ...... 108 408 134 89 11 .328
Mesner, Spok ....... 109 400 131 82 3 .328
Moran, Tac ......... 119 478 152 90 4 .321
Kovenz, Tac ........ 113 436 139 57 6 .319