Monday, July 30, 1951

W L PCT GB
Spokane ..... 68 36 .654 —
Vancouver ... 67 38 .638 1½
Selem ....... 54 49 .524 13½
Wenatchee ... 52 51 .505 15½
Victoria .... 46 60 .434 23
Tri-City .... 44 61 .419 24½
Yakima ...... 44 61 .419 24½
Tacoma ...... 42 61 .408 25½

YAKIMA, July 30—Vancouver's Capilanos began their bid Monday night to regain the league lead as they whipped the seventh-place Yakima Bears, 9-2, in the first game of a week long home-and-home series.
The win moved the Caps back to within a game-and-a-half of the idle Spokane Indians who open a three-game series at Wenatchee Tuesday night.
Vancouver, which was ousted from the top by Spokane last Friday, exploded for eight runs against Yakima in the first two innings. Pete Hernandez, who went all the way for the Caps gave up only six hits. Four of them came in the fifth inning.
Two runs in the opening frame, plus six more of the same in the second inning, was all Vancouver needed. In the second, they converted six hits into six runs.
Catcher John Ritchey paced the Vancouver attack with three hits in five trips to the plate. Charlie Mead was the only other Capilano to get more than one hit. He collected two for four.
Bill Brenner, former Vancouver manager and catcher, has turned pitcher. Monday night, he relieved starter Dave Anderson in the second inning after the Caps' six-run onslaught. He kept things pretty well under control for the rest of the game, but Yakima couldn't get the hits they needed to overcome the Caps' large lead.
The sparse crowd enjoyed some of the Schuster wit. In the eighth inning, he appeared on the third base coaching lines with a pillow stuffed underneath his uniform.
“I was just trying to emulate Kewpie Dick Barrett,” said a serious Schuster. “Barrett replied by dumping a glass of orange juice down my neck.”
Vancouver .. 260 000 010—9-10-2
Yakima ....... 000 011 000—2- 6-3
Hernandez and Ritchey; Anderson, Brenner (2) and Tiesiera.

KENNEWICK [Tri-City Herald, July 31]—Successful in only two of their last 15 starts the Tri-City Braves last night continued their dangerous skid toward the bottom of the Western International league. Only one game now separates the Braves tied with Yakima for seventh, from the low-rung Tacoma Tigers.
Here's how that plunge, which started on July 17, has moved Tri-City toward the lower depths. At Salem, lost three straight. At home, lost three of four to Salem. At home, lost two of three to Spokane, and at Wenatchee, lost four straight.
Victoria's 12-4 victory last night made it six straight defeats for the Braves, their longest losing streak of the season. It was played before 444 fans; the smallest crowd to witness a game since Tri-City opened Sanders Field in 1950.
Tonight Lou McCollum who holds two victories thus far over that A's, and hasn't been beaten by them yet, will be out to stap the Braves losing streak Facing him on the Victoria mound will be Ed Osborne with a 10-9 record.
For a while last night it looked as though Tri-City might pull the game out of the fire. That came in the fourth when Manager Charlie Petersen, playing in place of the ailing Bill Edelstein, rapped a double to drive in two runs. Then Al Spaeter followed with a single to plate two more and tie the game up 4-4.
FASHION SHOW TONIGHT
But Tri-City hopes went out of the park on Hal Jackson's four-master for Victoria in the seventh with one teammate aboard the sacks. Jackson's circuit clout plated Gene Thompson ahead of him. Thompson had just reached first on a single that scored Jim Clark. Those three runs decided the issue.
The four added by the A's in the eighth and one more in the ninth were superfluous.
Bob Costello went the distance for Tri - City and was charged with his seventh loss of the season. Other than their four-run stint the Braves never seriously threatened Jim Hedgcock's victory. Aside from Charlie Petersen's double the rest of the eight hits by the Braves were of the one-base variety.
Unfortunately the same thing can't be said for Victoria's blows. They collected eight extra-bases; Jackson's home run a triple by Ben Jeffe and six doubles. Don Pries and Jim Clark each got a pair while Gene Thompson and pitcher Hedgecock registered the others.
Tonight is also "Fashion Show" night at Sanders Field with the lovelies in all their finery to be presented starting at 7 p.m. The half - hour or more fashion parade was well received by fans last season and a heavy turnout is expected again tonight.
Victoria .... 001 300 341—12-17-1
Tri-City .... 000 400 000— 4-9-1
Hedgecock and Thrasher; Costello and Sheets.

ONLY GAMES SCHEDULED

TACOMA, July 31 — Vancouver's John Ritchey continues to set the pace in the Western International league batting race with a .364 average in games through Sunday, but indications are cropping up that his won't be a runaway romp to the willow title.
Ritchey fared poorly at the plate last week, collecting only five hits in 24 trips and shedding 13 percentage points in the process. As a result, his lead was shaved to 17 points.
Runner-up is Dick Sinovic, Vancouver outfielder, down six points to .347, while the third spot belongs to Carl (Buddy) Peterson, Tri-City shortstop, whose nine-point climb to .345 stamps him as a solid threat in the chase. Peterson spaced 14 hits in 32 times at bat during the week to move into contention. The Tri-City short-patcher also increased his runs-batted-in total to 77, good for a second-place tie with Tacoma's Butch Moran behind Sinovic's top aggregate of 84. Running a strong fourth is Jim Wert of Spokane with 76. Peterson clubbed 12 tallies across in seven games, while Wert added 13, of which seven were produced in two contests.
Wenatchee's Will Haley lengthened his already healthy lead in the home run derby by adding three more circuit blows for a total of 18, just twice as many as his nearest rivals, Salem's Dick Faber, Tri-City's Vic Buccola and Victoria's Bill White, all with nine.
The leaders, as released today from the office of Robert B. Abel, W-I president:
G AB H RBI HR AVE.
Ritchey, Van ........ 97 316 115 55 6 364
Sinovic, Van ....... 103 404 140 84 5 .347
B. Peterson, T-C .... 90 339 117 77 6 .345
Mesner, Spok ........ 93 350 116 87 3 .331
Richardson, Spok. ... 88 307 101 74 7 .329
Baxes, Yak ......... 104 382 125 46 3 .327
Chorlton, Tac ....... 55 217 71 28 1 .327
Moran, Tac ......... 103 411 133 77 3 .324
Vanni, Spok ........ 104 449 145 49 1 .323
Brunswick, Van ...... 87 346 110 58 3 .318