Atlanta Daily World

The St. Louis Cardinals by sweeping a four-game series with the Brooklyn Dodgers gave a strong clue of the ominous developments in store for the Flatbushers. The quartet of victories gave the Cardinals a 10-6 seasonal standing over the Dodgers with 32 games remaining between the two clubs. Another disheartening note is that the Dodgers must play 36 more games with New York, St. Louis and Philadelphia, against whom the Brooks have won 13 and lost 17. They have only 23 left to play with Boston, Pittsburgh, and Cincinnati who have dropped 40 out of 43 to the league leaders.

Oddly enough the Giants, Cardinals and Phillies hold an edge over the Dodgers. If the second division clubs had been one-third as effective as this trio, the Dodgers would be wallowing somewhere in second division. Ability to thrash the last three teams in the standing is the reason the Dodgers enjoy a 4-game lead. On Friday, July 25 the club was ahead by a comfortable 7 1/2 game margin. The Cardinals whittled this advantage down.

The Boston Braves and Pittsburgh Pirates have yet to win a game from Brooklyn. Each has lost 13 games to the pace-setters. The Cincinnati Reds have won but three of 17 contests.

A search of the record books show that no club in the American or National League has ever gone through a full season without having won at least one game from every club.

The Dodgers still have nine games each to play against Boston and Pittsburgh. The toughies are the Giants, Cardinals and Phillies who bar the Dodgers' path to the National League pennant.

For a club rated the best in baseball, the Dodgers have shown extreme impotence against the front-liners. We point out the extreme effectiveness of the Giants' Sal Maglie, Jim Hearn, Larry Jansen and Dave Koslo against the Dodgers. The Phillies' Karl Drews, Robin Roberts, Curt Simmons and Howie Fox have been equally as effective. The Cardinals with Gerry Staley, Max Lanier, Joe Presko, Wilmer Mizell have likewise shown complete mastery over the Dodgers.

It was on August 13, 1951 that the N. Y. Giants began their Big Push against the Dodgers. This surge led to a deadlock at the end of the season and Bobby Thomson's unforgettable homerun which sent the Giants into the world series against the New York Yankees.

There has been a deep suspicion that the Dodgers reached their peak in 1949, when they tumbled into the world series with the Yankees. Since '50, the Phillies and the Giants have walked away with the league plum-both by coming through on the final day of the season.

The Dodgers even without Newcombe have enjoyed tight pitching. Yet the prime fault appears to be their inability to hit in the clutch. Clyde Sukeforth pin-pointed this theory in his Look Magazine piece. He said the blame for the Dodgers' demise in '51 wasn't the failure of Ralph Branca or the rest of the hurling corps. It was poor hitting. The Flock let too many men stranded on the base paths. This proved their undoing.

While the sports world awaits the N. Y. Giants to begin its pennant-storming assault on the National League standings the knowboys eye the Cardinals. The Cardinals are in exactly the same spot that the Giants were a year ago. If the Cardinals can perform a miracle of equal lustre to that of the Giants last year then another crowd-pulling race will develop in the National League.

At any rate, the ravages of time are begin to show on the Dodgers. While the club has the league lead-the hot weather months of August and September can show the deep inroads of age which is now menacing the club morale.

The big question is does the Brooklyn Dodgers have it? To date, they have shown brilliance only against the second divisioners.