Monday, July 31, 1950

              W  L  Pct GB
Yakima ..... 64 42 .604 —
Tacoma ..... 59 43 .578 3
Wenatchee .. 61 46 .570 3½
Tri-City ... 57 48 .543 6½
Victoria ... 46 59 .438 17½
Vancouver .. 44 58 .431 18
Salem ...... 42 59 .416 19½
Spokane .... 43 61 .413 20

Lowly Indians Smash Bears
By FRANK VAILLE
Associated Press Sports Writer.
SPOKANE, July 31—The down-but-not-dormant Spokane Indians rose up from their Western International league cellar position Monday night to drum out a 7-4 win over Yakima.
The loss whittled a half game from the Bears' league lead, but left them three full games ahead of the second place Tacoma Tigers.
It was the night's only contest and made up an April postponement.
Spokane tucked it away early scoring three times in the first frame and again in the second before the Yakimans managed to squeeze in a single tally.
John Conant, pitching seven hit ball, was credited with his 13th decision.
The full league swings back into action Tuesday night. In addition to Yakima at Spokane, new series will send Vancouver to Wenatchee, Victoria to Tri-City and Salem to Tacoma.
Yakima ..... 001 001 002—4- 7-0
Spokane ... 310 102 00x—7-10-3
Dickey and Tornay; Conant and Rossi.

TACOMA, August 1 — Spokane's Glenn (Jeep) Stetter is once more out in front in the Western International league batting race, it was revealed in averages released today from the office of Robert B. Abel, president of the circuit.
Stetter had a good week at Victoria and Vancouver, collecting eight hits in 21 official trips to the plate to boost his willow mark one point to .354.
Meanwhile, Tacoma's Dick Greco received rought treatment from Tri-City and Yakima pitchers, who carved 13 points from his sticking percentage—he finished the week at .350—by holding him to just three hits in 23 times at bat. Edo Vanni of Spokane climbed to third place at .342.
Greco, who has shared the batting lead with Stetter most of the season, was still top man in the runs-batted-in and home run department, however, despite his poor week at the plate. One of his blows against Yakima was his 22nd homer of the campaign, and he added four RBI's and 17 homers. Jim Westlake of Yakima had 84 RBI's and Joe Rossi of Spokane was the author of 16 circuit blows.
The averages (including games through July 30):
                      AB  H RBI  PCT
Stetter, Spo. ...... 389 120 70 .354
Greco, Tac. ........ 389 136 98 .350
Vanni, Spo. ........ 316 108 39 .342
G. Thompson, Vic. .. 390 130 86 .333
Zuvella, Yak. ...... 235  77 43 .328
Rossi, Spo. ........ 330 114 69 .336
Sinovic, Van. ...... 290  94 56 .324
Cheso, Yak. ........ 382 121 77 .317
Matoh, Spo. ........ 390 122 81 .313
Gifford, Tac. ...... 361 113 47 .313
Clarkson, Van. ..... 404 125 51 .309
Pocekay, Wen. ...... 405 125 75 .309
Len Tran, Van. ..... 311  95 54 .309
Hjelmaa, Wen. ...... 364 111 52 .305
Quinn, Tac. ........ 404 123 83 .304
Cameron, T-C ....... 260  79 54 .304
Warner, T-C ........ 373 113 76 .303
Len Neal, Wen. ..... 233  70 20 .300
Moore, Vic. ........ 400 119 48 .297
Bryant, T-C ........ 405 120 71 .296
Fracchia, Wen. ..... 368 109 64 .296

NON WIL NEWS MINOR LEAGUE NEWS
Scorer Reverses Rule On Balk
SEATTLE, July 31—When is a balk not a balk?
That pretty puzzler was posed Monday night when official scorers retracked to the second game of the Seattle-Oakland Pacific Coast league doubleheader Sunday and removed the stigma of a balk from Guy Fletcher.
Don't ask for an explanation on the maze of reasoning involved.
What it boiled down to briefly was this:
With the score tied in the top of the overtime eighth inning, Dick Wakefield on first and George Metkovich on third broke down the paths as Fletcher took his stretch. Without waiting the required one second or taking his foot from the rubber, the Seattle righthander fired to the plate. The batter fouled off the pitch attempting to bunt.
The four umpires, headed by Roman Bentz at the platter, bawled in unison, "b-a-w--wk." Metkovich was waved in with what proved to be the winning run.
Now to get down to the nub of the reversed decision. The scorers said after consulting the rule book, that the attempted double steal nullified the balk. So what's consolation in that for Fletcher or the Rainiers?
The run scored just as it would with an ordinary garden-variety balk. The Rainiers lost. Fletcher was charged with his seventh defeat.
Fans immediately began trying to puzzle out how with withdrawal of the balk Metkovich could legitimately score the deciding run when the batter fouled the pitch. Before that one's explained satisfactorily there's apt to be a lot of head scratching.
WILfan note: This was the second time in the PCL season Metkovich won a game on a balk. It happened in the nightcap of a Sunday doubleheader, June 25, against Los Angeles in an even wackier game.
The other oddity here is a balk is called by an umpire. An official scorer has no authority to overrule an umpire's call on anything. Umps and scorers make rulings but in completely seperate areas.