Cardinals Schedule

Cards Deal Scalping to Braves

It's been a pretty bumpy ride for the Cardinals 45 team this season, but things seem to finally be clicking after beating the Braves, 10-2 at Bishop Foley HS on Sunday. It was the first time this year the Cards won back-to-back games. On Friday, it was a 14-1 drubbing of Mudville after several brutal losses that was the start of good things to come for Sunday, in which all facets of the game came together.

Lefty, Stan Shedlowsky toed the rubber for the Cardinals and held the Braves scoreless for the first 4 innings, enroute to a 5+ inning start, leaving with a 4-1 lead, eventually picking up the win. Shed was a bit winded by the 6th from circling the bases all day, going 3-4 with a double, triple and 3 RBI. 

The Cardinals broke through a scoreless tie in the 3rd when Darrin Clark singled home Shane Pfannes to make it 1-0. Dave Feeny, who had reached in an error came home from 3rd on a wild pitch for a 2-0 lead. The Cards added to their lead in the 4th to make it 3-0. Kevin Tardivi led off with a single, and scored on a bases loaded RBI groundout by Glenn Triest. The Braves scored a run in the 5th to make it 3-1, but Shed limited the damage as the Braves left the bases loaded. The Cardinals got the run back in the 6th as Stan singled, stole second and scored on an RBI single by Geoff Patterson to make it 4-1. 

The critical part of the game was in the 6th inning. Shed walked the first two batters and was relieved by Joe Zimmerman who came in and put out the fire, retiring all 3 batters he faced, slamming the door on the rally with no damage done.  The Cards then put the game away in the 7th, taking advantage of leadoff walks by Pfannes and Feeny to start the inning. Zimmerman laid down a perfect bunt, moving both runners. Clark was intentionally walked to load the bases and Mark Ehgotz delivered a line drive single, scoring 2 runs to make it 6-1. Tardivi then lined a single to RF to load the bases for Shedlowsky, who drove a triple over the CF's head to score 3 runs and a 9-1 lead, then scored on a wild pitch to make it 10-1.

In all, it was a solid performance all the way around, with errorless defense, solid pitching and timely hitting. The Cardinals will try to make it 3 straight wins when they take on the Cubs Tuesday night at Hazel Park.

Cardinals Beat Cubs for 3rd Straight Win

It was like one of those "grinders" you often hear about, in the context of a major league game. In the MSBL, it's called a "struggle", but however it is described, it added up to a 6-1 win for the Cardinals over the Cubs at Hazel Park on Tuesday night.

Ed Collins' pitching performance made certain the game stayed under control while the Cardinal offense sputtered in the early going, missing several opportunities to open up a comfortable lead. Collins went the distance, scattering 6 hits and struck out 4, extinguishing a couple of scoring chances for the Cubs with his whiffleball-like curves for his 4th win of the season.

Jerry Carlisle drove in the first run of the game with a clutch 2-out hit in the 2nd inning, scoring Futoshi Miyasato for a 1-0 lead. The Cubs answered with their only run of the game in the bottom of the second to tie the score. Jim Rowan untied it in the 3rd with an RBI single, scoring Glenn Triest who was running for Collins to make it 2-1. Collins pitched out of a jam in the 4th, stranding the tying run on 3rd by inducing 2 popups to end the threat.

The Cardinals stranded their own runners in the 4th and 5th innings as the game remained close until Darrin Clark stepped up to lead off the 6th inning. With the Cubs outfield playing deep, Clark still blasted one over the centerfield's head that went to the fence about 400' away. Clark circled the bases for an inside-the-park HR to make it 3-1. That jolt seemed to ignite the offense as the Cards scored 3 more times on a 2-run triple by Carlisle and a sac fly by Triest to make it 6-1, creating plenty of breathing room for Collins, who closed it out for the win.

The Cardinals return to Hazel Park next Tuesday to take on the Tigers.

Cardinals Walk off with Late Rally win over Braves

Cardinals pitcher, Ed Collins flirted with perfection, retiring the first 13 Braves on Wednesday night at Hazel Park leading to an eventual 6-5 dramatic win in the bottom of the 7th. Unfortunately, the Cards' offense left the bases loaded in each of the first two innings and the game remained scoreless until the 6th when the Braves finally broke through, aided by a throwing error on a sacrifice bunt which opened the floodgates for a 5-run rally as Collins exited the game in an otherwise stellar outing. Geoff Patterson came in to get two big outs to put out the fire and kept the game within reach.

The Cardinals answered with 2 runs in the bottom of the 6th with 2 outs when Darrin Clark scored from second on a hit by Kevin Tardivi, who then (shockingly) stole second and scored on Stan Shedlowsky's RBI single to cut the Braves' lead to 5-2.  Tim Sullivan came out from behind the dish to pitch a scoreless 7th to set up the big rally.

Sullivan worked a leadoff walk and scored on Patterson's double to the left centerfield gap to make it a 5-3 game. Jerry Carlisle followed with an RBI single to right to suddenly make it a 5-4 game. After a discussion of a sacrifice bunt, it was decided to let Glenn Triest swing away and he proceeded to execute a perfect swinging bunt, advancing Carlisle into scoring position. Ken Barnowski then singled to move Carlisle to 3rd. Shedlowsky, running for Barnowski moved to second on a wild pitch to put the winning run in scoring position. Jim Rowan then flared an RBI single to short left field to score Carlisle and tied the score. After Rowan moved to second on a wild pitch, Dave Feeny battled, fouling off several pitches before walking to load the bases for Clark, who promptly slashed the game winning hit down the left field line, scoring Shedlowsky to win the game. Sullivan picked up the win in relief as the Cardinals moved into the 6th place seeding for the upcoming playoffs.

The Cards will take on Mudville in their final regular season game a week from Thursday at Capitol Park.

Cardinals Topple Blue Jays to Advance to 2nd Round of Playoffs

Ed Collins scattered 7 hits, allowing just 2 runs in a complete game, backed by timely hitting and flawless defense by the Cardinals. After giving up a run in the first inning, Collins held the Jays scoreless until the 5th inning while the Cardinals scratched out 4 runs. 

Jays pitcher Bob Bell nearly escaped a bases loaded jam in the 2nd inning with nobody out, inducing a 1-2-3 double play. But Tim Sullivan hit a ground ball that was bobbled by the Jays' shortstop and Kevin Tardivi who had singled, scored to tie the game. The Cards took the lead in the 3rd when Darrin Clark singled home Dave Feeny who had walked to make it 2-1. Stan Shedlowsky singled and later came home to score on a throwing error as the Cards took a 3-1 lead.

In the 5th Geoff Patterson entered the game and promptly blasted a double over the leftfielder's head and came around to score on Feeny's double to the right centerfield gap to increase the lead to 4-1. The Jays got the run back in the bottom of the 5th to cut the lead to 4-2, but Collins slammed the door. The Cards added a big insurance run in the 7th. Glenn Triest hit a one-out single and Joe Zimmerman, running for Triest stole 2nd, then advanced to 3rd on Jerry Carlisle's single. Zimmerman hustled home to score on a wild pitch to make it 5-2. Collins then worked around a 2-out single and closed out the win, finishing with 5 K's and just one walk. Collins' battery mate Tim Sullivan picked off a runner at first and threw out a would be base stealer to snuff out a couple of threats by the Jays. The Cards had 10 hits and kept the pressure on the Jays with base runners in every inning after being set down in order for the only time in the game in the first inning.

The Cardinals will take on the Bengals in the next round of the playoffs at Hazel Park next Tuesday at 8:15pm