The 32 Cardinals opened the 2022 season with a decisive 14-1 win over the Red Sox at Hazel Park on Sunday.
A pair of 5-run innings and all around solid pitching provided everything the Cards would need. Ryan Noward pitched 4 innings, allowing just one run and two hits, striking out 4 to pick up the win. Scott Misuraca dominated for two innings with 4 strikeouts and Brad Socull finished the game with a scoreless 7th.
On the offensive side Carlos Portocarrero (3-4 w/2 RBI) got things rolling, leading off the game with a single, stealing 2nd advancing to 3rd on a wild pitch and scoring on Ryan Kelly's sac fly to make it 1-0. In the 3rd Clint Berryman drew a leadoff walk and advanced to 3rd on Austrian import, Dominik Bischof's first MSBL hit in his first AB. Berryman scored on Chris Miller's single to make it 2-0. Irving Feliz crushed a 2-run double to score Miller and Bischof, then escaped a rundown between 2nd and 3rd, only to come in to score on an overthrow at 3rd to make it 5-0.
With a 5-1 lead heading into the 6th, the Cardinals put it out of reach, scoring 4 times to make it 9-1, highlighted by RBI singles by Mike Hanafee, Kelly and Misuraca. A 5-run 7th blew the game wide open to finish the scoring, pounding out 14 hits.
The Cardinals will next take on the A's at Ford Field Thursday night.
Cardinals Find Winning Formula in Win Over Orioles
Adam Barrett went the distance, striking out seven Orioles, working out of a couple of jams and allowing just two runs in a 5-2 victory for the 32+ Cardinals Tuesday night at Kyte Monroe.
The Cardinals defense was solid all night, beginning in the first inning when they turned a 4-6-3 double play followed by an outfield assist by Scott Misuraca who made a perfect throw to nail a runner at second, trying to stretch a hit into a double. In the second, Mike Hanafee (2-2, HBP) hit a one-out double and scored on a two-out hit by Dominik Bischof to give the Cards a 1-0 lead. The Orioles tied in in the 3rd, but were limited after Jerry Emerson and Carlos Portocarerro turned a nice 5-4-3 double play. In the bottom of the inning, Misuraca and Portcorerro hit back-to-back singles and Barrett reached on an error to load the bases. Christian Carlisle hit a sac fly, scoring Misuraca and advancing Portocarrero to 3rd. Emerson followed with another sac fly to score Portocarrero to make it 3-1.
In the 5th, the Orioles put together three straight hits to score a run, making it 3-2, but Barrett ended further damage with an inning ending strikeout to preserve the lead. He worked a quick 1-2-3 sixth, then led off the bottom of the sixth with a sharp single. Emerson walked, then Barrett stole 3rd on an attempted pickoff play on Emerson. Hanafee was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Barrett scored on Clint Berryman's RBI infield gounder and Emerson scored on a throwing error on the same play to make it a 5-2 game. With two outs the th 7th the Orioles loaded the bases, but Barrett induced a ground ball to second to end the game.
The Cardinals have the rest of the week off and will take on the Riverdogs 6pm next Monday at the Rock Quarry known as Bicentennial Rock Park.
After two innings of a slow moving malaise at the Rocky Quarry Monday night, the 32 Cardinals awakened to a 3rd inning sonic boom off the bat of Adam Barrett, launching his first home run of the 2022 season to tie the game at 2-2 with the Riverdogs. From that point on it was all Cardinals enroute to an 11-3 victory to improve their record to 3-0-1.
After Barrett's dinger, the Cardinals went on to score 4 more times in the 3rd. Ryan Kelly ripped a single to right, Mike Hanafee cracked a run scoring double to give the Cards the lead, Carlos Portocarerro brought Hanafee with an oppo taco, and after stealing second, scored on Jerry Emerson's single to make it 5-2. Paul Molinik plated Clint Berryman with an oppo taco to complete the 6-run outburst. Portocarrero grinded out 4 innings on the bump, allowing 2 earned runs as he departed with a 6-3 lead. In the 5th, Tom Borkowski blasted a bases loaded double to deep LF to score all 3 runners to blow the game open at 9-3.
The Cards tacked on single runs in the 6th and 7th innings to close out the scoring. In the 6th, Kelly doubled home Scott Misuraca who reached on his second hit of the game and in the 7th, Borkowski collected his 3rd hit and 4th RBI with a broken bat single to score Brian Spence who had singled. The Polish Power almost had two doubles....well...not really almost....let's just say the train was late to the station and the ball was waiting for his arrival.
Misuraca finished the game pitching 3 strong innings, striking out 5 Dogs to save the win for Portocarrero. The Cardinals will take on the Bulls Wednesday night at Hazel Park
After getting shut down in their previous game Wednesday night, the 32+ Cardinals responded in a big way Saturday afternoon at Brother Rice with a convincing 21-2 win over the Red Sox.
Adam Barrett went the distance, allowing one earned run, striking out 6 with no walks to earn the win and helped his own effort with three hits at the plate, including a double and two RBI. He had plenty of support, too. The Cards took advantage of a few Red Sox miscues and pounded out 21 hits, including 7 doubles and a triple. Christian Carlisle had himself a day, going 4-4 with two doubles and 5 RBI. Ryan Kelly two doubles and 3 RBI. Paul Molinik had 3 hits including a triple and swiped two bases. In all, seven Cardinals had multi-hit games and everyone in the 13-man lineup reached base at least once. With a 6-1 lead after 3 innings the Cardinals sent 16 batters to the plate in the 4th inning scoring 12 times to blow the game wide open. With Lou umpiring behind the plate, he announced that the strike zone was going to open up and he meant it, specifically saying the first two pitches were going to be strikes. It's a good thing we don't play by Catholic League rules which would have meant you were out before stepping up to the plate. We couldn't tell if Lou's calls were strikes or if he was just laughing at us. Not to be outdone, Bill got into the act with a very emphatic out call at first on a close play.. It was one of those "you had to be there" moments. It was quite a punch out.
After the game, Cardinals Management announced there will officially be a "Cardinal Sins" jar starting with the next game due to the various gaffes of not looking for signs, not getting them even when looking, leaving equipment behind after being warned three times and other boneheadedness that will no longer come without a fine. That means there's going to be one glorious team party after the season.
The 32 Cardinals held a 5-2 lead until a 6-run outburst in the 6th inning put the game out of reach on a hot, windy Saturday afternoon at Bob Welch Field in Hazel Park, resuting in an 11-2 win over the pesky A's. A four run first inning included a bases loaded RBI single by Mike Hanafee and it seemed like the Cardinals were going to run away with it from the outset. In the second, they added another run on Eric Toysa's two out RBI single to score Tim Croll who had singled and stole second and third to make it 5-0. The A's scratched single runs in the 3rd and 4th to make it 5-2. The Cardinals missed a great scoring opportunity in the 4th and the bats stayed silent through the 5th. Adam Barrett allowed just two hits in the game, holding the A's in check and it seemed like nothing else was going to happen. Then in the 6th an F2 tornado formed on the mound, adding about 10mph to Barrett's fastball as he struck out the side. OK maybe not an F2, but there definitely was dust swirling.
In the bottom of the 6th, the Cardinals sent two add on fossils up to the plate to kick start the offense. Glenn Triest and Kevin Tardivi drew back to back walks, followed by Scott Misuraca's perfectly placed surprise bunt single to load the bases. Barrett hit a mile high double to left, scoring two runs, then Ryan Kelly's base hit scored two more to open up the lead to 9-2. Clint Berryman doubled in two more runs to make it 11-2. Barrett pitched a 1-2-3 7th to seal the win, ending with 7 punch outs and facing just 3 batters over the minimum.
The Cardinals improved to 5-1-1 and will play Kozy Lounge for pouring rights on Thursday at Hazel Park. And of course there's a the parking lot game afterward.
There was a 2007 movie called "88 Minutes" starring Al Pacino in which his character receives a death threat that he had only 88 minutes to live. To save his life, he had to use all his skills and training as a forensics psychiatrist to narrow down the possible suspects. Of course he figures it out in time. Maybe it wasn't quite as thrilling because no one was under threat to die, but on Thursday night at Hazel Park, the 32+ Cardinals and Kozy Lounge Sliders played a thriller of a game that took exactly 88 minutes to play with the Cardinals eeking out a 1-0 win. It was a pitcher's duel to say the least, with the Cardinals' Adam Barrett and Kozy's TJ Couch throwing strikes like they were double parked. Both were just dealing a variety of tough pitches all night against good hitters on both squads.
The only run of the game came in the second inning when the Cardinals Jerry Emerson led off with a single. With Emerson stealing, Tim Croll protected him by making contact and the only play was at first base, putting Emerson in scoring position. With two outs, Brad Socull hit a perfectly place single to left center, bringing Emerson home with the only run of the game. Both teams had chances to score after that, but could not get it done. In the 3rd inning Kozy had a leadoff double, but the runner was picked off and run down to snuff out the threat. In the 5th after a single and throwing error that should have been a double play, Kozy tried to score on a subsequent single, but left fielder Rico Razo gunned down the runner with a perfect throw home on the fly to catcher Chris Miller, who was waiting for the runner. It wasn't close. Razo then lead off the Cardinals 6th with a double over the left fielders head but was left stranded. From there, Barrett shut it down the last two innings, working around a two out error in the 7th to seal the win. Barrett scattered 5 hits with 5 strikeouts and no walks, throwing just 58 pitches to earn the win. Outside of a couple of errors, the Cardinals defense was very good, especially in the outfield highlighted by two running catches by Razo and Paul Molinik, who also had two stolen bases in the game. Jerry Emerson had two of the Cardinals 6 hits and scored the only run.
The Cardinals have a long break over the July 4th holiday weekend and will take on the Riverdogs July 9th at Hazel Park.
Cardinals Get a Leg Up Early on Riverdogs, Cruise to Win
There's a well known story about Hall of Fame Yankees closer Mariano Rivera who is from Panama. Like many in his country, his family was poor and for him as a kid with dreams of playing in the major leagues, he had to use a milk carton for a glove.
So when Carlos Portocarrero from Guatemala took the bump on Saturday for the Cardinals against the Riverdogs and his knee sock gradually made its way toward his ankle with each pitch, a few possibilities leaped to mind. Did Carlos also use a milk carton for a glove? Did he even have socks as a kid? Was it a simple wardrobe malfunction or was he actually trying to get a leg up on the Riverdogs by distracting them? Maybe it's just a Central America thing? Does he just need a shot of silicon or botox in his calf to hold the damn thing up? Whatever the reason, it is now his signature move, known the "Guatemalan Short Sock".
Laboring through the top of the first and battling his hand me down kid's sock, Carlos limited the Dogs to one run. That was the last lead they would have, as the Cardinal offense scored 5 two out runs in the bottom of the first. Christian Carlisle blasted a triple to score Adam Barrett and Mike Hanafee to give the Cards a 2-1 lead, but it was far from over. Jerry Emerson singled home Carlisle and three more hits followed by Carlos, Paul Molinik and a 2-RBI hit by Brad Socull to make it 5-1. The Dogs scored another run in the 2nd to make it 5-2, leading to a mound conversation, primarily about the sock and some other mechanical advice, after which Carlos found his special purpose. to work out of the jam. The Cardinals scored came right back to score 4, highlighted by a 2-run double by Hanafee and RBI by Barrett and Carlisle. After taking the 3rd inning off, The Cards plated two more runs in the 4th on RBI by Barrett and Hanafee to make it 11-2. In the 5th they sent 11 batters to the plate, scoring 7 times. RBI hits By Socull, Chris Miller, Clint Berryman and 2 by Scott Misuraca closed out the scoring to make it 18-2. Socull pitched 2 scoreless innings, albeit with less wardrobe style.
In the end the powder blues ruled the day, pounding out 18 hits. Misuraca reached all 4 times, going 3-3 with 2 RBI, Hanafee was 2-2 with a triple, walk and 3 RBI, Barrett had 3 RBI, Socull 2-3 with 3 RBI, Emerson 2-3, RBI, Carlos 2-3, Tim Croll 1-3 RBI, Miller 2-3, RBI and Berryman 2-3 RBI. That's a lot of hitting.
Next up for the Cardinals: the Bulls Tuesday night at Kyte.
Cardinals Schedule