Cards Squeeze Out Late Night Tie Versus A's

On a sunny Wednesday evening the bats came alive on Mavericks Field again as the Legends Cardinals took on the Sopranos Athletics in a make-up game from back in June. In the first of two consecutive games between these teams the umpires were on the hotseat as many calls were questioned and argued in this heated affair. In the end, the night sky was a factor and the teams ended deadlocked at 5-5.

Starting off an astonishing run of four games in five days, the Cards went with ptiching ace Luke Lampard to face equally difficult A's ace Adam Kerr. Looking to take care of business early on, the Cards' jumped on a slow start from Kerr and the A's to take a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. Back-to-back lead off singles from Matt Smith and Josh Byers would get some help from a pair of infield errors to put the home side out front.

After a scoreless second inning, the Athletics would answer back as an RBI double to the fence from Joe Leghorn would score Adam Splawski to knot the game 1-1. From there the Athletics would take the lead in the top of the fourth inning as Scott Vickers would score after reaching on an error to put the A's up 2-1.

A single from Sean Pollitt in the bottom of the fourth would serve as the tying run for the Cardinals, scoring on a single from Matt Smith, who finished the night 3-for-3, with 3 RBI. Controversial calls on close plays in both fifth and sixth innings would add even more peculiarity to the evening as Russell Taylor and pitcher Luke Lampard would eventually score to put the Cardinals up 4-2. However, the Athletics would tally three times on three hits in the top of the sixth to step into the driver's seat with a 5-4 lead. With the sun well out of the evening sky, and darkness approaching quickly at Lambrick Park, Shane Roberts' double to the wall in the seventh inning gave the Cards some final hope. He would later provide the tying run as a bloop single fell between the infielders and outfielders. The final out was barely caught due to darkness is left field and Victoria Mavericks Baseball has learned from this incident, changing all future evening games to a start-time of 6:15 p.m.

The Cards play host to the A's again on Friday night, and continue onto Saturday facing the Astros and then the Dodgers on Sunday. Come out and enjoy some August baseball as the Mavericks 2007 season rounds down.

Cards Drop Fourth Straight Despite Great Pitching

Russell Taylor started or the Cardinals the Thursday night against the Fisgard Astros and despite pitching a great complete game with no earned runs and 10 strikeouts, came away with the loss.

With just 2 runs scored in their last 4 games, the Legends Cardinals are having a hard time getting players across the plate. Facing veteran pitcher Marty Hall, the Cards were not short on baserunners but were unable to cash them in. Three untimely running errors cost the Cards the chance to even up a 1-0 nothing game. What's worse is that the run scored for the Astros was the result of an error in the first inning of play. Russell Taylor shut the Astro batters down but the wasn't good enough.

The Cards get some extra swings in as they face a team from North Vancouver on Saturday for a double header. Game times are 12:00 noon and 3:00 PM. They will again be at it for league play in 10 days, facing the Sopranos Athletics on Wednesday, August 8.

Birds Battle but Jays Come Out on Top

On a rainy Friday night, the Legends Nightclub Cardinals faced the league-leading Monkey Tree Pub Jays but could not find their 6th straight win. Despite great pitching from starter Reese Jones, the Jays walked away with the 6-1 victory.

After beating the Jays in their last meeting, and coming in with a 5-game winnning streak, the Cards came in confident but lacking a little energy. The Jays were able to take advantage of that and score 2 runs in the top of the second inning. After that, starter Reese Jones pitched perfectly but the Cards were unable to add any more than just 1 run to the scoreboard.

In the top of the seventh, with star-pitcher Russell Taylor (who recently beat the Jays for their only loss of the season) on the mound, the floodgates were cracked opened, as two hits to the fence and a homerun by Jays catcher, John Margaritas, pushed the score to it's final resting place at 6-1.

The Cards are back on the field this Sunday against the last-place Athletics, with game-time scheduled for 12:00 PM.

Cardinals Cling to 5th Straight

The Cardinals were facing the bottom dwelling Shark Club Dodgers on Friday night and they barely walked away with a 4-3 victory to claim their 5th win in a row.

Starting pitcher and eventual player of the game Luke Lampard started off great, coming off a complete game shutout for the all-star team at a tournament two weeks ago in Kelowna. Although allowing at least one runner in each inning, Lampard was able to keep the Dodgers off the board through the first 4 innings while racking up 8 strikeouts.

The Cardinals offence however started off well as Matt Smith, Shane Roberts, and Kasey Wickens connected for three startight singles to put the Cards up 1-0 in the top of the first. Leaving runners on second and third proved costly later on as the Cards would need every run they scored on this night.

In the third, the Cards were back at it scoring two more runs and finding a 3-0 lead. In the fifth, they earned another, going into the bottom of the fifth with a strong 4-0 lead. That all went away fairly quickly as the Dodgers were able to scratch out 3 runs, two on a powerful single down the third baseline by clean-up hitter Bobby Scott.

Pitching changes were made to start the sixth and both teams pushed to take more with the score at 4-3. Closer extraordinaire Russell Taylor came in and got the job accomplished, but it wasn't without fanfair. To lead off the seventh inning, Kris Feeny snuck a ball under the diving glove of rightfielder Rob Walker to allow him a triple and a very real threat for the tie game. But thanks to a groundout, a foulball pop-up, and a game ending strikeout to previous Card-killer Scott, the Legends Nightclub Cardinals walked away hurt, but happy with the win.

Sunday's game against the Astros has been postponed to August and so you'll have to wait till next Friday to see the Cards take on the previously unbeaten Monkey Tree Pub Jays who fell to the Cards just a week ago.

Battle of the Birds Results in Jays Going Home Defeated

In a much anticpated matchup Friday night, the undefeated Monkey Tree Pub Jays faced the revamped Cardinals who were on a 3-game winning streak of their own. After opening the first 15 games of the season without a loss, the Jays couldn't find the answer against a complete game performance by Card pitcher Russell Taylor and have to take their first hit to the loss column.

Taylor, pitching his first complete game of the season, kept the offensively powerful Jays to just 3 runs, matching Kasey Wickens RBI total for the game as the Cardinals won 4-3. The game brings Legends up to a .400 average despite sitting deadlast at 2-9 after the first 11 games of the season. They now have a strong hold of third place in the league and have the opportunity to put more distance as they face the 4th place team in the Shark Club Dodgers next Friday.