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The 2008 Legends and Vintage Champions have now both been crowned which brings official closure to the BVB year.

The Yankees swept the Marauders in the final to earn the Legends Cup. With all due respect to the teams competing for the Legends this year, it really wasn’t a big surprise that the Yankees were crowned champions. They are one of the most complete teams in the league and could have just as easily been considered serious contenders for Vintage glory. However with a dramatically improved Mudhens team and strength coming from the Red Sox, Hobo’s and Cardinals the Yankees problem was more a mathematical one than a talent one. That said, a Legends Cup win over a strong Marauders team is something that every team would be proud to have accomplished. Expect that the Yankees will use this victory to catapult them back into the Vintage next year and give them a chance to bring home the Vintage hardware.

The Cardinals would like to congratulate the Red Sox for winning the 2008 Vintage Cup with a dominating sweep over the 3 time defending champion Hobo’s. The final between these two teams was so close last year that another 5 game series was expected by most. However from the beginning of the playoffs the Sox had the swagger of a team that knew that this was their year and they proved that in steamrolling the Cardinals and Hobo’s in just 7 games. Thus ends the incredibly impressive run of championships for the Bo’s who had overcome a tremendous amount of adversity over the years to win their championships. Perhaps finally losing the last game of the year will re-invigorate the team for 2009 and give them the hunger that the Sox had in this years final.

The Sox are a relatively young team, so the league may be witnessing another dynasty in the making. However each year the quality of teams in BVB seems to grow dramatically, so there will no doubt be a lot of hungry teams in pursuit of Vintage supremacy next year. League GM’s now begin their work as they look to find and acquire the missing pieces of the puzzle during the off season.

On behalf of the Cardinals, congratulations to everyone on a great 2008 season and all the best for a healthy and safe winter.

2008 BVB GOLF TOURNAMENT

On July 19th the BVB hosted it’s 2nd annual 49’ers golf tournament at Indian Wells Golf Club in Burlington. Proceeds from the day will go towards the league and the Nationals program who are looking to defend their title when the tournament starts in a couple weeks. Despite the on again, off again hard rains a great time was had by all. A big thanks must be passed on to the Yankees Jason Riesberry for his efforts in a very well organized day.

From a Cardinals standpoint, team members Steve Maher and Jeff Gilleland joined up with friends Ryan Sgro and Mike Harrison to capture the low net title with a -10 in this scramble format event. This was the second year in a row for this foursome to win the trophy. The team had to endure endless comments from detractors that their score was going to be protested, but like defending Champions are supposed to act no breach of rules had occurred and the protests (some idiotic, some very funny) fell on deaf ears. Speaking of deaf ears, Gilleland’s ears are severely worse for wear after 5 hours in the same cart as the 300 word-per-minute Maher. Steve didn’t escape the day unscathed either however, as Gilleland accidentally? ran him over on the 11th hole with an out of control golf cart, leaving Steve with an injured ankle. It was another hard luck incident for Tommy Boy, who also got ousted in the contest for longest drive by the Cubs Ryan Phillips. He shouldn’t hang his head though as his drive on the 10th was a bomb itself and ultimately only fell a few yards shy of the perennial long drive hitter Phillips.

Jay Hodgson, Rob Whitteker, Russ Pereira, Greg Moore, Kent Barber and alumnus Chris Foulon also participated in the tournament. Thanks to Russ for hosting a post-tourney get together back at his place where many of the world’s problems got solved on his patio. The consensus that was arrived at as the team parted was that the day was a ton of fun and that the rice was very good.

The Cardinals 2008 season came to a disappointing close on Tuesday evening as they dropped Game 4 with the Sox by a 5-1 margin. Too many errors and too few hits was the theme for last night, as it was for the entire series for the Cardinals who saved their worst baseball for the end of the season. It will be a long off-season as the team tries to figure out why the wheels fell off on both the defensive and offensive side of things. In the 4 game series the Cardinals commit a whopping 17 errors and only mustered 24 hits. You can’t expect to win a series against anyone with those pathetic numbers, let alone a perennial powerhouse like the Red Sox.

The one constant for the Cardinals was the pitching of Steve Maher, Russ Pereira and Mark Thomas who all made it difficult on opposing batters to get on base. Unfortunately the depth of pitching that the Cardinals have isn’t there the way it was for the Sox who were able to throw 7 different pitchers over the course of the series, all of whom were very effective.

It should be noted that despite the brutal play of the Cardinals, the Sox earned the series win convincingly. They hit when they needed to, their pitchers didn’t give many free passes, they played very solid defensively and they were simply put, the far better team in this series. Congratulations to the Red Sox on earning another berth in the Vintage finals. The Cardinals wish you luck in trying to earn your first Vintage Cup.

The offseason will be a busy one for Cardinal players. On November 2nd the team is heading to Ralph Wilson stadium to watch Brett Favre and the Jets square off against the Bills. A limo bus has been secured although it has yet to be determined whether there will be a defibrillator on board or not. Russ Pereira and Mark Thomas have also offered to host poker nights in the next few months. On the personnel front, the team will look to officially announce a couple of signings that will make their pitching rotation even more feared. Stay tuned over the course of the winter for all news in Cardinals land.

On Wednesday evening the Cardinals and Red Sox renewed acquaintances for Game Three in their best of five series. By a score of 8-3, the Red Sox won the game and pushed the Cardinals to the brink of elimination.

Whenever the Cardinals have struggled this season, it seems to always occur in the 3rd inning of the game and last nights contest was no different. With the Cardinals winning 2-1 entering the 3rd, a virtual comedy of errors combined with a couple of hard hits allowed the Sox to bring across a 6 run mercy. Hard luck pitcher Steve Maher had to witness 5 errors in the inning, wasting an otherwise very effective pitching performance. The frustrating aspect for the Cardinals is that their defense in the regular season was outstanding and it just hasn’t carried through thus far into the playoffs.

On the flip side the Red Sox have played very complete baseball throughout the series. They only commit one error last night and had some players make some excellent defensive plays to minimize any momentum for the Cardinals. They took advantage of the Cardinals miscues and had some very solid base hits to earn the victory. The pitching of Dave Maunder, Dexter Sargeant and Darcy Osipenko limited the Cards to the 3 runs and really at no point looked ready to surrender a big inning. The Cardinal runs came by virtue of a solo homerun by Jeff Gilleland, an RBI single by Jay Hodgson and a sacrifice fly by Steve Maher.

The positives for the team was yet again the solid pitching provided by Russ Pereira, Maher and Mark Thomas. All three have been horses and have limited a very potent offense to just a few hits in each game. Another positive the team can take away is that they had the Sox pushed to the brink in their series last year before they turned the series around and won the final two games. The Cardinals will hope that the shoe will be on the other foot this year otherwise the season will be considered a major disappointment for the team. The next game is scheduled for 7:00pm this Sunday at Nelson park. Hope to see you at the yard.

In the Cards/Red Sox Vintage semi-final, the Red Sox jumped out to a quick 1-0 series lead by virtue of a 9-5 victory. This reporter was not in attendance for the game, however by all accounts the nerves of the post season got to the team a little bit in an ugly and error filled game. GM Jay Hodgson said, “We haven’t played in a game as frustrating as that since our inaugural season. It was disappointing to say the least”.

In Game Two the Cards looked to rebound and eventually took 8 complete innings to do so as the team won in the bottom of the 8th by a 9-8 margin. The heroics at the plate came off of the bat of Jason Saker who lashed a hit to right field to cash in the game winning, walk-off run. It should also be said that the heroics came off the arm of Saker as well who came on in relief in the top of the 8th with the bases loaded and nobody out. Saker induced a groundball which was thrown to the plate to get that out. He then struck out the next batter and completed the effort by inducing an infield pop fly to end the inning. It was a huge emotional lift for the Cards who then carried that into their at bats in the bottom of the inning to earn the win.

Tim Barnes continues to be an offensive juggernaut as be brought in a couple of RBI’s. Mark Thomas hit a couple RBI’s as well and John Piatkowski came through in the clutch himself. The pitching combination of Steve Maher, Russ Pereira, Mark Thomas and Saker did the rest, although the defense again was not great behind them.

Through two games in this series neither team has played tremendously well. Hopefully both teams will bring their best in the remaining games. See you at the yard.

After having lost to the Mudhens on Friday evening the Cardinals were in a position where they were going to have to watch the scoreboard to see if they would take home their first ever Lutz Cup trophy. The Cup would symbolize the evolution of a team that was formed just four years ago as a collection of individuals who struggled mightily in that first year. The remaining players from that first season are Dave Kerr, John Piatkowski, Jeff Gilleland, coach Greg Moore and GM Jay Hodgson. Through the addition of many key components over the years the club has morphed into one of the best teams in the league. The Lutz Cup would have been a great symbol of that enormous improvement and was something that the team coveted right up until the bitter end.

That bitter end came on Wednesday morning as the team learned that the Mudhens beat the Yankees to clinch their first ever Lutz Cup trophy. It was an even faster ride to the top for the Mudhens who claim the trophy in just their second year. Their #1 seeding is no fluke as they are the real deal and rightful owners of the 2008 Lutz Cup. Congratulations Mudhens on an outstanding regular season.

The Vintage playoffs are now set with two very interesting matchups. The Lutz Cup Champions will battle the 3 time defending champion Hobo’s, while perhaps the two most evenly matched teams will play in the other semi-final when the Cardinals and Red Sox square off. The Cardinals will host the Sox in Game 1 next Wednesday, September 3rd at Millcroft Park. Hope to see you at the yard!

On Sunday evening the Cardinals played their 20th and final game of the year against the X-Men. The two teams hadn’t faced one another since the season opener. A win was needed to have any hopes at all of capturing the Lutz Cup honours, but more importantly a solid performance would help to erase the sting of their loss to the Mudhens two days prior.

The Cardinals got 5 runs in the first inning which was more than enough to win the game. The eventual score was 11-2 in favour of the Red Birds who will now wait to see how the Hens fair against the Yankees and Cubs to determine their playoff fate. The pitching of Russ Pereira, Rob Whitteker, Kent Barber and Steve Maher kept the X to just the two runs, while the offense was spread throughout the line-up. Jeff Gilleland hit his 4th homerun of the year while Jay Hodgson lashed a single and a deeply hit double. Whitteker and Tim Barnes also ripped a double each to help move the game to the score that it was.

Besides scoreboard watching the Cardinals also have a game slated against the Welland Legends this coming Thursday down at Burgar Field. The game should be a good tune up before a first round playoff series against either the Hobo’s or Red Sox. Hope to see you at the yard!

In what was supposed to be a great battle for first place overall between the Cardinals and the Mudhens turned out to be a lop-sided blowout for the Hens. They hit better, pitched better and played a very sound defensive game en route to an 10-3 victory. It was an embarrassing game from a Cardinals standpoint as the team came out flat and never really came to life until the hot dogs and beers were served after the game. But for every bit it was embarrassing for the Red Birds, it was certainly a game that the Mudhens should be proud to have played as they controlled the game from the first pitch and never opened the door even a crack for the Cards to mount a comeback. In one way it was good that the score was a blowout, because an obvious runners interference call was completely and inexplicably missed on a ground ball that would have been the 3rd out in the second inning of the game. Instead, the runner was ruled safe and two batters later a grandslam was hit. However, even without that play the Mudhens were easily the better team and look extremely good heading into the playoffs. The hope for the Cardinals on the other hand is that this humbling loss will trigger a mental turnaround for the team heading into the postseason. The team has struggled at the plate in the last 3 games, only bringing in 3 runs in each of those games. Credit is rightfully given to the opposing pitchers they’ve faced, but that is the caliber of pitching they’re going to be facing for the remainder of the season so they’re going to need to step it up to have any success going forward.

One of the few bright spots for the Cardinals last night was the pitching of Kent Barber who closed the final 3 innings of the game surrendering no runs. A rib injury had kept him from pitching for the past two months, but he looked like he had no rust last night in his three innings. That’s great news for the team who will look to Barber to be his effective self against whoever they face in the first round.

The playoff scenario has not changed officially, but the Hens are in the drivers seat to win the Lutz Cup. Consider the Hobo’s the favourite to be the final team in the Vintage, but at the same time don’t rule out a late season surge by the Yankees. Those two teams face each other on Sunday evening. Should the Hobo’s win, they’re in. Should the Yankees win they will have to close out the season with wins over the Marauders and Mudhens to be in the top half. Good luck to all teams.

On Sunday night the Cardinals stood opposite the 3-time defending champion Hobo's for the rubber match in their 3 game season series. Though this reporter was absent from the game due to assignment at Taboo Golf Course, I was able to secure the services of an up and coming beat reporter to provide me with some highlights of the action.

In yet another well played, well pitched game the Cardinals came out on top with a razor thin 3-2 decision over the Hobo's. To hold the bats of the defending Champs to just 2 runs says all you need to say about the pitching. In the last 3 games the Cardinals have played the Red Sox, Yankees and Hobo's and have surrendered just 4 runs in those games. The highlights for the game for the Cardinals inlcuded some spectacular relief pitching from Russ Pereira who came on with the bases loaded and just one out in the 3rd inning and did not surrender a run. He followed that up in the 4th by hurling another shutout inning before giving way to Mark Thomas who closed the game with three innings of shutout ball himself. Key defensive plays from Greg Moore and Rob Whitteker as well as a two run homerun from Tim Barnes were the difference in the game. It was Barnes' first career BVB HR, although he has ripped the cover off the ball consistently throughout the season.

The playoff scenario is just about set in the top half, with your Cardinals and the Hens battling it out for first place while the Yankees and Hobo's battle it out to see who the final team in the Vintage will be. The Red Sox have completed their season and will play from the #3 slot which will mean facing either the Cards or Hens in the first round of the playoffs. The Card's in the meantime will face the Hens this Friday night and the winner of that game will in all likelihood take home the Lutz Cup honours as the League's best regular season team. It should be an exciting finish before leading into the playoffs. Good luck to all teams!

In Friday night action the Cardinals looked to break a franchise record for the number of wins in a season, and were successful in doing so with a 3-1 victory over the Yankees. The score in the 7 inning game could easily give away the story line... It was a pitching and defensive duel from start to finish.

The Cardinals started Jason Saker who hurled easily his best two innings of the year against one of the best hitting rosters in the league. He then gave way to Rob Whitteker who threw for one inning and then the combination of Mark Thomas and Steve Maher went two innings each to close the game. Defensively the Cards played exceptional ball commiting only one error that ultimately didn't end up hurting the team.

Offensively the Cards got their runs courtesy of RBI singles from Jay Hodgson, Jeff Gilleland and Steve Maher. The limited number of runs that they managed to put across is a total credit to the Yankees pitching staff of Jamie McIntyre, Brad Tupper and Steve Austen who were all extremely difficult on the Cards bats.

The win guarantees the Cards a spot in the Vintage and conversely a loss puts a lot of pressure on the Yanks to run the table to make it in themselves.

Next up for the Cardinals is a matchup against the Hobo's this coming Sunday. This writer will not be attending that game due to vacation, but come on out and support your Cardinals as they face the three time defending champion Hobo's in their third and final meeting of the year.