Once again consistency has been the Yorkton Cardinals downfall to begin the 2013 Western Major Baseball League season. A team that has apparent talent, has struggled to put that talent together over a stretch of multiple games so far this season, resulting in a sub- .500 record and that inconsistent play was once again on display as the Cards returned from a week long road trip to host a four game homestand at Jubilee Park this weekend.
The Cardinals opened up their weekend strong against the Moose Jaw Miller Express, but could not carry that momentum into the Saturday and Sunday set against the Lethbridge Bulls, getting swept by the Alberta ballclub before finishing off their homestand with a win over their division rivals in the Regina Red Sox to go 2-2 on the weekend, keeping pace on their 5-9 record, but still staying at the bottom of the East Division standings, a familiar place for manager Bill Sobkow.
On Friday a four RBI night from George Santiago and a three RBI game from shortstop Matt Chavarria gave the Cardinals enough run support to cruise to a 13-10 win over the Miller Express, who have been playing in some high scoring ball games with the Cardinals so far in the opening month of the WMBL season. Aaron Dick nearly allowed the Express to come right back into the game allowing four runs in just one and a third innings of work in relief, but Kody Rock came in to shut the door in a two inning outing to get the save for the Cardinals and the opening win to start the homestand.
Those bats that have been alive against Moose Jaw all season fell silent on Saturday night as the Lethbridge Bulls blanked the Cardinals 5-0 behind a seven inning shutout performance from starting pitcher Dennis Neal. Chavarria was the losing pitcher in the loss, allowing four runs in seven and two third innings at the mound.
A four hit performance from Justin Burgess on Sunday led to a 2-0 Cardinals lead going into the sixth on Sunday in the rematch against the Bulls, but Jeff Pool and Kody Rock could not hang onto the lead on the mound and the Bulls eventually pulled out a 6-2 win from the hosts in the late innings to sweep the Cardinals at their own ballpark in the two game Alberta/Saskatchewan weekend series.
On Tuesday the Cardinals closed their homestand against the defending champion Red Sox, and after two close games against the Red Sox this season before coming up short the Cards finally got over the hump against their East Division rivals with a 5-0 win that kept the Cards at the same place they were before their homestand, four games under .500.
That inconsistency has put the Cardinals in a tough spot as they will now have to look to find a run of wins on the road as they head up to Saskatoon to play the Yellow Jackets before going up to Edmonton on the weekend for a two game set in Alberta.
The good news is that the Yellow Jackets and the Prospects are both also losing ballclubs at the moment, with Edmonton being the league's worst team with a horrendous 1-13 record and the Yellow Jackets sitting just one win above the Cardinals mark of five with six on the season to date. If there was ever a road trip for Sobkow's club to feel good about potentially sweeping it would be this one.
Wins are of need after three weeks of the regular season as time will soon be running out and at 5-9 the Cardinals are still hovering around three games back of the Red Sox and two of the 7-7 Millionaires in the East Division.
After missing the playoffs for a half decade, the Cardinals and their faithful fans are hungry for playoff baseball and despite winning against the two best teams in their division this season, they have lost most of their games to losing ballclubs this year, including the Bulls who after winning two against Yorkton this weekend are still under .500 themselves. If the Cardinals are going to be a winning ballclub, they are going to have to dig deep and start beating on the losers
