The Wandering Disciple

Sarasota, Florida: The Sarasota Reds dominated Saturday’s doubleheader against the Palm Beach Cardinals. After the rainout on Friday, both clubs met under sunny skies for the twilight doubleheader. The Florida heat wasn’t the only thing hot in the first game, the Reds offense was on fire as they walked away with a huge 17-5 win. Game two was just the opposite as the Reds held off to win a 1-0 pitcher duel in the conclusion of the doubleheaders. Click on the photo above for the Reds/Cardinals photo gallery.

Jupiter, Florida: The Palm Beach Cardinals are the Class A-Advanced affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals. The Cardinals are in the South Division of the Florida State League. They have been a minor league affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinal since 2003. During this time, many players have passed through Palm Beach on the path to the pros. Chris Duncan, Jaime Garcia, Jason Motte, Anthony Reyes and Brendan Ryan are a few of the former Palm Beach Cardinals that have made the big leagues. The Cardinals play their home games at Roger Dean Stadium. This world class stadium is shared between the Cardinals and the Jupiter Hammerheads for the minor league regular season. The Cardinals have one league championship in their trophy case. This came in 2005 when the Cardinals defeated the Lakeland Tigers in the best of five championship series to win their first and only FSL trophy. Click on the photo above to view my Palm Beach Cardinals photo gallery. Here you can see game and player phot...

Tampa, Florida: Nairobi is one of the largest themed lands of Busch Gardens Tampa and is home to more wild life than thrill rides. With Rhino Rally being the only ride here, much of the focus is on the animals. Rhino Rally, Nairobi’s only ride attraction, opened in 2001. Here guests board Land Rovers and head out on the Serengeti Plain for an off-road race. It isn’t long before the ride gets lost and the ride vehicle is swept down a flooded river. Rhino Rally combines a ride attraction with an animal attraction as zebras, elephants, flamingos and crocodiles call the ride home. Many animals call Nairobi home. Here is where you can find the elephant, camel, rhino, crocodile and tortoise exhibits. This is also the access point to a few of the animal attractions; Myombe Reserve (gorillas/chimps), Curiosity Caverns (reptiles) and Nairobi Field Station (babies). Nairobi is also one of the stops on the Serengeti Express train system. The Nairobi Station is the stop on the system right...

Vero Beach, Florida: For over 25 years, Vero Beach has been represented in the Florida State League. Their most recent club to call the city home is the Vero Beach Devil Rays, the Class A-Advanced Affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays. A few famous alumni to make the major leagues from the Vero Beach D-Rays include Rocco Baldelli and David Price. The franchise entered the Florida State League in 1980 as an affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Vero Beach Dodgers remained a part of the league until the end of the 2006 season when the Los Angeles Dodgers moved their franchise to the California League. After the Dodgers moved, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays stepped in and moved their minor league team from California to replace the departing Dodgers. The Vero Beach Devil Rays play their 70 game home schedule at historic Holman Stadium. The Vero Beach Devil Rays will play just two seasons in Vero Beach before being sold and relocated across the state to Port Charlotte, the spring training ho...

Sarasota, Florida: The Sarasota Reds rallied late but only managed to cut the deficit in half as they fell to the Vero Beach Devil Rays 8-4 at Ed Smith Stadium on Saturday night. The game went on as scheduled despite squall lines from Tropical Storm Barry raced through the region. Vero Beach posted four runs to the scoreboard to jump out front. Just as the offense was producing at the plate so was Vero’s starting pitcher Mike Wlodarczyk, throwing four shut-out innings before the Reds hit the scoreboard with a solo run in the bottom of the fifth. Down 6-1, the Reds strung together three consecutive one run innings in the final three frames of the game but it wasn’t enough as the Reds fell 8-4. Logan Ondrusek suffered the loss for the Reds. Click on the photo above to view the Reds/Devil Rays photo gallery.

Sarasota, Florida: The dry weather forced officials to cancel the post game fireworks show but that didn’t stop the Sarasota Reds from producing a few on field fireworks as they shut-out the Jupiter Hammerheads 7-0 at Ed Smith Stadium. The Reds jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning and never looked back. They then added four more runs to their total in the third inning to lead them to the 7-0 victory. Richie Gardner picked up the win for the Reds, combining with Ruben Medina and Josh Roenicke for the shut-out. Click on the photo above to see the Reds/Hammerheads game gallery.

Sarasota, Florida: The Sarasota Reds were the Florida State League affiliate for the Cincinnati Reds from 2005 through 2009. A few notable Sarasota Reds have made their way to the big league roster including Jay Bruce, Joey Votto, Drew Stubbs and Adam Rosales. In 2005, the Reds purchased the minor league club in Sarasota from the Boston Red Sox and moved their Advanced-A minor league franchise into Sarasota. The club plays their 70 home schedule from April to September inside Ed Smith Stadium, the spring training home to their parent club. The Reds made their only playoff appearance in 2007 when Joe Ayrault skippered the club to the postseason. They lost to Clearwater in the final game of the Divisional Series to cut short their playoff run. After the negotiations between the organization and local government failed to reach a new agreement, the Reds played their last game in the Florida State League at the end of the 2009 season. The Reds and Pittsburgh Pirates made a deal to swa...