Cardinals

HERNDON, Va. -- The fallout of defeat has showered Joe Bugel's desert paradise in Arizona this season.In the second year of an ambitious project to turn the Phoenix Cardinals into the Washington Redskins West, Bugel treads water with a 4-9 record.It was bad enough that the Cardinals' head coach lost his starting quarterback before the season began. The situation grew worse with the five-game losing streak the Cardinals take into Sunday's home game against the Redskins.But this week found Bugel defending the organization from an insinuation that Cardinals management restricts individual expression, and that the restriction has hurt the team.

TEMPE, Ariz. -- There was some snickering -- OK, outright laughter -- when the Phoenix Cardinals selected Eric Swann with the sixth pick in this year's NFL draft.Leave it to the Cardinals, people said. Only they would be dumb enough to blow a high first-round pick on a defensive tackle who never had played college football. A sandlotter, for crying out loud.The laughter grew louder when the 6-foot-4, 310-pound Swann injured his knee in minicamp and underwent the first of two arthroscopic repairs.

Just when it looked as if Calvert Hall was about to take a big step forward against Catholic League leader Cardinal Gibbons, the Crusaders refused to let it happen.Led by its trio of seniors Steve Wojciechowski, Ryan Beaumont and Jerard Rucker, No. 8 Gibbons outscored Calvert Hall 10-2 over a two-minute span late in the fourth quarter to capture a 62-59 Catholic League home victory yesterday."We displayed a great deal of poise down the stretch," said Gibbons coach Ray Mullis. "This was a real tough game for us."

The Cardinals are looking to Kyle McClellan to replace Adam Wainwright , who will have Tommy John surgery. Manager Tony La Russa calls him a "real weapon" because he can get left-handed hitters out as well as right-handed hitters. La Russa points to Mitchell Boggs and Jason Motte as guys who can replace McClellan as setup men for Ryan Franklin. … After seeing them side by side, the Twins are leaning strongly toward playing Alexi Casilla at shortstop and Tsuyoshi Nishioka at second base.

1 The Ravens' special teams were horrendous, especially the punt-coverage team, which allowed an average of 18.3 yards per return.2 The Ravens again had virtually no downfield passing game and failed to go over 200 yards passing for third consecutive game.3 Injuries to key players decimated the Ravens' secondary, which helped the Cardinals' winning drive.Pub Date: 11/24/97

The Calvert Hall boys basketball team had every key facet of the game covered last night at Mount St. Joseph: relentless rebounding, sound help on defense and sharing the ball for balanced offense. It was all necessary as the No. 3 Cardinals were able to hold off the No. 5 Gaels, coming away with a solid 65-57 win. The Cardinals, led by 20 points from junior forward Damion Lee, improved to 19-2 overall, 7-1 in the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference and 8-1 in the Baltimore Catholic League.

As Phil Simms was deciding whether to become Buddy Ryan's latest experiment on offense last night, the agent for the former New York Giants quarterback intimated his client may not be through shopping even if the Arizona Cardinals' deal falls through.Simms was seeking a guaranteed, two-year deal that his agent, David Fishof, now says would be worth more than $4 million from Ryan's Arizona team. It is a deal requiring a fair amount of salary-cap finagling by Arizona to pull off and the only deal Simms said yesterday he would be interested in pursuing.

Few observers gave No. 6 Calvert Hall a chance at No. 2 St. Paul's yesterday.After all, the Cardinals had absorbed Friday's 11-2 hammering from top-ranked Gilman, which in turn had narrowly edged St. Paul's, 10-8, in an earlier game.But in another surprising twist in Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association lacrosse play, the Cardinals (5-5) defeated the Crusaders (6-3) by a score of 5-4.Huge efforts from keeper Strider Dickson (15 saves) and the offensive prowess of top scorers Ryan Lachowicz and Steve Preis were enough to take the Cardinals over the top.Lachowicz, (three goals)

TEMPE, Ariz. -- The Arizona Cardinals have found life in sudden death, twice in three weeks. Their record is 3-5, and they are thinking playoffs as they prepare for Sunday's visit to Philadelphia."

Calvert Hall's Mike Lance likes to lead by example. That's part of the reason coach Bill Karpovich selected the senior forward as one of his tri-captains this season.So after the seventh-ranked Cardinals opened their schedule with a disappointing tie against C. Milton Wright earlier this month, Lance took it upon himself to help his team step it up a notch.Yesterday, against No. 2 Severna Park, he showed them how.Lance hustled for three assists and the host Cardinals rolled to a 3-1win over the Falcons, extending their unbeaten streak to 37 games.