The dynasty has not been dead... just terribly busy of late. That and I am still trying to get formats for both the blog and the FTP uploads down. It's a bit cumbersome to update 20,000+ files on a weekly update.
We're at the trade deadline. Right now the Cards are 54-48, 6 games out but in third. Milwaukee has passed us and is 3.5 back. We've gotten good work from our starters, but the offense and the bullpen have failed us. Our 3.61 starter ERA is best in the NL, but our 4.15 reliever ERA is 11th best. In addition, we're hitting a measly .248 - 11th best.
A number of moves were made as we approached the deadline. However, Shelby Miller remains with the club.
On July 4 we sent Kolten Wong and Carlos E. Martinez to Tampa Bay for Ben Zobrist. As we were having major issues at second, my hope was that Zobrist, who was hitting .242 with Tampa, might benefit from a change of scenery and give us a bit of pop in the lineup. He's hitting .230 as of the end of the month. Definitely not a major help.
To try and get some help with the bullpen, we traded Adron Chambers and Marc Rzepczynski to Baltimore for relievers Alberto Castillo and Pedro Strop. Castillo was 1-1 with a 2.03 ERA, a save, and a .180 OAVG in 32 starts. Strop was 1-3 with a 6.55 ERA and a .303 OAVG. For us, Scrabble was 3-2 with a save, a 4.04 ERA, and a .241 OAVG. Since the trade, Castillo has made 3 appearances and not given up anything. Strop, meanwhile, has also made 3 apperances and has a 3.38 ERA and a .273 OAVG.
Scott Linebrink went down with a ruptured UCL and is done for the season. Jake Westbrook suffered an "undisclosed injury" and is also done for the season. No tears were shed.
On July 26th we traded minor-league LF Eugenio Velez to Houston for LF Travis Buck. Buck will be a bench bat and hopefully provide us some pop. Holliday and Berkman are still not performing. (More later)
Finally, we sent Mitch Boggs and minor-league starter Joe Kelly to San Diego for reliever Andrew Cashner and minor-league starter Joe Wieland. Wieland replaces Kelly at AAA. Cashner, meanwhile, was 4-1 with a 2.56 ERA and a .187 OAVG in 47 games. With us he's 0-1 with a 22.50 ERA and a .455 OAVG - in 2 games. Not the best way to start things up.
We continue to struggle with offense. Berkman is .239 and Holliday .234. Both have No-Trade Clauses so we can't move them. But both are on the block in a meager effort to get them hitting again. Matheny insists on playing them. I can't overrule him.
Shelby has fallen to fifth on my prospect list. Carlos Ortiz was backed to Springfield and may be backed to Class-A as he is 0-2 with a 6.75 ERA. George Owens is 1-0 with a 2.76 ERA at Batavia in 3 starts and may soon be ready to hit Class-A. Miguel Gonzalez, our LF, is hitting .333 in 23 AB for Palm Beach, and 3B Fausto Rebeca (love that name!) is .333 for Quad Cities. Shelby, meanwhile, has been promoted back to Memphis after going 4-0 with a 3.48 ERA at Springfield in 7 starts. In his first start he took the loss as he gave up 4 runs in 7 IP on 5 H with 7 K and 2 BB.
I am debating between working through this season and then picking the blog and updates again more regularly or going month-by-month. I guess my desire to enjoy the game got the best of me for the moment.