It's HOT

We've had a heat wave here the likes of which I've not seen since I left my parents home in LA in search of fame and fortune. Wow. 104 degrees at the homestead; we fled to the beach, where it was a cooool 90.

Once again proving it's good to be a guy - my wife, who is mit kinder, didn't get to sleep until after 2 this morning - a combination of the heat, physical pain, and the fetus just beating the shit out of her because he's hot too. I don't know how she hasn't gone insane the last 4 days. I'm not sure how I haven't.

Anyway, back to the team of interest. First off, I spent most of the last 5 days in a media blackout, so I didn't realize Juan Encarnacion had been horribly injured until after I posted on Friday. Believe what you want about Juan E - he didn't hustle, he's a liability in the outfield, whatever. The fact of the matter is, he carried the club offensively throughout the month of July; his grousing when Rick Ankiel got called up is completely understandable (he hadn't really done anything to merit a benching); and he's played hard since that day when he's had an opportunity. To be injured so greviously on such a freak play is awful. No one deserves to get hurt as badly as he did, not even Barry Bonds. Baseball has a short list of players who've suffered eye trauma; for most, the prospects of getting back on the playing field isn't good. Hopefully Juan bucks the trend and is able to make a full recovery.

Scott Rolen is shut down for the year. I personally applaud that decision. Get better Scott and tear it up next season.

The club gets to a game over .500 for the first time since April...and KFW lays his traditional egg. 11-0 whitewash yesterday. Ouch. Based on reports in the Post-Dispatch today, Reyes is officially out of the rotation for the year. With that, and the expiration date having passed on KFW, what's the Cardinals rotation look like for the rest of the year? Apparently Wainwright, Looper, KFW, Piniero, Mulder, and Maroth. The six-man rotation is a novel concept, much like hitting the pitcher 8th; the Club is, I believe, 17-11 since La Russa moved his hurler up one spot in the order, so who's to say the six-man rotation won't work?

Despite the gagger yesterday, St Louis is 3-1 on this homestand. Taking the next 3 from Pittsburgh, in preparation for their road trip to AZ and CIN, will be important. Luckily the two clubs they're chasing also got shellacked yesterday, so we're still 2 games out. Anything can happen from here on out.