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Eight words out of nearly 2,500. That’s all I devoted to the Cardinals in my conclusion on the trade deadline, and I didn’t even mention the names of the two left-handed starting pitchers they had acquired, Jon Lester and JA Happ. All I wrote was “… Even the Cardinals (2 percent) have stepped up their rotation” – the 2 percent referring to the team’s playoff odds on deadline day , July 30.
I was not the only one to fire the cardinals. Reactions from fans, media, and industry to Lester and Happ’s additions ranged from indifference to derision. The Cardinals at the time were 51-51, 9 1/2 games back in NL Central, 7 1/2 back in the wild card race. Still, they determined their solutions were Lester, 37, who had a 5.02 ERA with the Nationals, and Happ, 38, who had a 6.77 ERA with the Twins. And let no one forget, their ace, Adam Wainwright, was about to turn 40.
“I knew there were jokes about the age of our staff,” Happ said, but the jokes were only part of it. There were also real reviews. “You hear it. And I got it, ”Lester said. “I knew I wasn’t having a good year. Not many people trade for someone who has an ERA of 5 and say, “He’s going to come help us.
Lester did, producing a 4.30 ERA in eight starts, including 1.90 in his last four. The same goes for Happ, which has an ERA of 2.
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