page_title: 2011 St. Louis Cardinals season
section_title: July
hierarchical_section_title: 2011 St. Louis Cardinals season / Regular season / July
caption_attribution_description: English: Rafael Furcal waiting to bat in Game 7 of the 2011 World Series. October 28, 2011. Busch Stadium in St. Louis. No inbedded metadata due to the cropping and editing of the original pic. It was taken from stadium seating using a Canon XTI with 70-300 zoom.
context_page_description: The St. Louis Cardinals' 2011 season was the team's 130th season in St. Louis, Missouri, its 120th season in the National League, and its sixth season at Busch Stadium III. The Cardinals began their season at home against the San Diego Padres on March 31, following an 86–76 record and second-place finish in the NL Central in 2010. The team returned to postseason play in 2011 as the Wild Card team, after finishing second in the NL Central to the Milwaukee Brewers by six games. The Cardinals beat the Philadelphia Phillies in five games in the Division Series and the Milwaukee Brewers in six games in the National League Championship Series. They defeated the Texas Rangers in the 2011 World Series in seven games.
context_section_description: After an initial estimate of Albert Pujols out for 4-to-6 weeks projecting an August 1 return, a reevaluation follow-up from a CT scan on July 1 showed faster recovery than originally thought, raising the possibility of a return by July 15, right after the All-Star break. However, Pujols surprised everyone by recovering very rapidly, and he was activated on July 5, after the minimum 15-days on the DL. Lefty reliever Brian Tallet was placed on the DL to make room for Pujols.
  The team made a major trade on July 27, a four-for-four swap, dealing disgruntled Colby Rasmus (hitting only .246), left-handed relievers Trever Miller and Brian Tallet, and starter P. J. Walters to the Toronto Blue Jays. In return, the team received right-hand starter Edwin Jackson, left-hand specialist Marc Rzepczynski, right-hand reliever Octavio Dotel, and outfielder Corey Patterson. The team will also receive either three players to be named later, or cash. Jackson was traded earlier the day from the Chicago White Sox to the Blue Jays. Rasmus had previously asked to be traded away from the Cardinals, and at the time of the trade he was mired in a severe slump that saw him hitting .194 since May 12. Jon Jay, who had been getting more playing time as Rasmus struggled, became the everyday center fielder. Kyle McClellan, promoted to the starting rotation to fill the gap caused by the loss of Adam Wainwright, returned to the bullpen.
  Pujols got his 2,000th career hit on July 29, at Busch Stadium against the Cubs in the eighth inning with an RBI double. He became the fifth Cardinal to get to 2,000 hits, joining Stan Musial (3,630), Lou Brock (2,713), Rogers Hornsby (2,110), and Enos Slaughter (2,064). He got it in his 1,650th game, the 12th quickest. Musial got his in 1,507 games.
  The team made another trade on July 31, just before the non-waiver deadline, acquiring shortstop Rafael Furcal from the Los Angeles Dodgers in return for an AA-outfielder Alex Castellanos. Furcal displaced offseason acquisition Ryan Theriot, who committed 17 errors at shortstop for the Cardinals in 2011.
caption: Rafael Furcal, traded to the Cardinals on July 31, awaits his turn at bat in Game 7 of the 2011 World Series
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