DOWNTOWN — After nearly two years of constant rehab and two shoulder surgeries, Cardinals pitcher Mark Mulder still cannot get his arm in the position he needs to be effective as a pitcher, the lefthander said Thursday afternoon.

He and team doctors are exploring possible solutions.

He faces an uncertain future.

“When your arm doesn’t rotate up — mine rotates down,” Mulder said. ”It doesn’t rotate up the way it should be. There is no way to get on top of the ball and get any downward angle on the ball. Could I go out and pitch? Yeah. I don’t have the command because (of) when your release point is different. Could I go out and throw strikes? Yeah. But they aren’t going to be very good pitches.

“We’re trying to figure out why my arm doesn’t want to rotate up like that.”

Mulder discussed the results of a recent MRI on Wednesday with team doctor George Paletta. The MRI, Mulder said, did not show any additional injury or disrepair in the twice rebuilt joint. That same visit, Mulder received his second Cortisone shot in a week. This one was to a different area of the shoulder, as the first one — given earlier this week — did not have the desired effect.

Mulder described it as exploring all of the options to eliminate the possible causes.

The lefthander, who had a rehab assignment halted a few days before it was to end, told reporters that when others rotate their shoulders as if to throw it feels “oiled.” His does not. “It doesn’t glide,” he said. His joint cranks into position and then collapses when tries to get it extended to then wheel and fire the ball. That limits the action on his pitches, as well as limits the kind the of pitches he can throw.

Mulder used his curveball as an example.

When able to get full extension on his arm swing, he is able to stay on top of the ball and snap off curveballs to different sides of the plate — back door, curves spiked in the dirt. Physically unable to get his arm into that position, he may be able to throw his curve for a strike but only to the general strike zone. It’s a flat, rolling curve that he’s lucky to locate and do very little with.

Mulder will give the shot at least two days to take root. He is scheduled to throw sometime this weekend to see if the second shot had the desired effect to calm the joint and improve the Mulder’s delivery swing. If not … Mulder said a third surgery is distasteful. He did not dismiss the notion that he may have to embrace a new way or new approach to pitching — joking in retort that he did throw righthanded until he was 6.

There was a whiff of gallow’s humor to his jest.

“You work your (tail) off to try and do something, everything you can do, and when you don’t get rewarded for that it’s tough,” Mulder said. 

Said manager Tony La Russa: ”I am mostly concerned about Mark. He is a guy who is a great pitcher and he’s dealing with this (crud) for a couple years. Pretty tough to take. This is his career.”

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