When the Cardinals shop around for more power from the right side of the plate, would Tigers outfielder Magglio Ordonez be worth a look?

He will make $18 million next season if he starts 69 more games or makes 215 more plate appearances. When Tigers manager Jim Leyland benched Ordonez recently, agent Scott Boras lodged a preemptive protest with Motown scribes.

“I admit to you that Magglio had a rough April,” Boras said, according to the Booth Newspapers. “But if you want to talk about why his production is down in 2009, it’s about one thing and one thing only: His home runs are down by seven. I submit to you that’s not compelling information for declaring failure.”

In 2007, Ordonez batted .363 with 54 doubles, 28 homers and 139 RBI. Those numbers dipped to .317, 32, 21 and 103 last year.

This season Ordonez has just nine doubles and two homers in 216 at bats. Given that sharp decline, the Tigers would have to at least consider getting out from under some of that remaining contract.

Remember, this franchise paid Gary Sheffield more than $13 million to go away back in the spring. And this franchise is saddled with big contracts with Jermemy Bonderman, Dontrelle Willis and Carlos Guillen, too.

And this franchise has suffered a precipitous loss of attendance, despite the Tigers’ solid start.

But Leyland won’t bench Ordonez to save owner Mike Ilitch some money, regardless of what Boras thinks. Leyland manages to win.

“This is about Magglio Ordonez and a manager trying to do something that he thinks may help and get him right,” Leyland said. “Is it the right thing? I don’t know. But that is what this is about. And I’m not going to take shots from people in the newspaper that are untruths.

“If it’s the truth and I’m wrong, then go ahead and punch me in the jaw, but don’t give me this (nonsense).”

MYSTERIES OF THE UNIVERSE

Questions to ponder while wondering how much longer the Cards can stick with Todd Wellemeyer in the pitching rotation:

• Does anybody else notice that Ryan Ludwick has three more homers (11-8) and just one fewer RBI (38-39) than Matt Holliday?
• And has anybody noticed that Ludwick has done this in 74 fewer at bats?
• Is this any way to celebrate Father’s Day?
• Is there is anything wrong with tracking potential football recruits at the middle school level?
• Who needs stuffed animals when you’ve won the Stanley Cup?
• Is America safer now that Mark Cuban wants to police sports bloggers?
• Isn’t it creepy the way some folks obsess over female sportscasters?
• Should the slumping A-Rod get more sleep at night? If there no “off” switch on the A-Rod?

IT’S NEVER TOO EARLY TO GROOM NEXT A-ROD

Just ask this youth-league baseball manager.

QUIPS ‘R US

Here is what some of America’s leading sports pundits have been writing:

Greg Couch, FanHouse: “When it was over, they stood together at the ceremony, Lucas Glover, Phil Mickelson, David Duval and Ricky Barnes. And then someone handed the cup to the wrong guy. Glover. Yes, he won the U.S. Open Monday, and he deserved it. But this tournament is going to be remembered for the other three guys, and maybe for Tiger Woods, too. This U.S. Open will forever be defined by the guys who didn’t win. Glover will be an answer to a trivia question.”

Gene Wojciechowski, ESPN.com: “It would have been nice if at last Phil Mickelson could have planted a kiss on the silver U.S. Open trophy. The two have been dating for years, but the Open always plays hard to get. There’s always an excuse: It has to do its hair … It has a headache … Its dad won’t let it date left-handers. So Mickelson finished second again. And if this were any other Open under any other circumstances, you could argue that Mickelson gagged another one away. He was tied for the lead deep into the back nine of the final round — and then he wasn’t. But this wasn’t any other Open. This was a five-day, 72-hole car wash played on a muscle beach of a golf course. But that wasn’t the hardest part for Mickelson. The hardest part was playing it with a lump in his throat, a hole in his heart and a pink ribbon embroidered on the side of his cap.”

Greg Cote, Miami Herald: “Looks like Bobby Bowden will lose 14 victories and a chance at the college football record because of that cheating scandal involving an online music-appreciation course. The irony is that nobody needed to cheat. Sample question from test: Who wrote Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 in C minor?”

Scott Ostler, San Francisco Chronicle: “Nick Faldo will be knighted by the Queen of England. Aren’t they handing out a lot of those knighthoods these days? I can understand Paul McCartney, but Nick Faldo? The American equivalent of British knighthood is receiving a nickname from Chris Berman.”

MEGAPHONE

“In the National Football League, you’re only judged on wins and losses, so my tenure was not good. I mean, it was very poor. And so it’s been said, you learn a lot from failures, and I learned a ton. So I can bring that to the table. I view my experience in Detroit as a positive, not in terms of winning and losing but having gone through it. I think that can help in a telecast.”

Former Lions general manager Matt Millen, on going back to the broadcast booth.