karmon: Afternoon Gordo, I have been trying to do my best to keep a positive outlook for the Cards season and giving the benefit of the doubt to the front office, but it is becoming more difficult each day. Some of the moves that have been made just don't seems to makes sense to me. 1. TLR has kept a short bench almost all year for more arms in the bull pen, then we send down a reliver who has done rather well to be replaced by a rookie who has never threw a pitch in the majors. 2. After we lose an arm in the starting rotation, then he is replaced by a position player, which I agree with but what happened to TLR's logic of more arms in the bull pen. Then I read in one of your other columns that MO thinks he is in a good place. He said from the newspaper articles that he read he thought they were in last place instead of tied for first. Don't he get it, it is not where we are but were we might have been had we had some more offensive power in the line up, but NO here we are still scoring 3 or less runs with no help on the way. Is the powers to be ranking our younger players higher than what they really are or are they that good that we are not giving them up to acquire any help and giving up on trying to find some one for the rest of this yr. We are so unbalanced, Fri. nights lineup had three rookies in there and then all we had on the bench to pinch hit were left handed batters except for La Rue and since he is the back up catcher he is useless until he is needed to replace Yodi. I have already spent over a $100.00 on a ball game and am coming back in a couple of weeks but it will be the last one this yr. Just can't take it any more. Sorry but had to vent some frustration. I may be joining K. Greene in the near future. Please give me some good news we have something in the making before that happens.

Jeff Gordon: The offensive imbalance has been an issue all season. This team needs another right-handed bat, preferrably a third baeman.

Now that the team has fallen into an offensive rut, yes, this need must be addressed. But . . . John Mozeliak no longer has a pitching surplus to deal from, with Lohse injured and Wellemeyer struggling, and guys like Duncan, Ankiel and Ludwick aren't looking attractive to other teams these days.

There isn't a magic wand there. Mo's best bet might be to eat some salary, as he did with K. Greene, and hope to turn around one of the struggling 3B-men.

If Duncan, Ankiel and Ludwick are all finished as run producers, though, then Mozeliak won't be able to fix this offense. That would be too much to overcome.

stevew: Hi Jeff,

I remember Hal Smith, Lindy and Von, Julian, Larry Jackson,etc. I've been a Cardinal fan all my life. But I have never seen a whole team (except Albert) go into such a slump as this team, for this long, unless they have either lost respect for the manager, or something is wrong with the chemistry. Is there?
I have also grown tired of the novelty of Larussa of changing the lineup and where the players play EVERY SINGLE DAY. Could this be a problem?
thanks for your answers.

Jeff Gordon: You can play a guy every single day and watch him rack up 0-for-4s. Then the guy is buried deeper. You can question the player rotation when everybody hits, but not when there is a struggle. At this point, Tony is trying to create favorable match-ups for each guy.

When five or six veterans tank at once, there isn't much a manager can do.

The chemistry was great in April when everybody was hitting, so that is not an excuse.

John Bruce: Ryan Spilborghs is RH---it wouldn't take a lot to get him. Can he help and are the Cards interested?

Jeff Gordon: Interesting question. The Rockies have found some outfielders, eh? And this guy would help the mix more than, say, Chris Duncan right now.

Tackleberry: Gordo,

Why is it that the Cardinals pitching is very veteran-heavy, especially at the back end of the rotation, while they were very willing to plug in "unprovens" all over the line-up? For example, if they had spent the $4.5 million they are paying Wellemeyer, on a veteran 2nd basemen or a proven outfielder would they be in a different position? Injuries helped the front office casually write-off the dip in May, but this team is healthy and their lack of offense is concerning.

Jeff Gordon: Schumaker keeps doing the job at second base, so he is the least of the team's issues. And the unproven OF, Rasmus, is outperforming the proven ones.

The Cards spent 18 million on proven third baseman Troy Glaus and shortstop Khalil Greene this year. Fortunately an unproven guy like Tyler Greene appears ready to help.

dub the beachcomber: jeff, in the words of carl the greenskeeper, "this team seems to be acting a little psychotically lately." lots of peaks and valleys. is there some unrest in the clubhouse, or some kind of non baseball problem? perhaps they are afraid that the front office will let them down again in their time of need?

Jeff Gordon: When you have a half dozen guys failing at once, the mood sours in a hurry. That could change overnight if these same half-dozen guys work out of their slumps.

As for potential changes,some of these Cards waiting for the front office to wave the magic wand should be the first to go when changes are made.