READING TIME 5 MINUTES:

* Kyle Lohse was predictably insufficient on Tuesday night in Milwaukee. But why should we be surprised? Since the start of last season the Cardinals have won only 12 of 35 games started by Lohse. His personal record over that time is 8-17 with a 5.63 ERA. We can gripe about Lohse; there's plenty there. But to me the larger issue is his continued presence in the rotation. At what point do we stop blaming a bad pitcher and put the responsibility on the manager and the pitching coach? Given the low-percentage possibility of the team winning when Lohse starts, why would Tony La Russa and Dave Duncan continue to run him out there?

* And no, the latest stumble wasn't all on Lohse. He was bad, yes. But the bottom line is, the Brewers scored four runs. Is there a state or federal law which prohibits the Cardinals from winning a game in which their pitchers allow 4 or more runs? This season when the Cardinals give up 4 or more runs, they're 20-47. When they give up exactly 4 runs, they're 14-15. The Cardinals have lost 32 games this season in which their pitchers have surrendered four runs or fewer.

* If umpire Bob Davidson ejected that fan in Milwaukee on behalf of Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina, then it's wrong. So what if the fan bugged Molina? Fans heckling or needling players? This has been going on in baseball for quite some time now ... like, well, forever. Why would any player or umpire pay attention to it? If the fan was so vile or unruly, I'm sure other fans seated around him would have complained to the ushers. But from what we could tell, that didn't happen. More on Davidson later ...

* The Cardinals just had to win that game last night. They just had to. Cincinnati lost, Atlanta lost ... and the Cardinals couldn't get more than 2 runs off Chris Narveson and gang? Inexcusable.

* The best and most entertaining part of Mizzou's season-open victory over Illinois was watching T.J. Moe buzz all around the field, making 13 catches for 101 yards and a TD.

* The Blues just won't 'fess up and admit that Eric Brewer isn't the player they thought he was when they gave him a 4-year, $16 million deal. They'll keep him at captain until the bitter end.

* Colorado's Carlos Gonzalez is a terrific player and I'd be happy to see him in a Cardinals' uniform, but ... I'm sorry. His home/road splits are glaring.  "Cargo" has 25 homers at the Coors Field shooting gallery, and 7 HRs on the road. His OBP is .440 at home, .310 on the road. His slugging percentage is .801 at home, .450 on the road. This is Dante Bichette stuff. I don't have an MVP vote this year but if I did, I couldn't put Gonzalez at the top of my ballot.

* Really surprised that the Rams still haven't made a move for a backup RB.

* Felipe Lopez since July 29: 13 for 99, .131. Of all of the strange things that have gone down in a strange Cardinals' season, I didn't expect to see this. I was a "Flip" honk who really thought he'd help this team offensively.

* Cardinals fans are frustrated by the erratic nature of their team's play this season ... I'm guessing that Atlanta fans feel the same way. Who can figure the Braves? 49-19 at home, 30-41 on the road. Batting .273 at home, .249 on the road. The team road ERA is 4.07; at home it's 3.02. The Braves are first in the wild-card pool now, and the Cardinals trail them by 5.5 games. The Cardinals could have picked up a game last night; the Braves lost at Pittsburgh for the second consecutive game and have scored only one run in 18 innings in the first two games of the series.

OK, now about Bob Davidson ...

No surprise to see umpire Davidson make a spectacle and a fool of himself on Tuesday night in Milwaukee. This is Davidson's game, remember. He apparently thinks fans pay good money to watch him work. Davidson has a history of grandstanding to draw attention to himself, whether it be his incessant balk calls, his meddling into other umpires' calls, his rabbit ears, thin skin, and quick ejections. Baseball players, managers and coaches have come to expect Davidson to hot-dog his way through games.

After being ejected by Davidson in a 1993 game, Philadelphia catcher Darren Daulton said of the ump: "He's one of those impact umpires. In my opinion the game was on ESPN and he couldn't wait to suit up and make an impact. He's one of those guys where you go into his house there's lots of pictures of himself and none of his family."

Tuesday night, as soon as second-base umpire Tim Timmons made a controversial call -- ruling out Craig Counsell for sliding out of the basepaths -- I said to my wife: "No way Davidson will allow himself to be upstaged like that. Just watch." And sure enough, Davdison went on to eject Cardinals pitching coach Dave Duncan, a Milwaukee center fielder Chris Dickerson, and even a fan. And his strike zone? Davidson was off all night. His strike zone was as wide and as out of control as his ego.

This is nothing new. It's business as usual. Davidson blew a call in the 1992 World Series, calling a runner safe at home when the runner (Deion Sanders) was clearly out. Davidson incorrectly took a HR away from Mark McGwire late in the 1998 season. Davidson embarrassed himself by blowing a call in a game between the U.S. and Japan in the 2006 World Baseball Classic. More recently Davidon cost the Florida Marlins a game with a bad fair/foul call that gave a win to Philadelphia.

I don't even know why I'm mentioning specific episodes; if I listed every call that Davidson got wrong I'd be typing for the next 48 hours at least. He's an disgrace to the game and has been for many, many years. And MLB does nothing about it.

I'm surprised Davidson didn't eject Trevor Hoffman for stealing the spotlight while nailing down his 600th career save. Imagine the audacity of Hoffman, taking over Davidson's stage and getting all of that attention from the stands and both dugouts.

Thanks for reading ...

-Bernie