Q: Why don’t the dummies who complain about the Rays attendance take a page from the St. Louis Cardinals operation. They have rail and bus’s hauling in fans from 15-20 miles out every home game. I love baseball but no way will I fight that traffic to get to the Fruit Dome.

-- Jos. D. Brocksmith, Riverview

A: The setup at Busch Stadium is indeed conducive to getting fans in and out, but it’s not as if the Rays (or anyone else) can just snap their fingers and come up with a light rail system. As for buses, that was one of the options being discussed for the waterfront stadium that bit the dust – using the Tropicana Field site as a jumping-off point with shuttles running in to the new stadium. Then again, buses are usually used for situations where there isn’t ample parking around the stadium, and you can’t really say that about the Trop.

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Q: with the wave of good young starting pitchers coming from the Rays farm system, what would you think of moving Kazmir into a long/middle relief position in the next couple of years due to his tendency to be effective but throw a ton of pitches?  Garza, Shields, Sonnanstine, Thompson and Price, with Kaz being first out of the bullpen and filling in for spot starters duty.  It could strengthen the rays in a way that could shut teams down in rally situations.

-- Bob Rashad, Plant City

A: How to put this delicately? There is absolutely no chance that will happen. Kazmir is a cornerstone piece for the Rays’ rotation, and that rather significant contract they gave him earlier this season did not include any expectation that he would move into middle relief. Obviously, Kazmir’s tendency to run up high pitch counts is a concern, and no one is more aware of that than Kazmir – probably to his detriment. But moving him into a role like that isn’t a solution.

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Q: Having lived in the Tampa area for many years I attended 15 - 20 games each year until I relocated in 2006. I attended many games that the announced attendance was under 10,000. With the Rays in first place why does the attendance continue to be low for most games. I am starting to believe the area does not deserve a major league team.

-- Mike, Fairfield, Conn.

A: I think any number of issues come into play, Mike. First, this is not a traditional baseball market and fans certainly have not been given much reason to come out and show their support during the first 10 seasons. In most situations where a team comes out of nowhere to find success, the bounce in attendance comes the next season, with an additional boost the year after that if the winning continues. In addition, the location of the stadium isn’t ideal for convenience to the bulk of the population in the Tampa Bay area, but there’s nothing they can do about that this year. Finally, the economy definitely isn’t helping. And even now that gas prices have started to come down a bit lately, they’ll probably go back up thanks to hurricane season just in time for the stretch drive. Not a great combination for the Rays.

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Q: I was dismayed by the report last night about Rays’ attendance. It focused on the negative-a low attendance, during the week, during hard financial times (some of us can’t afford many games at the Trop at the moment). A fuss should be made of the 30% MORE in attendance we have this season than last. That’s a big increase. And the fan base is just now growing. Prior to this season did we see many Rays fans in the stands at away games? No. We’re just building the fan base now. Give it a chance! And we never have a rained out game or delay, either. Many pluses. The stands will be fuller on weekends and with the Yankees or Red Socks playing, but Rays fans are being made daily. After all, up until this season we were losers. The fans love our Rays-so don’t be so quick on the trigger here.

-- PAB, St. Petersburg

A: I don’t think anyone’s taking issue with individuals choosing to spend their money elsewhere, especially in these economic times. But I do think it’s worth noting that people finally have what they have always craved – a winner – but the Rays still can’t draw 20,000 during the week in the midst of a pennant race. Of course, that’s been the case most of the year for midweek games. All six games the Yankees have played here to this point have been played Monday through Thursday, and they have drawn an average of only 18,533 fans.