Any hope St. Louis Cardinals fans had that shortstop Rafael Furcal would make a last-minute return to the team was officially put to rest Monday by general manager John Mozeliak, reports Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

Mo' rules out Furcal for rest of regular season, playoffs: "The clock 's not on our side." Still believes Furcal can avoid elbow surgery.

— Joe Strauss (@JoeStrauss) September 24, 2012

Furcal, 34, heard the elbow "pop" while making a throw on August 30 and has not played since. The veteran shortstop received a platelet-rich plasma injection in his elbow on September 4 to help speed up the recovery process, but Furcal has still yet to pick up a baseball three weeks later.

Furcal hit .264/.325/.346 with five home runs in one hundred twenty-one games for the Cardinals this season. Rookie Peter Kozma will continue to share time with Daniel Descalso at shortstop in Furcal’s absence.