So much has happened since I last posted... I'm going to have to do bullets.

• Josh Hancock. Wow. There isn't anything I can say about the guy that hasn't been said already, but I'll probably do it anyway. The story broke while I was on the road last Sunday; I'd planned on watching the Sunday night game from my hotel room, only to arrive and hear the news of Hancock's death. After hearing the details and seeing the footage on Sportscenter that night, the first thought that I had was: "he must've been drunk." After all, how else do you fail to avoid a tow truck with its lights flashing on a clear night? Sadly, that presumption turned out to be the truth, as Hancock's blood-alcohol level was nearly twice the legal limit at 0.157 - and accident reconstruction crews have determined that he was talking on his cell phone at the time of the accident, in addition to having a small amount of marijuana in the car.

In the aftermath, the Cards have banned alcohol from the clubhouse. Frankly, what good does that do? After all, Hancock had been drinking at Shannon's, and possibly elsewhere. If these guys that want to drink can't do it in the clubhouse, they'll find someplace they can. After all, quite a few of professional baseball players are young, single and make a lot of money. Guys like that don't sit at home and do jigsaw puzzles - they go out and have a good time. The more appropriate course of action for the club to take, if they so chose, would be to provide transportation for these guys if they choose to go out drinking after games. While that may be a complicated proposition financially and/or logistically, clubs might be forced to make this sort of business decision in order to avoid tragedies such as the one involving Hancock.

• Chris Carpenter is out for "at least three months" with arthroscopic elbow surgery. We're waiting for Will Carroll's further input, but it's basically been determined that Carp's been pitching with bone spurs in his elbow for the better part of his tenure in the Cardinal organization. According to Carroll, the contract extension that Carp signed in the offseason was offered to him with that knowledge. So, perhaps the organization is taking its medicine with Carp for this season in the hopes that he can recover to at least his 2004 level in 2008-2011. As for this season, it's been rumored that Brad Thompson will take Carp's slot in the rotation for the moment. One slightly crazy option further down the road is a déja vu reunion with Jeff Weaver, who is quite possibly on the verge of being released mid-season once again by Seattle. With Mark Mulder due back by the All-Star break or so, however, this rotation slot is likely only a two-month job.

• David Eckstein, for the first time in his Cardinal career, has been removed from the leadoff spot. I guess it's a reasonable move, as Eckstein had a .280 OBP with no power and only 6 walks in 109 PA. The problem is twofold, however: 1) if Eck's not getting on base around a .350 clip, as he did in 2006, he's rather useless anywhere you put him in the lineup, and 2) who else is going to bat leadoff? Here's a list of those who've batted in the #1 slot since Eck's demotion (Eck included), with BA and OBP listed:

Preston Wilson, .219/.265
Aaron Miles, .235/.259
Skip Schumaker, .238/.267
David Eckstein, .216/.280
So Taguchi, .263/.333
Scott Spiezio, .226/.339

This isn't a good group (understatement of the month), but if it's not gonna be Eck, why not keep trying Spiezio up there? Even while not hitting for average, he's at least displayed the ability to take a walk - and with Chris Duncan and Albert Pujols the only two players on the roster even remotely hitting well, the Cards need all the baserunners they can get in front of those two guys. And with Wilson on the disabled list, Spiezio presumably will be getting more starts in right field.

• The Milwaukee Brewers seem poised to run away and hide in the NL Central. Going into Sunday's games, the Crew was ten games over .500, with a five game lead in the division - and an eight-game lead over the last-place Cardinals. With the rest of the teams in the Central showing their obvious flaws, the Brewers taking such a lead with what appears to be, on paper, the most complete team in the division could mean a very long summer for the Cards and their second-division counterparts.