Weekend round up

I had no inside data. I was just guessing. But, it came as no small surprise to me that Josh Hancock was legally drunk (0.157, as reported by the Post-Dispatch) at the time of the accident that killed him. However, the fact that he was drunk when he died led to some nasty comment threads being left at Viva El Birdos (one of my favorite Cardinal blogsites) in the game thread for that day.

I'm sorry Hancock is dead, because of the hole he has left in the lives of those who loved him. I lost my father little over a year ago; that left a gaping hole in my family, although we knew the end was coming. I can't imagine the pain Hancock's family and friends are dealing with right now.

That said, he should have known better than to step behind the wheel and drive after knocking a few back.

I highly doubt last Sunday morning's drive down the highway was the first time he'd driven drunk.

I also highly doubt that no one in the organization knew he was a partier and didn't have the maturity a 29-year old should. Where's the leadership? No wonder the team is drifting along right now.

Banning alcohol in the locker room - whatever. That's not going to deter someone from going out for a drink after the game. Great PR move, no appreciable effect in real life.

So that saga starts the week. Carpenter going on the DL for 3 months to have surgery and repair his elbow ended it. Yikes. Of all the starters the Cardinals used last year (Carp, Mulder, Suppan, Marquis, Ponson, Reyes, Weaver), only Reyes remains in the rotation. I don't think that was the plan coming out of spring training.

Why is the club 12-17? Edmonds' struggles aside, here's why: Wainwright hasn't pitched as well as he did during he spring. The reclamation project (Wells) has been god-awful (just like his career to-date indicated). Reyes increasingly looks like a 'never-was' - all hype, not good enough at the Major League level. Looper - well, Looper has pitched his ass off. And the band-aid squad has done the best they can (Kiesler, et al).

I don't forsee much improvement on the horizon. Is 29 games in too early to start 'playing out the string'?