Cards struggle in wake of pitcher's death

A day after the death of Josh Hancock, the St. Louis Cardinals tried to move on. They had a game to play.

But for Scott Spiezio, it was too much to handle. He told manager Tony La Russa to pull him from last night's starting lineup night.

With Hancock's jersey hanging in the bullpen and Milwaukee fans observing a moment of silence, the Cardinals went back to work, trying to focus on the task at hand.

"It's just one more thing that we have to deal with that people don't want to," centerfielder Jim Edmonds said. "But this really doesn't make any sense."

The Cardinals lost to the Brewers in Milawauke, 7-1, struggling at the plate and in the field.

Kip Wells (1-5) balked in a run in the second inning and gave up seven runs in six innings to take the loss. Adam Kennedy was thrown out trying to stretch a single into a double in the fourth, and shortstop David Eckstein was left holding the ball with nowhere to throw as a second run crossed the plate after a triple by Milwaukee's Kevin Mench in the sixth.

But former Cardinals pitcher and Hancock teammate Jeff Suppan (4-2) was stellar for Milwaukee, giving up only one run and eight hits in his 16th career complete game.

Cardinals righthander Dennis Dove, who was called up from Triple A Memphis to fill Hancock's roster spot, made his major league debut in the seventh.

"I hate it happened like this, but it's a dream come true for me," Dove said before the game.

The Cardinals will wear patches with Hancock's No. 32 on their sleeves for the rest of the season.

Hancock, 29, was killed shortly after midnight Sunday when his SUV struck the rear of a flatbed tow truck on a St. Louis highway.

In other games:

* At New York, Hanley Ramirez homered, Miguel Cabrera drove in two runs, and Florida beat the Mets, 9-6.

* At Los Angeles, Chris Young hit a pair of solo homers and knocked in another run with a single and Arizona roughed up ex-Phillie Randy Wolf (3-3) and the Dodgers, 9-1.

* At San Diego, John Patterson (1-4) allowed one run in six innings to outpitch Jake Peavy (3-1) and get his first win in more than a year, leading Washington to a 3-2 win over the Padres.

* At Pittsburgh, Jason Bay hit a one-out homer in the eighth and the Pirates came back from a two-run deficit to beat the Chicago Cubs, 3-2.

* The New York Mets got a double dose of bad medical news: righthander Orlando Hernandez has bursitis in his right shoulder and second baseman Jose Valentin has a partially torn knee ligament. Both are on the 15-day disabled list. Hernandez was replaced by Chan Ho Park, who was recalled from Triple A New Orleans, and infielder Ruben Gotay also was called up from the Zephyrs. *