Royals Tumble, Will the Cards Stumble back down I-70?

It was a beautiful day for such an ugly game. Honest, just 24 hrs earlier the Royals exploded for 5 runs in the opening innings and never looked back while garnering a well earned win. Honest it was not to indicate any sweep of the I-70 rivals from just down highway in St. Louis Missouri. All season Mike Sweeney avoided those back probs that plagued him last year. Now it appears the back problems might be back. Sweeney left the game after he took a tumble and fell on his face on the way to first base. manager Buddy Bell offered later "I think it happened before that," the trainer, "explained to me that he had a back spasm on the swing, then fell." Oh well same hell. Meanwhile, Brandon Duckworth the Royals starting pitcher stumbled until he actually fumbled off the mound receiving an injury to his pride, er, rib cage in the fourth inning. Whikle warmiong up he noticed a twinge then it got really bad when he faced Juan Encarnacion. He said later, "It felt like a cramp. I threw a curveball and it pulled. The next pitch I really felt and I had trouble drawing a breath," Duckworth said. "It really grabbed me and doubled me to the side." The bench struggled for a loss. The Royals lost 7-3 and look to take the series tonight.

Oh yeah. Alex Gordon hit another homer, drove in three runs.