Royals take punch #2

So much for bouncing back from the Clemens game Friday night. Roy Oswalt came in Saturday and mowed the Royals down for 7 2/3 IP before giving up on a run on a Terrence Long RBI single and the 'Stros ended up with a 6-2 win. Long and Emil Brown both had 2-hit games to make up 4 of the Royals' 9 hits. DeJesus left with elbow tightness so we'll see how that pans out. Stairs had his second straight 0-fer and Buck joined that group tonight. Three extra-base hits for KC tonight, up from 1 Friday. Carrasco didn't have a horrible start even tho he picked up the L. 3 ER over 7 IP. Affeldt came in with another stellar performance, even though 3 errors killed the Royals defensively. When it rains it pours either way with this team -- good or bad. Affeldt allowed 3 runs (1 earned) in an inning to move the score from 3-0 and in reach to 6-0 and not looking good in the 8th. The offense has gotten some hits but isn't scoring many runs in the series -- of course Oswalt and Clemens had something to do with that.

The Royals get a chance to resist the sweep against Brandon Backe tomorrow afternoon. Backe has a 4.88 ERA so isn't bulletproof. Runelvys needs to keep his streak of good starts going. I'm predicting a score of Royals 5, Astros 3.