On Wednesday, the Royals trailed 5-0 before bouncing back to beat the White Sox, the team with the best record in baseball 6-5. On Thursday, they took a 5-0 lead before losing to the Devil Rays 10-5.

Mike Sweeney drove in two with a first-inning double to up his RBI total to 57 on the season. In the second inning the Royals struck three more times thanks to an RBI single from David DeJesus and a two-run homer from rookie Chip Ambres.

Royals’ starting pitcher Kyle Snyder had a 5-0 lead going into the bottom of the second inning, but the shutout didn’t last long. Devil Rays’ catcher Toby Hall drove in a run with a single in the second. Johnny Gomes lifted a solo home run to center in the fourth inning to make it 5-2.

In the fifth inning, Snyder’s evening unraveled as Tampa went on a five-run rally to take the lead. Carl Crawford tied the game with a two run homer and Aubrey Huff gave the Devil Rays the lead wit ha double to score Jorge Cantu. Damon Hollins ended the rally with an RBI single to score Huff. In all, Snyder (0-2) allowed five runs off six hits and an error in the fifth. Unfortunately for him, it wasn’t the end of his misery.

The Devil Rays led off the sixth inning with back-to-back singles from Travis Lee and Hall. Snyder was pulled from the game and replaced by Jimmy Gobble, who immediately gave up an RBI double to Lugo. He later scored on a wild pitch. Two of the runs were charged to Snyder. He allowed nine runs off 12 hits.

Devil Rays’ starter Scott Kazmir (6-7) and reliever Chad Orvella had the Royals pegged following their five run outburst. Kansas City managed only one hit and two walks over the final 7 1/3 innings of the game.

It was hard to find much fault with the Cardinals all-around play Thursday afternoon. The bats couldn’t be stopped and Chris Carpenter’s pitches, with the exception of the ones he threw in the second inning, were almost unhittable.

Carpenter became the National League’s first, and the major league’s second, fifteen-game winner as the Cardinals topped the Padres 11-3 in San Diego. Carpenter allowed three runs in the second inning, then proceeded to retire 18 of the next 20 batters he faced in his seven-inning performance. In his last eight starts, Carpenter is 7-0 with an ERA of 0.81.

The offense certainly gave Carpenter plenty to work with, scoring in every inning except the fifth and eighth. Jim Edmonds got the Cardinals on the board with a three-run homer in the first inning. It was his 18th of the season. Edmonds finished with five RBI’s—a feat he’s accomplished six times in his career.

David Eckstein made it 4-0 with an RBI single in the second inning before San Diego scored its only runs of the game.

Rookie John Rodriguez hit the third home run of his career, a solo shot, in the third inning to give Carpenter a 5-3 advantage.

Albert Pujols finished the game 3-for-4 with two RBI’s and two runs. He drove in a run with a swinging bunt in the fourth inning and an RBI triple in the sixth.

The Cardinals took two-of-three from the N.L. West leader, but St. Louis’ lead in the N.L. Central was cut to single digits this week. Houston, which has won five in a row and nine-of-ten trails by nine-and-a-half games.

Three members of the St. Louis Blues will be headed to Colorado Springs, Colorado in early September to tryout for the U.S. Olympic Hockey team. Doug Weight, Keith Tkachuk and Andy Roach are three of the 39 players who have been invited. 23 will make the team that will represent the United States in 2006.

Tkachuk is a three-time Olympian playing for Team USA in 1992, 1998 and 2002. Weight played in 1998 and 2002 and Roach is hoping to make his first Olympic team.

The 2006 winter games will be in Turin, Italy.

The Blues picked up the options for goalie Patrick Lalime, defenseman Matt Walker and Roach on Thursday.