"Even Alex Gordon realizes he deserves this latest setback, at least partially, because he chose to slide headfirst into second base Saturday on an attempted steal.

That doesn't make it any easier to swallow.

"I'm pretty tired today," Gordon said quietly Sunday morning as he stood in front of his locker in the Royals' clubhouse at Surprise Stadium. "I didn't get much sleep. Coming off the injury and now having this … (stinks)."

Gordon suffered a broken right thumb on the play — technically a minimally displaced fracture. Recovery time is initially pegged at three to four weeks for a return to full baseball activities.

"It's unfortunate because it didn't have to happen," manager Trey Hillman said. "It's a well-documented fact that more injuries on the base paths happen from sliding headfirst than any other way. … Unfortunately, we've got another example of it."

Gordon acknowledged he'll "probably stop (sliding headfirst) from now on."

Sunday was a day of depressing medical news as the Royals generally milled around until learning rain had forced cancellation of their home game against San Francisco."