"Gil Meche and his shoulder are quickly adapting to relieving.

Take Friday and Saturday as an example. Meche pitched a scoreless 10th inning Friday after warming up twice. One day later, he felt great.

"I'm not having any soreness, which is awesome," he said. "I felt better (Saturday) than the day I threw all those pitches. It's a huge positive. I told Ned, 'I'm just letting you know, I could pitch today. I feel really good.'"

Meche didn't pitch Saturday because the Royals don't want him throwing consecutive days. That is one of a few things he hopes to accomplish this September.

"I want to throw some back-to-back days to see how I do and how my arm reacts," Meche said. "I want to have every situation covered. I wouldn't mind coming in with guys on base and getting out of a jam. That's what I'll have to do next year. We might as well try that this season."

He started for nine seasons before switching to a relief role to avoid season-ending shoulder surgery. In addition to the physical adjustment, Meche is working on his mental approach.

"With relieving, you have one inning to make sure the pitch you're throwing is the pitch you want to throw," he said. "For me, it's a little easier to put my focus on 15 pitches versus 100. I feel like I'm going to be pretty good in this role. I'm having fun with it. It beats having surgery and rehabbing.""