"This procession on a cool, clear Palm Sunday led to a bullpen mound along the western edge of the Surprise Recreation Campus.

Here a small group gathered to watch Gil Meche test his troublesome right shoulder and, perhaps, determine the Royals' potential to raise themselves into competitiveness within the American League Central.

The result couldn't have been more upbeat.

Meche threw 127 pitches, including all of his warm-ups, and afterward reported no stiffness. Barring any setbacks, he now seems likely to open the season in the rotation, though he remains a long shot to pitch the second game as previously planned.

"I thought I had a really good day," Meche said. "After my last start, feeling the stiffness, there's always some concern when you have to come out of a game. I worked on a lot of stuff this week. I did a lot of stretching.

"Today is the best I've felt in this spring training."

Meche threw 61 full-strength pitches in a simulated-game format that included roughly five minutes of rest between his four mock innings. That followed 37 pitches as a pregame loosening warm-up, which would normally occur in the bullpen, and another 29 warm-ups split over his four innings."