"Adam Dunn was out of the lineup Tuesday night, and it's not out of the question he'll sit out tonight, too, manager Ozzie Guillen said.

The Kansas City Royals started left-hander Danny Duffy and will start lefty Bruce Chen tonight. Dunn is 2-for-64 against left-handers with 29 of his 124 strikeouts, but Dunn (.158, nine home runs, 36 RBI) is struggling against pitchers of all shapes and sizes.

''It depends on how we do today — then we'll figure out tomorrow,'' Guillen said.

Guillen let out a big sigh when asked if he's at a loss about what to do with Dunn, who's in the first year of a four-year, $56 million contract. Since hitting a two-run single against Justin Verlander in the first game after the All-Star break, Dunn is 1-for-13 with six strikeouts.

''Against the best pitcher in the game,'' Guillen said. ''Then we say, 'There we go; we got him back; the break helped him. Everything goes through your mind when

every time you go to the plate and hope for something good, and it continues not to happen.

''What can we do? Believe me, we can just throw him out there and play him. We try to help him physically and mentally, give him a vote of confidence. We tell him we still believe in him, we don't regret signing him, he's not the man on this ballclub, he's not having to carry the ballclub. Everything is in his favor. The only thing that's not in his favor is he's not producing.''

Dunn said he doesn't feel like he regressed in the last few games."