AL | Royals GM, Jose Guillen meet after confrontation with heckling fan

Royals general manager Dayton Moore met with Jose Guillen Wednesday after the outfielder confronted a heckling fan in Kansas City the previous night.

Guillen had to be restrained by catcher Miguel Olivo, third-base coach Luis Silverio and others when a fan down the right-field line harassed him in a 2-1 loss to Texas.

"Jose has got to remain focused to what happens on the baseball field," Moore said Wednesday. "It is certainly inappropriate to engage in any conversation with the fans during a game. ...

"We'll just continue to work with Jose about managing what he says and how he responds."

It was Guillen's fourth public outburst this season. The former Mariner called teammates "babies" during a 12-game losing streak in May, made profanity-laced comments in June while saying he could "care less about" fans who were booing him, and had to be separated from pitching coach Bob McClure on July 5.

Royals manager Trey Hillman said he missed Guillen's confrontation with the fan.

"I was actually in the toilet, so I didn't see it," Hillman said. "Managers do have to use the restroom and I guess I picked a bad time to be in the restroom. ... There's no sense on commenting on it."

Guillen, who at $12 million a season is the highest-paid player in franchise history, is hitting .249 but leads the club with 17 home runs and 80 runs batted in.

"I understand who I am and the money that I'm making," Guillen said. "I understand that I'm hitting .250, and the fans are expecting a lot more than they're seeing. But the word he said, trust me, anybody would want to go there."

Baltimore: Nick Markakis threw out another runner. He leads major-league outfielders with 15 assists.

Boston: The Red Sox acquired OF Mark Kotsay from Atlanta for a minor leaguer, one day after OF J.D. Drew went on the disabled list. Kotsay hit .289 with six home runs and 37 RBI for the Braves.

Chicago: OF Jermaine Dye's 32nd homer gave the White Sox a major league-high 198. The White Sox have 49 homers in August, two short of the franchise record for a month.

Cleveland: The Indians, winners of 10 straight, are only two games below .500 for the first time since May 21.

Detroit: RHP Justin Verlander (10-14) has had a baffling season. For the fourth time, he struck out at least eight in a loss. Three of those games were against Cleveland.

New York: RHP Sidney Ponson, who didn't make it out of the fifth inning, dropped to 3-13 with a 6.95 ERA in 22 starts against the Red Sox.

Tampa Bay: Pennant fever? Not in St. Petersburg. The AL East-leading Rays' 1-0 win over Toronto was watched by only 12,678, their fifth straight home crowd under 20,000.

Texas: OF Josh Hamilton, who leads the majors with 116 RBI, was a late scratch from the lineup because of an abscessed tooth.

Seattle Times news services