Fun-loving Kansas City continues its unlikely stay in first place.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – When Kansas City Royals owner David Glass starts feeling discouraged, he reaches out to the happiest person he knows.

“I just call Tony Pena,” Glass said. “You couldn’t stay discouraged around Tony if you wanted to.”

But who would want to?

With 43 games left in Pena’s first full year as a big-league manager, the Royals have already won more games and sold more tickets than all of last season. Tough, resourceful and amazingly resistant to injuries that cripple most clubs, the Royals remind New York Yankees manager Joe Torre of the Angels team that won the 2002 World Series.

“They may not have as much experience as the Angels did, but they’ve got some young kids who are believing in themselves,” Torre said. “It’s the same kind of feisty lineup.”

An 11-0 rout of Torre’s Yankees on Wednesday night illustrates the season the surprise leaders of the AL Central have enjoyed.

Their starting pitcher was 35-year-old Kevin Appier, released by the Angels last month – seemingly washed up. In center field in place of ailing star Carlos Beltran was a 10-year minor league veteran named Aaron Guiel who had played the position only twice.

At second base for the overworked Desi Relaford was journeyman Mendy Lopez, who’d been on the disabled list for nearly two months and hadn’t hit a home run since 2001.

So Appier pitched six shutout innings, Guiel played flawlessly and Lopez clubbed a two-run home run.

And the Royals, with their $41 million payroll, won a home series from the New Yorkers and their $180 million payroll for the first time since 1993.

“It was just more of the magical season for us,” said DH Mike Sweeney.

“For us to win, let alone score 11 runs against the Yankees, makes you scratch your head. It just goes to show you that Tony Pena is the manager of the year and we’re playing Tony Pena baseball. He tells us, “Go out and have fun, boys. Don’t get nervous, don’t feel pressure, just have fun.”‘

Pena, a longtime NL catcher, was named manager in May, 2002, and began this season by pounding home his “believe” theme the first day of spring training.

“If you love what you’re doing, you don’t have to work for the rest of your life,” Pena said, quoting Confucius. “And I do not have to work for the rest of my life because this is my love and this is my passion and this is why I have so much fun.”

Having fun seems to be working for the players, too.

“The confidence is tremendous,” said Appier, who was traded by the Royals in 1999. “It’s an extremely relaxed atmosphere. Not lazy-relaxed, but loose.”

Another reason the Royals have continued to win is their .306 average with runners in scoring position, the best in the majors.

It all goes back to leadership, Torre said.

“It suggests that they have a plan when they go up to the plate,” he said. “Tony’s done a heck of a job, not only with the preparation but with making it fun for them.”

The only possible downside to what Sweeney calls this magical season may be in what it’s doing to the fans’ diets. In a promotion that’s become the talk of the town, Krispy Kreme is giving a dozen free glazed doughnuts to anybody who brings in a ticket stub from a game where the Royals got a dozen hits.

So far, the Royals have hit the dozen mark in 19 home games. If every one of those ticket stubs is redeemed, fans would waddle off with 5,421,456 of the sugary treats.

Talk about batter up.

It gives workers at Krispy Kreme shops another reason to tune their radio to the Royals.

Once the Royals get close to the magic number, “We just start making them as fast as possible,” said Christy Norton, who manages a store near Kauffman Stadium. “Usually within 24 hours after the game, we get a thousand Royals tickets.”

Ticketholders who choose to delay their gratification have until Oct. 31 to cash in.

“I’m scared,” Norton said with a laugh. “I’m asking for the 31st of October off.”

AP-ES-08-14-03 1725EDT