Nick Swartz, the Royals&rsquo; head trainer for the last 19 years, will retire at the end of the season. The move was announced before Friday&rsquo;s game against the Twins.</p><p>In a news release, Swartz said he wanted to spend time at home and &ldquo;enjoy life outside&rdquo; of baseball.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s been a great run and something I have been blessed with the good fortune of doing what I aspired to do from the first day I entered college,&rdquo; Swartz said. &ldquo;But I realized in the last few weeks that it was time for me to step away.&rdquo;</p><p>Swartz joined the Royals&rsquo; organization in 1977, making his way to the big-league team in 1989. He was part of two All-Star staffs (1996 and 2006).</p><p>This season, in particular, he came under criticism from fans and some reporters for the treatment of some players &mdash; mostly pitchers.</p><p>General manager Dayton Moore said in a news release that he had tried to talk Swartz out of retirement, calling him a &ldquo;tremendous asset&rdquo; to the Royals, and wished him well.</p><p><strong><span class="subhead">Butler&rsquo;s good company</span></strong></p><p>Billy Butler&rsquo;s homer in the third inning was his 20th of the season, which goes nicely with his 49 doubles.</p><p>Since 1901, there have been only 37 seasons of 20 homers and 50 doubles, accomplished by 31 players.</p><p>Eight have done it in the last seven seasons: David Ortiz, Magglio Ordo&ntilde;ez, Matt Holliday, Grady Sizemore, Miguel Cabrera, Derrek Lee, Miguel Tejada and Albert Pujols. </p><p><strong><span class="subhead">DiNardo hopes to impress</span></strong></p><p>Sitting in front of his locker a day before he was to pitch, sure, Lenny DiNardo could talk about how today&rsquo;s start is for the Royals but also 29 other teams that might be interested in him for 2010.</p><p>That thinking has to stop by the time he stands on top of the pitching mound, though.</p><p>&ldquo;I know it is in the back of my head,&rdquo; DiNardo said. &ldquo;But I really can&rsquo;t think about that going into the start. It&rsquo;s hard enough throwing strikes without thinking it&rsquo;s a tryout for next year.&rdquo;</p><p>DiNardo, 30, will be making his fourth start for the Royals. He gave up just two runs in five innings in his season debut against the Tigers, but then four runs in 5 1/3 innings against Detroit last week and eight runs in five innings against the Red Sox on Monday.</p><p>DiNardo said that last start would be easy to forget, because rainy conditions affected everything he had done. The ball felt &ldquo;like a fish,&rdquo; he said, and he had trouble with his footing.</p><p><strong><span class="subhead">Oops</span></strong></p><p>The Royals will give out a figurine at today&rsquo;s game, this one honoring George Brett. But the wording on the boxes has him as a second baseman.</p><p><strong><span class="subhead">Meche still a no-go</span></strong></p><p>Gil Meche threw a bullpen session before Friday&rsquo;s game, but there is still no chance of him pitching in a game this season.</p><p>&ldquo;Just continuing to strengthen (the shoulder),&rdquo; Hillman said. &ldquo;Continuing with the exercises and range of motion. (Brian Bannister) is doing similar stuff &hellip; but he&rsquo;s not as far along.&rdquo;</p><p>In other developments, Hillman indicated the Royals were closer to shutting Kyle Davies down for the season because the soreness in the lower part of his right shoulder hasn&rsquo;t gone away.</p><p>Lefty Dusty Hughes threw all his pitches in a bullpen session with no discomfort and, assuming no more setbacks, could be available Sunday.</p><p><strong><span class="subhead">Rodriguez in the finals</span></strong></p><p>Royals special-assignments coach Eddie Rodriguez is the manager of the USA World Cup team that&rsquo;s qualified for the tournament&rsquo;s finals.</p><p>Hillman expressed pride both in Rodriguez and the team, before joking about a kinship with his friend.</p><p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s why I got kicked out of (Thursday&rsquo;s) game,&rdquo; Hillman said. &ldquo;He got kicked out (of a game); I figured I had to.&rdquo;</p><p><strong><span class="subhead">Etc.</span></strong></p><p>&bull;David DeJesus missed Friday&rsquo;s game because of illness.</p><p>&bull;Robinson Tejeda became the first Royals pitcher to walk seven in fewer than five innings since Jorge de la Rosa on May 24, 2007. Overall, Gil Meche was the last to do it on Aug. 10 last year, over 6 1/3 innings.</p><p>&bull;A reminder that Zack Greinke&rsquo;s start on Sunday will not be televised. Fans must choose between going to Kauffman Stadium or watching the Chiefs&rsquo; game live on TV. DVRs figure to be an option.