In the surface, it looks like a dugout brawl between John Buck and Runelvys Hernandez in the middle of the Royals’ 5-3 win over the Indians.

Truth is, Buck and Hernandez were fighting over which K.C. player loves David Glass the most.  The Royals owner tells the Kansas City Star’s Bob Dutton that he’s prepared to splash out next season. That’s right, Doug Mientkiewicz and Reggie Sanders didn’t scare him off high profile free agency.

Royals owner David Glass, saying he is optimistic and encouraged by the club’s play in recent weeks, is pledging a payroll increase into the low-$50 million range for 2007. “I’m encouraged,” he said, “and I love the attitude. There is an air of optimism around here, throughout the whole organization, top to bottom, that we haven’t had. And I love that.”

The Royals are 38-43 since bottoming out at 16-47 on June 13 and are 15-9 since Aug. 2 against teams occupying either first or second place in a division race or the wild-card chase.

“My friends on other teams call me and complain about how tough we’re being on them,” Glass said. “They’re trying to win. It just tickles me to death.”