Gil Meche gets it. He understands the meaning of his uniform number as well as anyone.

For those who haven’t yet seen the Royals – I know, why bother – Meche is No. 55. The significance? Put on a dollar sign, add six zeroes and you’ve got the value of the contract that many considered the craziest in an off-season of silly free-agent signings.

When, of all teams, the penny-pinching Royals gave Meche $55 million for five years, at least one general manager called it the off-season’s worst signing (The Sporting News was kinder; we put it No. 3). Even Meche admits the numbers for his six seasons with the Mariners – 55 career wins, 4.65 earned-run average, 1.6-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio – weren’t exactly the stuff of $11 million salaries.

Meche likewise understands the likelihood of the number on his jersey reminding wisecracking fans of all the zeroes in his contract. “If I was pitching bad, it’d be a real big target,” he says.

So far, No. 55 has kept the zingers silenced. Of all the pitchers who took $40 million or more to join a new club last winter, none has outpitched the 28-year-old right-hander. On opening day, he shut down the Red Sox in what he calls the biggest game of his career because of the contract. “That was kind of cool,” he says. “That quieted everybody down.”

Critics have stayed that way. Meche went at least six innings in his first eight starts and posted a 2.15 ERA, third among A.L. starters. He hasn’t helped the Royals escape last place, but their 5-3 record when he starts accounted for almost half of their first 11 victories.

Credit the Royals’ pitching brain trust for helping Meche to the best start of his career. In his first spring-training bullpen, coaches noticed a mechanical flaw that never had been pointed out. Meche was coming out of his delivery and landing on his left heel instead of the ball of his left foot. Such a hard landing led to elevated pitches and put more stress on his arm because of the jarring.

By softening his landing, Meche’s command improved almost immediately, one reason he’s been able to work deep into games.

“It’s almost like I’m waiting a little longer to throw, like I have the ball in my hand longer,” he says. “I’m moving forward all the way through the zone, and it’s helped me keep all my pitches down.”

Meche says a week passed before the change began to feel comfortable; the first few days were so trying he considered ditching the new landing. “If this had been something that was noticed late in spring training, I probably would not have fooled with it,” he says.

Who knows? He may have gotten by with his stuff. It’s always been considered nasty. “There’s more in Meche’s arm than anyone has seen,” says the scouting report in Sporting News’ baseball preview. Meche relies on one of the game’s best cut fastballs and throws his four-seamer up to 98 mph, though he has been working in the 90-94 mph range.

When one of his agents called with the $55 million news, he pointed out to Meche the coincidence with his uni number. “Kind of weird,” Meche remembers thinking. Though he didn’t wear the number in high school or the minors, 55 has been with Meche practically all of his 28 years.

“When I first was called up by the Mariners in ’99, that was the number hanging in my locker,” Meche says. “I called my mom and when I told her I was 55, she got teary. I didn’t quite understand why, but when I went home in the off-season, she showed me a baby jersey she still keeps in a ziplock bag in a safe.”

The number on the baby uniform: 55, of course. A number that has more meaning than ever for Meche.