Monday, 4 a.m.
Most days, there is a lot to be said for a baseball player working a count.
He crouches at the plate, and he determines which ball is just in the zone and which one is just out of it. He fouls off pitches. Eventually, he hopes to wear a pitcher down.
And then there are the other batters, who can't wait to get at the opponent.
Take Sunday's 6-3 victory by the Rays over the Florida Marlins at Tropicana Field, when first-pitch swinging was the order of the day.
Start with Taylor Walls' big hit, a bases-clearing triple in the fourth inning. The Marlins looked as if they might get out of a jam with Walls, the Rays' No. 9 hitter, at the plate. Walls was hitting only .211 coming into the day.
And he lined the first pitch he saw into right-center to give his team a 4-2 lead it would not surrender.
More evidence? Earlier in the inning, Jonny DeLuca had set things up with a first-pitch double to left and Yandy Diaz on base.
Oh, and after the three-run inning, Diaz homered off Eury Perez. It was on the first pitch of his at-bat, too.
The Rays also scored on a home run and a walk, both by Junior Caminero,
On the mound, the hero of the day was relief pitcher Ian Seymour. Seymour came into the game as Garrett Cleavinger was in the middle of a meltdown. He got only one out in the eighth and gave up three hits and a walk.
Seymour, however, struck out Leo Jimenez and got Hiriberto Hernandez to line out to short to get out of trouble.
Byron Baker finished the ninth for his 12th save.
DeLuca had two hits for the Rays.
The Rays are at Tropicana again tonight to face the Orioles. Shane McClanahan will start for the Rays against Trevor Rogers.