I hate pitch counts. I understand why they might sometimes be necessary - for a young arm, or a pitcher coming back from an injury. But pitch counts are a prime example of a baseball-by-the-numbers strategy that is numbing the game.

A guy should throw until the game dictates he shouldn't throw any more, a decision a manager is paid well to assess.  Not when somebody with a laptop taps the manager on the shoulder and says, "He's at 110. Yank him."

Nolan Ryan hates pitch counts, too. Texas Rangers owner Tom Hicks may not have known  - or cared - about that fact when he hired the former Ranger and Hall of Fame pitcher as team president before the 2008 season. He hired Ryan hoping some of the legend's greatness would rub off on the only baseball franchise left that hasn't won a playoff series.

Right now, it's looking like whatever Ryan had is catching on.

The Rangers (and it took all my willpower not to type "lowly" before "Rangers," as I've done practically every other time I've written about them) are sitting atop the American League with a 27-18 record, second in baseball only to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

I'm not a big payroll guy because the amount of money a team spends doesn't always correlate to how good a job it's doing building a team - one that can win. But it's just too tempting to note that they're doing this with a a payroll that stood at $68,178,798 on opening day, 22nd in baseball. That's exactly $133,270,391 less than the payroll of the New York Yankees. who stand 26-20.

General manager Jon Daniels, 31, isn't just spending less. He's spending smarter, relying on a scouting system second to none to build a roster peppered with young talent and a farm system that has been rated the best in baseball.

Daniels and Ryan clearly have patience. Not just with their young talent but with their manager as well. Last season, it seemed Ron Washington was on the proverbial hot seat for 161 games (Hey, no one is on the hot seat on opening day, except the Yankees manager). The team started 9-17 and it looked as if the former longtime Oakland A's coach would not survive. But the Rangers were one of the game's best teams in the second half of the season and finished in second place.

That confidence carried over and should help the Rangers avoid the kind of summer swoon the franchise has been known for.

With a strong defense (the team's .992 field percentage in May was the best in the game), and a solid lineup (once Josh Hamilton is 100 percent healthy), the Rangers will last as long as their pitchers will.

So far, they're lasting longer because Ryan hates pitch counts. The concept is too new-age sissy for a guy who stood on the mound until you knocked him down. During spring training he told his pitchers that they'd be allowed to pitch as long as they were earning the right to stay on the mound. And to prepare them to do so, he and Washington's staff - which included newly hired pitching coach Mike Maddux - instituted a more rigorous fitness program that emphasized physical and mental toughness. Jogging was replaced by sprints, for instance, a move designed to forge pitchers who could endure the Arlington heat.

Maddux has also been smart about how he introduces his young arms to the bigs. Rather than simply toss them the ball and say, "Go get 'em, kid," he has put young pitchers on the mound in small doses. Derek Holland, a 25-round pick who was recently ranked as the Rangers' No. 2 prospect, spent three weeks in relief, making seven appearances, often for at least two innings.

So far, Rangers pitchers have thrown five complete games, tied with Kansas City for tops in the majors.

Clearly, the Rangers are poised to stand as long as their game dictates it should. Just the way Ryan likes it.

AP photo