ARLINGTON, Texas—I don’t know that anyone on the Rays’ roster knows the first thing about swimming, or cares at all, but they do recognize athletic achievement when they see it.

All of the postgame buzz in the visiting clubhouse tonight was about Michael Phelps’ impending shot at an eighth gold medal.

As NBC dragged things out through its laborious leadup to the 4 x 100 medley relay, Troy Percival leaned against a trash can, his eyes fixed on the TV in anticipation. When he was called to the trainer’s room shortly before the race, he protested vigorously but went as directed.

Around the same time, James Shields entered the room with a plate of food and was offered a vacant chair on the side of a table facing away from one of the TVs. He grabbed the chair and lifted it over to the other side so he could have a full-on view of the race.

When it finally got going, the clubhouse was filled with exhortations (some rather off-color) but everyone was pretty fired up. Akinori Iwamura caught some grief when Japan took a momentary lead, but the place got awfully loud as the U.S. put it away on the freestyle leg.

Anyway, it was a pretty cool scene. I’ve seen baseball players get fired up like that watching football games in the dog days of September, but that’s about it as far as intensity regarding other sports. Obviously, Phelps’ amazing run captivated just about everyone.