Rangers 2-0 Friday win among best

That was one of the best Rangers games I've seen in some time.

It had everything in it. Getting out of bases-loaded jams. Quality pitching. Timely hitting and opportunistic offense. Friday's 2-0 victory over Seattle in 12 innings is the kind of game you absolutely love to win.

It's the kind of victory the team needed after a lackluster start to the season. It's the kind of victory that might deflate the opponent for the rest of the series, particularly since we prevailed on the road. This is the best I've felt about the Rangers all season. A quality win over a divisional opponent will do that.

Back to 11-12 (final April record) and only 0.5 games back of Anaheim and Oakland. The season is still very young. Winning the division is still the goal. It finally feels attainable for the first time this season.

My highlight observations from Friday's victory:

• Welcome to the party, Colby Lewis. Wow. The righty went nine innings, didn't give up a run, walked one and struck out 10. His 38 strikeouts leads the AL. If you would have told me Lewis would lead the AL in K's after the first month of the season a month ago, I would have laughed. Lewis deserved to win, but we didn't score until the 12th inning. Still, his line after the first month: 3-0, 2.76 ERA, 38/13 K/BB ratio. That's pretty awesome.

• We were true escape artists last night. Darren O'Day getting out of the bases loaded, 1 out jam in the 10th was awesome. Frank Francisco getting out of the bases loaded, 1 out jam in the 11th was even better. After Seattle failed a suicide squeeze attempt to win the game, Francisco struck out Eric Byrnes to end the inning. That pitch probably generated the most reaction from me all season. Loved it.

• Neftali Feliz closing it out in the 12th was nice. He's struggled of late, but after the crazy 10th and 11th innings, we really needed that 1-2-3 sequence.

• Ian Kinsler couldn't have returned at a better time Friday. It feels like we're just about to turn the corner here.

I've seen some memorable Rangers games the past few years.

The Marlon Byrd walkoff grandslam on Aug. 4, 2008, still stands as the most memorable Rangers game I've ever seen. True, it helped that I was on hand with my brother Dave to witness, but it was the Yankees. Doesn't get any better than that.

The Rod Barajas walkoff homer against the Yankees in 2004 was also nice.

Dave and I were also on hand in May 2006, when Phil Nevin blasted a two-run walkoff home run to beat the Athletics, 8-7. Texas was down, 7-0, earlier in the game. That was wild.

I have to say, though: Friday night makes my top five. It could be just the victory we needed to turn the season around.