Rangers starting to have the feel of playoff-ready force

Adrian Beltre's towering two-run home run that lifted me out my seat in my Kansas City apartment around the midnight hour propelled the Rangers to a mammoth 3-1 victory over the Angels on Thursday in Anaheim.

It was a clean, convincing victory that extended Texas' lead in the AL West to four games over Oakland and 8.5 games ahead of I-still-don't-know-how-they're-not-better Anaheim.

That marks two memorable victories over the Angels in just under two months. Many Rangers fans fondly recall the 11-10 victory over Anaheim on Aug. 1 in Arlington as one of the most memorable wins of the season. Texas trailed, 6-0, in the third, 10-7 in the ninth, and scored four runs in the bottom of the ninth to win in dramatic fashion.

I will remember last night's "boring" 3-1 victory over the Angels more, though.

Why? Yu Darvish looks like he's ready to lead this team into the postseason.

Coincidentally, Darvish also started the memorable 11-10 game on Aug. 1, when he surrendered seven earned runs and walked six batters in five painful innings. On Thursday night, Darvish allowed only one earned run, one walk and struck out nine over eight brilliant innings.

He's pitching a lot differently than he was in August. In fact, over his last six starts, Darvish has walked only nine batters; he's struck out 52.

Ladies and gents, introducing the Rangers' No. 1 playoff starter, 26-year-old Yu Darvish. He's finally cemented his name in this slot, something I wasn't comfortable doing not too long ago.

The Rangers looked like a team that was ready for postseason battle on Thursday night.

The offense stepped up when it needed to, led by Beltre, who's having a monster year with a .316 average, 34 homers and 95 RBI (and a few weeks still left in the regular season to pad those stats). The defense looked fantastic, with Elvis Andrus and Ian Kinsler turning crucial and difficult double plays late in the game, and Michael Young displaying a surprisingly strong cannon from third base to nail a runner late in the game as well. The bullpen, fueled by Joe Nathan's scoreless ninth inning, was great. The difference between the first-place Rangers and the third-place Angels? The bullpens.

The difference between the Rangers on Sept. 21 and Aug. 1? Yu Darvish.

Couldn't have come at a better time.