Friday morning Rangers stuff

Four games up in the West. Two games up in the race for the best record in the A.L. Magic Number of 3. Three games this weekend against the Angels, three games in Oakland, and then the playoffs start.

Its a good time to be a Ranger fan.

Jeff Wilson says in his game story that the Ranger offense made like Peter Frampton and decided to come alive yesterday, exploding for a five run first inning as part of a nine run outburst.

T.R. Sullivan writes in his game story that this was a big game for the Rangers to win, given that the had dropped the previous two games to the A's.

Gerry Fraley has his game report at the DMN blog.

Richard Durrett has his Rapid Reaction at the ESPN Dallas blog.

Drew Davison talks about the Rangers' having a great defense, although his focus is on fielding percentage. In the article, Ron Washington says that the defense was better last year, and singles out Ian Kinsler and Nelson Cruz as having taken steps backwards defensively this season.

Durrett has a lengthy piece about the Rangers' resilience and knack for stepping up when the pressure is on. And it includes this awesome quote from Ian Kinsler:

Did Kinsler need to remind himself that the Rangers were the best team in the AL?

"No. Never," Kinsler said. "I've known we're the best team since April."

The S-T's notes talk about Yu Darvish, Martin Perez getting another start on Monday, and David Murphy getting a day off after looking "sluggish" lately.

Sullivan's notes talk about Mike Olt running for the first time since his injury yesterday, Derek Holland saying he felt his fastball command was back in his bullpen session, Darvish starting on Sunday, and Murphy's day off.