Darvish to start wild-card game

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP)

Yu Darvish will start the Texas Rangers' first playoff game — and he finally knows all the details about who and when.

OCTOBER'S BEST

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Manager Ron Washington announced Darvish as his pick before the Rangers lost their regular-season finale at Oakland 12-5 on Wednesday to wind up as an AL wild card.

''Of course I'm ready,'' Darvish said through an interpreter. ''If I'm not ready I probably wouldn't be picked. I'm going to approach it like any other start. I'll try to pitch well and give my team a chance to win.''

The two-time reigning AL champion Rangers will play in the new one-game, wild-card playoff on Friday at home against the Baltimore Orioles.

''He's finally Yu Darvish,'' Washington said of the club's prized offseason pickup. ''I don't know the date, but it was Boston. He found Yu Darvish then, and he's been Yu Darvish since. He was searching to find what he was capable of doing over here. And I think he realizes now that competing in a relaxed, trusting and believing, that there was something he was searching for all year and he finally found it. Which is what he is when he's at his best, which is what all pitchers are when they're at their best. It's not just those adjectives I've described as Yu Darvish. That's pitchers, period, when they're at their best.''

The 26-year-old is 16-9 with a 3.90 ERA in 29 starts and 191 1/3 innings in his first major league season after a stellar career in Japan. The 6-foot-5 right-hander has 221 strikeouts to just 89 walks and was an All-Star.

He won his final four decisions and hasn't lost in six starts since Aug. 17.

Washington met with Darvish after his Aug. 6 start at Boston, a 9-2 loss in which he was tagged for six earned runs and 11 hits in 6 2/3 innings with nine strikeouts and four walks. Darvish has lost only once since, at Toronto on Aug. 17.

''Mainly, it's mental. I'm pitching with more of a strong mind and with confidence,'' Darvish said. ''We had a conversation (in Boston). But we didn't talk in depth about pitching.''

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Darvish won his first four decisions under the huge hype of his first season in the big leagues. Before being selected an All-Star, the diplomatic pitcher insisted his numbers needed to be on par with the best in the game to earn consideration.

Darvish — with his rock star status from Japan still ever present at spring training — arrived at the team's Surprise, Ariz., spring site with his shaggy hair tinted orange and a dark goatee. His every move was monitored for months, and still is.

Darvish signed a $56 million, six-year contract, and the Rangers paid his Japanese club $51.7 million just to acquire him.

''I keep saying it, the guy was under tremendous pressure coming over here, learning everything, making adjustments,'' Washington said. ''It took that point for him to find the adjustments he had to make to become what he always knew he was and we knew he was, and he found it. And that would be no different if it was any other pitcher who's a pretty good pitcher making adjustments.''