Things are falling into place

“I know what you mean,’’ captain Jason Varitek said before last night’s pulsating (two runs in the bottom of the ninth), 9-8 walkoff win over the Angels. “We’ve become a better team overall than we had earlier in the year. We’ve got experience and youth. Our offense and defense are more stabilized.

“Sometimes you’re playing good before you start winning - you lose, 2-1, or 3-2, or in extra innings. Then all of a sudden you start getting results.’’

They got results last night. The Sox were down, 3-0, in the sixth. They were down, 7-5, in the seventh. They were down, 8-7, in the ninth with two outs and nobody on. But guys kept plugging. They dug in with two strikes. Jed Lowrie got his first hit since Aug. 5. They fouled off two-strike pitches. They got help from the umpires (Nick Green should have been rung up on ball four). They won it when Alex Gonzalez dumped a single into left. It was ridiculous.

David Ortiz, another veteran of ’04 and ’07, said it best after Tuesday night’s win over the Angels: “Boy, I tell you, man, having Daisuke [Matsuzaka] back and throwing the ball the way he did is huge for us.

“I was thinking about going to the playoffs right now. When you play good in September, it gets you in a good mood for October. We are right there. We’ve got Texas behind us. The best we’ve played, that’s what’s going to get us into the playoffs.’’

He’s right. Texas is in the rearview mirror. The Rangers have done what they always do, only later. They have faded. Texas lost again last night. The Rangers are 6 1/2 games behind Boston. The Rangers are gone.

The Red Sox have won seven in a row. They have won 10 in a row at Fenway. They have won 13 of 14, and 24 of 31 in Boston since July 10. They own the best home record in baseball - 52-21. Fenway Park has morphed into Death Valley in Clemson, S.C., or Cameron Indoor Stadium at Duke. Nobody wants to come to Fenway and try to beat the Red Sox. If you are sitting in the third base dugout, you are probably losing the game when you hear “Sweet Caroline’’ before the Sox hit in the eighth.