Neftali Feliz, 21, spent part of last week apologizing to teammates for showing up late after getting lost driving to the ballpark. Tommy Hunter, 23, still pays the price for a practical joke he pulled on a veteran in the spring. And Derek Holland, 22, was naive enough to believe Benihana, a Japanese-style restaurant, serves Italian food.

This trio of Texas Rangers rookie pitchers may be young enough to be Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan's grandchildren, but they are largely responsible for keeping the organization's postseason hopes alive.

After one winning season since last making the playoffs in 1999, the Rangers are baseball's surprise team, with a 76-60 record, 2½ games behind the Boston Red Sox in the American League wild-card race, and five behind the Los Angeles Angels in the AL West.

"It's amazing what these guys are doing for us," says All-Star third baseman Michael Young, who is out two to three weeks with a strained left hamstring. "We certainly wouldn't be here without them. And as great as this year is, we should even be better next year. We are not going away."

But first there is the matter of catching two of the AL's recent titans. Although the Red Sox are within sight, the Rangers have seven games remaining vs. the Angels, against whom they are 9-3 this season, including two victories by Holland. So excuse the Rangers if they continue to think big.

"They have the kind of potential you saw in Atlanta all of those years," says Ryan, 62, the Rangers' president since February 2008. "I'm not saying they're going to achieve those kind of results, but the same ingredients are there.

"We're finding out a whole lot about them right now. We knew they were talented, but did we think they would come this quick? No. They're not scared."

Well, except for talking to a certain Hall of Famer who has 324 victories and a record 5,714 strikeouts.

"When he first said hello to me, I didn't know what to do," Hunter says of Ryan. "I was too scared to say anything. All of us were."

Feliz's first-month dominance

It's hard to fathom that two summers ago, the three youngsters were at Class A Spokane (Wash.), the major leagues a distant dream.

There was: Hunter, a supplemental first-round pick in 2007 out of the University of Alabama; Holland, a left-hander from Newark, Ohio, who wasn't selected until the 25th round in 2006; and Feliz, from Azua, Dominican Republic, who had just arrived as part of a package from the Braves in the Mark Teixeira trade.

"We talked about becoming starters together, joking about who would be the No. 1 starter," Feliz says.

Feliz, who arrived to the big leagues a month ago, is the lone member of the group not in the rotation. That likely will change next year. For now, he may be the game's most dominant reliever.

On Aug. 3 against Oakland, Feliz became the first pitcher in 47 years to strike out the first four batters he faced in his major league debut, and has been dominant since. He has retired 17 consecutive batters and pitching 19⅔ scoreless innings. Overall, he has given up five hits and one walk with 28 strikeouts and a 0.41 ERA in 22 innings.

"It's unbelievable what he's doing," says Rangers right-hander Dustin Nippert. "The ball just jumps out of his hand."

The Toronto Blue Jays caught a glimpse of what Feliz could do last week when he knocked second baseman Aaron Hill to the ground with a 97-mph fastball near his chin. He came back with a 71-mph curveball. Hill never had a chance.

"Everyone talks about his 100-mph fastball," Rangers manager Ron Washington says, "but he's got some of the best secondary stuff I've seen. Now the question is: How long can he maintain it?"

Feliz says his greatest thrill was striking out Boston Red Sox DH David Ortiz, one of his heroes. Yet, when he called to tell his parents, his mother had a request: Strike out New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez, too.

"So when I did that," Feliz says, "I told my mom, 'There you go. There's your present. Don't ask me to strike anyone else out, OK?' "

The Rangers' players love Feliz's swagger on the mound, and his innocence in the clubhouse. When he and rookie outfielder/DH Julio Borbon arrived too late last week for Feliz to run drills with the rest of the relievers, pitching coach Mike Maddux made sure to have Feliz apologize to every pitcher.

"Feliz has that supreme confidence, that swagger on the mound," left-handed reliever Eddie Guardado, 38, says. "But inside here, he acts like a rookie. He's so quiet, you wouldn't even know he was here."

Hunter's humbling start

Hunter, a two-time junior Olympic judo champion, hardly lacks confidence. He pokes fun at sportswriters' apparel and makes funny faces in front of TV cameras. "He reminds me of the fat kid in school who got all of the girls," Rangers general manager Jon Daniels says of the 6-3, 255-pound right-hander.

But Hunter's playful personality can get him in trouble, too, as he learned in spring training.

Hunter says he set out to pull a practical joke on a young teammate when he put a cup of water precariously on a locker-room shelf. The idea was to douse his victim, and it worked, only the shower took out a veteran whom Hunter declined to identify.

"I couldn't get over there fast enough, and then it became too late," Hunter says. "I knew I was in trouble then."

When Hunter showed up the next day, everything in his locker had been submerged in three tubs of water, including his uniform, gloves and shoes.

"He came in with a little attitude," Guardado says, "and we knocked that right out of him."

Hunter also was humbled last August when he went 0-2 with a 16.36 ERA in three starts. He discovered in a hurry that he'd better work on a changeup, improve his fastball and keep the ball down. "It was an eye-opening experience," Hunter says.

Hunter made 11 minor league starts at the start of this season. He made one big-league start in May and has been up with the Rangers since June 28, going 7-3 with a 3.14 ERA.

"When things didn't go well," Maddux says, "instead of backing down, he came back fighting."

Holland's defining moment

Holland, who didn't have a four-year college offering a scholarship out of high school, received his motivation at Wallace State Community College in Hanceville, Ala. Coach Randy Putman walked to the mound during a game in Holland's freshman year and screamed at him. He implored him to get tough.

"He laid into me," Holland says, "and everything kicked into gear after that."

Holland challenged hitters, and his fastball began to improve dramatically. His velocity increased to 91 mph after his sophomore year. He accepted the Rangers' $200,000 signing bonus, and his fastball went from 94 mph at Class A Clinton (Ind.) to 96 mph at Class AA Bakersfield (Calif.) to 98 mph at Class AAA Frisco (Texas).

"I always believed in myself," Holland says, "but I never knew I could have that kind of velocity."

Holland, 7-10 with a 5.93 ERA, is considered such a prized prospect that Toronto insisted on him during trade talks with the Rangers in July involving Roy Halladay.

"They were pretty adamant they wouldn't give him up," says Blue Jays GM J.P. Ricciardi. "I don't blame them with his youth and the upside he has."

Holland opened the year in the bullpen before joining the rotation May 22. He started off slowly but then dominated, beating the Angels, Red Sox and Minnesota Twins in consecutive August starts. He has lost his last three starts, yielding a 16.06 ERA.

"He'll learn from this and be a better pitcher," Maddux says.

Feliz, Hunter and Holland may be inconsistent on the mound and naive off it, but they have changed the outlook of a franchise. "They are the backbone of our pitching staff," Ryan says, "and hopefully, for a long, long time."

Enlarge By H. Darr Beiser, USA TODAY From left to right, Neftali Feliz, Tommy Hunter and Derek Holland were Class A teammates two years ago. Now they're key cogs in the Rangers' push for the American League postseason.