ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Texas Rangers starter Yu Darvish admits that he doesn't fully know the rivalry with the Los Angeles Angels yet, since he's still so new to the big leagues.

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"In a way, it might be good that I'm not that aware of it," Darvish said a few days ago through interpreter Joe Furukawa. "I'm going to approach my next start as I always do."

Darvish said he didn't really have a big rival pitching all those years in Japan for the Nippon Ham Fighters.

"We were very peaceful," Darvish quipped.

He'll face an Angels lineup that isn't quite as peaceful as it was three weeks ago, when Darvish battled Mother Nature and got plenty of run support to beat L.A. Darvish stayed loose during a near two-hour rain delay after the first inning and returned to pitch nearly six and get the win. C.J. Wilson, his counterpart on the mound tonight, did not come back on that Friday night, but did pitch -- and the Angels won -- the next day.

Darvish spent some time in a bullpen session Wednesday trying to get some things figured out. Darvish hasn't pitched deep into his last two games, going four innings in a loss to Seattle and five in a win over Toronto. He's had nine walks and allowed seven earned runs on 11 hits in those two starts as his command was a bit wobbly.

"Mike Maddux was able to find some key tips in my delivery and able to give me advice on those and I'll take what I think are the positive things and go from there," Darvish said. "I tried those in the bullpen, but again, the performance in the game is the most important and we'll see how that translates in game situations."