"In a 9-0 game, we just decided to get Young and [Josh] Hamilton off their feet," Washington said. "I had already told Vizquel he was going into the game and I wanted to give him that at-bat."

Young said bench coach Jackie Moore told him before the inning began that Vizquel would be going to third base. He then told him as he was in the hole that Vizquel was going to hit for him.

"I'm not going to sit there and question it at all," Young said. "That's Wash's call."

It's a strange one. I understand getting Young off his feet and giving him a break in the final innings of a blowout game. But why not let him hit with the bases loaded and then put Vizquel at third and let Young sit? If Young gets a huge hit, then maybe you leave him out there and see if a crazy comeback happens. The other option is to put Andruw Jones in the game with the bases loaded. But if Washington was going to do that, he's better off just letting Young hit in that situation. Young, by the way, is batting .373 with 73 RBIs with the bases loaded since 2004.

Of course, that decision did not cost the Rangers the game on Friday. The Rangers couldn't get much of anything going against Gil Meche. The Royals scored four runs off Matt Harrison in the second and then added eight more in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings combined. The bullpen just couldn't hold the Royals as Willie Eyre and Josh Rupe ran into trouble. The Rangers' ERA is now 7.06.

Newstex ID: DA-2661-34226847