Washington fires back at Valentine

With interleague play beginning on Friday at Houston, Rangers pitchers will be ready for the play that Boston manager Bobby Valentine said changed the World Series last fall.

Rangers pitchers had their third day of batting practice on Tuesday, and the session included the ``slash'' play. Valentine started spring training this year by having Red Sox pitchers work on the ``slash.'' In a sacrifice situation, pitchers are to pull back and slash the pitch if the corner infielders charge.

Valentine said the failure of Rangers right-hander Colby Lewis to ``slash'' led to the Rangers' undoing in Game 6 and cost them the World Series. Batting at runners at first and second with none out in the second inning, Lewis bunted into a rally-killing double play.

Valentine's observation rankled Rangers manager Ron Washington. He repeated that Lewis should have ``slashed'' but did not pick up on the crashing infielders.

``Bobby runs his team, and I run this one,'' Washington said. ``If a pitcher is not used to being at the plate and when that situation arises he doesn't react to it, that doesn't mean it wasn't a part of what we do. He didn't react to it.

``It's hard for someone to say we should have slashed and they don't even know if it was on.''

In interleague play last season, Rangers pitchers had one sacrifice, by C.J. Wilson, in 25 plate appearances. They had six sacrifices, a combined five by Wilson and Darren Oliver, in the World Series. Wilson and Oliver left the club as free agents after the season.

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