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| Josh Hamilton |
"To add insult to injury, I was extremely sick last night," Hamilton said. "A sinus infection, I think."
A fitful night of sleep didn't change Hamilton's outlook on the play, which he called "dumb" on Wednesday (after calling it "stupid" on Tuesday). He has not spoken to third base coach Dave Anderson, whom Hamilton said sent him to home when the coach saw that no one was covering home plate when Adrian Beltre hit a popup in foul ground down the third base line. Hamilton tried to score and was tagged at home by catcher Victor Martinez, who made a nice play to recover and apply the tag.
The play caused a small fracture in a bone in Hamilton's upper right arm and he's out six to eight weeks. Hamilton remained in a sling on Wednesday and is not expected to swing a bat for a month.
"It sucks, but I think it could be worse," Hamilton said about the injury. "There's nothing I can do about it."
Anderson said he plans on speaking to Hamilton "at some point," but he chalks up Hamilton's remarks after the play as those of a frustrated player. Hamilton said Tuesday that he had doubts about the play but that he listened to his third-base coach.
"I threw him under the bus by telling the truth about what happened," Hamilton said. "What do you want me to do, lie? People are going to blame who they want to blame."
Manager Ron Washington was asked about Hamilton's remarks.
"I'm not going to get into what Josh feels," Washington said. "He's got a right to feel what he feels. I'm certainly not going to blame David. He saw an opening, he tried to get it and it didn't work. Josh's got to live with what he said."
Washington, a third base coach with Oakland for 10 seasons, knows what it's like to send someone to home and have something happen.
"You think Dave is the only one that ever happened to?" Washington said. "You can talk to any other third base coach. You send guys to home plate, they don't make it and they get hurt. It's a part of the game. Do you want to make them all wimps? We played aggressive. It happened."
Anderson stood by his decision to send Hamilton.
"You think about in the past what we've done," Anderson said. "He's scored from second on a ground out to the infield twice. He's scored from first on a long single. We've done double steals with him. That's a part of our game is being aggressive and taking advantage of situations. The unfortunate part is that he got hurt. But if you go out and play the game and play hard, those things are going to happen."
Anderson reiterated that he would have preferred Hamilton not slide headfirst into home plate.
"We tell all of our players that," Anderson said. "That's especially true with all of the equipment the catcher wears to slide feet first."
Hamilton defended his headfirst slide, saying that was the only way to try to avoid a tag and make the play.
"The object is to score and if you go feet first, that gives them all this up here to tag," said Hamilton, pointing at his upper body. "It is what it is. It's over. It sucks it happened, but it happened. We'll deal with it."
Hamilton said he doesn't plan on changing the way he plays the game.
"How else would I play?" Hamilton said. "You can get hurt by doing anything."
The Rangers planned to play Hamilton more in left field to help guard against injury and protect the wear and tear on his body. But the 2010 AL MVP got hurt Tuesday as the designated hitter.
Hamilton was forced to answer more questions about his durability in light of the latest injury. He's missed long stretches throughout his career with various injuries. Since getting to the majors in 2007, Hamilton has played more than 133 games in a season just once (2008). He was asked if his body is more susceptible to injuries than most.
"I can understand that if I was pulling things like hamstrings or quads and it was not actual high-intensity things like hitting walls," Hamilton said. "I'm making plays that the game calls me to make and I'm getting injured that way. That proves to me that I can get hurt any time doing anything. I'm tired of talking about it, to be honest with you."
Hamilton's absence means some changes in the Rangers' lineup. Michael Youngis batting third against the Tigers on Wednesday and David Murphy now becomes an everyday player with Hamilton out. Chris Davis arrived from the minors about 90 minutes before Wednesday's game and is a member of the bench. Washington said Davis could play first and third base and will get some work in with outfield coach Gary Pettis to see if he can play in the outfield in a pinch. Mitch Moreland could see some outfield time as well.
"I'm ready," Murphy said. "This is why I'm here, isn't it? It's not the way I wanted to get playing time, but I'll go out and do my job the best I can and help this team win."
Murphy filled in for Hamilton in September last year and led the team with a .355 batting average. He has historically struggled in April with a career .227 average, his lowest for any month. But he feels like a better spring training and a good start so far to 2011 can allow him to have a more productive month. Having more consistent at-bats won't hurt, either.
"I felt great in spring training and I felt great the first week or so and didn't play frequently and felt like I lost my rhythm a little bit," Murphy said. "But I still feel good up there. I don't think this April is going to be 2009 or 2010. Only time will tell."
Washington is confident his team will overcome this stretch without Hamilton.
"We're hurt because it's one of our better guys," Washington said. "For us to continue what we plan on doing this year, the guys we depend on have to stay healthy. Well, we lost one. We're not going to hide in some hole. We're going to play baseball. We're not going to make any excuses."
