Josh Hamilton Is Confident The Hits Will Come

ARLINGTON _ There was time late Sunday afternoon for one last bat flip from Josh Hamilton. This one, though, was prompted by admiration instead of frustration.

It came while he stood in the on deck circle as Michael Young’s home run kept gaining altitude and sailed over the fence in left-center to complete a late three-run Rangers comeback to beat Kansas City 6-5.

“I was kind of lost because I’ve never been on deck for a walk-off home run,” Hamilton said. “I’m standing there looking at it, and everybody’s jumping out of the dugout.”

The productive ending for the team contrasted another fruitless day at the plate for him – three swinging strikeouts and a foul out that led to an earlier bat flip. But he said he’s still upbeat and confident things will turn around: “I’m working hard at getting things straightened out.”

For the weekend series, Hamilton went 0-for-11 with eight strikeouts to drop his batting average to .229. With three other strikeouts last Wednesday during a two-hit night in the 19-run series finale against Baltimore, Hamilton struck out 10 times in the homestand’s last four games. His only home run this season to date came the previous Sunday at Detroit. He hasn’t walked since that Saturday at Detroit.

With 12 strikeouts in 48 at-bats, he has one every four at-bats compared to one every 4.9 at-bats last season, when he led the team was 126 and also led the American League in RBIs with 130.

All parties quizzed on the topic after Sunday’s game said there’s nothing to worry about. Like a version of a baseball virus, they say this will pass with time.

“I don’t think he’s slumping; he’s just in between right now,” Ian Kinsler said. “A guy with his potential doesn’t slump. He’s just stuck right now. He’ll be fine.”

Hitting coach Rudy Jaramillo said Hamilton’s timing has improved slightly since he decided over the weekend to return to the toe-tap stance that he used last season.

“He’s just got to stay positive, keep working, and he’s going to get it,” Jaramillo said. “I’ve got a lot of confidence in him.

“His life has been up and down, so he knows that he’s got to deal with some things. He’s real coachable, works hard. It’s going to happen for him.”

From manager Ron Washington: “I thought he was trying to relax today. Things just didn’t happen for him. We know Josh’ll come around, so we’ve got to keep putting him out there and keep working with him and keep believing in him. It’s only April.”

Speaking of relaxed, Hamilton he did just that during his fifth-inning strikeout when he lost the bat. It flew into the seats way down the first-base line beyond the infield cutout.

“I was just talking to Vizquel before I went up there, decided I wanted to try to hit the ball back up the middle,” he said. “Man, that thing went a long way.”

And he wasn’t inclined to ask for that bat back.

“It didn’t have any hits in it, anyway.”

Hamilton said a priority for him is to curb the temptation to go after off-speed pitches out of the strike zone since he’s seeing very little over the plate.

“The last couple at-bats today,” he said, “I worked the counts to 3-2 and feel like I might possibly be getting close to not being as aggressive.”

The Rangers will travel to Canada on Monday before beginning a seven-game trip to Toronto and Baltimore. They’ll face Blue Jays righthander Roy Halliday on Tuesday and lefty David Purcey (from Trinity Christian Addison) on Wednesday. In 12 at-bats against lefthanded pitching this season, Hamilton has two hits, both singles.

He said the last thing he wants to do while struggling at the plate is be taken out of the lineup.

“If I get a day off in the middle of going bad, that only adds to feeling bad,” Hamilton said. “But it’ll come around. And when it does, it’s going to be big.”