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Rangers Notes: Josh Hamilton Done for Season

Posted on September 29th, 2009 7:14pm by Evan Grant
Filed under Uncategorized

ANAHEIM, Calif. - Hours before the Rangers were officially eliminated from the AL West race, OF Josh Hamilton suggested it would be in his best interests if he didn’t play again this season. Almost as soon as the clinching loss to Los Angeles was complete, the Rangers concurred.

“We’re going to shut him down,” manager Ron Washington said Tuesday afternoon. “He will get treatment and hopefully get well. He will have no activity other than rehabbing for the rest of the season. We hope to get him into his winter program and get him ready and in shape for spring training.”

Hamilton has been bothered by a slew of injuries this season, most recently a pinched nerve in his back that has caused problems since Sept. 2. He has only 10 at-bats since suffering the back injury. He took six of them on Sept. 26 and has not played since. Hamilton said doctors told him that three or four weeks of rest and rehab should be enough to get the nerve problem to disappear.

Hamilton has played just 89 games this season and hit only 10 runs with 54 RBIs. Last year, he played 156 games, hit 32 homers and led the AL with 130 RBIs.

“This has just been a frustrating, disappointing season, but it is what it is,” Hamilton said. “When you play, sometimes you are going to get hurt. When you get hurt once, it’s one thing, but to get hurt two or three times in one season is something else entirely. I’ll do what I can to get ready for next season. I did everything I could to get ready for this year and what did that prove? But that’s what happens sometimes. It’s not like I’m not going to work as hard as I did last winter. I want to put in the work.”

11 Comments to “Rangers Notes: Josh Hamilton Done for Season”

mike @ September 29th, 2009 at 7:35 pm

the elephant in the room is CAN HE PLAY HURT. i mean hurt vs, injured???

MIKE
matt @ September 29th, 2009 at 7:55 pm

Hopefully this season was an aberration; he’s one of the top 3 hitters in all of baseball when he’s healthy.
The Beer Guy @ September 29th, 2009 at 8:31 pm

Hmm, Boston with 91 wins prior to tonight’s game vs. Toronto. It appears that earlier estimates by us on the blogs here that 92-93 wins would be enough were incorrect. More like 94-95 wins…that’s a tough year in the AL when that’s what it takes!
Ranger_ve @ September 29th, 2009 at 8:42 pm

@TBG: And it does not look like is gonna be any easier next year with what the A’s are putting on the field lately.
Ranger_ve @ September 29th, 2009 at 8:48 pm

What worries me about josh is the type of injury being back related. Anybody that has ever had back problems knows how tricky this injury can be.
dude In Afghanistan @ September 29th, 2009 at 8:48 pm

I heard a stat that the Rangers are 19 games over .500 when Hamilton is in the starting line-up and I guess 4 games under when he doesn’t. It sounds like they need to devote about 3 doctors and 5 physical therapists to him throughout the season.
john in clearwater @ September 29th, 2009 at 8:55 pm

Evan – I just read the blog on DMN welcoming you back. And then all the reader responses. Um, are you sure you want to go back there? It just reminded me why I never read it during the season. That’s a lot of abuse to take on a daily basis.
Joe A @ September 29th, 2009 at 9:06 pm

At this point I am not worried about whether Josh can play hurt. I think that a pinched nerve in the back certainly qualifies as an injury when one of the primary tasks he has to perform is a violent swing of a bat at a major league fastball. That being said, I do wonder if he is injury prone. Hope not, as the Rangers really need him on an everyday
basis.
JohnnyMel @ September 29th, 2009 at 9:33 pm

I believe Evan got PAID.

http://frontburner.dmagazine.com/2009/09/28/dmn-wakes-up-hires-evan-grant-back/

And congrats to him; InsideCorner has made this Ranger season that much more enjoyable.
JJ @ September 30th, 2009 at 1:55 am

Top 3 hitters in baseball? Seriously? So we have pujols and mauer. You have Hamilton being better than morneau, youk, arod, manny, tex, holliday, berkman, cabrera, ichiro, hanley, utley, and chipper? To name a few…. WOW!
badspellr @ September 30th, 2009 at 6:58 am

Well, look at the bright side. I think we have the DH we have been looking for.

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