Hamilton Gets Hot, Padilla Implodes

Vicente Padilla likes to come at hitters. It's an admirable quality when his location is on. However, when his off-speed stuff isn't up to par, Padilla has a tendency to rely too heavily on his fastball. Friday night against the Twins, Padilla was rocked for 5 earned runs on 11 hits in 7 innings of work.

"Everything was fine, I only threw two bad pitches," Padilla said.

The two pitches Padilla is referring to resulted in a 2-run triple by Twins centerfielder Carlos Gomez in the 2nd and a 3-run homerun by Jason Kubel in the 3rd.

All five runs were allowed after Josh Hamilton blasted a 2-run homer into the right field seats in the bottom of the 1st. Hamilton added 2 more base hits and another RBI, delivering all the offense Texas would manage for the night.



"The day before the All-Star Game, I had a good batting practice," Hamilton said. "I just had that, 'I belong here' kind of a feeling."

"It is nice to see Ham swinging the bat," manager Ron Washington said.

Despite the offensive display, Hamilton wasn't able to dig Texas out of the hole by himself as the Rangers dropped the first game of the series 5-3.

"That's baseball," Hamilton said. "Sometimes you get it done, sometimes you don't. You keep working and when the situation arises, hopefully you will get the job done."