Hamilton Has Productive Home Debut

Eric Nadel did what Eric Nadel does so well as the Rangers' radio voice on Thursday night. He knew when to pipe down and let the crowd tell the story, and he did that once again on Thursday when Josh Hamilton stepped into the batter's box for his first at-bat of the game in the second inning.

Hamilton was making his second home "debut" in Arlington in his first game with the Rangers at Globe Life Park since his trade from the Los Angeles Angels late last month.

The crowd gave him a pretty nice ovation -- the majority of which was the standing variety -- and he stepped in the box with a brief tip of the batting helmet.

On the first offering from Red Sox prospect Eduardo Rodriguez, who was making his MLB debut with a great track record against lefties, Hamilton smoked a ball down the first base line for a double. One home pitch, one double. Not a bad start for the embattled Hamilton.

Later in the game, Hamilton provided the only run with an RBI single in the ninth.

The Rangers didn't get much else offensively against Rodriguez, but Hamilton got his. His swing was starting to look like it was coming around in Cleveland, and now the Rangers hope Thursday night was possibly the start of something good for Hamilton at the plate.

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