Rangers' Josh Hamilton back in hard-playing form | Larry Stone notebook

Josh Hamilton is back with the Rangers after missing six weeks with a fractured bone in his right shoulder. He injured himself on a headfirst dive into home plate in a loss to Detroit.

The Rangers were 15-21 without last year's American League Most Valuable Player. But if you think Hamilton, known for his reckless style, is going to tone down his play, guess again.

On Tuesday against the White Sox, in his second game back, Hamilton had this sequence in the eighth inning:

• He slid headfirst into first base on an infield single;

• He completed a steal of second base with a headfirst slide;

• He advanced to third on a wild pitch, reaching the base with a headfirst dive.

"All this showed is that I want to win," Hamilton told reporters afterward. "I get paid to play hard. I'm going to play the game the way I know how to play it, to be true to myself and to be true to my teammates."

Hamilton has missed 141 games since opening day in 2009.

Morales' loss is Branyan's gain

Sunday is the one-year anniversary of Angels first baseman Kendrys Morales' gruesome ankle injury at home plate after his walk-off grand slam against the Mariners.

It was not a happy commemoration. Morales, who hasn't played since the injury, underwent his second ankle surgery on Thursday and is out for the rest of this year.

With Morales out, Vernon Wells and Howie Kendrick on the disabled list, and Torii Hunter going 99 at-bats without a homer until hitting one last Sunday, the Angels tried to boost their power by signing former Mariner Russell Branyan.

Branyan, designated for assignment by the Diamondbacks earlier in the week, could wind up platooning at first base with rookie Mark Trumbo, the Angels' home-run leader with eight. Trumbo has much better numbers against left-handed pitching than righties.

Here's what Hunter told the Orange County Register about the Branyan signing: "I freaking love it. This is awesome. Adding Russell Branyan, his pop, that helps a lot."

More protection for catchers?

Eli Whiteside, who barring a trade will become the Giants' regular catcher in the absence of Buster Posey, had no interest in analyzing the gruesome collision that felled Posey.

"I didn't really watch the replay that well," Whiteside told the San Francisco Chronicle. "Being a catcher, you really don't want to watch things like that happen."

The Chronicle tracked down former catcher Ray Fosse, victim of a vicious Pete Rose hit in the 1970 All-Star Game, to get his take on the takedown by Florida base runner Scott Cousins.

"Unnecessary," Fosse said. "I think he could've gotten to the plate without doing that. I just think if you give the runner part of the plate, and if the runner is going to do it correctly, he slides toward that part of the plate.

"It was unfortunate. Catchers are very vulnerable. A lot of things have happened. I'm not even talking about my situation."

Yet Fosse downplayed the rampant talk about a rule change to protect catchers.

"The game has been around more than 100 years, and now they're going to start protecting catchers?" Fosse told the Chronicle. "I can't see anything that can be changed. In high school, you can't run over a catcher. But that's high school. This is professional baseball. The idea is to score runs. If the catcher has the ball and he's standing there, the runner has to stop? Is that the protection?

"I can't believe anything can be done, and I don't see how you could regulate something like that."

Notes

• Angels pitchers Jered Weaver and Dan Haren looked like co-favorites for the Cy Young Award when they started out a combined 10-0 and accounted for 10 of the Angels' first 13 wins of the season.

Heading into Weaver's Saturday start, neither had won a game since then. Haren's most recent win came on April 17, Weaver's on April 25.

Not that it's all their fault: The two have a combined 3.47 earned-run average during that span, but Angels hitters have given them just 2.6 runs per game.

• After Oakland's Brian Fuentes ripped manager Bob Geren for lack of communication, former A's closer Huston Street chimed in from Colorado. In a text to the San Francisco Chronicle, he wrote:

"For me personally, he was my least favorite person I have ever encountered in sports from age 6 to 27. I am very thankful to be in a place where I can trust my manager."