The news stinks," Hamilton, 32

"The news stinks," Hamilton, 32, said before Wednesday night's game against the Seattle Mariners in Safeco Field. "Any time you're playing hard and having

fun, the last thing you want is to do something that's going to cause you to miss time and maybe hurts your team in the long term.

"If I could see the future, obviously, I wouldn't do it. But in the moment, when my mind and my body tells me to do something and react some way, I've always

done it. You can't change that."

Manager Mike Scioscia said he tries to "persuade" players to run through the first base bag on grounders, but it's difficult to prevent aggressive play in

the heat of the moment. Three years ago, Hamilton broke a bone in his right arm diving headfirst into the plate.

"Certainly, you wince when you see a guy going headfirst into home or first, because it's not something that's as natural as other plays around the field,"

Scioscia said. "But he's done it 100 times in his career. This is the one that caught his thumb."

Most players and coaches say running gets you to first base quicker than diving.

"I heard it slows you down," center fielder Mike Trout said. "I like to dive headfirst into second and third, but going into first, you lose your momentum

and you can get hurt. But you know how Josh is. He's going to play the game hard. He thought he could beat it out. Things happen."

X-rays of Hamilton's thumb late Tuesday were negative, but an MRI test Wednesday revealed the severity of the injury, which could sideline Hamilton until

June.