It was a long, hard, downright terrible two-month stretch for Josh Hamilton once the calendar turned to June. There were boos, calls for his benching and an overall acceptance by Texas Rangers fandom that they were totally OK with the idea of Hamilton leaving in free agency.
Then came August.
Hamilton sent two balls into the stands on Wednesday night at Yankee Stadium, two of the Rangers' four hits on the night against Freddy Garcia, of all people. One of those was a majestic blast into the night far into the right-field stands 447 feet away from home plate.
Since Aug. 2, Hamilton has hit the cover off the ball. He's batting .346/.404/.712 and has an OPS of 1.115, reminiscent of his hot start to the season that had him written in as a slam dunk AL MVP choice. That sentiment has obviously changed now, but a finish similar to his start could right the ship in that deparment. If nothing else, the Rangers would certainly appreciate it.
Over that time he has five home runs and 17 RBIs and his two blasts on Wednesday gave him a new career-high of 34 home runs with basically a month-and-a-half left in the season.
So now if some other people could join in on the fun, maybe the Rangers could start winning some games again.
