A lonestar in california

I think Josh Hamilton might have been born to hit in the home run derby. Or maybe the home run derby was born for Josh Hamilton to hit in it. I’m not sure which. But I do know one thing: the show that Josh Hamilton put on last night in Yankee Stadium was nothing short of prodigious.

With his 71 year-old former coach and batting practice pitcher from his high-school days, Clay Counsil throwing him the gophers, Hamilton would launch an incredible twenty-eight home runs in the first round. That easily eclipsed the previous record of 24 home runs in the first round, set by Bobby Abreu back in 2005 (the year he hit an amazing 41 home runs total in Detroit). And of course when you’re hitting ball after ball with that much power, you’re gonna send a few balls a loooooong way: he had three home runs surpass the 500-foot barrier, his furthest being a 518-foot monster that ranks third all-time  in the history of the contest. Absolutely amazing.

“They should have juiced the ball up. I’d have hit the subway,” Hamilton said.

The only unfortunate part (if any part of what Josh did last night can be termed unfortunate at all), about hitting all those homers in the first round was it seemed to tire out our hero – he and Council decided to skip the majority of the second round after they where assured a spot in the finals to conserve their strength, but it didn’t seem to be enough. Hamilton hit only three homers in the final round, allowing fellow finalist Justin Morneau to sneak past him and nab the trophy with 5 dingers - something even Morneau didn’t really feel he deserved:

“He was the one that put on the show,” he said. “I’m just glad I was a part of the whole thing.

“It does seem kind of unfair that he didn’t get to win the whole thing,” Morneau added. “Anyone who was here won’t forget that performance.”

All total, Hamilton hit 35 HR’s despite skipping most of the second round – by comparison, Morneau hit just 22 and the second-rounders Lance Berkman and Ryan Braun both hit 14.

But win or lose, Josh says the best part about getting to participate in this event was continuing to share his amazing story of winning his battle with addiction and getting back into baseball. He said that back in 2005 he had a dream about being interviewed after participating in the derby at Yankee stadium – long before it was ever determined when the next All-Star game there would be held.

“Now I’m not making this up, but soon after my sober date (Oct. 5, 2005), I had a dream about being in the Home Run Derby in Yankee Stadium,” he said.

“So I didn’t even know about an All-Star Game or Home Run Derby actually being held in Yankee Stadium, but I had this dream. And I didn’t see how I did. All I saw was this microphone in my face afterwards, and how I got to share with people the reason I am back.

“You can say that dream was a coincidence. But I don’t believe in that.”

If there’s a single player in Major League baseball right now who deserved a moment like last night’s more than Josh Hamilton, I’d like to hear about him. This is some well-deserved national recognition for one man’s incredible journey – a journey that hopefully is still just beginning.

In other news yesterday, Hank Blalock and Eric Hurley went on a rehab assignment with AA Frisco today - Hurley tossed 7.1 innings of scoreless ball, striking out 2 and walking one, and Blalock went 1-3 playing first base. Both are due to come off the DL during the Minnesota series, with Hurley scheduled to start on Saturday.

Blalock’s activation will of course mean it’ll be decision time for the Rangers on Chris Davis – Davis has a 983 OPS and is hitting .412 for his last 4 games, getting the average back up to .259 again, so it’s gonna be a tough decision for the Rangers on what happens once Blalock comes back. You already know where I’m at on this one – I think sending Davis back down would be a huge mistake. But unfortunately, I’m guessing that’s exactly what they’ll do, at least until the trade deadline, so I’m trying to be prepared for when the news comes.

Sorry this is another short entry, but I’m afraid I’m gonna have to stop it early again instead of plowing ahead like I know I need to do. I know I haven’t been blogging at 100% capicity lately (I’m sure most of my readers have probably picked up on that) – things have been a little hectic for me lately, but I know I need to get back into a rythm here with my posting and my content. Hopefully I’ll be able to do that with a midseason report of some sorts this week - I’ve got some stuff that needs catching up on.

The All-Star game is tonight – I know most people usually don’t as much about care who wins or loses, but I get pretty amped up about rooting for the AL in these things, and with Hamlton, Bradley, Kinsler and Young all at this game, I’ll really be pulling for the AL this year. The Rangers have had a lot of great all-star moments over the last few years, with Blalock, Soriano, Teixeira and Young all playing big parts in some big AL victories – Ham and the rest of the crew can continue the tradition tonight. GO AL!