Josh! Josh! Are you back Josh?
Who would have thought Josh Hamilton, arguably baseball’s best player before the All-Star Game, would have hit the skids after the break?
That .173/.253/.360 line in July was awful.
Awful.
How did this happen?
Josh, you batted .395/.438/.744 in April and .344/.405/.781 in May. Sure your .223/.318/.436 line in June wasn’t as spectacular, but after hitting 21 home runs in two months everyone expects a little drop off.
But this?
And then he surprised us again.
Facing the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, arguably the Texas Rangers’ biggest rivals (I know Oakland is doing well, but I still see the Angels-Rangers rivalry as the biggest in the division), he goes off.
His 3-for-4 night with a double and a homer came out of nowhere.
He looked like, well, Josh Hamilton.
To put it in perspective, the last time he hit a home run was July 17. Hamilton’s last multiple-hit night was July 4. The last time he had more than two hits was May 8 against Baltimore when he went 5-for-5.
That’s a big-time performance in a big-time game.
That’s what you expect from a superstar.
And that’s what Hamilton delivered.
Is the Rangers’ superstar back?
Or is it an anomaly?
Given time we’ll find out.
