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Hamilton extends hit streak to 22 games
ANAHEIM -- Rangers left fielder Josh Hamilton extended his hitting streak to a career-best 22 games with a single in the third inning against Angels right-hander Joel Pineiro on Tuesday at Angel Stadium.
Hamilton, who extended his streak with a line-drive single to right field, also broke the Rangers record for most hits in a month with 48 to eclipse both Mickey Rivers and Frank Catalanotto, who each had 47 in August 1980, and August 2001, respectively.
He's simply mashed the ball during that stretch with a .477 batting average (41-for-86) with nine homers and 28 RBIs before Tuesday. It's been part of a torrid month of June, as he's hitting a Major League-best .470 this month with nine homers, 30 RBIs and an .850 slugging percentage.
Hamilton, who is hitting .356 with 18 homers and 57 RBIs in 72 games on the season, said his success has come because a change in his mechanics with the elimination of his toe tap and because he has changed his approach during batting practice.
"I'm not trying to hit homers on every pitch anymore," Hamilton said of his batting practice routine. "I'm trying to hit line drives and try to barrel it up and try to have a solid batting practice. It's helped tremendously."
Texas manager Ron Washington, though, said the real reason for his success is that he's healthy after battling various injuries last season. "That's the key -- his health," Washington said. "I think as long as he's healthy, even if he's not as hot as he is right now, he'd still be hurting some people."
