Major League Baseball

HAMILTON PUTS HURT ON YANKS

Published Oct. 19, 2010 10:10 p.m. ET

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As if the Yankees didn't have enough problems down 2-1, it looks like they are going to have to contend with the American League MVP version of Josh Hamilton and not the singles hitter who limped through the ALDS.

"The adjustments are coming," Hamilton said after his two-run homer in the first inning off Andy Pettitte proved to be all the offense Cliff Lee needed in the Rangers' 8-0 win over the Yankees to take a 2-1 lead in the ALCS last night at Yankee Stadium. "I'm getting in a rhythm now." That's likely bad news for the Yanks, since Hamilton has been bothered by a rib injury that kept him on the bench for much of September and made him significantly less productive than he normally is. But last night, he didn't even put a great swing on Pettitte's hanging cutter in the first inning and still drove it out to the short right-field seats.

"When Josh hit the homer in the first, things got a lot easier," Cliff Lee said.

Hamilton added a fly ball to the wall in right in the sixth that Nick Swisher managed to track down before Hamilton added an oppositefield double off Boone Logan to ignite Texas' six-run ninth.

"That's when I felt my best," Hamilton said of his double that split Brett Gardner and Curtis Granderson.

"When I'm going the other way." And since the Rangers have been winning in the postseason largely without the run production they had grown accustomed to, the possibility of a resurgent Hamilton could be trouble.

"We know how dangerous he is," manager Joe Girardi said. "The two balls he's hit out of the ballpark have been breaking balls that we didn't get where we wanted them, down and away. He got CC [Sabathia] for one and he got Andy for one." Hamilton thought it would take him some time to get going after watching for most of September.

"I'm getting in a rhythm now," Hamilton said. "I know I missed some time and it would be foolish to think I would pick right up." Unfortunately for the Yankees, he seems to have been able to do it just in time to face them.

"He makes us roll," Jeff Francoeur said. "We're all better when he's hitting like he can."

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