The long road: Josh Hamilton wins ALCS MVP award

[October 23, 2010]  ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) -- Josh Hamilton kept telling himself to focus, to be ready, just in case Alex Rodriguez hit the ball anywhere near center field and he had the chance to grab the final out of the AL championship series.

Then A-Rod struck out and Hamilton's emotions flowed. His 11-year odyssey from teenage, No. 1 overall pick to drug addict to clean, sober superstar had finally reached the point every little boy dreams about: He's going to the World Series.

Better still, he's the main reason the Texas Rangers are AL champions for the first time in their 38 years in Arlington and their 50 years as a big league franchise. Texas beat the New York Yankees 6-1 Friday night, with Hamilton reaching base in all four plate appearances and being named the Most Valuable Player of the entire ALCS.

"All throughout the game I was tearing up -- is this going to be it tonight? -- and thinking about where I was, and everything I went through, and how God was just faithful and to bring me out of it," Hamilton said.

A team player and a devout Christian, Hamilton was more interested in sharing the success than taking any individual glory.

"I'm so excited for this team, for this city," he said. "To be part of something like that means the world. It's something that nobody can take away from you."

Hamilton hit .350 with four homers in the series, but that hardly tells the story of his dominance.

He hit a three-run homer in his first at-bat in Game 1 at Rangers Ballpark. When the series shifted to Yankee Stadium, he hit a two-run homer in his first at-bat there.

He reached base in 15 of 28 plate appearances, getting seven hits and eight walks. The Yankees were so scared of him that five of those walks were intentional -- an ALCS record. Three came Friday night, with the first pitch of the first intentional pass so far off the plate that catcher Jorge Posada couldn't catch it, letting a runner go from second to third.

"He's arguably the MVP of this league," New York starter Phil Hughes said. "You can't let a guy like that beat you. So you put him on."

At game's end, Hamilton pumped both fists in center field and raced in for the celebration by the mound.

"I'll be honest, in the ninth A-Rod was up and I'm tearing up out there, holding back in case he hit the ball to me," he said. "I'm so excited, so blessed."

A recovering substance abuser, Hamilton can't take part in the traditional champagne bath. Last round, players doused him in ginger ale and this time they had even more of it on hand. Everyone had fun shaking up and squirting green plastic bottles of bubbly soda on the infield and in the clubhouse.

"I love my teammates, I love them so much," Hamilton said during the on-field MVP ceremony. "I don't want to talk about myself. I want to talk about them. We are here as a group. This group is here because they don't know how to fail."

They may have learned from him.

The can't-miss-kid nearly ruined his life -- much less his career -- with drugs and alcohol. Even after overcoming it all to become a big-league sensation, he battled through a brief relapse in spring training in 2009, then had to deal with it becoming public that summer.

This season, he endured the thrill of having the best batting average in the majors and the agony of fighting to stay healthy, a remnant of all his years of tearing up his body.

He missed 24 games in September because he fractured several ribs leaping into a wall in Minnesota. After only 11 at-bats to get ready for his first postseason, he hit .111 (2 for 18) with one RBI -- a run-scoring groundout -- in the division series against the Rays. There were fears the sore ribs had sapped the pop in his bat.

Whoever makes it from the National League, the San Francisco Giants or Philadelphia Phillies, will certainly know he's at full strength now.

"Well, he's a difference-maker," Texas manager Ron Washington said. "I always talk to Josh about presence. It's not about the results, it's about his presence. His presence in our lineup makes everyone else better. His presence on the field makes everyone else better.

"He did that. He was intentionally walked three times," Washington added. "He was shown a lot of respect, and because he was shown that respect, it sort of brought the level of intensity up on everyone else."

[Associated Press; By JAIME ARON]

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