“I got chills,” Josh Hamilton said of hearing his name being chanted by the Yankee Stadium crowd Monday night during the Home Run Derby.

No Josh. You gave us all chills.

In the single most impressive individual performance by a runner-up, Hamilton blasted 35 home runs while only recording 24 outs (Having already advanced, he only took 8 swings in the second round with 4 leaving the yard.) in the historic “House that Ruth Built,” but he fell to Twins’ first baseman Justin Morneau in the final round 5-3.

After bringing his brother’s 71-year old American Legion volunteer baseball coach, Claybon Counsil, who often threw Josh batting practice while he was a high schooler in North Carolina, the Rangers’ and American League All-Star team’s starting right fielder put Counsil to work. Counsil actually had to throw over 50 pitches in the first round because Hamilton blasted 28 of those pitches into the stands.

Pitch after pitch went booming into the stands with several shots going into the upper deck or deep into the right-centerfield bleachers, including three blasts that went over 500 feet.

It was an absolutely amazing performance. Hamilton just added to the legend he has began to produce after finally getting his life straightened out from his well documented drug struggles.

So…thank you Josh for becoming America’s sweetheart and putting on such a show last night.

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