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thehemogoblin- Gone said 06/08, 01:59 PM
The true thing is not how far behind Josh Hamilton is in batting average, but how many PEOPLE he is behind. That number is 6. Hamilton has to pass six people with his batting average.

Meanwhile, Lance Berkman only has to pass two people in any one category, and he has the offense and ballpark to do it in.

Between Chipper Jones' injuries and the fact that nobody's hit .400 since Ted Williams, he's bound to come down to earth with his batting average.

Dan Uggla plays in hitter's hell in Pro Player Stadium, where the dimensions are so unfriendly that it made Carl Pavano look like a good pitcher.

Adrian Gonzalez plays in a ballpark worse for hitting than Uggla, and he's on one of the worst offenses in baseball (name another hitter in San Diego off the top of your head).

Chase Utley has never hit more than 32 home runs or 105 RBI in a single season.

However, the people that Hamilton is behind in batting average have career averages of .278, .316, .298, .289, .286, and .312, (Hamilton's is .303), and have two batting championships (actually, the last two). Also, Ichiro is as close to Hamilton as Hamilton is to the leader, and owns 2 batting titles and the single-season hits record.

thehemogoblin- Gone said 06/08, 05:05 PM
Ichiro is a notoriously slow starter and he also broke the hits record on a last-place team.

As for the Damon comment, it still happened. Regardless of what you say, Damon's still got a better average.

Uggla still has to play half of the season in Dolphins Stadium. Bad for the dinger total.

Gonzalez has absolutely no protection in the lineup, that's why he's ruled out.

Utley may this year, but we don't know by how much. Regardless, he's going to revert towards his career averages.

Berkman's still hitting .350 in the last month, and you're saying that he's not great right now? There's only two other players hitting that for this entire season.

Lance Berkman's career highs are 45 home runs and 136 RBIs, and those totals show that Berkman's been there before and he's shown the ability to put an entire season together. Josh Hamilton hasn't even played a full season in the majors. Great story, yes, Triple Crown candidate, no. That's why Lance Berkman's a more viable candidate for this rare accomplishment.

thehemogoblin- Gone said 06/08, 05:38 PM
Actually, that does rule Gonzales out. You can't bat anyone in if they're not on base. Having Hunter Pence, Carlos Lee, and Miguel Tejada in the lineup with him inherently makes Berkman more able to score his teammates.

You kidding about the people hitting above .300? The last two AL batting champions are both above Hamilton, and Mauer and Ordonez both have career batting averages above .300.

Regardless of why, Berkman has more experience and has proven that he can do it over a 162 game schedule, while Hamilton in his career only has played 153 games.

When you say "If he doesn't play like he was in the beginning of the year, Berkman has no chance at the Triple Crown," the exact same thing applies to the hitter you're sponsoring. Hamilton's been lights out this year SO FAR, but we have only limited information on the trends of Hamilton, other than last year when he tailed off significantly after his hot start. His career so far shows that he will not be able to hold this torrid pace throughout the entire season while Berkman's done it, and I've shown reasons why the people in front of him in each of the statistical categories will tail off after the halfway mark of this season.