Josh Hamilton boosts confidence at plate

Josh Hamilton believes that being mentally confident at the plate is the most important thing to his success.

He took a step towards boosting his confidence on Saturday night, belting a three-run home run in a five-run fifth and adding an RBI single in the seventh.

"Hitting is majority mental confidence," Hamilton said. "If you're feeling good, you don't think about anything. You just go up there and expect to get hits and expect to drive in runs."

Hamilton, the top American League player in April and May, has had a lackluster June. He finished the month with a .223 average, four home runs and 16 RBIs.

But Hamilton showed signs of breaking out of his slump towards the end of the month, and belted his 25th home run of the season Saturday. He became the quickest player in franchise history to hit 25 home runs, doing it in 79 games.

"Obviously excited about it," Hamilton said. "I like RBIs more than I like home runs, so it's one of those things I haven't tried to hit home runs. The biggest thing is trying to hit the ball hard, not far. And it works."

-- Drew Davison