Josh Hamilton's amazing two-month stretch continued in Sunday's big series-finale win over the Angels. He had three more hits, drove in three more runs, legging out a two-run triple in the first to give the Rangers a quick 2-0 lead.

Hamilton is now hitting .357 this season. It's what he's done since June 1 that's the reason his average has made such an impressive climb. Hamilton is hitting an MLB-best .432 (83-for-192) since June 1. In his last 35 home games, he's hit safely in 34 of them and has 34 RBIs, nearly one a game. He's hitting .413 in that stretch.

He won AL Player of the Month for June pretty easily. Could he add July to his resume in 2010 as well? He's batting .388 this month with five homers and 13 RBIs. He's got a .432 on-base percentage and a 1.120 OPS.

I liked this quote from Ian Kinsler last night: "This is not just healthy Josh," Kinsler said. "This is ridiculous Josh."

But is it MVP Josh? A special thanks to the hard-working Keith Hawkins at ESPN Stats & Information, a regular contributor on this blog, for putting together some updated numbers as a comparison of Hamilton and Miguel Cabrera. If you look at the stats and what each player has done for his team, it sure appears to be a very tight race between those two for the honor.

Let's start with some of the key stats and where each player ranks:

Batting average: Hamilton is hitting .357, Cabrera .350. Hamilton leads the AL, Cabrera is second.

Homers: Cabrera has 24, Hamilton 23. That's second and third in the AL, respectively (Jose Bautista is No. 1).

RBIs: Cabrera has a staggering 88 to lead the AL. Hamilton has 74, tied for fourth in the league.

Hits: Hamilton has 12-hit lead on his closest competitor, Robinson Cano, with 137. Cabrera is fourth at 124.

Extra-base hits: Hamilton and Cabrera are tied for tops in the standings with 58. Hamilton has a MLB-leading 19 games with three or more hits this season.

OPS (on-base percentage plus slugging percentage): Cabrera leads the AL at 1.075 with Hamilton third at 1.035.

Average with runners in scoring position: Once again, the two players are very close. Cabrera is fourth at .366 (in 129 plate appearances) with Hamilton in sixth at .364 (113 plate appearances).

There's one more stat that I think is interesting and can give you an idea of each player's statistical value to their teams and that's runs created:

Josh Hamilton leads the American League with 99 runs created. Cabrera, of course, is right on his tail at 94 runs created.

Sure, there are other players who can make a case for MVP. Robinson Cano (he was great when Mark Teixeira got off to a slow start and the Yankees really needed him), Carl Crawford, Torii Hunter, Paul Konerko, Justin Morneau, Kevin Youkilis, Dustin Pedroia or even Vladimir Guerrero, though his slow start to the second half makes him a clear second to Hamilton at this point on his own team.

Obviously, MVP is more than simply numbers. It's about how valuable that player is to his particular team. That's where the injuries to the Tigers' recently will be interesting to watch. On the one hand, without as much protection in the lineup, Cabrera's numbers could suffer. On the other hand, if he keeps putting up the impressive stats, he could help his agrument as voters will see he's doing it without as much help as Hamilton.

Hamilton has helped his team to a 7-game lead in the AL West. Obviously, he hasn't done it alone. But he's been the biggest bat in the lineup since June 1, when this team really started piling up wins and taking control of the division. Cabrera has aided in his team's competitive posture in the AL Central. The Tigers are 2 games back in that hotly-contested division.

Numbers, though, matter heavily as we've seen in recent ballots. You could make arguments for either player, as these stats show. At the All-Star break, most of the midseason MVP consideration went to Cabrera, based largely on his RBI lead. And he still has a sizeable lead there. Hamilton has closed the gap in many other categories.

It might be how each player does in big games down the stretch that decides this thing. Hamilton sure came through in a big series this past weekend. He was 6-for-13 with two doubles, a triple and four RBIs as the Rangers took three of four to boost their AL West advantage.

It would be tough to cast a ballot right now. But no one has to do that. This has been a better season for Hamilton, in my opinion, since 2008. And I don't think it's going to stop. He's comfortable at the plate, relaxed about is overall game and he's not putting too much pressure on himself. My prediction: Hamilton wins the MVP when the season is over.

What do you think?