Kendry Morales named AL Player of the Week

Mamba · Apr 26, 2010

Offensive prowess ruled this week's Bank of America Player of the Week awards as the D-backs' Mark Reynolds and the Angels' Kendry Morales took home the honors in National and American Leagues, respectively.

Both sluggers played an integral role in their teams' strong weeks while facing the strongest of competition in the defending league champions. The Angels handed the Yankees their first series loss of the season, and the D-backs did the same to the Phillies.

Reynolds earned the National League's weekly award by driving in a Major League leading 11 RBIs, highlighting a week in which he hit .421 (8-19). The third baseman, who has now won the weekly award three times, hit three homers over the past seven days and hit safely in all five games.

On Sunday, Reynolds capped his week by propelling the D-backs to an 8-6 series-clinching win over the Phillies by hitting a home run and driving in four runs, including the go-ahead run in the bottom of the eighth inning.

Perhaps the most impressive part of Reynolds' week was that he did it all while dealing with a nagging sore right quad, which kept him out of Wednesday's lineup. Reynolds, however, quickly returned to the lineup and capitalized on his hot bat.

His AL counterpart, Morales, topped all other hitters in the Majors last week with a .542 (13-24) average in seven games.

To win his second career Player of the Week award, the switch-hitting Morales added seven runs scored, three homers and an AL-best 10 RBIs. The first baseman also hit a milestone last week, knocking his 50th career home run on Wednesday. He was the fourth-fastest in Angels' history to the mark.

Morales' offense proved key in the series victory over the Yankees. On Friday night, Morales hit a two-run go-ahead homer in the eighth inning off Joba Chamberlain to lift the Angels to victory. It was further example of how, right now, Morales isn't missing much.

"A tough pitcher hung a breaking ball," manager Mike Scioscia said of the homer, "and Kendry was right on it."

His power continued on Sunday as he made the Yankees pay for pitching to him late in the ballgame. With a 3-0 count in the seventh inning, Morales stroked a three-run homer to left-center field, cementing the victory.

"He's great," Yankees catcher Francisco Cervelli said of Morales. "I think right now he's one of the best hitters in baseball."

Morales leads his club with a .329 batting average, six homers and 16 RBIs.
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http://losangeles.angels.mlb.com/ne...t_id=9586988&vkey=news_ana&fext=.jsp&c_id=ana

Mamba · Apr 26, 2010

Love seeing Morales get some respect. A lot of people thought the Halos made a mistake by letting Teixeira go, but trust me...we didn't.

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Kendry Morales named AL Player of the Week

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Kendry Morales named AL Player of the Week

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