Rollin' Rolen

AMERICAN LEAGUE
(Week 10 - Award Winners)

Some of the following nominations for American League Player of the Week, would have probably won the award for any other weeks in the past....

• OF/DH-Raul Ibanez (BRX) - The old man went 10-for-26 (.385) with 4 home runs, 7 ribbies, while scoring four times for the Bombers.

• 1B-Albert Pujols (CAR) - Leads Carolina this week to a 6-0 record, while the team outscored their opponents (Traverse City, Holland) 55-16, while allowing only 34 hits. Pujols, batted 10-for-29 (.345), 4 HR, 10 RBI with 8 runs.

• 1B/DH-Paul Konerko (WAS) - 12-for-23 (.522), HR, 5 RBI with 4 runs.

• DH-Adam Dunn (CAR) was one of 4 players this week that had at least 4 HR's during the week -- the only thing Dunn only had a .259 average (7 hits), with 5 RBI & 6 runs -- basically, all coming from his HR production.

• Quite a few hitters that had over 10 hits during the week as well.

So with many players to choose from, this week's A.L. Player of the Week Award goes to the veteran third baseman Scott Rolen, who was playing like Rolen circa late 90's. Scott batted .471 (8-for-17) with... ready for this? 5 HR's, 12 RBI & 5 runs (one of his HR's was a Grand Slam). All pretty remarkable, helping the Chicago Nine to a 5-1 record during this stretch.

This week's A.L. Pitcher of the Week goes to Jered Weaver of the Carolina Eagles. Weaver allowed only two hits, no runs in 8 innings, in their 4-1 victory over Traverse City. Weaver also struck out 12 Panthers, allowing 3 free passes.

A.L. Honorable Mention:

• OF-Matt Holliday (S.S.) - 7-for-18 (.389), HR, 5 RBI & 3 runs.
• SP-Drew Smyly (CHI) - W, 9 IP, 7 H, ER, 11 K's & 2 BB.
• OF-Roger Bernadina (CAR) - 9-for-21 (.429), HR, 11 RBI, 6 runs.
• IF-Jeff Keppinger (S.S.) - 8-for-22 (.364), HR, 7 RBI & 5 runs.
• SP-Kyle Lohse (WAS) - W, 16 IP, 10 H, 3 ER (1.69 ERA), 10 K & 4 BB; improves record to   8-2, with 2.80 ERA.
• SP-Mark Buehrle (BRX) - ND, 10 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 7 K & 3 BB.
• SP-Ryan Vogelsong (FAIR) - W/L, 15 IP, 16 H, 4 ER (2.40 ERA), 10 K & 3 BB; improves record to 7-3, 3.21 ERA.
• SS-Elvis Andrus (FAIR) - 10-for-26 (.385), 5 RBI, 2 runs & a steal.
• SP-Johnny Cueto (BOS) - W, 8 IP, 5 H, 0 ER, 5 K & 3 BB.
• C-Carlos Santana (BRX) - 7-for-20 (.350), 3 HR, 3 RBI & 6 runs.
• OF-Rajai Davis (BUF) - 7-for-21 (.333), RBI, 6 runs & 4 SB's (all four steals happened in a single-game against Traverse City).
• SP-Eric Stults (WAS) - W, 8 IP, 5 H, ER, 3 K & BB.
• OF-Juan Pierre (CAR) - 10-for-21 (.476), 2 RBI, 4 runs & 3 steals.
• SP-Tommy Milone (S.S.) - W, 7.1 IP, 4 H, ER, 6 K & 2 BB; improves to 6-3, 2.72 ERA.
• 3B-David Wright (S.S.) - 8-for-19 (.421), HR, 2 RBI & 4 runs.
• SP-Jordan Zimmermann (BUF) - W, 8 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 6 K & 2 BB.
• SP-R.A. Dickey (BOS) - W, 15 IP, 10 H, 6 ER (3.60 ERA), 15 K & 5 BB.
• SP-Ian Kennedy (BUF) - L (loses 1-0 vs T.C.), 8 IP, 7 H, ER, with 7 K's & 2 BB's (falls to 0-6, with a 7.07 ERA for the season).