Perhaps nothing can top the week Matt Carpenter had two weeks ago, when his daughter, Kinley, was born. Surely, that week could go down as the best of Carpenter's life. From a professional standpoint, though, Carpenter spent the past seven days putting on some kind of encore.
Major League Baseball rewarded Carpenter for it, naming him the National League Player of the Week on Monday. The announcement came on the heels of a six-game stretch over which Carpenter batted .560 with five doubles and three RBIs.
• Previous NL Player of the Week winners
Two days after returning from the paternity list, the two-time All-Star began a torrid stretch that saw him collect four multihit games and raise his batting average 40 points. Carpenter rattled off consecutive four-hit games against the Brewers on May 30-31, then collected six hits over three games against the Giants at Busch Stadium.
The Cardinals won both series, paced by a Carpenter-led lineup that leads the NL in runs scored, RBIs and OPS. Carpenter ranks in the NL's top five in doubles (17) and triples (four), and in the top 10 in RBIs (36), walks (33) and OPS (.931).
"This offense is very capable of doing a lot of things," Carpenter said. "We can score a bunch of runs. We can do it in a lot of different ways. I think you've seen that in the last few days."
Overall, Carpenter is 15-for-35 (.429) with 10 runs scored in eight games since returning from the paternity list.
The award was the second Player of the Week honor of Carpenter, who will be moving back to second base this week to accommodate the return of Jhonny Peralta. Carpenter previously won NL Player of the Week honors on April 19, 2015.