Slugging Soriano snags AL Player of Week

Yankees left fielder Alfonso Soriano was named the American League Player of the Week on Monday after a historic hot streak that saw him drive in 18 runs over a four-game stretch.

Soriano became one of six players in Major League history to record 18 RBIs in four games since it became an official statistic in 1920. That list includes Jim Bottomley of the Cardinals (1929), Sammy Sosa of the Cubs (2002) and three other Yankees: Lou Gehrig (1930), Tony Lazzeri ('36) and Joe DiMaggio ('39).

The 37-year-old slugger, reacquired by the Yanks -- with whom he started his career -- in a trade with the Cubs on July 26, batted .484 (15-for-31) with five homers, a double and nine runs scored as New York went 5-2 on the week. Soriano led all Major League hitters last week in hits, homers, RBIs, slugging percentage (1.000) and total bases (31), and he was tied for first overall in runs scored.

This is Soriano's seventh career weekly award and his first since May 18, 2008. He won three AL Player of the Week Awards in his first stint with the Yankees, the last of which came nearly 10 years ago, on Sept. 21, 2003.

Soriano snapped out of a 1-for-16 skid on Tuesday with three hits, including two homers and a career-high six RBIs in a 14-7 Yanks win over the Angels at Yankee Stadium. The next day, he went 3-for-3 with a double, two homers and a career-high seven RBIs in an 11-3 victory.

The feat made Soriano just the third player in Major League history with at least six RBIs in consecutive games, joining Texas' Rusty Greer, who did it in 1997, and Milwaukee's Geoff Jenkins, who accomplished it in 2001.

Soriano picked up four more hits in an 8-4 loss to the Angels on Thursday and went 3-for-4 with a homer and four RBIs in a 10-3 win over the Red Sox at Fenway Park on Friday.