Brown collects NL monthly, weekly honors
PHILADELPHIA -- Phillies left fielder Domonic Brown is one of the hottest hitters on the planet.
Major League Baseball recognized that, and on Monday, named him the National League's Player of the Month for May and Player of the Week for the second consecutive week. He hit 12 home runs with 25 RBIs and a .688 slugging percentage in May, tying Miguel Cabrera for the most homers in the big leagues. He led the Majors last week with seven home runs, 13 RBIs, 35 total bases and a 1.296 slugging percentage.
"I've seen some tremendous months," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said. "This ranks right up there. He's been fantastic."
Brown is the first Phillies player to earn Player of the Month honors since Ryan Howard in August 2009. He also is the first Phillies player to win back-to-back Player of the Week honors, and the first Phillies player to win the award twice in the same season since Chase Utley in 2006 (May 1-7, July 24-30).
"I'm very proud and pleased," Brown said before Monday's game against the Marlins at Citizens Bank Park. "But I'm still focusing on doing what I have to do, and that's improve and win ballgames."
Brown said he has had little trouble staying focused on the task at hand, knowing one successful month does not make a big league career. He has received his fair share of text messages, but he is not on Twitter nor has cable at his home, so he insists he doesn't hear too much about his success from the outside world.
"I'm just trying to focus in on what I have got to do," he said. "I watch a lot of movies. That's really about it."
Brown, Cliff Lee and Jonathan Papelbon look like leading candidates to make the National League All-Star team, despite the Phillies' underwhelming record. That would be a major accomplishment for Brown, who bounced back and forth from Triple-A to the big leagues in each of the previous three seasons.
"That would be great, but I'm not thinking about it right now," Brown said about an All-Star appearance. "I'm just thinking about trying to get above .500 and being first in the division."