A.L. Player of the Week: Alexander Emmanuel Rodriguez

Here's a press release from MLB:

"New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez has been named the Bank of America Presents the American League Player of the Week for the period ending September 9th, marking the third time he has received weekly honors this season (previous: 4/9 and 6/11) and the 13th of his career.
In six games, Rodriguez posted a .565 batting average (13-23) with seven home runs, 11 RBI and nine runs scored. The 11-time A.L. All-Star finished the week with a 1.478 slugging percentage and a .630 on-base percentage. A-Rod homered in five consecutive games, tying a career-high, and has hit seven round-trippers in the last five games.
During a three-game series against the Seattle Mariners from September 3rd-5th, he went 6-for-11 with three home runs and five RBI. Over the weekend in Kansas City, Alex went 9-for-12 with four home runs and six RBI. He leads the Major Leagues in home runs (52), RBI (140) and runs scored (132) to go along with a .318 batting average.
Other players considered were Rodriguez’s teammate Jorge Posada (.500, 1.056 SLG, 1 2B, 3 HR, 6 RBI); Tampa Bay’s Carlos Peña (.368, 1.000 SLG, 4 HR, 10 RBI); and Detroit’s Brandon Inge (.474, .842 SLG, 1 2B, 2 HR, 5 RBI). Cleveland’s C.C. Sabathia (2-0, 0.53 ERA, 9 SO, 17.0 IP), Tampa Bay’s James Shields (2-0, 1.93 ERA 11 SO, 14.0 IP), Boston teammates Josh Beckett (2-0, 3.00 ERA, 15.0 IP, 15 SO) and Jonathan Papelbon (4 G, 4 Sv, 7 SO), and New York’s Chien-Ming Wang (2-0, 2.51 ERA, 14.1 IP) were the pitchers nominated.
Tourneau, the world’s largest watch store, will supply Alex Rodriguez with a luxury Swiss Tourneau timepiece, suitably engraved, in recognition of his achievement as player of the week."

Peter Abraham of the Journal News [PeteAbe's LoHud Yankees blog] has this to say:

"He gets a free watch? Seriously? Just what he needs, a free watch. You would think they’d donate money to a charity or throw it out the window before they gave a player a free watch. Hilarious."

Gotta admit I was howling when I read that. Of course, the watch is engraved and suitable for mounting/framing, but sometimes Pete just cracks me up.