Chris Davis named AL Player of the Week

BOSTON - Orioles first baseman Chris Davis has been named the American League's Player of the Week, an honor that seemed destined to be bestowed upon him after his historic home run and RBI binge. Davis batted .455/.500/1.136 with three doubles, four homers, 17 RBIs and five runs scored in the Orioles' first six games. He went 0-for-4 yesterday to end his streak of five consecutive games with at least one RBI to start the season, falling one shy of the club record shared by Mike Devereaux and Brooks Robinson. Davis leads the majors in slugging percentage, OPS (1.636) and RBIs. He's second in total bases (25) and sixth in batting average. This is the second consecutive Player of the Week honor for Davis. He shared the award with Detroit Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander for the week of Sept. 24-30, 2012. Hall of Famer Eddie Murray was the last Oriole to win consecutive Player of the Week honors, accomplishing the feat on Sept. 13 and 20, 1981. Davis had the highest RBI total through four team games of a season (16) since the major leagues started recording RBIs in 1920. The previous record was 12 RBIs through four games, by Dolph Camilli (1935 Phillies), Mark McGwire (1998 Cardinals) and Charles Johnson (2000 Orioles). He's the only Oriole ever to drive in three or more runs in each of the club's first four games of a season. Davis also was the first Oriole and fourth player in major league history to homer in each of the first four games of a season, joining Hall of Famer Willie Mays (1971), McGwire (1998) and Nelson Cruz (2011). "I don't think there's anybody in this ballpark that has a better minor league resume than he does," said manager Buck Showalter. "Sometimes it takes an opportunity more than experience to get it going. He's not like he hit eight home runs last year. I don't think it surprises anybody. I think that he's capable of it. "Chris just kind of understands who he is and what he has to do. He has some periods where he'll get away from it. Hopefully, his valleys won't be as long and he can stay in that peak period. That's what he's trying to do. He's very mature about where he is offensively." In recognition of winning the award today, Davis will receive a watch from Game Time. He beat out, among others, Seattle's Mike Morse (five homers, eight RBIs), Boston's Will Middlebrooks (three homers yesterday against Toronto) and Jon Lester (2-0, 1.50 ERA), Cleveland's Mark Reynolds (four homers, seven RBIs) and Texas' Yu Darvish (2-0, 1.98 ERA, 20 strikeouts).