Cruz beats out Jones for American League honor

Major League Baseball announced today that former Oriole Nelson Cruz was named the American League's Player of the Month after his home run binge for the Mariners.

Cruz finished ahead of Orioles center fielder Adam Jones, who batted .400 with six doubles, five home runs, 19 RBIs and 17 runs scored. That may be good enough to win it in other months, but Cruz earned his first award - and the first by a Seattle player since Ichiro Suzuki in August 2004 - with a .322 average, three doubles, one triple, 10 home runs, 22 RBIs and 14 runs scored in 22 games.

Cruz, who signed a four-year, $57 deal with the Mariners, hit six home runs in the first nine games, the most by a reigning major league home run leader through 10 games since the Giants' Barry Bonds had seven in 2002. Cruz hit 40 home runs for the Orioles last season.

Among AL league leaders in April with a minimum of 60 at-bats, Cruz ranked first in slugging percentage (.724), OPS (1.096) and extra-base hits (14) and tied for first in home runs and RBIs.

Cruz's 10 home runs in April are the third-most in Mariners history behind Ken Griffey, Jr., who hit 13 in 1997 and 11 in 1998.

Cruz isn't slowing down in May. He's 6-for-12 with three home runs.

Jones also hasn't let up, going 4-for-4 yesterday at Tropicana Field to raise his average to .402. He's 5-for-12 in three games this month.

Miguel Cabrera, Jose Altuve, Hanley Ramirez and Mike Trout also received votes.

Houston's Dallas Keuchel was named AL Pitcher of the Month and Toronto's Devon Travis was named AL Rookie of the Month.

In other news, Ryan Flaherty is batting second and playing second base and J.J. Hardy is batting third and playing shortstop tonight at Double-A Bowie. Hardy is wearing No. 8 and Flaherty is wearing No. 3, if you care about such things.

As I wrote yesterday, Hardy and Flaherty will play three games at Bowie before the Orioles decide whether to extend their rehab assignments. Flaherty is expected to be activated on Friday when he's eligible to come off the disabled list.