New York, NY (My Sportsbook) - Chicago White Sox starting pitcher Esteban Loaiza was named American League Player of the Week for the period ending April 27. Loaiza, who is 5-0 with a 1.25 ERA this season, has recorded 35 strikeouts and walked just five batters, while holding opponents to a major league best .151 batting average. He and New York Yankees' pitcher Mike Mussina are the only pitchers in the majors to post 5-0 records. Last week, Loaiza went 2-0 with a 1.17 ERA with 16 strikeouts and no walks in 15 1/3 innings, including a dominating performance on Tuesday. Loaiza allowed just one run on four hits over 8 1/3 innings in a 3-1 victory against Baltimore. He also recorded a win by defeating Minnesota 3-1 on Sunday, when he yielded one run in seven innings of work, while striking out eight batters. Other candidates for the award were Nick Johnson and Alfonso Soriano of the New York Yankees, Boston's Manny Ramirez, Alex Rodriguez of Texas, Toronto's Carlos Delgado, Mark Mulder of Oakland and Tampa Bay's Lance Carter. |
