Last week\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s award was shared between Jose Bautista and Jason Giambi, as both hit three home runs in a game.<\/p>\n
Shift ahead to this past week and that would make two hitters prime contenders for the award.\u00c2\u00a0 The Milwaukee Brewers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Corey Hart hit three home runs in a game against the Nationals on Monday and the White Sox\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Carlos Quentin repeated the feat on Tuesday with a triple-salvo against the Texas Rangers.\u00c2\u00a0 They deserved to be in the running, but hitting three homers is clearly a \u00e2\u20ac\u02dclast week\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 fad that they decided to latch on to, so they don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t quite get the vote this time.<\/p>\n
Who else had notable performances on the week?<\/p>\n
In terms of individual games, James Shields pitched a complete game shut-out, with 13 strikeouts, against the Florida Marlins on Sunday.\u00c2\u00a0 Meanwhile the Cleveland Indians\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera is having a great start to the season and he went 5-for-5 on Sunday against the Cincinnati Reds, with two home runs, five RBIs and a stolen base.<\/p>\n
The Washington Nationals\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Michael Morse had an impressive series this week as well.\u00c2\u00a0 He hit three home runs in three days against the Brewers, although that didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t stop the Nats from being swept in the three-game series.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
The winner\u00c2\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n But for all the above, there really was only one contender.\u00c2\u00a0 The Phillies\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 infiielder Wilson Valdez ended up on the mound for his team on Wednesday.\u00c2\u00a0 It took 19 innings to split the Phillies and Reds and Valdez was credited with a win thanks to his emergency inning of relief pitching.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n Valdez took to the job like he was a natural, ramping up a fastball to 90 MPH and even shaking off his catcher, much to the amusement of teammate Ryan Howard.\u00c2\u00a0 He got three outs without giving up a hit, the only blemish on his record being a hit-by-pitch on a curveball that got away from him and landed on Scott Rolen\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s leg.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n