Smith Earns N.L. Player of Week Award
By Bill Center
By Bill Center
Padres left fielder Seth Smith has been named the National League Player of the week for May 5–11.
Smith went 14-for-28 with five doubles, three triples and a home run. He drove in seven runs and scored four. He also had four walks.
Smith had a .500 batting average for the week with a .625 on-base percentage and a 1.000 slugging percentage.
He was 5-for-10 with a double and a triple in three games against Kansas City. He was 9-for-18 with four doubles, two triples, a homer and seven RBIs in four games against Miami.
Smith finished Sunday with an eight-game hitting streak, going 17-for-32 with seven doubles, three triples and a home run. He has six multi-hit games during the streak and 11 multi-hit games on the season.
Smith, 31, is hitting .330 on the season with 11 doubles, three triples and three home runs for 13RBIs. He has a .419 on-base percentage and a .575 slugging percentage.
He is hitting .426 (29-for-68) at Petco Park with nine doubles, three triples and three home runs for 12 RBIs. He has a career .354 average at Petco Park (.52-for-147).
PADRES PUZZLER: Padres pitchers have struck out a total of 311 hitters in the first 39 games, a pace that would give them 1,292 strikeouts on the season. What is the record for strikeouts by Padres pitchers over an entire season?
OH Ks: Padres pitchers struck out 48 Marlins in four games, the franchise record for any series shy of five games. Padres pitchers had 17 strikeouts in Thursday’s 11-inning game, 10 on Friday, 12 on Saturday and nine on Sunday. By pitcher, the totals were: Ian Kennedy 12, Tyson Ross 8, Robbie Erlin 7, Joaquin Benoit 6, Eric Stults 4, Nick Vincent 3, Donn Roach 3, Huston Street 2, Kevin Quackenbush 2, Dale Thayer 1. The old record for a four-game series was 44 against Montreal from July 16–18, 1998.
QUENTIN TAKING FLIGHT: After going 0-for-2 with a walk Sunday in a rehab game with Single-A Lake Elsinore, left fielder Carlos Quentin headed to Cincinnati on the Padres team flight Monday morning. Quentin is eligible to come off the disabled list at any time. He has been on the disabled list since the last week of spring training with a bone bruise to his left knee. The Padres open a six-game trip to Cincinnati and Colorado Tuesday.
STREAKING YONDER: First baseman Yonder Alonso reached base in eight straight plate appearances before lining out to right in the seventh inning Sunday. It was the Padres’ longest such streak since 3B Kevin Kouzmanoff reach base in eight straight plate appearances from Aug. 12–13, 2009. Before the streak, Alonso had reached base eight times in his previous 68 plate appearances. Over his last three games, Alonso is 7-for-10 with two doubles.
QUICK HOMERS: Outfielder Will Venable opened Sunday’s game with a home run Sunday. That extended his own franchise record of game-opening homers, all of which have come since the start of the 2011 season, to 10. He is tied with Jimmy Rollins for the most game-opening homers in the National League since the start of the 2011 season.The only players with more homers to lead off the first over the same time span are Ian Kinsler (16), Alex Gordon (13) and Shin-Soo Choo (12). Five of Venable’s homers leading off the first have come at Petco Park and five have come on the road.
PUZZLER ANSWER: 1,295 in 2010.
