It's Monday morning, so that means it's time to vote for the SB Nation New York Player of the Week. Last week, Curtis Granderson took the honors, due to his power explosion when he blasted five home runs. The New York Yankees took care of business this week, going 5-2 against the bottom of the AL Central, while the New York Mets recorded a 2-4 mark. Here are the new nominees. Vote now!
↵Derek Jeter: He's been declared washed up. Or maybe the quest for 3,000 took its toll. Or maybe this is just a brief hot streak, and his decline will continue. But whatever the case, Jeter has been raking lately. For the week, the Yankee captain racked up 14 hits, good for a .452 average, scored five runs, drove in five, hit two doubles and a triple, walked once and added a stolen base.
↵Angel Pagan: The Met center fielder is finally recovering from his subpar first half of the year, as he's now had multi-hit games in six of the last seven contests. He batted .444 this week, piling up 12 hits, including an eighth-inning two-run home run that could have been the winning runs in Saturday's comeback/heartbreaking loss, five RBIs, three doubles, three runs scored and two stolen bases, not to mention some nice catches out in center. And Ralph Kiner says Pagan's the best all-around athlete on the Mets. So if Ralph says it, it must be true.
↵Phil Hughes: The Yankees' revolving door to find a consistent, quality starting pitcher besides CC Sabathia continues to revolve, and lately it's been Hughes who's had the most success. He's even been better than Sabathia the last week or so. It's four consecutive solid starts for Hughes and counting. In his one start this week, on Friday in Minnesota, Hughes lasted seven and 2/3 innings and only gave up one run while striking out two, walking three and allowing two measly hits. (Ivan Nova was even better than Hughes on Sunday, but his seven-run outing on Tuesday disqualifies him from making the list.)
↵Ruben Tejada: The 21-year-old shortstop has been on fire since he was called back up to the Mets earlier this month. He's never going to have any power, but he puts together long at-bats and works out walks, while taking the ball the other way. For the week, he batted .471, with eight hits, four walks, three runs, three doubles, two RBIs and a stolen base.
↵Curtis Granderson: Last week's winner poured it on once again this week, with two more homers (including an inside-the-parker), four RBIs, seven runs scored, two doubles, a triple, six walks and a pair of stolen bases, while batting .385. He's at or near the top of the AL rankings in home runs, RBIs, runs, triples, slugging percentage and OPS, and let's not forget his stellar play in center field. And he does it all with dignity and class.
↵Mark Teixeira: The Gold Glove first baseman produced prodigiously this week. He drove in eight runs, walked eight times, scored six runs, hit two home runs and three doubles and even batted over .300, with a .304 mark.