His two starts last week had Indians fans reminiscing of his 19-win, American League Cy Young Award-winning performances of last season. For his efforts, he earned a pair of wins and on Monday, the big left-hander was named AL Player of the Week.

Marlins pitcher Ricky Nolasco and Pirates catcher Ryan Doumit shared this week's NL award.

Sabathia, who won the weekly award for the second time in his career, came into the week of June 9-15 with a 3-8 record as perplexing as his team's disappointing season.

But in his two starts last week, he looked like his old dominant self. He tossed a complete-game shutout against the Twins on Tuesday, and followed it up by outdueling four-time Cy Young winner Greg Maddux on Sunday. In those starts, he permitted just three runs, 11 hits and one walk while striking out 15.

"He's one of the greatest pitchers in the game," Indians manager Eric Wedge said. "What he does in regard to being even keeled and handling everything out there to get the most out of his ability, and channel his emotions in the right direction is a separator in and of itself. ... For him to put all that together and present it every fifth day, that's special stuff.

"He's really worked hard to get into a zone and block everything else out."

It has showed. Sabathia has a 2.39 ERA in his last 10 starts. He leads the AL with 97 strikeouts and ranks third with 99 1/3 innings pitched.

"I was just pounding the zone and keeping my pitch count down," Sabathia said.

He needed just 106 pitches in his complete-game shutout against the Twins, the seventh complete-game shutout of the 27-year-old's career. He didn't have a baserunner reach second base after the first inning and retired the last 17 batters he faced.