Notre Dame High Grad Giancarlo Stanton Has Historic Weekend

BOSTON, MA —New York Yankees slugger Giancarlo Stanton, who graduated from Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks, was named American League Player of the Week Monday after a weekend performance against the Boston Red Sox that put Stanton in the company of Yankees greats.

In a three-game sweep of the rival Red Sox at Fenway Park - which put the Yankees in the top spot in the American League Wild Card race entering the final week of the season - Stanton went 7-for-12, with three home runs and 10 RBIs. The performance included a go-ahead grand slam in the eighth inning of Saturday's 5-3 Yankees win.

According to the New York Daily News, Stanton - who went by the name Mike Stanton when he was a three-sport star for the Knights - became just the sixth Yankee to homer in three consecutive games of a series at Fenway Park. The other five were: Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Bernie Williams and Andruw Jones.

In fact, the Daily News reported that only Ruth in 1927, Gehrig in 1931 and Mantle in 1954 reached the three-homer, 10-RBI total in a three-game series against the Red Sox.

William Parlee, who covers the Yankees for EmpireSportsMedia.com, said Stanton's performance ultimately may be responsible for the Yankees making the playoffs after and up-and-down season.

"Unless the New York Yankees fall apart this week, they seem destined for postseason play. One of the prime reasons for that is undeniably outfielder and DH Giancarlo Stanton," Parlee wrote.

Parlee added: "This past weekend, Giancarlo Stanton may have caused the Yankees to have their best three-game series ever against the Red Sox in their own home park."

In addition to the go-ahead homer on Saturday, Stanton also hit the decisive two-run homer in the eighth inning of Sunday's 6-3 win.

"You can't be scared of those (pressure-filled) moments," Stanton told the Daily News. "So I mean, you gotta gotta be prepared, you got to do your homework and just zone in on what you need to do, and at the end of the day, it's still the same game I've been playing my whole life.

"So you got to be able to overcome those moments. You're not gonna succeed in all of them, but you gotta be ready and confident for sure."

The Yankees close out the regular season with a three-game series in Toronto, which starts Tuesday, and then a three-game weekend series at home against Tampa Bay, which clinched the American League East title over the weekend.