Jered Weaver has one hell of a chip on his shoulder, and I love it. The veteran right-hander shut down the White Sox for seven innings on Thursday, allowing just one run on three hits and hitting a season-high 86 mph on the gun, then followed it up by giving Angels beat reporters the silent treatment.
Hyper-competitive, ax-to-grind Weaver is the best Weaver, and I hope he sticks around all year. He’s exponentially more fun to watch than the defeated-looking guy who moped around the mound for most of last season.
Run Expectancy Rundown
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1uqGQIj5jVG7A6qsD1wHGx8DKb6OfwFaFwWt_jmIIKJY/pubchart” query=”oid=1976391661&format=interactive” width=”623″ height=”389″ /]Mike Trout went 2-for-2 with two walks and a huge two-run homer in the fifth. He’s now reached base safely in seven of his last eight plate appearances, raising his OPS by 170 points. Carlos Perez didn’t have a great game with the bat, but came through with a crucial suicide squeeze in the ninth. Andrelton Simmons, Kole Calhoun, and Johnny Giavotella all reached twice. C.J. Cron had the third two-walk game of his career, though one was intentional. Four different Angels grounded into double plays, raising their AL-worst total to 18.
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1uqGQIj5jVG7A6qsD1wHGx8DKb6OfwFaFwWt_jmIIKJY/pubchart” query=”oid=1154832181&format=interactive” width=”620″ height=”341″ /]Melky Cabrera and Todd Frazier both homered, but that was about all the White Sox could muster.
Starting Pitcher Scores
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1uqGQIj5jVG7A6qsD1wHGx8DKb6OfwFaFwWt_jmIIKJY/pubchart” query=”oid=161400381&format=interactive” width=”584″ height=”293″ /]Weaver still isn’t getting a lot of swinging strikes—he got just six on Thursday—but he’s making up for it by inducing a bunch of weak contact. He spotted all his pitches well and distributed them pretty evenly. John Danks pitched rather poorly, allowing 10 baserunners in five innings, but was saved by three double plays.
Bullpen Battle
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1uqGQIj5jVG7A6qsD1wHGx8DKb6OfwFaFwWt_jmIIKJY/pubchart” query=”oid=1141913419&format=interactive” width=”620″ height=”315″ /]Joe Smith picked off the one runner he allowed to reach base, striking out the other two. Huston Street struggled to lock down the save, surrendering a solo homer and two walks, but eked out of it. Jake Petricka and Zach Duke both pitched well yet again, but Duke was undone by Perez’s suicide squeeze.
Game Flow
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1uqGQIj5jVG7A6qsD1wHGx8DKb6OfwFaFwWt_jmIIKJY/pubchart” query=”oid=451609002&format=interactive” width=”619″ height=”316″ /]The Angels threatened in each of the first five innings, but couldn’t put runs on the board until the fifth. From there, it was just hanging on.
Halo Hero
Weaver made it work with guile and deception on Thursday. Let’s hope he can keep it up.
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