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Weaver looks like a winner, and an All-Star
July 6th, 2009, 9:39 pm · 7 Comments · posted by Earl Bloom, staff writer
Memo to American League All-Star manager Joe Maddon:
– Jered Weaver pitched like an All-Star in his Monday night duel with Rangers ace Kevin Millwood at Angel Stadium. All that was at stake was sole possession of the lead in the AL West.
How good was he? Nine strikeouts, three earned runs in seven innings. The Angels are 11-6 in Weaver’s starts this season after his 9-4 victory gave them a one-game lead over Texas.
Please make a note of it.
***
Also worth noting, Angels fans: Kevin Jepsen looks like a completely different pitcher when he throws strike one. And that 90 mph slider he struck out Nelson Cruz on in the ninth was young Randy Johnsonesque.
Posted in: Angels • Jered Weaver • Kevin Jepsen • Texas Rangers • Joe Maddon • Kevin Millwood • Nelson Cruz
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7 Comments
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I couldn’t agree more about Jepsen - - let me temper this by saying I’m not a total convert yet - - but man his stuff looked electric last night.
That slider? WOW.
How many pitchers can throw you a 96-97 mph fast ball, then buckle your knees w/ a slider (they called it that, looked more like a wicked 2-seamer but…) from 88-91?
Stuff looked crisp and sharp.
If he can only get his era down under a billion….
Earl,
Weaver should have been an All-Star, but it’s the same broken record as the Cy Young voting every year. It comes down to victories, probably the most deceptive stat in sports. He needed 9-10 and he had eight.
Simple as that.
Bartolo Colon probably wasn’t the best pitcher in the league a few years ago, but he piled up victories. Cy Young. Ch-ching.
The players voted Detroit’s Edwin Jackson onto the AL squad, and he has six victories. Not that it should matter — did he give his team a chance to win the game is what matters to me.
If you want to see the biggest ripoff ever, it was Steve Stone getting the AL Cy Young over Mike Norris in 1980 — because three writers forgot to put Norris on their ballots ANYWHERE..
Earl,
I was just talking to one of Norris’s teammates about that last night, a guy who is now a scout. It’s funny you mention it.
I’ve heard that Norris considered it the writers’ racism that cost him that award.
Earl- I believe similar to your thinking about giving your team a chance to win but ultimately all the SP has to do is pitch better than the other starting pitcher to get a W ( or a no-decision) Are you thinking a SP with alot of decisions would indicate he has kept his team in the game often?
It depends. I watched Nolan Ryan go 21-16 and 22-16 in consecutive years with the Angels, and he lost a lot of games 1-0, 2-1, 3-2 because he played on a poor offensive team.
In the NL, starting pitchers come out of close games earlier than in the AL because of its DH rule.
As we have seen, pitchers can pitch really well, leave with large leads and get a no-decision.
WHIP, OBA and to some degree ERA will tell you how well a pitcher has pitched. And I think the team record in games he started GENERALLY has meaning, too.
I agree with that but I will say I prefer to see pitchers who have alot of decisions because it tells me they are generally speaking pitching deep into games. Ryan is a good example because in those days he was pitching complete games, almost a lost art in today’s game.
ERA OBA and ERA can be deceiving stats. If a starter has one bad game and gives up 8 earned run his ERA will be inflated.