Offense, Bullpen Back Weaver as Angels Beat Indians

Alright now. Everybody just cal..just CALM DOWN! Listen closely. Are you listening? The Angels won. I know, I know. It sounds impossible, but it’s not April 1st, and I’m not fooling. The Angels did, in fact, beat the Cleveland Indians tonight 5-2.

Jered Weaver was stellar once again tonight. And, as the Angels MLB.com beat writer Alden Gonzalez tweeted earlier, he now owns a 1.49 ERA over his last five starts. Weaver threw 101 pitches during his seven innings of work, allowing two runs while striking out two and walking nobody. Basically, it was your typical, ho-hum, Jered Weaver start.

Weaver’s opponent tonight, Scott Kazmir, did not fair as well. And for the sake of Angels’ fans sanity, it’s better that he didn’t. Kazmir is back to sitting in the mid-90’s with his two-seam fastball, and has been a solid member of the Indians rotation. But tonight, the Angels would have none of that mess. six of the first seven Angels to come up to the plate in the first inning reached base. Mark Trumbo hit a two run single driving home J.B. Shuck and Collin Cowgill, pushing his RBI total to 72 on the season. Two batters later, Josh Hamilton‘s bat arrived, and he clubbed a missile into the right field seats to drive in both Trumbo and Mike Trout for a three-run home run.

Then the offense died. Going completely dormant for the remaining eight innings of baseball that were scheduled for this evening. But no matter for Weaver who, aside from the two home runs given up to Michael Brantley and Asdrubal Cabrera, allowed only one runner to get as far as third base during his start. And a beleaguered bullpen that has been reeling over the last week and a half, got two shut out innings from J.C. Gutierrez and Dane De La Rosa. The latter of which threw an absolutely beautiful curveball to Carlos Santana in the ninth inning. It was glorious.

It was odd to not see incumbent closer, Ernesto Frieri, out to work the ninth inning. But, with how bad he has been struggling over the last week with keeping men from crossing home plate, it was probably for the best that he sit this one out and give the Angels a chance to actually win a game. I love you Ernesto, you’re my boy, but you stink right now. It’s nothing personal.

More baseball tomorrow as C.J. Wilson takes the mound against Ubaldo Jimenez at 4:05 PM PST. Light up the halo. Ahem, light up the halo. No, Arte, it’s on the wall to the left of the door. No, not the one on the right, that’s the fail-o. No, let me.

/flips switch

Don’t worry Mr. Moreno, I understand. it’s been awhile. I’ll label it so you don’t forget for next time.