Dirtbags Baseball - Long Beach State 49ers

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Wednesday, July 06, 2005

4th Time's The Charm For Jered Weaver

Former Dirtbag Jered Weaver, getting into form after a year off the mound and 3 prior subpar performances for the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes, is starting to look like the Jered of old. Here's how the San Bernardino County Sun tells it:

Weaver sets down Blaze

By Landon Negri, Correspondent

RANCHO CUCAMONGA - Jered Weaver found his game, and the Rancho Cucamonga fans finally found out what the fuss is all about.

The prized Angels prospect showed the first true glimpses at his immense talent Tuesday night, earning his first professional victory with five innings of two-hit ball in the Quakes' 7-6 victory over the Bakersfield Blaze in front of 2,009 fans at The Epicenter.

While Weaver dazzled the home fans, the Quakes' bats pounded on the Blaze for a 13-5 advantage in hits. Even more impressive was what the Quakes' Brandon Wood did at the plate, as he reached base five times with four walks and a triple.

But this night clearly belonged to Weaver. In his fourth professional start, the Angels' 2004 first-round draft pick (12th overall) dominated Bakersfield, striking out seven while allowing no earned runs.

Weaver faced 19 hitters, firing 51 strikes versus 25 balls. He finished by retiring 10 of his final 11 batters, and his five innings marked his deepest outing thus far this season.

Most importantly, Weaver seems to be settling in. Between his final start with Long Beach State in the 2004 super regionals and his first appearing with the Quakes on June 20 - after the Angels signed him with a $4 million bonus May 30 - he went more than a year without pitching competitively.

The rust had showed in his previous two [actually, 3] starts, as Weaver yielded 11 runs. But he lowered his ERA from 9.64 to 6.27 on Tuesday night, and his only hiccup had little to do with his own pitching.

Taking a 3-0 lead into the second inning, the right-hander was hurt by consecutive one-out fielding errors, including Quakes catcher Bobby Wilson's drop of a popup by Blaze first baseman Josh Kreuzer. Blaze catcher Craig Hurba scored Kreuzer on a groundout, and Abigail Sandoval followed with an RBI double off the wall.

But Weaver countered by striking out Craig Ringe for the inning's third out. After their first three batters scored, the Quakes held a lead throughout...

Update: Jered also gets a mention in Baseball America's Daily Dish today.

posted on 7/06/2005 by Jeff Agnew

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