Is Dream Weaver Back?

Watching Jered Weaver in his last three outings for Anaheim reminds of me of his college days, when the SoCal kid mowed down the first 10 hitters he faced in a game – not once, but twice during his junior year at Long Beach State.
The Angels starter has a 1.45 ERA in those three outings, giving up two runs on six hits over 7 1/3 innings in Friday’s win over the Blue Jays and tossing six no-hit innings a week earlier against the Dodgers in that crazy not-so-fast-that’s-not-a-no-hitter game.
The lanky right-hander hasn’t seen a dominant stretch like this since his brilliant rookie campaign with the Angels two years ago, which came shortly after his historic season with the 49ers in 2004. A 15-1 collegiate campaign that saw him strike out 10-plus batters 14 times en route to Player of the Year honors.
“When you look back on it, it’s almost holy,” Long Beach State pitching coach Troy Buckley told me four years ago. “What we're seeing here is probably never going to happen again.”
Well, the Halo hopeful are hoping Weaver can duplicate even half of that dominance in his third year in the majors.
While hitters across the league have adjusted to that Dizzy Dean windup of his, Weaver’s arsenal of pitches is still lethal. The real problem the past two years stems from the location (or lack there of) of his pitches. When he gets the ball up, major leaguers – who aren’t intimidated by his velocity of wacky windup the way collegiate hitters were – make Weaver pay.
When he hits his spots and keeps the ball down like he’s done in his last three outings, he’s as tough as anyone.
So he has the stuff, but does the shaggy haired one have the mentality he needs to prevent duplicating his brother Jeff’s nine-year rollercoaster in the majors (speaking of which, the former Fresno St. Bulldoggy got picked up by Cleveland over weekend if you can believe that)?
Well, if Jered attacks hitters with the same me-against-the-world determination he had in college he will.

Long Beach State has had an impressive run of young stars in majors the past few years (we won’t mention Jason Giambi): Bobby Crosby, Oakland Evan Longoria, Tampa Bay Troy Tulowitzki, Colorado Jered Weaver, Anaheim

“I’ve never seen a pitcher who can just shut down an opponent like he does,” one MLB scout said of Weaver during that dominant run in 2004. “It’s like the guy gets even more pissed off when runners get on (base), turns it up a notch and becomes unhittable.”
That’s how can be in the majors, too.
While many major league averages skyrocket with runners in scoring position, opponents are hitting .244 with runners in scoring position (six points less than they are for the season) against Weaver. And Weaver is averaging 8.25 K/9 innings in those RISP situations as opposed to 6.79 for the season.
So he’s shown glimpses of that same shut-it-down mentality in the big leagues, at least when runners are on base.
Maybe Weaver needs to heed his own advice, and pitch like that for an entire game like he used to do in college.
“To me, the mound is like sacred ground,” Weaver said in 2004. “You don't want anyone to walk on it.
"I'm a mellow guy, but when I get on that mound I'm the biggest competitor in terms of trying to keep my team in the game. It doesn't matter who you're playing or what their record is.”