Weaver is on His Game

Weaver is the early front-runner for the AL
Cy Young Award.

The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim possess arguably the best one-two punch on the mound in Major League Baseball and right-hander Jered Weaver has been the center of it all.

A year after becoming the first Angels pitcher to lead the Major Leagues in strikeouts with 233 since Nolan Ryan did so in 1977, Weaver is picking up right where he left off. With his team's 5-0 win over the Oakland Athletics Monday night, Weaver has started the season unbeaten at 6-0.

He leads baseball in all three Triple Crown categories with six wins, 0.99 earned run average and 49 punch-outs.

There is no way that Weaver can continue this pace all season long, but at any rate, this has been an unbelievable run to kick off the 2011 campaign.

Weaver is responsible for almost half the Angels' 13 wins this season, finding themselves a game back of the defending American League champion Texas Rangers. The remarkable part of Weaver's run is his ability to finish what he started. He has already thrown two complete games in his six starts, one being shutout.

This start should not come as much of a shock to many after Weaver's breakout 2010 season.

Even though Weaver only went 13-12 last year, he was a victim of many pitchers problems throughout baseball, lack of run support. Weaver was at the bottom of the list when it came to that category. That being said, Weaver established career-bests in ERA (3.01) and innings pitched (224.1).

With the departure of longtime ace John Lackey to Boston prior to the start of last season, the question was raised who would fill that void he had left? Weaver has done his best to put Lackey in the past and claim the label as not only the ace of the Angel staff, but one of the best pitchers in baseball.

Weaver is a former first-round pick by the Angels back in 2004 and is finally reaching expectations. In 2006, after the towering 6-foot-7 righty was called up, he showed a glimpse of the future, starting his young career an impressive 9-0. Since then, Weaver has won as many as 16 games in a single-season and was named to his first All-Star Game in '10, fittingly right in his own backyard.

Still only 28, the future looks bright for Weaver and Co. at the Big A.

The next time Weaver takes the mound, he will be on verge of becoming only the third pitcher in Major League history to win his first seven decisions to begin a season.

The Dream Weaver will look to continue to woo hitters to sleep well into the summer.