In speaking to reporters about his six-game suspension, Angel pitcher Jered Weaver actually tried to rationalize the act of throwing at somebody’s head because somebody else had stared too long at a home run.
"There are just some things that kind of cross the line. ... I thought that was one of those things," he said.
You know what crosses the line? The Angels' best pitcher risking his team’s playoff chances by citing one of those absurd unwritten baseball rules as an excuse to throw a tantrum and endanger a life.
Jered Weaver doesn’t want the Detroit Tigers’ Carlos Guillen to showboat his home run trot last weekend? Then he shouldn’t have thrown that fat home run pitch. For Weaver to then throw at the head of Alex Avila as payback -– when we all know that Weaver was just upset at losing his pitching duel with Cy Young contender Justin Verlander -– was foolishly out of character for the calmest of pitchers.
Weaver did not hit a batter last season, and has hit just one this season. This is not how he rolls. This is not how he throws. He controls the ball. If the Angels hope to catch the Texas Rangers in the American League West, he must now control himself.
This stunt will cost him one start, and if you don’t think one start by a guy with a 14-5 record and 1.88 ERA doesn’t mean much, well, the Angels trail the Rangers by one game. The Angels have an advantageous September schedule that includes just seven of 26 games against teams with winning records, and will end the season with six home games, the final three against the Rangers.
The Angels can steal this title, but they can’t do it without their ace. Instead of throwing at somebody else’s head, Jered Weaver needs to take care of his own.
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--Bill Plaschke
Photo: Jered Weaver pitches early in the game against the Tigers. Credit: Jeff Kowalsky / European Pressphoto Agency
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