BASEBALL: Jered Weaver wins 20th to keep Angels alive

Jered Weaver earned his 20th victory of the season in the Angels' 7-4 win over the Texas Rangers on Friday. (Tim Heitman / US PRESSWIRE)

ARLINGTON, Texas - It has been dismissed as an old-fashioned measure of a pitcher's worth, wins having been superseded by the WHIPs, FIPs and BABIPs of new-age stat-ology.

But Jered Weaver has a bit of the old-fashioned ace in him.

Weaver became the first 20-game winner in the American League this season and only the seventh pitcher in Angels history to win 20 games in a season, holding the Texas Rangers to two runs in seven innings of a 7-4 victory Friday night at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.

"It's a great personal accomplishment, no doubt," Weaver said. "Go back to the no-hitter (in May) - I never thought in a million years I would throw a no-hitter in the big leagues. And I never thought I would win 20 games in the big leagues.

"A lot has to go your way to get to that and the guys picked me up again tonight. ... It's a great personal accomplishment, like I said. But I'm all for winning the World Series before any of that stuff."

Weaver's effort did little to move the Angels closer to that goal. The Oakland A's and Baltimore Orioles also won Friday, leaving the Angels the same familiar 2 1/2 games out of the first wild-card spot (the Orioles) and two out of the American League's final playoff spot (the A's). The Tampa Bay Rays did finally lose, snapping an eight-game winning streak and dropping a game behind the Angels in the wild-card race.

Weaver is in another race, competing with Rays left-hander David Price,

Detroit Tigers right-hander Justin Verlander and Seattle Mariners right-hander Felix Hernandez (primarily but not exclusively) for the AL Cy Young Award. Weaver finished second to Verlander last year, but Friday's win puts him first in the American League in wins, win percentage (.833) and WHIP (1.00) with the lowest batting average (.213), on-base percentage (.262) and OPS against (.597) while sitting third in ERA (2.73).

"We're not in a pennant race without him, obviously," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "If you just look at what he's done virtually every start, I don't think there's a more consistent pitcher in our league.

"No doubt, he's a frontrunner (for the Cy Young Award). I think he's pitched the way you would expect an ace to pitch. He's had the type of year a Cy Young winner has."

Source: http://www.sbsun.com/sports/ci_21659811/baseball-jered-weaver-wins-20th-keep-angels-alive?source=rss

james jones james jones aladdin black forest ufc 144 fight card ufc 144 results acura nsx