Healthy Weaver has Angels excited for second half

SEATTLE -- Angels right-hander Jered Weaver missed at least nine starts in the first half while recovering from a fractured left arm and the Angels entered Saturday nine games out of first place in the American League West.

No one's saying he would win all nine games, but things definitely would be different at the top of the standings. The Angels likely would be much more competitive and feeling good about their second half chances.

But Angels manager Mike Scioscia said the fact that the Angels have potentially 15 to 18 starts from Weaver in the second half makes him feel good.

"No doubt it's going to be huge for us to get him back and get him pitching the way he has pitched the last three outings [before Saturday]," Scioscia said. "He's a legitimate No. 1, and when we lost him you feel bad."

Weaver was hit on the left elbow April 7 -- in just his second start -- by a line drive from Texas' Mitch Moreland. He sustained a non-displaced radial head fracture of the left elbow and did not return until May 29.

Scioscia said Weaver's absence had a spillover effect on some of the other starters who may have had the tendency "to try to carry momentum that is lost when you lose a No. 1 starter."

"Also, the bullpen. With the length that Weav gives, having to make them do a little more on certain days that they wouldn't have to if Jered was in there," Scioscia said.

Weaver has finished in the top five in AL Cy Young Award voting each of the past three years. Last season, he won a career-high 20 games, threw his first no-hitter, finished with a 2.81 ERA and had a Major League-low 1.018 WHIP.

He also missed the first three weeks of June because of a lower back strain and was limited to 188 2/3 innings.

He has had eight starts since his return, entering his start Saturday. He is 3-3 with a 2.98 in those starts. Over his past three starts, however, he is 2-0 with a 0.89 ERA.

"It's definitely something that's different, but it's not a huge adjustment," Scioscia said of his past three starts. "I think it was just getting out there, getting back into the flow of every fifth day and feeling his confidence grow as he started to perform to the level he's used to."