Jered Weaver out-dueled Cliff Lee Sunday afternoon as the Angels defeated Texas 4-1. Something must have been wrong with Lee ( 🙂 ) as he walked two in eight innings while just striking out four, bringing his K/BB down to 13.1. He gets credit for a complete game as he didn’t get a chance to pitch the ninth.
Weaver allowed an unearned run as he walked three and struck out seven. The Rangers managed just four hits against him. That lowers Weaver’s ERA to 3.04 overall, 1.70 at home.
The Angels gain a game in the three game series to end up eight games out of first place. With nine weeks left in the season, they need to gain a game a week to climb back into the playoffs.
There’s a couple of things you’ve got to remember.
First, Lee walked only one batter –Ron Washington walked the other one intentionally. That’s the second time this season Washington has told Lee to walk somebody intentionally. If not for those two walks, Lee’s k/BB ratio would still be better than 16.00.
Second, Lee’s averaging 6.55 strikeouts a start this year, and Sunday’s game was actually one of his ‘shorter’ starts because there was no 9th inning. So really, was only a little off the pace.
As for the 4 runs, you have to look a little deeper. Its not as if Lee was getting beat up by the Angels. 3 of the 4 runs scored on an out –twice on a groundout, and once on a sac fly.
And Actually, the Angels were barely able to get anything off Lee all day. The only extra base was a double in the first inning, and the rest were just easy singles. It’s not uncharacteristic for Lee to pitch that way –he did lead baseball in hits allowed last year.
So in essence, it’s silly to think anything would be wrong with Lee. His control was obviously somewhat lacking, but that just happens sometimes.
And all the credit to Weaver for a fabulous pitching performance (minus the three walks), but the real question is ‘what’s wrong with the Rangers’, which I’m sure has been asked plenty of times. An average of 2 runs in support of Lee is just ridiculous.
-KB