Saturday, May 2, 2009

Weaver is back in LA

The up-and-down journey for Jeff Weaver hit another peak on Thursday, as he was recalled by the Dodgers to help steady a struggling staff. To make room on the 40-man roster, Doug Mientkiewicz was switched to the 60-day DL.

Weaver wasted no time in getting to work, as he came on in the 2nd for an ineffective James McDonald and pitched 4 fantastic innings of shutout ball, K'ing 4. Talk about making an impact in no time.

Give Weaver this - he doesn't give up. He started his career as a young stud with the Tigers. With so much going for him, he went to the Yankees and proceeded to really struggle in the New York spotlight. Needing a fresh start, the Dodgers luckily got George Steinbrenner take trade him for Kevin Brown, and he became an effective starter for 2 years. He's bounced around to the Cardinals and Mariners, before being out of baseball altogether last season. And now he's back.

There's not a whole lot he hasn't experienced. In case you've forgotten, he was the guy on the mound in Game 5 of the 2006 World Series for the Cardinals, getting the win against his old team, the Tigers. He's pitched in many places and many big games, so I think he can handle pressure situations.

Even with the rotation struggling at times, I would think Weaver would be asked to be the long reliever, especially after how well he did Thursday. But stay tuned, because that could easily change at any moment.

No comments: