Photo taken from Google Images c/o Zimbio

This comes after Weaver’s absolute gem last Sunday, when he limited the Blue Jays’ lineup to just one run on four hits in 7 2/3 innings. Weaver walked four and fanned a career-high 15.

The first pitcher to four wins this season, Weaver now boasts a 1.30 ERA and 0.80 WHIP, and leads the majors in strikeouts (31), while issuing just nine walks in 27 2/3 innings.

The 28-year-old is making a strong case to be considered as a top-10 starting pitcher, and here’s why:

After establishing himself as a first-half pitcher in each of his first four major league seasons, Jered Weaver dominated all of 2010, posting career-best totals in innings (224 1/3), K/9 (9.35) and BB/9 (2.17).

In fact, the advanced stats suggest Weaver was a completely different pitcher in 2010. Consider the following:

Strikeout Rate

• 2008: 7.74
• 2009: 7.42
• 2010: 9.35

Walk Rate

• 2008: 2.75
• 2009: 2.82
• 2010: 2.17

ERA

• 2008: 4.33
• 2009: 3.75
• 2010: 3.01

WHIP

• 2008: 1.28
• 2009: 1.24
• 2010: 1.07

Batting Average Against

• 2008: .253
• 2009: .241
• 2010: .220

So what was the difference between last year compared to ‘08 and ‘09? Was it Luck? 

Nope.

• 2010 BABIP: .276 (career .283)
• 2010 LOB rate: 75.7 percent (career .75.5 percent)
• 2010 HR/FB rate: 7.8 percent (career 7.9 percent)

Heck, even Weaver’s FIP (3.06) and xFIP (3.51) suggest his 2010 campaign was legit.

There real difference appears to be in the evolution of his fastball and curveball, checking in at 13.0 and 9.7 runs above average, respectively. When combined with his above-average slider (3.1 runs above average) and changeup (8.4 runs above average), Weaver’s pitching repertoire is one of the most dynamic  in the majors.

This, in turn, led to elite totals in the ‘that’s nasty’ pitching categories:

• Contact rate: 75.4 percent (6th)
• Zone contact rate: 79.2 percent (1st)
• Swinging strike rate: 11.2 percent (4th)
• O-swing rate: 33.5 percent (7th)

Expect the Angels’ ace to continue his dominance on his way to solidifying his status as a top-10 pitcher.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE: FANTASY BASEBALL INSIDERS

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2011 Position Rankings: C / 1B / 2B / 3B / SS / OF / SP

Previous articles from Fantasy Baseball Insiders: 

• Buy or Sell Edwin Jackson’s Hot Start?
• How Good is Cubs’ Starlin Castro?
• Week 1 Closer’s Corner: Axford, Lyon, Burnett & More
• 2011 All-Breakout Team
• The Top 10 Rookies in 2011
• 2011 Big Board: The Top 100 Players
• The Sub-2.50 ERA Curse: Why Five Elite Starting Pitchers May Regress in 2011

Editor’s Note: This post was originally posted to Kevin’s Examiner page!

Not since Bill Clinton was in the White House and Beavis and Butthead were childishly giggling their ways into our living rooms have the Oakland A’s done what they will do next year.

For the first time in 15 years, the A’s will conduct a single-admission doubleheader. And they will not do it on a chilly April weekend or a possibly meaningless late September day. They will do it on a Saturday in the middle of summer against the popular and usually quite talented Los Angeles Angels.

On July 16, the A’s will play a twin-bill against the Angels. There will be no clearing of the park, no second round of tickets, no second parking fees. It wll be a summer day of baseball, a chance to spend a day at the ballpark. You get 18 innings of baseball for the price of nine – a deal unheard of in these days of multimillion-dollar contracts.

The A’s hope the attention-getting event puts butts (hee-hee-hee-hee, he said ‘butts’) in seats and is a memorable experience for fans.

The organization is also reaching out to fans, surveying them on promotions and what they want to see happening at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum this year.

Jim Leahey, the A’s vice president of marketing and sales, had a question-and-answer session with examiner.com about the doubleheader and other promotions for the coming season:

Examiner.com: Did the Players Union have to give its consent to make this happen? Did the Angels and Major League Baseball also have to give it their blessing?

Leahey: In certain cases, you must have player union approval and in others it is not required (depending on timing of previous day’s game). In this case, yes, we worked with the Players Union.

We also worked with the league and the Angels. The good news is that we gained an extra day off for the players coming out of the All-Star break so that made it attractive to all. We also have days off following the series which will help us maintain a normal five-man rotation.

When was the last A’s regularly scheduled single-admission doubleheader at home?

Leahey: We have not done a doubleheader like this in about 15 years. To the best of my knowledge, the last one was in ’95 or ’96 due to a schedule conflict with the Raiders.

Why is the organization doing it – losing second parking fees and second gate admissions?

Leahey: We are doing this to provide a good value to our fans. It will be part of an ’80s weekend (Sunday will be ’80s Day). We hope that it will attract enough interest such that Saturday’s doubleheader attendance and revenue will be close to what we would have had for Thursday plus a single game Saturday. In any case, it’s consistent with our Green Collar Baseball initiatives that emphasize value and a return to a genuine baseball experience. Win or lose at the gate, it will be different, memorable and fun.

Is there anything planned for between games? Anything different planned for game two? Any concerns that people won’t sit through five or six hours of baseball?

Leahey: Still working on the entertainment between games. It will likely have a retro feel (think Frisbee dog, at least metaphorically). There’s not a lot of time especially with lineup intros and so forth. However, it will be something simple, throwback and fun.

Saturday mid-summer, what better to do than to catch two games? Of course, people can arrive and depart as they like.

Baseball games are another experience in terms of pace … Maybe something close to a round of golf where most people prefer not to look at their watch, but rather to enjoy getting away from those metrics (back to baseball, to count time in innings vs. minutes).

Regarding the feedback the organization is seeking about promotions, are fans being asked for promtion ideas? Have you done this before? If so, what has been the outcome?

Leahey: As for fan feedback on promos, we have asked fans for input in the past (including through Facebook and Twitter this past season as we began planning 2011). This latest survey is intended to get some general feedback as well as help us make some final decisions regarding specific items. The decisions are a moving puzzle this time of year pending sponsor interest; the players on our team; key target dates; and special events, such as Little League Days and Fireworks Nights.

The overwhelming criteria is what will attract fans so any feedback that helps us with that is invaluable. I would say we have five to 10 promo days that are still pending. We constantly seek feedback. However, we are taking advantage of these new tools (e.g. e-mail surveys) like never before. Getting such instant feedback close to real time with order deadlines looming is a fantastic resource.

The Angels are headed to the ALCS, after they finally defeat their traditional post season nemesis, the Boston Red Sox.  Bet the house on it.

Granted, it’s hard to come up with a solid baseball-based argument to support that bold statement.  The Red Sox have owned the Angels in the post season since Dave Henderson broke my heart with his dramatic home run in the ’86 ALCS.  Since that home run, the Red Sox have swept the Angels out of the post season in 2004 and 2007, and just plain embarrassed them in 2008.

But I feel it in my bones… this is the year all that changes.  And while I’d be foolish to even attempt to support it with any game related facts, here are the 10 reasons why I feel so strongly:

1) I’m the Angel correspondent.  If I don’t believe that, who will?

2) Paul Byrd – I hear he’s a lovely guy, but his teams (2004 Braves, 2005 Angels, 2007 Indians, 2008 Red Sox) have all been post season losers.  That streak continues in 2009.  BTW, Byrd’s nickname is “Frasier”, because of his resemblance to TV’s Kelsey Grammer….

3) Tom Werner – Coincidentally, Red Sox co-owner Tom Werner is an Executive Producer of Kelsey Grammer‘s new ABC series, “Hank.”  I’ve seen “Hank”, and it’s not good.  I believe the struggling “Hank” will distract Werner from his important day-to-day minority shareholder duties, and the ensuing result will be an early post season exit for the Sox.

4) Jered Weaver‘s Haircut - Granted Weaver has only been a .500 pitcher since he trimmed his locks in early August, but there’s no questioning that he’s a better looking man because of it, and as he adjusts to the enhanced confidence that results from that, he will propel the Angels pitching staff past the Red Sox.

5) Barack Obama – When Boston defeated the Angels in 1986, 2004, 2007 and 2008, the country was lead by Republican Presidents Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush.  This year, the Angels are facing the Red Sox for the first time under a Democratic administration, which will lead to a more liberal amount of run scoring and an Angel series victory.

6) My season tickets – I’m not presumptuous enough to believe that my seat location has anything to do with how the Angels perform on the field, but the numbers speak for themselves.  For 35 years, my family has had season tickets behind the visiting dugout…. and for 35 years, the Angels have come up empty against the Red Sox.   This year, in search of shade, we’ve moved behind the Angels dugout, and concurrently, the Angels are poised to not only win this year’s playoffs, but begin a 35 year period of post season dominance.

7) Regular season dominance - In 2008, the Angels dominated the season series vs. the Red Sox (8-1), only to struggle in the playoffs and lose 3-1.  This regular season, the Angels struggled, coming out ahead (5-4), so logic would follow that they will dominate the playoff series.

Casey Kotchman – In 2008, the Angels traded Kotchman for Mark Teixeira.  The Red Sox traded Adam LaRoche for Kotchman.  The Angels clearly got the better of these two transactions, and thus will clearly get the better of the Red Sox in the post season.  If you’re not buying that logic… how about, in 2008, the Angels traded Kotchman and were cursed in the post season and lost in 4 games.  In 2009, the Red Sox traded for Kotchman, and will also be cursed in the post season.

9) Last Links to 2002 – With Scott Shields on the 60 Day DL after season-ending knee surgery, the Angels have only 2 players on the current roster who played on the 2002 Championship Team – John Lackey and Chone Figgins.  Both players are free agents … and attractive free agents whose return to Anaheim is anything but certain.  So this playoff drive is potentially the last to be lead by a player with a link to the World Series team, and a sentimental reason to motivate the current roster.  But there’s no more sentimental motivation for the Angels than….

10) Nick Adenhart – The Red Sox were the first team the Angels played after the tragic death of their young teammate, and with emotions already raw, they were further angered as the Sox’s Josh Beckett threw at the head of their team leader Torii Hunter.  The team has played with Adenhart’s inspiration all season, and they’ll be easily reminded of Beckett’s head hunting and the previous playoff embarrassments.  This series will test the character of the Angels… and they will finally shake the proverbial monkey off their backs and rally to face the Yankees in the 2009 ALCS.

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Drew Brown is a longtime Angel season ticket holder who blogs about the Angels at AngelsBaseballOnIce.com You can follow him on Twitter @angelsbaseball

The Yankees went 18-9 in July, with a phenomenal 13-3 home record. But the month wasn’t all fireworks and picnics for the Bombers, who ended the month in first place.

The Yanks started the month in the midst of a seven-game winning streak. Then they had their usual hellish games against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, with the team’s longtime nemesis sweeping the Yanks in the last series before the All-Star Break.

Fortunately for Yankee fans, the Bombers gave them a homestand to remember after the break, winning 9 of 10 games. The Yanks swept 3 teams – Minnesota, Detroit, and Baltimore, and beat Oakland 3 games to 1.

Two other things delighted fans during that homestand. First was Old Timers’ Day. The highlight was seeing Don Zimmer cheered on his return after the coach quit the team in a huff 6 years ago. Some fans wondered whether his return to Old Timers’ Day would reverse the alleged Curse of Zim – the Yankees haven’t made it out to the World Series since his resignation after the 2003 season.

The other non-game related highlight of the Yankees’ homestand was the Yankees first annual HOPE Week. HOPE, which stands for Helping Others Persevere & Excel, brought every single Yankee player into the community to help and honor others, and brought those honored into the stadium to see games in person. The Yanks’ heartwarming events included putting on a nighttime carnival at the stadium for chidren who can’t be exposed to sunlight, and brightening the day of an Army veteran with ALS. It was fitting that the Yanks won every HOPE Week game, and that the players got high-fives on the field after each win from the people they honored.

After this tremendous home series – the best for the Bombers this year – the Yanks won 2 out of 3 against Tampa Bay on the road. But Chicago wasn’t their kind of town – they finished the month with 2 losses against the White Sox.

Image via Wikipedia

Joba Chamberlain, who had a disappointing first half, with a lethargic pace, strike-zone nibbling, and arguments with his catchers, turned it around in July. After the All-Star Break, Joba became Joba again, with 3 electric wins in a row, giving up only 2 runs and 8 hits in 21.2 innings. And in all 3 games, he made it past the sixth inning, something he had struggled with all season.

Another Yankee pitcher having a great July was A.J. Burnett. He went 4-0 with a 2.53 ERA in 5 July games and proved to be one of the Yankees’ best additions this year. Derek Jeter was July’s hitting star, with a .438 OBP and a .357 batting average.

The end of July means a flurry of trades in baseball, but the Yanks didn’t do much during the trading deadline – supersub Jerry Hairston Jr. was the only pickup. However, they did get great production from Eric Hinske, a player they traded for at the end of June. Hinske had 7 hits (5 of them homers) in just 21 July at-bats.

On the down side, Chien-Ming Wang went to see Dr. James Andrews and was diagnosed with a shoulder injury. The pitcher underwent arthoscopic surgery and could be out for as long as a year.

But all in all, July gave the Yankees a lot to hope about, in more ways than one.

Meanwhile, it looks as if overworking CC Sabathia finally caught up to the Brewers this weekend as he didn’t even last 4 complete innings this weekend. I wonder how former Brewer’s manager Ned Yost is feeling today? After non being in the playoffs since 1982, the team formerly owned by Commissioner Bud Selig have been eliminated in the first round by the Phillies. Will Robin Yount be their manager in 2009? To hear the outcry from Milwaukee, please check out Brewers Bar who have an easy going approach to the end of their team’s playoff push as written HERE and Brew Crew Ball was pretty laid back, too; check it out HERE .

Both NL Central teams are out if it early!

Both the White Sox and the Angels have stayed alive for one more game as both teams won their game 3′s against the Rays and the Red Sox. I still think that the ALCS will be an AL East rematch for the pennant between the Red Sox and the Rays. It should be a great series. The Sox should win tonight with Lester going against Lackey, but the Rays might have to go to 5 with Sonnanstine going against Floyd this afternoon. We’ll just have to wait and see…

I like both teams here, but I have to pick one. I’m not impressed with either team’s bullpen and I have to give the edge to the Brewers with their starting pitching, especially if Gallardo can pitch like he did last year. Catching, 1B, SS and 3B are just about even, but the Phillieshave the edge at 2B and closer. The Brewers have the edge in the OF corners especially if Burrell doesn’t play due to injury. Cameron, Braun & Hart beat out Burrell, Victorino and whoever the Phils put out in RF (Jenkins, Werth, etc.). After the dust settles, this one might just go 5 games. They are both good teams. Whoever gets hot & stays hot will win.

LA Dodgers vs. Chicago Cubs

The Cubshave a lot more fire power even with the Dodger’s newest LF, Manny Ramirez. I don’t think he will be enough, but the wild card here is Joe Torre. I’ve seen him enough times to know that you just can’t count one of his teams out too soon. He just gets the most out of his players. LA is a perfect fit for him! This should be another good series, going 4 or 5 games unless the Dodger’s bats go missing, which is a possibility. They do own the worst record of all of the 8 teams in this year’s playoffs. Cubs advance due to an overpowering offense.

Boston Red Sox vs. LA Angels of Anaheim

The Red Sox have dominated the Angels in the past 9 playoff appearences although the Angels had key players hurt last year. What happened in the regular season is almost insignificant. What does matter is the addittion of Teixiera and Hunter in the Angels line up this year. Also a concern is the ability of the Sox injured to play up to par. Lowell‘s hip is a huge concern and Drew‘s back could loose some punch in the line up, but they can survive that and add speed with an OF of Bay, Crisp & Ellsbury (The Human Sparkplug) The Sox youth movement up the middle at 2B and SS (Pedroia and Lowrie) have an advantage over the Angels, but the biggest concern is with Beckett and his oblique. If he is hindered, the Sox could survive this series, but if they were to continue into the ALCS, it would be a major concern against either the White Sox or the Rays. Either way, I like Boston‘s starting pitching over the Angels, but LA has the better bullpen all around. I still like the Sox to advance though.

Chicago White Sox at Tampa Bay Rays

I think this is Tampa Bay‘s year to shine! I just think that the extra two games played the past two days are going to hurt Chicago although an all Chicago World Series would be great baseball! Just don’t hold your breath. The Rayshas the pitching strength of the 2005 White Sox, and a solid deffense behind them and without Quentin, the Sox have a less firepower than they had in the regular season. The only question that remains is how many Raysfans will turn out in Tampa in these games? I would like to see Griffey Jr. go deep into the playoffs, but I just don’t see it happening this year!

Now, if the games were only on another station. The announcers last year were painfully bad, but I did enjoy Eckersley & Ripken after the Sox and Twins game last night. Eck’s colorful baseball lingo is a breath of fresh air if you can keep up with him, that is.

The Seattle Mariners are said to be interested in interviewing the Dodgers assistant GM. Why would this be newsworthy? Because Ms. Kim Ng would be the first woman to become a GM in Major League Baseball! What does USS Mariners have to say about this?

The Brewers beat out the Mets for the NL Wild Card! The Mets have now NOT made the playoffs after having a 3½ game lead with 17 games to go fo two years in a row!

With Yankees starter Mike Mussina’s win yesterday, he has become the oldest pitcher to record his first 20 win season.

The Angels notched their 100th victory this weekend! They end the regular season with the best record in baseball for 2008!

The Washington Nationals fired 5 coaches after loosing 102 games, leaving only manager Manny Acta and pitching coach Randy St. Claire in place for 2009.

The Mariners lost 101 games in 2008. Look for more coaches to loose their jobs there as well.