ANGELS: WEAVER'S LEARNING CURVE SIMI VALLEY HIGH GRAD SEES NEW HIGHS AND LOWS THROUGH A TOUGH SECOND SEASON.

Byline: DOUG PADILLA 

Staff Writer

ANAHEIM - If last year was the most exciting of Jered Weaver's life, then call this year the most important.

The giant lessons Weaver is learning this season are sure to help shape the remainder of his career, however long it lasts.

It started in February when he learned about the importance of offseason conditioning, and it has continued into July with some lessons on patience.

Weaver has been willing to absorb it all, not too proud to see he still has things to learn even after having so much success through high school, college and his first season with the Angels.

Weaver was 11-2 with a 2.56ERA in his sensational rookie season, and has followed that up with a modest 6-5 record and 3.30 ERA this year.

There have been plenty of differences from a year ago.

The real eye-opener came this spring when the former Simi Valley High standout could not pitch because of biceps tendinitis. He admitted later that he decided to take it easy over the winter, thinking it might cool down his tendinitis symptoms. It had the opposite effect.

Weaver is now on an extra stretching and exercise routine to avoid new flare ups, or at the very least to minimize them.

"Obviously there will be a lot of different things that happen in this offseason that I didn't do in this last offseason," Weaver said. "It's a learning experience as you go through the years. Your body is going to react to things differently. It's a matter of staying on top of certain things and keep everything strengthened up."

Year No. 2 also brought the realization that opposing teams are more prepared.

The Detroit Tigers, who Weaver will face tonight, got their first ever look at the right-hander on April 23. When the dust settled that night, Weaver had absorbed the worst pounding of his young career.

"Obviously it's a little different with more and more games that you throw and more footage that's out there," he said. "People will start adjusting. It's been a grind, it's been a battle. It's been a good learning experience for me."

Weaver might not have to go beyond his cell phone's speed dial to find a successful gameplan for the Tigers. His brother Jeff exposed Detroit in the World Series last year by feeding their right-handed hitters mounds of sliders and inside fastballs.

Whatever the strategy, it isn't likely Weaver has a repeat of that earlier outing. The right-hander has been at his best of late with a 2.18 ERA over his past seven starts. But it hasn't shown up in his win-loss record, as he is just 2-2 over that stretch.

The problem has been a lack of run support that has reached critical proportions. Sure the Angels offense has cooled of late, but Weaver wasn't getting runs back in June when all of the other Angels pitchers were lavished with gifts.

During Weaver's past three June starts, the Angels scored a combined five runs. Over his past five starts, the Angels have scored a combined 11 runs, an average of 2.2 a game, making a spotless ERA more of a necessity than a luxury.

"You just have to block it out and keep going out there and battling," Weaver said. "It will turn around. It's just one of those seasons where things haven't quite gone my way. We're going through a skid right now where if one thing is going good then another thing isn't going good. It's just a matter of time to work out of that and get everything clicking again."

Add a mature outlook to Weaver's growing arsenal. Not only that, but Weaver has been learning from adversity this season, whether it be from the lack of run support or from his own doing when he was trying to overthrow earlier this year.

"I was trying to do the college thing and trying to strike everybody out and it wasn't working for me obviously," he said. "You're not going to get away with that up here.

"Now I try to get outs in the first three pitches instead of falling behind and getting to 3-1 and have to work yourself back into a count. I'm just trying to learn things in that regard and trying to go out there and pitch instead of throwing everything as hard as you can."

Consider the Tigers warned.

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Angels (Weaver 6-5) vs. Detroit (Robertson 6-7), 7:05 p.m., Angel Stadium.

TV: Ch. 13.

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Angels starter Jered Weaver is learning that opponents are better prepared and the importance of offseason training.

Jeff Gross/Getty Images