WEAVER SHOWS HE CAN HANDLE CURVE THE ROOKIE WINS SEVENTH WITHOUT BREAKING PITCH ANGELS 3, KANSAS CITY 1.

Byline: DOUG PADILLA Staff Writer

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- OK, so it was just the Kansas City Royals that Jered Weaver held back Sunday, but this one still had significance.

Weaver made it seven victories in seven tries as the Angels forged a series split Sunday with a 3-1 victory over the Royals.

The Angels improved to 15-4 this month and moved within a game of first place in the AL West, but seeing Weaver win without his best curveball was the real bonus.

The laid-back 23-year-old had to go blue collar to beat the Royals, but he made it up as he went along and still managed to give up just one run on three hits in 6 2/3 innings.

Weaver was making his first start in two weeks after delays resulting from the All-Star break and a skipped start because of a bout of biceps tendinitis. By the time the seventh inning rolled around and Weaver had pushed across the 100-pitch plateau, he was out of gas.

Manager Mike Scioscia removed Weaver with two outs in the seventh after he plunked John Buck with a pitch.

J.C. Romero, Scot Shields and Francisco Rodriguez took it the rest of the way to make Weaver the first rookie to win his first seven starts of a season since Fernando Valenzuela went 8-0 with the Dodgers in 1981.

Weaver's manager was Valenzuela's catcher that season.

``The expectations are to win and Fernando kept going out there and pitching his game and having success,'' Scioscia said. ``I think Jered's doing the same thing. On the field and in the clubhouse, what the expectations were for our club and that club, I think there are a lot of things that are similar.''

While Valenzuela was the center of a full-blown craze by this point in that winning streak, the hype surrounding Weaver's run has been relatively tame by comparison. But talk is building, and when he hits the mound at Boston's Fenway Park on Saturday in pursuit of victory No. 8, the buzz likely will have grown.

``It still hasn't kicked in yet,'' Weaver said. ``It still feels like I'm throwing in college again, that type of thing. I don't really get all hyped up. It's just going out there and make pitches. (The only difference) is one more tier (of seats) in the stadium.''

It's about as healthy of an approach as a pitcher can have, especially one who is trying to pitch without important tools like one of his better pitches, as Weaver had to Sunday.

``It gives me a lot of confidence, obviously, to not have my best stuff and still be able to make outs and be able to make pitches when I had to make pitches,'' Weaver said. ``I think that was a big key. I have to work on it this week.''

The Royals were the first team Weaver has faced twice and this time he was just as efficient as the first. In his two victories against the Royals, Weaver has given up just oneearned run and eight hits in 13 2/3 innings.

And don't mention that Weaver's victories have been against what could be considered second-tier offenses such as the Royals, Orioles, Indians, Devil Rays, Mariners and A's, at least not to Scioscia.

``Don't talk to me about that,'' Scioscia snapped. ``This guy is going to go out there and pitch his game. Any time you take that field there is a lineup that can score a lot of runs. What did they score, nine runs off us (in the series opener)?

``I think that was a very nice pitching performance by a young man who had trouble commanding his breaking ball early and still got by against a major-league lineup. That's what we're looking at.''

The Angels didn't deliver much on offense, either, but an RBI single from Adam Kennedy in the second and a two-run single from Robb Quinlan in the fourth was enough. Rodriguez recorded his 25th save in 27 chances.

Perhaps the Angels were too engrossed in watching their own pitcher, who has provided something of a respite from uncertainty as the trade deadline July 31. With the Angels mentioned in nearly every rumor about an available, proven hitter, distractions have been aplenty.

``A lot of guys in this clubhouse think they're going to get traded, and they're frustrated in certain situations with how they're performing,'' hitting coach Mickey Hatcher said. ``They're battling through all that right now and have given themselves another chance (at making the playoffs).

``My biggest thing is to get past the deadline to where guys can clear their minds a little bit better. But they've all been professionals through all this.''

It is a professional approach the team has, right down to a kid pitcher whose ERA actually had dipped below 1.00 before he gave up a run in the sixth. His ERA against the Royals is 0.66.

``He's a talented kid but he's gong to lose one of these days,'' Royals manager Buddy Bell said.

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Angels starter Jered Weaver is one win shy of Fernando Valenzuela's 8-0 mark as a rookie with the Dodgers in 1981.

Charlie Riedell/Associated Press