It was the baseball equivalent of a big brother putting his little brother in a headlock and giving him a noogie.
A serious beat-down it wasn't, but Jeff Weaver clearly got the best of little brother Jered on Saturday night, the elder Weaver's five-inning, two-run effort leading the Dodgers to a 6-4 interleague victory before a crowd of 44,148 in Angel Stadium.
With parents Gail and Dave Weaver sitting behind home plate wearing hybrid Dodgers-Angels No. 36 jerseys, Jered Weaver suffered his worst game of the year, giving up six runs and 10 hits in 5 1/3 innings.
That was as many earned runs as Jered had given up this season in 53 2/3 innings of seven home games, in which Weaver was 5-0 with a 1.01 earned-run average.
Dodgers catcher Russell Martin hit his first home run in 218 at-bats this season, Andre Ethier keyed a three-run fifth with a two-run triple, and closer Jonathan Broxton survived a ninth-inning, pinch-hit, two-run home run by Gary Matthews Jr., as the Dodgers ended the Angels' seven-game win streak.
"I'm mentally and physically exhausted -- that was one of the most ill-felt victories ever," Jeff Weaver, 32, said after the Weavers became the eighth set of brothers in major league history and first since Andy and Alan Benes in 2002 to face each other. "It wasn't easy for any of us. We made history. Now it's time to move on."
Jered Weaver (7-3) felt equally drained, but it won't be as easy for the 26-year-old to put the game behind him, because his older brother now holds bragging rights.
"He's gotten the upper hand on me the past 26 years, and we're going to laugh about it," Jered said. "It was fun to be a part of it, but hopefully we won't have to go through this again."
Jered tried to call Jeff twice Saturday, "but he was big leaguing me, there was no answer," Jered said. "What are you gonna do?"
The strangest part of the evening was pregame warmups; both bullpens are next to each other behind the left-field fence.
"I looked up and gave him a little smirk," Jered said.
Jeff got the last laugh. After giving up an RBI single to Bobby Abreu in the first and Kendry Morales' solo homer in the second, he blanked the Angels on one hit from the third through fifth innings to improve to 4-1.
He was pulled after giving up Chone Figgins' leadoff triple in the sixth, but Ronald Belisario got Weaver out of the jam, striking out Abreu, hitting Torii Hunter with a pitch and striking out Vladimir Guerrero and Juan Rivera.
