Jered Weaver

Josh Hamilton is not the only superstar in the Angels' clubhouse who had a bitter breakup with the fans of his old team. Albert Pujols is no longer universally beloved in St. Louis. Hamilton had a harsh homecoming reception in Texas over the weekend. Pujols said he does not worry about what kind of reaction would await him when he returns to St. Louis. "I'm way past that," Pujols told The Times. "When the time comes, I'll deal with it. " The Angels do play the Cardinals this season, but the games are in Anaheim.

BALTIMORE  - When it rains, it pours for Angels, figuratively and literally, and they were drenched in the controversial sixth inning Monday night when they gave up the decisive runs in a 4-3 loss to the Baltimore Orioles in Camden Yards. The Angels still had a chance to win after a 2-hour, 14-minute rain delay, trimming the deficit to 4-3 in the seventh when Orioles first baseman Chris Davis threw late to second on Josh Hamilton's bases-loaded slow roller, allowing a run to score.

Angels Manager Mike Scioscia confirmed Wednesday what was long suspected: Jered Weaver will make his third consecutive opening-day start when he takes the mound with the new Albert Pujols-led Angels on Friday night vs. the Kansas City Royals at Anaheim Stadium. The 29-year-old Weaver (18-8, 2.41 earned run average last season) has been an All-Star the last two years. He is scheduled to face Kansas City veteran Bruce Chen in the 7:05 p.m. game. "Weave's the guy you want out there," Scioscia said.

BOSTON - Heavy rain washed out Friday night's opener of a three-game series between the Angels and Boston Red Sox in Fenway Park six hours before first pitch. The game was rescheduled as part of a split doubleheader Saturday, with games scheduled for 10 a.m. and 4:15 p.m. PDT. Both teams will stick with their original rotations, the Angels starting Tommy Hanson (Game 1) and C.J. Wilson (Game 2) on Saturday and Joe Blanton on Sunday, and the Red Sox starting Felix Doubrant and Clay Buchholz on Saturday and Ryan Dempster on Sunday.

  [Updated, 9:36 p.m. May 2: Angels pitcher Jered Weaver became only the third Angels pitcher since 1990 to throw a no-hitter in a 9-0 win over the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday night at Angel Stadium. ] The only two base-runners for the Twins were Chris Parmelee in the second inning when he struck out and ended up on first on a passed ball by catcher Chris Iannetta and a seventh-inning walk to Josh Willingham on a 3-and-2 count. The Angels collected a season-high 15 hits.

Albert Pujols struck out swinging against Kansas City Royals reliever Aaron Crow in the seventh inning, and the Angels and Royals enter the eighth inning scoreless. Pujols earlier lined into a double play and fouled out to third base in his debut at Angel Stadium, where a sellout crowd of 44,106 is watching. The Angels, riding a strong performance by starting pitcher Jered Weaver (10 strikeouts through eight innings), haven't had a runner at second base since the first inning.

Jered Weaver struck out 11 batters for the second consecutive time and Erick Aybar hit a game-winning home run. But in the eyes of Angels Manager Mike Scioscia, the deciding factor in the Angels' 3-2 win over the Texas Rangers at Angel Stadium was the relief pitching of Kevin Jepsen in the eighth inning. Jepsen inherited runners on second base and third base with one out when Weaver departed the game Saturday, but the 25-year-old right-hander retired Michael Young and Marlon Byrd to help preserve the win. "The biggest thing this afternoon was Kevin Jepsen; I don't think you could ask for anything more from a guy pitching in the back end of the bullpen than what he did," Scioscia said.

Was it a playoff preview . . . or a postseason playback? There was something frighteningly familiar for the Angels about their 10-7 loss to the Detroit Tigers on Monday night at Angel Stadium. Their starting pitcher couldn't measure up to one of the best in the American League. Their hitters were neither timely nor clutch until the game was out of reach. The result was predictably disappointing for a franchise that has dropped four of its last five playoff series since winning the 2002 World Series.

The Angels scoffed at the radar gun readings at Great American Ball Park. Jered Weaver 's fastball registered in the 84-87 mph range there on opening day , and the Angels suggested that the gun in Cincinnati was a little on the slow side. Weaver, the Angels' ace, made his second start of the season on Sunday, against the Texas Rangers at the Ballpark in Arlington. The radar gun there had his fastball in the very same range: 84-87 mph. Neither game was played in optimal conditions, with unusually cold weather in Cincinnati and gusting winds in Texas.

Jered Weaver's spark plugs, air filter and brake fluid look fine. The right-hander looked sharp in his final tuneup for the playoffs Friday night, throwing five shutout innings with five strikeouts and no walks in the Angels' 5-2 victory over the Oakland Athletics. But the check-engine light came on for setup man Kevin Jepsen, who suffered his second shaky outing in seven days, giving up singles to three of the four batters he faced and two runs in the ninth inning. "I feel like I'm out there trying to work on things instead of doing what I normally do, which is go after guys and let it all hang out," Jepsen said.

When Jered Weaver arrived for work Tuesday afternoon, the first thing he did was ask clubhouse attendant Angel Miranda to turn up the air conditioning. Getting swept by the lowly Houston Astros at home, it would seem, had made things uncomfortably warm for the Angels. Weaver generally thrives in that kind of heat, though: Ten times in the last two seasons he's taken the mound following a loss and pitched the team to victory. But turning the Angels around this time proved to be more than a one-man job. So it fell to Albert Pujols to follow a strong performance by Weaver with a long two-run home run into the left-field bleachers in the eighth inning to give the Angels a 4-3 win over the Chicago Cubs, ending a four-game losing streak.

Dr. Lewis Yocum, the longtime Angels team physician and nationally renowned orthopedic surgeon who saved or extended the careers of hundreds of major league baseball players, died Saturday after quietly battling liver cancer. He was 65. Yocum, who was in his 36th season with the Angels, consulted and operated on players throughout baseball. He was considered, with noted Alabama surgeon Dr. James Andrews, a leading expert on the elbow reconstruction procedure known as Tommy John surgery.

The last we saw of Jered Weaver, the Angels ace was corkscrewing his lanky 6-foot-7, 210-pound frame into the mound at Texas on April 7, his left elbow buckling as he hit the ground to avoid a wicked line drive off the bat of Rangers first baseman Mitch Moreland. Weaver was considerably more upright Wednesday night, standing tall and sturdy on the Angel Stadium mound in his first game back after missing seven weeks because of a left elbow fracture. A 20-game winner last season, Weaver gave the Angels a huge shot in the arm, yielding one run and five hits, striking out seven and walking none in six innings of a 4-3 victory over the Dodgers.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - All signs are pointing toward Jered Weaver's returning to the rotation next week, but the team won't make a final decision until the right-hander throws in the bullpen this weekend. "It's very encouraging," Manager Mike Scioscia said. "We're going to see how he comes out of his bullpen, and if everything is fine, we'll fold him into the rotation in the middle of next week. If he needs more work, it will be there for him. " Weaver, out since he suffered a broken left elbow in an April 7 game at Texas, threw 52/3 innings in an extended spring-training game in Arizona on Wednesday, giving up one run and six hits, striking out nine and walking none.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - It's a forkball. No, it's a knuckleball. Like the old Certs breath mint commercial, Angels reliever Robert Coello's signature delivery is two, two, two pitches in one, and the right-hander has used it to carve a bullpen role that seems to grow more prominent with each outing. Last Saturday, Coello replaced starter Joe Blanton with the bases loaded and one out in the fifth inning. He struck out Alexei Ramirez and Alex Rios and retired the side in order in the sixth to earn the win in a 12-9 victory over the White Sox. Thursday night, Coello replaced struggling closer Ernesto Frieri with two on and two out in the ninth.

Jered Weaver on Wednesday moved a big step closer to returning from the disabled list and closer Ryan Madson suffered another setback when his right arm flared up after a one-inning minor league outing 10 days ago. Weaver threw 5 2/3 innings in an extended spring-training game in Arizona, giving up a run and six hits against a team of Arizona Diamondbacks minor league players. Weaver, who hasn't pitched since fracturing his left elbow April 7, made 75 pitches, 62 for strikes.

The Angels placed ace Jered Weaver on the 15-day disabled list on Tuesday because of a non-displaced radial head fracture in his left elbow, an injury that will sideline the right-hander for at least four weeks. Initial X-rays of the elbow taken Sunday night in Texas were negative, and Weaver, who jammed the elbow as he hit the ground to avoid a vicious Mitch Moreland line drive up the middle, was diagnosed with a strain. But further tests in Southern California on Monday revealed a more significant injury, and the Angels will be without their best pitcher, a 20-game winner in 2012, for at least a month and possibly more.

The Angels will gather Tuesday for their organizational meetings, an annual two-day event in which front-office executives, coaches and scouts evaluate the team's strengths and weaknesses and begin formulating ideas to improve the club this winter. There will probably be much hand-wringing over the team's underachieving offense, too-often unreliable bullpen, thin bench, sometimes shaky defense and fundamental lapses that cost the Angels a shot at their fourth straight division title.

Angels pitcher Jason Vargas had a harder time controlling his preschool-age son Joshua than he did controlling the Chicago White Sox on Sunday, which is a good sign for the Angels and Joshua. Because if Vargas keeps pitching as he has the last three weeks, culminating in a 6-2 victory over the White Sox, the team may finally be able to stop searching for a top-of-the-rotation ace to replace the injured Jered Weaver. And that means more happy postgame clubhouses for the rambunctious Joshua to romp through.