Sharp Weaver Throws the Sink at Giants

Like a golfer watching the break of his partner’s putt before standing over his own ball, Dodger pitcher Jeff Weaver educated himself by watching teammate Derek Lowe.

Weaver and Lowe employ similar styles, relying on sinking fastballs to get batters to pound the ball into the ground.

So before taking the mound Thursday, Weaver studied video of the way San Francisco Giant batters responded to Lowe’s downward darts on opening day. Lowe and Weaver exchanged ideas in a vernacular peculiar to sinkerball pitchers.

“I was fascinated by it,” said Jim Colborn, the Dodger pitching coach.

The Giants were plain frustrated.

Weaver mowed through a lineup weakened by the absence of injured Barry Bonds and Moises Alou, giving up five hits in eight innings of a 6-0 Dodger victory.

Weaver didn’t finish the game because he had thrown 102 pitches and Manager Jim Tracy said that was enough this early in the season. Left-hander Kelly Wunsch pitched the ninth.

“I wanted to go out there and make it happen,” said Weaver, who is 4-0 with a 1.14 earned-run average at SBC Park.

The Dodgers made it happen offensively against Giant starter Brett Tomko by frequently swinging at the first pitch.

Jeff Kent opened the fourth and sixth innings with first-pitch singles and scored both times. His first hit was followed by a first-pitch single by Milton Bradley, and Kent scored on a first-pitch fly by Jose Valentin.

The Dodgers extended the lead with three runs in the sixth. Kent ignited the rally with a single and scored on a single by Jason Phillips after a walk to Valentin with one out. With two out, Weaver poked a single to right on an 0-2 count to bring home Valentin, and Cesar Izturis singled to bring in Phillips.

“Tomko is an aggressive pitcher, and if his first or second pitch was going to be the best pitch we were going to see, we were going to swing at it,” Kent said.

Kent waited until the second pitch to deliver an RBI double off the left-field wall in the ninth against reliever Jim Brower. The Giant bullpen collapsed for the second game in a row, and the Dodgers scored again when Valentin walked with the bases loaded, his fourth free pass of the game.

Happy to have a rested bullpen, Tracy will start Elmer Dessens and Scott Erickson today and Saturday against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Erickson is another sinker specialist. Although he will face a different opponent, he has had the opportunity to watch Lowe and Weaver. Phillips, the new Dodger catcher, is enjoying watching opposing batters get a sinking feeling.

“Once a team has seen a sinkerball pitcher, the next guy has to keep them honest as the game goes on,” Phillips said. “That’s what Jeff did. He threw some great changeups to left-handed hitters and changed his arm angle against some of the right-handers.”

The Dodgers had only three complete-game shutouts last season, including one by Jose Lima in the playoffs. Weaver has three career shutouts, all in 2002 with the Detroit Tigers. Having a kindred sinkerball spirit such as Lowe around might make for more.

“When you watch how Derek goes after hitters, you can see pitches in certain areas that guys are swinging and missing at and other pitches that guys are doing damage with,” Weaver said. “Any time you can get a heads up, it helps.”