Mariners Rip Weaver and Beat Angels, 9-4

The next four days will constitute a 96-hour cram session for Jeff Weaver, who plans to dissect every aspect of his latest poor outing like a forensics expert scouring a crime scene.

After the Seattle Mariners hit four home runs against him in the Angels’ 9-4 loss Sunday afternoon at Angel Stadium, Weaver said he realized the importance of rectifying a disturbing pattern of mistakes before his next start.

The right-hander faces the Dodgers on Friday and, more than the prospect of potential embarrassment against the team that cast him aside in the off-season, another poor showing might prompt the Angels to consider removing him from the rotation.

Manager Mike Scioscia said he hadn’t reached that point, but Weaver (1-6) took another giant step toward a demotion Sunday while giving up seven hits and seven runs in 3 2/3 innings. He has lost his last four appearances and has only two quality starts in eight outings since signing a one-year, $8.325-million contract.

“The good thing about it is it’s early and I’ve got a long ways to go,” said Weaver, who has given up 12 homers in 45 innings, tied for most in the American League.

“The only problem that’s going to occur is if I continue to let it happen, and I work too hard to let games like this occur.”

The most disheartening aspect of Weaver’s performance might have been that he couldn’t compose himself after his teammates shook off a big early deficit and pulled even with a four-run outburst in the third inning.

After Raul Ibanez hit a two-run homer in the first and Jose Lopez hit a two-run homer in the third, the Angels tied the score in the bottom of the inning on a run-scoring single by Vladimir Guerrero, a run-scoring groundout by Garret Anderson and a two-run homer by Adam Kennedy.

But Carl Everett whacked Weaver’s first pitch of the fourth over the fence in right field, and four batters later the light-hitting Yuniesky Betancourt hit his second homer in two days, a two-run shot that prompted Scioscia to remove Weaver. Just like that, the Angels trailed, 7-4, and were on their way to their seventh defeat in their last eight games at Angel Stadium.

“Jeff had a lot of trouble hitting spots and really never got into any kind of effective groove that would let him get a chance to get some outs,” Scioscia said.

The Angels have lost 12 of 16 games and slipped into last place in the AL West for the second time this season, a half-game behind the third-place Mariners and four games behind division-leading Texas.

“I thought we were turning a corner there the last couple of days, the last game in Chicago and the first game here, but we ran into a team playing pretty good,” Kennedy said of the Mariners, who won two of three games in the series. “They took advantage of a few mistakes and made us pay.”

The only Angels highlight besides Kennedy’s homer was a dazzling defensive play in the second by shortstop Orlando Cabrera, who made a sliding stop of Kenji Johjima’s grounder up the middle.

Using his glove, Cabrera flipped the ball to Kennedy, who made a barehanded catch and threw to first to complete the double play.

Scioscia said he planned to meet with Weaver, pitching coach Bud Black and Angels catchers to “get some feedback to where we can go and what [Weaver] needs to do to be more consistent.”

“He’s out there trying to hit spots and he’s out of sync,” Scioscia said, “and when you’re out of sync and you’re missing with the frequency that he is right now, you’re certainly going to hit some bats.”

Weaver suggested that he was overthrowing and trying to do too much to help his new team.

“It’s always a challenge coming in to new teams where you want to get stuff done early and often, and then when you do put yourself in a little bit of a hole it’s a situation where you want to get everything fixed right away,” he said.

“Baseball’s a game that is not like that. It’s a gradual improvement and a continual gain in the right direction. The only way to do that is to start fresh and move forward.”