Jered Weaver Head Hunting

Jered Weaver of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim received a six game suspension on Tuesday for throwing at Alex Avila of the Detroit Tigers.  Note that Weaver is not afraid to pitch inside to left-handed batters.

Jered Weaver, pitching inside to lefties out of the strike zone, 2011.Compare that to the league average:

MLB, RHP inside to LHB, 2011.Weaver tends to come farther inside than most righties, and up and down a bit more.  His high pitches usually end up over the plate, not near the batter's head.

Look where he threw the pitch to Avila:

Jered Weaver pitch to Alex Avila, July 31, 2011 (pitch labeled 1).That is not where Jered normally pitches when he misses.  It's off the chart.

Missing: Joel Pineiro's Grounders, Control

A few years ago, Joel Pineiro reinvented himself as an earth-scorching sinkerball pitcher possessing exquisite command. That skill set made him nearly a five-win pitcher for the Cardinals in 2009 and earned him a two-year, $16 million contract with the Angels prior to last season. Pineiro pitched well for the Halos in 2010 in between a nearly two-month DL stint for a strained oblique, but he's not burning worms or being as stingy with the walks in 2011.

The 32-year-old righty, who missed most of April with right shoulder tightness, is getting fewer grounders and issuing more free passes as the season progresses:

April/May: 53.1 ground ball percentage, 1.56 walks per nine innings pitched

June: 49.1 GB%, 3.3 BB/9

July: 39 GB%, 3.66 BB/9

Pineiro gets precious few strikeouts (3.9 per nine innings this season, tied with Pineiro's mound opponent on Thursday, Brad Penny, for second-lowest among starters). Without scores of ground balls and great control, he's going to get drubbed.

So, what's the cause of Pineiro's sharply lower ground ball rate and his higher walk rate? You might think it's his sinker, but that's not the biggest reason. Pineiro is getting a lower (but not drastically lower) percentage of grounders with the pitch, while still throwing strikes:

Pineiro's sinker, by month

April/May: 55.1 GB%, 62.7 strike percentage

June: 48.6 GB%, 64.1 strike%

July: 50 GB%, 63.1 strike%

His high-70s curveball and mid-80s slider are different stories, though:

Pineiro's breaking stuff, by month

April/May: 53.8 GB%, 64.2 strike%

June: 53.6 GB%, 67.4 strike%

July: 26.1 GB%, 58.9 strike%

Pineiro's location with his breaking pitches has been way off in July, and batters are often lofting those offerings into the air. Take a look at his curveball and slider location through June:

 Pitch frequency of Pineiro's breaking stuff, April-June 2011

In the strike zone, and at the knees. Now, look at where Pineiro is throwing his breaking pitches this month:

Pitch frequency of Pineiro's breaking stuff, July 2011He's missing low or to the glove side a lot, and when he puts in in the zone, it's higher and over the fat part of the plate.  

When Pineiro is inducing weak choppers and giving up few base on balls, he's a quality starter in spite of his microscopic strikeout rate. Without those virtues, he's a batting practice pitcher. To get back on track, he needs to pound hitters at the knees with his breaking stuff.

Ervin Santana's No-No

The Angels' Ervin Santana no-hit the Indians on Wednesday afternoon -- but Cleveland still led the game until the fifth frame. A first inning fielding error by Erick Aybar later turned into a run when Santana uncorked a wild pitch with Ezequiel Carrera on third base, but Santana pulled off the no-no and earned the Angels a 3-1 win by allowing just one other base runner the rest of the game. Santana whiffed 10 batters and walked one (Lonnie Chisenhall in the eighth inning), joining Francisco Liriano and Justin Verlander in 2011's no-no club. It was the Angels' first complete-game no-hitter since Mike Witt threw a perfect game against Texas on September 30, 1984.

A fastball/slider pitcher who features just a smattering of changeups, Santana threw 68 heaters, 34 breaking balls and three changes against Cleveland. His velocity was higher than usual, as Santana averaged 93.3 MPH with his heat (92.6 MPH overall in 2011) and 82.7 MPH with his slider (81.9 overall in 2011).

While Santana is typically a fly ball-slanted pitcher, he recorded 12 ground ball outs compared to five fly outs on Wednesday. He challenged Cleveland's lefty-laden lineup (seven swung from the left side) with fastballs on the inner half, and buried his slider at the knees:

Fastball

Frequency of Santana's fastball location vs. Cleveland on July 27, 2011

Slider

Frequency of Santana's slider location vs. Cleveland on July 27, 2011

Santana got five Ks apiece with his fastball and slider, and seven of his whiffs were of the swinging variety:

Pitch location and release velocity of Santana's strikeouts vs. Cleveland on July 27, 2011

According to Baseball-Reference's Play Index Tool, Santana is the first pitcher to throw a nine inning no-hitter while surrendering a run since Houston's Darryl Kile did it versus the Mets on September 8, 1993, at the Astrodome.