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Weaver, Matthews help Angels blank White Sox

Apr 29, 2007 - 3:50 AM CHICAGO (Ticker) -- Jered Weaver did not let his last performance affect this one.

Weaver picked up his first win of the season and Gary Matthews Jr. continued to impress as the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim posted a 3-0 victory over the Chicago White Sox.

Weaver (1-2), who missed the first two weeks of the season with a arm problem, allowed just six hits with five strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings, throwing 71 of 107 pitches for strikes. The White Sox loaded the bases with two outs, but Weaver got Alex Cintron to fly out.

"Everything's coming together nicely, mechanically and arm strength-wise," Weaver said. "This is pretty much like my spring training, trying to get out there and shut them down as much as possible."

It was a nice bounce-back showing for Weaver, who was coming off his shortest career outing, being tagged for seven runs in just 1 2/3 frames in a 9-5 setback against Detroit on Monday.

"I tried to wipe it behind me," Weaver said about his previous start. "It's going to happen. Even the best in the league get knocked around too. I tried to learn from it, and pick something up mechanically."

As a rookie last season, the 24-year-old Weaver posted an impressive 11-2 record, including winning his first seven starts.

Justin Speier and Scot Shields bridged the gap to closer Francisco Rodriguez, who worked around an one-out walk for his seventh save for the Angels, who have won seven of their last nine since enduring a six-game slide from April 12-18.

"It was good to see Justin, Scott and Frankie finish it up," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "They are going to be a big part of whatever we do this year, and they did the job."

Matthews delivered his fifth career leadoff homer, and Erick Aybar and Reggie Willits each had RBI singles one inning later against White Sox starter Jon Garland for a 3-0 advantage.

"It's good to get ahead," Scioscia said. "That's one of the things Gary does as well as any lead off hitter. Gary has the ability to get on base and to drive the ball. Turns out it's big, we didn't score much; we didn't get a lot going after the second inning, but getting that hit was big for Jared."

Signing a five-year, $50 million contract in the offseason, Matthews has been coming on of late, collecting 15 hits and seven RBI in his last eight games.

"It's always good to get off to a good start and score some runs, and alleviate some of the pressure off of our starting pitchers, so he doesn't have to go out there and be perfect," Matthews said.

Garland (0-2) gave up three runs and five hits in seven frames, falling to 2-7 all-time against the Angels.

"Garland threw the ball well," Chicago manager Ozzie Guillen said. "I think the one bad pitch he made all day was to the first hitter. After that, he pitched well. If you come into this game and say Garland is only going to give up three runs, you feel pretty good." The righthanded Garland is off to his worst start since going winless over his opening four starts during the 2003 campaign.

Chicago had another chance to threaten in the seventh inning, but Shields got Tadahito Iguchi to fly out with runners on the corners and two outs.

Crede and Darin Erstad both had two hits for the White Sox, who left 16 runners on base and fell to 5-3 against the American League West.

"We're struggling as a group," Guillen said. "Erstad's swinging the bat better, but we don't have anyone getting hot at the same time. We don't have anyone on fire. We've been facing some good pitching staffs. We've been winning by pitching and clutch hitting."