was it a dream, weaver? or did you really double dip as a dodger?

[this is the thirty-fourth installment in the double dippers posts.  here are the previous posts - brett butler, omar daal, eric young, nick willhite, chris gwynn, mickey hatcher, dave anderson, don zimmer, rafael landestoy, dave hansen, jose vizcaino, hideo nomo, greg maddux, mike maddux, jon garland, chan ho park, vicente romo, gene mauch, denny lewallyn, von joshua, joe moeller, dioner navarro, rudy seanez, bart shirley, randy wolf, ismael valdes, bobby castillo, mike devereaux, pete richert, jay johnstone, jesse orosco, lee lacy, and giovanni carrara.]

local boy jeff weaver came home to la in december of 2003, thanks to a trade with the dodgers in which kevin brown and his albatross contract were shed.  here's weaver's 2005 fleer card, which came towards the end of his first stay in la.

weaver was pretty consistent over his first two seasons as a dodger, starting 34 games in each year, pitching 220 and 224 innings, and striking out 153 and 157 batters, respectively.  as a result, he was 27-24 with an era over 4.00 when he became a free agent after the 2005 season.  jeff decided to join his brother jered in anaheim, giving reason for this cool 2006 upper deck card

weaver pitched poorly for the angels, compiling a 3-10 record and a 6.29 era in 16 starts before the halos traded him to the cardinals in july.  in saint louis, weaver didn't do a whole lot better until the postseason, when he turned things around and went 3-2 with a sub-3.00 era in the nlds, nlcs and world series combined.  he was 1-1 for the eventual world champions against detroit in the series, striking out 14 batters in 13 innings along the way.

weaver left saint louis as a free agent and signed with the mariners, hence this 2007 topps chrome card

after going 7-13 with a 6.20 era in seattle (although he tied for the league lead in shutouts with 2), weaver spent 2008 in the milwaukee and cleveland organizations without appearing in the majors.  the dodgers brought him back as a free agent prior to the 2009 season and used him primarily as a reliever.  he turned in a 6-4 record with a 3.65 era - his lowest since 2002 - over 79 innings in 28 games, 7 of which were starts.  one of those starts came against the angels, with his younger brother making the start for the interlopers from anaheim.  the elder weaver prevailed, winning bragging rights at thanksgiving for years to come.

weaver also made his first appearance in the postseason since winning it all with the cardinals when he relieved in game 1 of the nlds.  he wound up with the win after pitching 1.1 innings of scoreless relief.  here's his 2010 upper deck card showing him back in dodger blue.

weaver was in the bullpen full time in 2010, his last year in the big leagues, and had a 5-1 record despite allowing his era to climb back up over 6.00.

here's to you, jeff weaver, dodger double dipper!