Daily Distractions: Jered Weaver was better than even he expected.

Jered Weaver

Jered Weaver threw harder Wednesday than he did in either of his two starts in April (Will Lester/ Staff Photographer)

Of all the positives the Angels could take from Jered Weaver‘s performance last night — just having him back on the mound stands out as the first — maybe the best is that he’s throwing faster.

According to FanGraphs.com, Weaver topped out at 92 mph on his fastball and threw it for an average speed of 87.3 mph, compared to 85.8 and 85.1 mph in his first two starts, respectively. All his pitches were faster across the board. He also got a lot more horizontal movement on his two-seam fastball and changeup, and the results followed: Weaver allowed five hits (four singles) and one run in six innings while striking out seven.

“When you haven’t been out there for a while,” Weaver told colleague Clay Fowler, “you kind of ask yourself `Can I still do this?'”

Yes. You can do it better.

Some bullet points for a Canary Islands Day:

• Should Mike Trout move to left field when Peter Bourjos returns? “We wouldn’t even be talking about Trout vacating center if he had four or five years of experience — the Angels would be terrified of upsetting him and losing him as a free agent,” writes Ken Rosenthal, who thinks Trout should stay in center. The prospect of upsetting Trout and losing him as a free agent has been poo-pooed by Angels brass before.

• Trout is one run shy of tying Vladimir Guerrero‘s club record for runs scored in May (28), set in 2004.

Jim Fregosi was fired as the Angels’ manager before I was born. At 71, he’s being rumored as a candidate to take over in Kansas City.

• Because you haven’t heard enough about how well Jean Segura and Torii Hunter are doing, Tyler Chatwood finished May with a 1.58 ERA in three starts.

• Happy 32nd birthday, Reggie Willits.

• After 10 years in the minors, 31-year-old Ed Lucas is getting his chance in the majors. With the Marlins, of course.

• Yesterday, the Cleveland Indians were listening to a song written and performed by one of their Triple-A pitchers as it piped through the clubhouse speakers. That can only mean one thing: Former UCLA/Hart HS star Trevor Bauer has a new rap out.

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