ANAHEIM — So far, the major league seasons of Jeff and Jered Weaver have mostly been about waiting to pitch.

That might finally be changing for the brothers from Simi Valley.

Jeff, the 30-year-old in his first season with the Seattle Mariners, will start today against the Angels. It will be just his third start of a weather-plagued month for the Mariners, and the first on his regular five-day rest.

Jered, the 24-year-old in his second season with the Angels, will make his second start of the year a day later against Detroit, having missed much of spring training and the first two weeks of the regular season while recovering from right biceps tendinitis.

So the brothers won't face off in this series. The prospect seems almost inevitable, since the Angels and Mariners have five series and 16 games remaining over the next five months, but they aren't too focused on it.

"If it happens, it happens," said Jered. "If it doesn't, it doesn't. It's not like I'm planning around it."

Jeff voiced a bit more enthusiasm: "It's going to be great. It's going to be a page in the history books and another chapter in our careers."

In the meantime, there are other issues requiring their attention.

Weather disrupts Jeff's start

For Jeff, it's getting himself established with the Mariners. His first two starts have been difficult — he's 0-2 with a 15.75 ERA — but they've also been disrupted by the Mariners' weather woes, which saw the team lose five of its first 10 games to rain or snow. As a result, his first start came on 10 days' rest, and his second on seven days' rest.

"I think any starting pitcher likes to have his routine," Jeff said, "and keep getting his work in the regular way. But that's the way it goes. You've got to deal with it."

Still, there was no doubt the long layoff before his first start had an impact.

"I never felt like that," he said of the April 10 game at Boston, when he gave up seven earned runs in two innings. "I had no command. I had no feel for my pitches. It was just a grind from the first pitch."

The second start — seven runs in six innings against Minnesota — felt better, he said, but going into today's game, he's trying to remind himself "not to try to fix everything at once," a problem he believes befell him last year in his half-season with the Angels, when he was 3-10 before being released to make room for Jered's return from the minor leagues.

"I still get caught up in trying to pitch away from contact," he said, "trying to strike guys out in crucial situations instead of using my best pitch and staying aggressive and getting those early outs. That was what was a little off. I'd be at 90 pitches by the fifth inning, and you're not going to work very deep into a game when you're doing that."

And so, he says, he's going to try to "take things slow and try to work into it and get a nice rhythm here," though that's difficult when he's trying to make a good impression with a new organization and a new group of teammates.

"As far as feeling comfortable with the guys and everything like that, it doesn't take very long," says the eight-year veteran. "But when you're in a new situation, and you want to do well for your teammates, and you start out a little slow, you wonder exactly what these guys are thinking. Even with all the years you have under your belt, you still want to go out there and show these guys that you can help them win."

Jered still out to prove himself

As it happens, Jered Weaver feels a similar need to show what he can do, even after a season in which he was 11-2 with a 2.56 ERA and earned rookie of the year consideration.

"We've got a great rotation and we've got two or three guys that could be starters who are here in the bullpen or down in Triple-A," Jered said. "You never know what could happen … So I'm just going to treat it like last year, and act like I have to battle for a spot on the team. I think if I keep the same mindset I did last year, everything should be all right."

The ongoing competition for starting jobs was underlined Saturday when the Angels sent down pitcher Joe Saunders, 2-0 with a 1.96 ERA, a day after he threw six shutout innings against the Mariners, to make roster space for Bartolo Colon to return from the injury list.

It was reminiscent of last year, when Jered was returned to the minors after starting 4-0 with a 1.37 ERA, also when Colon was activated from the disabled list.

"You just kind of work that much harder to get back up here," Jered said, "and I think that experience helped me in the long run to realize that you never know what could happen."

He actually started this year with two minor league appearances, but that was because he was working his way back from the bout with tendonitis.

"I've always had a little bicep tendonitis," he said, "but it wasn't to that extent where I could barely play catch. It was just getting it worked out and taking some time and taking it slow. Everything worked itself out. I haven't had pain or discomfort for about a month now."

(Jeff and Jered spoke often during while the younger Weaver was sidelined, with Jeff saying he was "just making sure his head was still on straight and not trying to bust back too fast, or overdo things to get back because you're young and have never had to deal with something like that.")

Having rebounded from the ailment, Jered made his 2007 debut last week in Oakland, giving up four runs in six innings and taking the loss.

"I wish things could have gone a little different," he said. "I felt good, I felt like I threw the ball well, but it" — a decisive three-run homer by Bobby Crosby — "was just one bad pitch in a bad spot. So you go onto the next one."

First, he'll have the unfamiliar experience of watching his brother pitch while sitting in the opposing dugout.

"It's going to be a little weird for me, that's for sure," Jered said. "But it's one of those things that hasn't really kicked in yet, so when it happens, you know what the feeling's like. Right now, it's just another day."

Not for Jeff, but not, he says, because of any carryover from his stint with the Angels.

"I just always enjoy pitching at this park," he said. "From day one, it's always been comfortable for me. You get your friends and family in the stands, and get that support, and it's always been fun to come back here regardless of the circumstances."