Angels pitcher Dan Haren is a cut above the rest Reporting from Goodyear, Ariz. -- Dan Haren admits he fell in love with his cut fastball last season. It was a pretty good relationship -- the Angels right-hander went 16-10 with a 3.17 earned-run average and 192 strikeouts in a career-high 238 1/3 innings while featuring the pitch -- so why break up now? "The cutter always seems like the right pitch," said Haren, who struck out three in two scoreless innings of the Angels' 6-5 exhibition victory over the Cleveland Indians Thursday at Goodyear Ballpark. I change speeds with it. Some are bigger, some are smaller. I can try for a strikeout with it. I feel like my cutter sets up my other pitches, whereas before I was trying to set up the cutter. It's kind of the new pitch around baseball. I used it sometimes a little too much last year, but it's my best pitch. Haren, whose 237 starts over the last seven seasons are the most in the major leagues, lost the feel of his split-fingered fastball for a month or two in 2011 and leaned heavily on his cutter, throwing it 47.7% of the time, according to www.fangraphs.com. He threw his fastball only 34.5% of the time. If Haren, who also throws a curve, could hit 94 mph with his fastball like he did five or six years ago, he would throw the pitch more often. But after the mileage that comes with not missing a start for seven years, his fastball now sits in the 89-mph range, a velocity drop that forced him to evolve as a pitcher. "My game is location, control, keeping hitters off balance," Haren, 31, said. It's not throwing 97-mph fastballs by guys. I just can't do that anymore. ... There are so many guys throwing 100 mph nowadays, but a lot of them are getting hit all over the place. I'm just trying to miss barrels. Whether it's a two-seam fastball that runs a little bit or a cutter that moves three or four inches to get it off the barrel, that's the difference between a home run and a fly ball or ground ball. It's about making quality pitches and getting them to mishit the ball. Haren was followed on the mound Thursday by left-hander Hisanori Takahashi, who will have plenty of competition for the long-relief spot. Takahashi did not allow a hit and struck out two in two innings. The Angels scored twice in the first inning, one on Alberto Callaspo's run-scoring single, and twice in the fourth on Doug Deeds' run-scoring single and Alexi Amarista's RBI triple. Vernon Wells and Bobby Wilson each doubled, and Wilson had an RBI single in the fifth. Albert Pujols walked and grounded out to shortstop twice in three plate appearances. Angels are going to be a tougher ticket this year Torii Hunter's future is a sensitive subject for Mike Scioscia