Jered Weaver embraces his wife Kristin after his no-hit gem Wednesday night. (Getty Images)

This right here was the moment.

This right here was why Jered Weaver left millions of dollars on the table last August, instructed his agent to get a long-term extension negotiated with the Angels no matter how much of a discount he had to take, no matter how much his bank account could have swelled.

Mom and dad in the stands behind home plate. New wife Kristin right there with them. Zeroes strung across the scoreboard like beacons in the night.

Ninth inning, Cy Young stuff, no-hitter within reach, all of it right here at home in his native Southern California.

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He breathed deep. He stared in at catcher Chris Iannetta.

And do you really think Minnesota's Alexi Casilla had a chance?

"I'm at a loss for words right now," Weaver, 29, gushed on Angels television after Casilla's fly ball found Torii Hunter's glove in right field and the Angels' ace chalked up the 10th no-hitter in club history -- a 9-0 whipping of the Twins -- and the first in Anaheim since Nolan Ryan did it back on June 1, 1975. "It hasn't kicked in yet."

It was last August when Weaver, who grew up in Simi Valley, Calif., signed a five-year, $85 million deal, thus removing himself from the pool of would-be free agents following the 2012 season.

Easily, he left millions on the table.

And do you know what he said to that at the Angels' celebratory press conference to announce the deal last August?

"How much more do you need?" is what he said.

Pause.

"Could have got more," Weaver acknowledged. "Whatever. Who cares?"

Who cares? Right.

Who. Cares.

He finished second in the AL Cy Young voting last year to Detroit's Justin Verlander. He went 18-8 last season, threw 235 2/3 innings and with an 82-47 career record -- .636 -- entering this season, he owned the best winning percentage in Angels' franchise history (minimum 50 decisions).

He is a 6-foot-7 obstacle course for hitters with a whip for a right arm and a burglar's sneakiness.

Opening day, after he sliced and diced Kansas City, striking out 10 over eight shutout innings, new admirer Albert Pujols was starstruck.

"The way he hides the ball, it's amazing," Pujols said that night. "It almost looks like the rosin bag coming out of his hand."

Against the Twins on a Wednesday for the ages, even a rosin bag was too big. As he commanded his fastball and broke off curve balls from hell, the baseball must have looked like a little square of Dentyne gum to befuddled Minnesota hitters.

He threw 121 pitches and was never in trouble. Start to finish, he annihilated one hitter after the next.

He's had moments before. As a pup in 2006, two years after the Angels took him in the first round (12th overall) of the '04 draft, he raced out to a 9-0 start, tying Whitey Ford's rookie record for most wins to begin a career. Ford did it in 1950 with the Yankees. In '08, he combined with Jose Arredondo on an eight-inning -- and, thus, unofficial -- no-hitter in Dodger Stadium. He led the majors with 233 strikeouts in 2010, becoming the first Angel to do so since Ryan in 1977.

But never anything like this.

Iannetta reached him first, followed closely by third baseman Mark Trumbo -- who made a beautiful play earlier in fielding a Jamey Carroll bunt -- and, from first, Pujols.

Quickly, he was mobbed. Hunter, whom he would refer to as "Spiderman" -- the nine-time Gold Glover's nickname -- beamed. Weaver's parents, Dave and Gail, and his wife came down onto the field and each received a long hug from Jered. As the pitcher held onto his father, he was sobbing.

Yes, this right here was the moment.

As salaries have skyrocketed, it's a no-brainer that Weaver could have made far north of $100 million in free agency this winter.

But then who knows where he would be pitching next season and maybe his parents would be back home watching on television and, sure, there would probably be a phone call or something after games. But in Weaver's mind, nothing beats pitching at home.

So that's what he told his agent, Scott Boras, last August. And though Boras surely must have cringed, because just think of the salary stratosphere he could reach in representing this guy on the free agent market, the agent does work for the player in the end.

"I told him money wasn't really an option for me," Weaver said on that day last August. "He worked with that."

And now in the end, talk about happy endings. Wow.

"I don't think you ever think you have a shot" at a no-hitter, Weaver told MLB Network. "In the fourth, fifth, sixth innings, when you see goose eggs, you know you've got to make some pitches to see if you can't do it."

As he also noted, "Anything can happen in a big league game."

Ain't that the truth.

"From a manager's perspective, the last thing you think about before you go to sleep and the first thing you think about when you wake up is your rotation," Mike Scioscia said when Weaver re-signed with the Angels last August. "It's safe to say that 29 other GMs were licking their chops at the thought of Jered becoming a free agent.

"Now we're going to have a situation where they're going to have to sit there and watch Jered pitch great baseball in an Angels uniform for at least the next five years."

Just because Jered Weaver never won a Cy Young award doesn't mean he doesn't have Cy Young stuff. The only thing he's missing is the trophy itself. And many more nights like the one he hard-copied into the history books Wednesday, that will come soon enough.

"My mom, my dad, my wife," Weaver said, long, surfer's hair mussed, a smile for the ages crossing his face. "This is awesome. This is why I stayed here.

"This is awesome."