AILING COLON HAS A HEALTHY PERFORMANCE PITCHES WELL DESPITE ILLNESS AS ANGELS WIN ANGELS 5, KANSAS CITY 3.Byline: Joe Haakenson Staff Writer KANSAS CITY Kansas City, two adjacent cities of the same name, one (1990 pop. 149,767), seat of Wyandotte co., NE Kansas (inc. 1859), the other (1990 pop. 435,146), Clay, Jackson, and Platte counties, NW Mo. (inc. 1850). , Mo. - Bartolo Colon has spent most of the past week in his hotel rooms in two cities, fighting a stomach bug that made him sick. But his prescription for health has been simple: rest, drink plenty of fluids and throw strikes. The Angels' hard-throwing right-hander dominated the Kansas City Royals The Kansas City Royals are a professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals are a member of the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. From to the present, the Royals have played in Kauffman Stadium. for seven innings before his illness caught up with him in the eighth, but by then the Angels had built a big enough lead, holding on for a 5-3 victory in front of 16,051 at Kauffman Stadium • • [ . Colon allowed only one baserunner through seven innings - Mike Sweeney's infield single in the first inning. But in the eighth the Royals got to him for three runs and three hits when Colon couldn't catch his breath. ``In that inning I had trouble breathing,'' Colon said through an interpreter. ``I was kind of worried, trying to take deep breaths. I'm glad (Angels manager) Mike (Scioscia) caught my eye. He said I was a little pale.'' Colon was escorted off the field and into the trainers' room by Angels trainer Ned Bergert, but not before Colon showed why he's not only a candidate to make the All-Star team, but is a candidate to start the game for the American League American League (AL) One of the two associations of professional baseball teams in the U.S. and Canada designated as major leagues; the other is the National League (NL). . Colon, who improved to 11-4 with a 3.06 ERA, pitched in one All-Star game An all-star game is an exhibition game played by the best players in their sports league. The players are often chosen by a popular vote of fans of the sport and the game often occurs at the halfway point of the regular season, although this is not the case for some all-star games - in 1998 with the Indians. Other candidates to start this year's game are the White Sox's Jon Garland Jon Steven Garland (born September 27, 1979 in Valencia, California) is a right-handed starting pitcher in Major League Baseball for the Chicago White Sox. Garland was selected by the Chicago Cubs with the 10th pick of the 1997 amateur draft. (Kennedy High of Granada Hills) and Mark Buerhle and the Blue Jays' Roy Halladay Harry Leroy "Roy" Halladay III (born May 14 1977 in Denver, Colorado), nicknamed Doc, is a Major League Baseball starting pitcher. He currently pitches for the Toronto Blue Jays pitching staff. . ``He's been as good as any pitcher in baseball,'' Scioscia said of Colon, who hasn't walked a batter in four of his past five games. ``He's certainly established himself as a guy with the potential to not only win 20 games but be a perennial candidate A perennial candidate is one who frequently runs for public office with a record of success that is either infrequent or non-existent. Perennial candidates are often either members of minority political parties or have political opinions that are not mainstream. to do that. He's the lead dog of this rotation. He's an All-Star in my mind.'' An ankle injury hampered Colon in the first half of last season, but since the All-Star break last year, Colon is 23-8. He credited his fast start this season to working with noted Dominican trainer Angel Done in the offseason and pitching a few innings in winter ball. Now, Colon said, he's ``able to throw any pitch in any given count. Maybe I lacked confidence to do that last year. But I found it in the second half.'' Colon is on pace to win 22 games this season, and if he can do it he would be the first Angels pitcher to win 20 or more since Nolan Ryan The Angels continued a trend of putting pressure on the opposing pitcher early, scoring in the first inning Saturday when Chone Figgins Desmond DeChone "Chone" Figgins (born January 22, 1978 in Leary, Georgia) is a Major League Baseball utility player for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Despite the unusual spelling of his first name, "Chone" is pronounced as "Shawn. led off with a single, stole second, went to third on an error and scored on Darin Erstad's single. The Angels have scored in the first inning in five of the six games on the trip. Figgins was at it again in the third inning, leading off with a single and scoring two outs later on Garret Anderson's double. The Angels also got single runs in the fourth, fifth and eighth innings, totaling 14 hits in all. Figgins had three, and Erstad, Anderson (Kennedy High of Granada Hills), Maicer Izturis, Dallas McPherson and Bengie Molina had two each. Royals starter Jose Lima (1-7) took the brunt of the Angels' persistent attack and got the loss. ``We put up a picket fence on him,'' Scioscia said. ``But their pitchers did a good job of minimizing damage. Out situational hitting was good, we ran the bases well and that's the game we need to play.'' Francisco Rodriguez replaced Colon in the eighth and got the final five outs for his 15th save. Joe Haakenson, (626) 962-8811 joe.haakenson(at)sgvn.com CAPTION(S): photo, 4 boxes Photo: Dallas McPherson is tagged out at home plate by Kansas City catcher Alberto Castillo while trying to score on Bengie Molina's single. Charlie Riedel/Associated Press Box: (1) ANGELS at KANSAS CITY - Joe Haakenson (2) GAME RECAP (3) HOW THE RUNS SCORED (4) ALMANAC almanac, originally, a calendar with notations of astronomical and other data. Almanacs have been known in simple form almost since the invention of writing, for they served to record religious feasts, seasonal changes, and the like. |
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