COLON'S UGLY SIDE RESURFACES PITCHER GIVES UP 11 HITS IN SIX INNINGS DURING ANGELS' LOSS TO ROYALS KANSAS CITY 8, ANGELS 3.

Byline: Joe Haakenson Staff Writer

ANAHEIM - Bartolo Colon is just getting started on his second season with the Angels, but there is a definite Jekyll-and-Hyde pattern that has developed. And Sunday afternoon at Angel Stadium, Mr. Hyde reared his ugly head again.

After getting a victory with a solid Opening Day performance, Colon was slapped silly by the Kansas City Royals in an 8-3 Royals victory in front of 40,689.

The Royals took two of three in the series and left the Angels with a 3-3 mark as they completed their first homestand of the season. Royals second baseman Ruben Gotay had a career-high four hits and was a triple short of hitting for the cycle. Three of his hits came off Colon in the first four innings.

Mike Sweeney and Angel Berroa had three hits each in the Royals' 17-hit onslaught, 11 of them coming in the first four innings off Colon.

Colon was able to retire the side in order in the fifth and sixth innings, which was big for the Angels' already-taxed bullpen. But his overall line was not pretty: six innings, six runs, 11 hits and two walks, not unlike some of his poorer starts last season, particularly early in the year.

Colon won 18 games last season, but his ERA was 5.01 and he gave up a career-worst 38 home runs.

``He's got excellent fastball command but if it's off a little bit he's going to have to make adjustments,'' Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. ``I think Bart did, but when he missed those guys squared up on a couple balls. They didn't miss many mistakes.''

The Royals hit Colon hard early, particularly in the second inning when they had six hits, including a two-run homer by Gotay and doubles by Matt Stairs, Terrence Long and Alberto Castillo.

``I felt good,'' Colon said through an interpreter. ``The fact is when I made a mistake, they made me pay. I have no excuses.''

The Royals scored one in the first, four in the second and one in the fourth to go up 6-0. But after Sweeney's RBI single with one out in the fourth, Colon suddenly found a groove.

Starting with a double-play ball to end the fourth, Colon retired seven consecutive Royals hitters to get through six innings. By then, however, he had thrown 110 pitches and his day was done.

``I started throwing the ball inside a little more,'' Colon said of the adjustments he made. ``It helped my changeup. At that point I wanted to find a rhythm so I could give my team a chance to come back.''

Royals starter Brian Anderson was the anti-Colon. He struck out the side in the first inning and retired 10 in a row to start the game. The Angels got their first baserunner when Chone Figgins tripled to left-center field with one out in the fourth.

Vladimir Guerrero hit Anderson's next pitch into the left-field seats to get the Angels on the scoreboard and cut their deficit to 6-2.

The Angels got to within 6-3 on Orlando Cabrera's RBI triple with nobody out in the seventh, but Cabrera was stranded. The Royals added two runs in the eighth off the Angels' bullpen.

``You try to peck away and try to get a run here and there, but we couldn't get anything going,'' said Angels first baseman Darin Erstad, who went 0 for 4. ``(Anderson) got ahead (in the count) and didn't walk anybody. We just didn't get it done.''

The Angels are hitting just .221 as a team and their home run total matches former Angels third baseman Troy Glaus, who has hit four all by himself with the Diamondbacks.

``Offensively we need some guys to get their feet on the ground and get into the flow of the season,'' Scioscia said.

Joe Haakenson, [phone]

joe.haakenson(at)sgvn.com

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Photo:

Angels catcher Jose Molina, right, argues the call after the Royals' Terrence Long, far left, scores.

Ric Francis/Associated Press