COLON SEEING ERROR OF ANGELS' WAYS MORE L.A. MISCUES SPOIL RETURN OF STARTER FROM D.L. SAN DIEGO 7, ANGELS 3.

Byline: BEN VILLA Staff Writer

ANAHEIM -- Bartolo Colon came off the disabled list just in time to witness all of the Angels' problems first-hand Sunday.

More shoddy defense and an inability to score runs led to a 7-3 loss at the hands of the San Diego Padres in front of 44,159 fans at Angel Stadium.

The Angels are seven games out of first place, thanks to their loss and Oakland's win over the Dodgers.

Even more disturbing is they have now scored four runs or fewer in each of their past eight games, and they are making errors at an alarming rate.

The Angels have committed 22 errors in their past 16 games and the 51unearned runs they've allowed are the most in the majors.

``It's a little frustrating right now,'' Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. ``We're not putting winning streaks together, and we need to clean some things up and get better. We've underachieved on offense, and right now, we're not producing like we need to.

``And we've made our share of errors but we're very confident that we'll put together a streak here soon and we'll be able to reach our goals. But for his first time back, I thought Bart looked sharp and he gave us a chance to win.''

Colon, who won the 2005 American League Cy Young Award, made his first start since April 15, and he pitched reasonably well.

He made 102 pitches in seven innings, allowing nine hits and four runs, but only two of them were earned. He also struck out five and walked just one. More importantly, he didn't feel any pain after the game in his right shoulder.

``I felt good out there today and it was a sense of relief knowing that I could cut loose,'' Colon said through an interpreter. ``I don't feel any discomfort, there's no pain and there's no stiffness. What I do have to work on is building back my strength so I can go deeper into games.

``But we lost and that's the real story of this game, not me coming back. There's a sense of urgency in this locker room. We know we need to start winning but I think this team is too good of a ball club to be held down much longer.''

The Padres jumped on Colon early when they took a 1-0 lead in the first inning on a home run by Mike Cameron. But the Angels rallied to score two off Padres starter Chan Ho Park in their half of the first.

Garret Anderson doubled home Adam Kennedy and Tim Salmon followed with an RBI single that scored Anderson from second base.

After that, Park held the Angels in check. He retired 11 batters in a row at one point, and in the top of the fourth inning, the Padres would score all the runs they would need to support him.

With two out, Adrian Gonzalez hit a 1-2 pitch off Colon to right field for a home run that tied the score at 2-2. Josh Bard then followed with a double and Khalil Greene hit a ball to Maicer Izturis at shortstop that looked like it was going to get Colon out of the inning. But instead of getting to sit back in the dugout, Izturis booted the ball and Colon had more work to do on a hot day.

With runners on first and third, Vinny Castilla delivered an RBI single as did Josh Barfield to give the Padres a 4-2 lead.

``I thought the ball Greene hit was going to be a base hit all the way,'' Colon said. ``It was a tough play, so I don't think that changed the game. If there's one thing I really would pinpoint in this game, it was my location.

``I didn't finish off batters like I wanted to and that hurt me.''

The Angels managed to score another run in the bottom of the fifth inning to cut the Padres lead to 4-3 on an RBI single by Chone Figgins, but Kennedy came up next and he grounded into a inning-ending double play.

The Angels also had runners on first and second with two out in the seventh, but Park got Figgins to fly out to center field to get out of that jam.

The Padres scored two more runs in the eighth inning and another in the ninth to break the game open.

``Bartolo gave us seven strong innings today. What more can you ask for out of your starter?'' Angels catcher Mike Napoli said. ``We just didn't score enough runs to win and we keep making errors.''

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2 photos

Photo:

(1) San Diego's Josh Bard, left, beats the throw to first base on an infield single in front of Angels first baseman Kendry Morales on Sunday.

(2) Angels pitcher Bartolo Colon adjusts his cap after giving up a double to San Diego's Brian Giles in the first.

Francis Specker/Associated Press