COLON SHOWS RANGE TO RANGERS ANGELS' STARTER 1ST TO REACH 8TH AS TEXAS BATS SILENCED ANGELS 7, TEXAS 2.Byline: Gabe Lacques Staff Writer ARLINGTON, Texas Arlington is a city in Tarrant County, Texas (USA) within the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington metropolitan area. According to a U.S Census Bureau release, as of July 1, 2006 Arlington has an estimated population of 367,197. - Ace. Stopper. Bullpen-salvager. Choose the term, and Bartolo Colon exemplifies it for the Angels. It took Colon all of two starts with his new team to earn such noble distinctions. On Sunday, in the wake of a two-game, 24-run nightmare that was mostly the work of starters Ramon Ortiz and John Lackey John Derran Lackey (born October 23, 1978, in Abilene, Texas) is a major league baseball starting pitcher from Abilene, Texas. He has played for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim his entire career. , the Angels needed him to be all three roles wrapped into a $51-million package. And after eight innings of dominating a previously unstoppable Texas lineup in a tidy 7-2 victory, it's apparent Colon's teammates believe he's just that. ``We used to have 'Fin to win,'' designated hitter designated hitter n. Baseball Abbr. DH A player designated at the start of a game to bat instead of the pitcher in the lineup. Noun 1. Tim Salmon "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. if we were pitching the best. A lot of mistakes. ``It was evident Bartolo was in command, hitting his spots and taking the thunder out of their sticks. We're going to score runs. If we get outings like that, we're going to win.'' Colon is now 2-0, and in 14 innings, he's given up just one earned run earned run n. Baseball A run scored without the aid of an error, used in computing earned run averages. Noun 1. earned run - a run that was not scored as the result of an error by the other team , which came in the first inning Sunday when Michael Young ripped a leadoff double and Hank Blalock Hank Joe Blalock (born November 21, 1980 in San Diego, California) is a Major League baseball third baseman who currently plays for the Texas Rangers. Hank Blalock has recently been diagnosed with Thoracic outlet syndrome. In some circles Hank is known as "The Block. singled him home. At that moment, Young and Blalock had combined for 10 hits in 17 at-bats in the series. But that's when things changed. Colon yielded just five hits and an unearned run after that, none coming from Young and Blalock. On Sunday, Colon became the first Angels pitcher to work into the eighth inning. Blalock was the first batter. Colon needed three pitches to send him back to the dugout after he painted the outside corner with a 97-mph fastball for the first out. Alfonso Soriano Alfonso Guilleard Soriano (born January 7, 1976 in San Pedro de Macoris, Dominican Republic) is a Major League Baseball outfielder for the Chicago Cubs. Before joining the Cubs in 2007, he played for the New York Yankees, Texas Rangers, and Washington Nationals. , the next batter, saw his bat shatter on a pop-up to shortstop. Colon then issued his first walk in 13 2/3 innings, but finished by getting Mark Teixeira to pop out to center field on his 104th pitch and his 73rd strike. Francisco Rodriguez Francisco Rodriguez may refer to:
``He was his own set-up man, his own middle man, and he could have been his own closer,'' manager Mike Scioscia ``Anytime a guy's at 100 pitches with three outs to go, you're happy with his efficiency. That's one-fifth of the puzzle we need.'' Nothing against Lackey, Ortiz, Jarrod Washburn and Kelvim Escobar, but the Angels already feel a little different when their new horse is on the mound. ``Having him go out there today felt pretty good,'' said second baseman Adam Kennedy, who drove in two runs. ``He gets that window of opportunity to get a couple-run lead, he turns it up a notch. He works fast, he goes after hitters, he works hard.'' That 3-1 lead came when the Angels bunched four singles into the second inning. The lone threat to that lead ended quickly. When Kennedy's error leading off the fourth led to an unearned run and put the tying run on base, Colon did not waver. He merely threw a nasty slider A block of material that holds the read/write head of a magnetic disk. See flying head. to Laynce Nix, who stared at the pitch for strike three. A perfect fifth followed. Doubles by Soriano and Kevin Mench were spaced one inning apart, and a bullpen that probably did not have the services of Scot Shields, Ben Weber and Aaron Sele got almost an entire game off. ``Usually, I ask the relievers, you need a day off?'' Colon said through an interpreter. ``I asked Weber if he wants a day off, and he said 'never.' But I realized there was a need for that given the first two games against Texas. ``I like the fact I was able to do something for the team at a time Texas was hot. There's a sense of need and responsibility. But there will be times I'll lose games and someone else will pick me up. It can be the other way, too.'' He got the necessary run support Sunday, with Vladimir Guerrero hitting his second home run and the Angels banging out 13 more hits. But such support would not have been good enough the previous two games. It was plenty good Sunday. ``A guy like Bartolo is doing what we hope any of our five guys do this year - a guy who can put the brakes on a little skid,'' Scioscia said. Gabe Lacques, (626) 962-8811 gabe.lacques(at)sgvn.com CAPTION(S): photo Photo: The Angels' Bartolo Colon happily gave the bullpen a rest after two rough games in Texas. The hurler is now 2-0 after Sunday's win. Tony Gutierrez/Associated Press |
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