JUST CALL COLON MR. AUTOMATIC.

Byline: DOUG PADILLA 

Staff Writer

ARLINGTON, Texas -- Call them division opponents; Any attempt to call this a rivalry is absurd.

The Angels treated the Texas Rangers with more disdain Saturday, pushing aside their hapless foes with the help of an ailing pitcher, a substitute leadoff man and a cleanup hitter who couldn't remember the last time he occupied the role before Friday.

The Angels' 6-3 victory Saturday in front of an announced crowd of 36,474 at Rangers Ballpark almost seemed somehow predetermined.

The Angels have now won five consecutive games against the Rangers and 22 of the past 30.

Starter Bartolo Colon, despite soreness in his right arm, won his 12th consecutive start against Texas, tying the record for consecutive against a team. Vladimir Guerrero's second-inning RBI double gave him hits in 55 of his 59 career games against the Rangers.

Gary Matthews Jr., who has now been on both sides of the feeding frenzy, used his second day in the cleanup role to drive in another run. It was the first of five runs the Angels would put together in the first twoinnings off Rangers starter Kameron Loe (Cal State Northridge).

"Maybe it's pitching, I don't know," Matthews said, trying to explain the Angels' mastery. "The things I can see are pitching and Vladimir Guerrero. It's probably that simple."

There was a little dash of Reggie Willits, too, as the newly anointed left fielder made a general pest of himself.

Willits had singles in the first two innings, scoring a run both times. He also crashed into the left-field fence in the first inning to take an extra-base hit away from leadoff hitter Kenny Lofton.

Handed the 5-0 lead, Colon gave two runs back on a fourth-inning home run by Mark Teixeira and another on a sixth-inning single by Sammy Sosa.

He allowed five hits to go along with six walks and sixstrikeouts. His fastball- heavy attack was similar to John Lackey's the night before, except Colon varied the speed more often.

With triceps still sore from his previous outing against the Chicago White Sox, Colon was still able to find the strength he needed.

"Coming up when I was younger with the Indians, they always had my number and it seemed like I had a hard time getting them," Colon said of the Rangers through an interpreter. "Even now, if you look at my ERA, I think it's pretty high because they always give me a hard time. But there is no way to explain what's going on other than I have been able to make the pitches at crucial times. I don't know how it's happening."

Colon actually has a 3.44ERA against the Rangers in his career and a 2.38 ERA against them since he joined the Angels. The last time the Rangers defeated Colon was August 2003.

By winning his 12th consecutive start against the Rangers Colon tied the record set by Pedro Martinez against the Seattle Mariners while he was with the Boston Red Sox from 1998-2004, according to Elias Sports Bureau. The only other pitcher to win more than 10consecutive starts against one team was Mike Mussina, who beat the Minnesota Twins 10 consecutive times from 1992-96 while with the Baltimore Orioles.

"If you watched him day in and day out, every start Bart has pitched against the club, he's had to work for every out," manager Mike Scioscia said. "Even today he did. You could see when he started to miss a little bit, they'll make you pay. He made some key pitches to get out of jams."

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Angels starter Bartolo Colon tied a major-league record by winning his 12th consecutive start against the Texas Rangers.

Matt Slocum/Associated Press

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ANGELS at TEXAS

- Doug Padilla