SHAKY COLON RIPPED FOR EIGHT RUNS 2005 CY YOUNG WINNER GOES JUST TWO-PLUS INNINGS N.Y. YANKEES 10, ANGELS 1.

Byline: Doug Padilla  Staff Writer

ANAHEIM - Since Bartolo Colon's body is not telling him anything is wrong, his next course of action will be to review videotape to see why he was thumped by the New York Yankees on Sunday, nearly a week after he was pounded by the Seattle Mariners on Opening Day.

The Angels' 10-1 loss to the Yankees seems to suggest something is amiss with the reigning Cy Young Award winner, and the defeat prevented the Angels' first three-game series sweep of the Yankees at home since 1995.

Colon (0-1) refused to blame the sore shoulder he suffered from during the playoffs last season, and he certainly didn't blame the left groin he "tweaked" in the season opener against the Mariners. There was nothing but a pair of shrugged shoulders when asked what went wrong.

He gave up eight runs (seven earned) on seven hits in two-plus innings, his shortest regular-season outing since 2001 with the Cleveland Indians. Colon went just an inning in last season's American League Championship Series, also against the Yankees, because of the shoulder injury.

"I really can't pinpoint it," Colon said through broadcaster Jose Mota, who was serving as an interpreter.

"What I'm going to do is I'm going to sit down and watch video to try and pick something out. But body-wise and stuff-wise I don't think I'm trying to do anything differently."

Manager Mike Scioscia said his pitcher simply is trying to hard.

"I think he was right early (in the game) just like he was right early against Seattle and was not carrying it over to repeat pitches," Scioscia said. "He had a tough time doing it here. It could be a little bit of overthrowing where he's missing spots."

Alex Rodriguez hit a 1-0 pitch over the wall in center field in the second inning for his second home run of the season and eighth in his career against Colon.

The home run, which snapped an 0-for-12 slide, was No.431 in Rodriguez's career, tying him with Cal Ripken Jr. for 37th place all-time. In his career, Rodriguez is batting .444 (20 for 45) against Colon.

"It`s not going to be (his) last one that gets me and it's not the first one obviously," Colon said. "He feels pretty good hitting against me, but at any given moment I know it can change to where I am going to have better location against him and get him out. But I respect him a lot as a hitter."

Rodriguez's home run gave the Yankees a 1-0 lead and it got worse in a hurry. The next four Yankees hitters all scored, including three on a home run by Jorge Posada. It was the first of two home runs by the Yankees` catcher.

The Yankees sent 10 batters to the plate in the second inning and then saw their first three hitters in the third inning score. Colon was removed after an RBI double by Posada, who finished the day with five RBIs.

Esteban Yan replaced Colon with no outs in the third inning but the first batter he faced, Robinson Cano, drilled a two-run double as the Yankees pushed their lead to 8-0.

The Angels scored what proved to be their only run in the third on a single by Chone Figgins. They nearly got back into the game later in the inning, when they loaded the bases for Tim Salmon, who just missed a breaking pitch from Mike Mussina and flied out to the warning track in left-center.

Mussina (1-0) lasted six innings, allowing the one run on five hits with five strikeouts. He improved to 9-2 at Angel Stadium with a 2.74ERA. It was the Yankees' first win since Opening Day in Oakland.

"It was important to win today for piece of mind," Mussina said.

After scoring 15 runs on Opening Day, the Yankees scored a combined 10 runs in the four-game losing streak they snapped Sunday.

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Yankees catcher Jorge Posada slugs his second homer of the game in the fifth inning.

Francis Specker/Associated Press