Colon’s Speed Dial Is on 20

When Bartolo Colon was growing up in the Dominican Republic, he and his father used to watch videotapes of Nolan Ryan, marveling at the Hall of Fame right-hander’s blazing fastball and knee-buckling curve.

With five more victories this season, Colon will earn a place alongside Ryan in Angel lore.

Colon gave up one run and four hits in eight masterful innings Saturday, and the Angels pounded out 15 hits while breezing to a 9-1 victory over the Seattle Mariners that kept them in a first-place tie with Oakland atop the American League West.

Colon, who struck out five and walked one in Safeco Field, improved to 15-6 with a 3.44 earned-run average, and the right-hander will have at least nine and possibly 10 or 11 more starts this season as he bids to become the Angels’ first 20-game winner since Ryan went 22-16 in 1974.

The Angels have had only five 20-game winners in the 44-year history of the franchise -- Ryan in 1974 and 1973 (21 wins), Clyde Wright in 1970 (22), Bill Singer in 1973 (20), Andy Messersmith in 1971 (20) and Dean Chance in 1964 (20).

But as much as Colon would love to end the 31-year drought, winning 20 games is not his immediate goal.

“Right now, No. 16 is in my mind -- I’ll leave 20 for later on,” Colon said through an interpreter. “I’m not even thinking about it. If I get to that point, it will be significant. It would be quite a thrill. But I don’t want to get caught up in 20 wins right now.”

Colon has one 20-win season on his eight-year resume, but those victories were split between the Cleveland Indians and Montreal Expos, teams he won 10 games for in 2002. The closest he came to 20 victories for one team was when he won 18 for the Indians in 1999 and for the Angels last season.

“I know he’s capable of doing it,” said Jose Molina, who caught Colon Saturday. “But every time I try to get him to talk about it, he says, ‘One game at a time, and let’s see what happens at the end of the year.’ That’s the way he thinks.”

The Mariners raked Colon for seven runs and seven hits in six innings of a 10-2 victory on July 7 in Anaheim, but Colon did a much better job of pitching inside with his two-seam fastball and mixing his breaking pitches Saturday. His only mistake was hit by Ichiro Suzuki for a solo home run off the tip of right fielder Vladimir Guerrero’s glove in the sixth inning.

“When Bart’s on his game, he makes you look and feel blah,” said Seattle Manager Mike Hargrove, who managed Colon during the pitcher’s formative years in Cleveland. “He throws strikes to both sides of the plate, and his stuff ranges from 86 mph to 97 mph. That’s a tough road to hoe.”

Colon, who struck out the side in the second inning, won his fourth consecutive decision and has given up only six earned runs and 28 hits in 29 innings of his last four starts. The Angels have also scored 29 runs in Colon’s last three starts; they staked him to an early 3-0 lead Saturday and turned the game into a rout with a five-run fifth.

Leadoff batter Chone Figgins came within a triple of hitting for the cycle, doubling and scoring in the first inning, hitting his sixth home run in the second and singling and scoring in the fifth, all against Mariner starter and loser Ryan Franklin (6-12).

Juan Rivera had three hits, including a seventh-inning homer, and three runs batted in, Guerrero had a pair of RBI singles, and Molina capped the fifth-inning rally with a two-run ground-rule double.

But Manager Mike Scioscia was as impressed with the way the Angels ran the bases as he was with how they hit the ball.

The speedy Figgins, after leading off the fifth with a single, went from first to third on Orlando Cabrera’s sharp single to center, and his aggressive running may have caused center fielder Jeremy Reed to bobble the ball, an error that enabled Figgins to score for a 4-0 lead.

Cabrera took third on Darin Erstad’s hit-and-run single to center, and Guerrero (RBI single), Rivera (RBI single) and Molina (two-run double) gave the Angels a commanding 8-0 lead.

“That’s the best part of being a guy who can run -- you can create havoc on the bases,” Figgins said. “You never know what can happen, and today was a perfect example. I was aggressive, an error was made, and I scored.

“It helps keep the flow of the offense going. That’s my job.”

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Monster month

Vladimir Guerrero has had a torrid August so far, batting .436 with six home runs and 20 runs batted in.

*--* DATE, OPP. AB H 2B HR RBI Aug. 2 vs. Bal. 4 3 0 2 5 Aug. 3 vs. Bal. 3 2 2 0 2 Aug. 4 vs. Bal. 3 2 0 0 1 Aug. 5 vs. TB 3 0 0 0 1 Aug. 6 vs. TB 5 1 1 0 1 Aug. 7 vs. TB 4 1 0 0 0 Aug. 9 at. Oak. 4 2 0 1 5 Aug. 10 at Oak. 2 0 0 0 0 Aug. 11 at Oak. 2 1 0 1 1 Aug. 12 at Sea. 5 3 0 2 2 Aug. 13 at Sea. 4 2 0 0 2 Totals 39 17 3 6 20

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