Colon Shuts Down Orioles

Angel Manager Mike Scioscia has always maintained that, over the course of a season, it’s more important to have five starting pitchers who give you a chance to win every night -- the “five-part machine,” as Scioscia likes to call it -- than a stallion or two at the front of the rotation followed by a couple of nags.

“In the postseason, it’s a little different -- you like to have those horses up front,” Scioscia said. “I don’t look at the rotation as having a No. 1; you could have one guy dominating, and if the rest of the chain is weak, you’re not going to reach your goals.”

But what if you have one guy who dominates and there are no weak links in the rest of the chain?

That’s the kind of best-of-both-worlds situation Scioscia and the Angels have enjoyed for much of this season with Bartolo Colon at the head of the rotation and John Lackey, Jarrod Washburn, Ervin Santana and Paul Byrd in tow.

Colon won his sixth straight decision Wednesday night, giving up one run and five hits in 8 2/3 pitch-efficient innings to lead the Angels to a 3-1 victory over the Baltimore Orioles in Camden Yards, keeping the Angels 3 1/2 games ahead of Oakland in the American League West.

The right-hander came within two outs of his first shutout since Aug. 19, 2002, and one out away from his third complete game before being lifted with two out in the ninth inning for closer Francisco Rodriguez, who got Javy Lopez to ground out for his 30th save.

Colon improved to 17-6 and lowered his earned-run average to 3.34; he leads the AL in victories and ranks seventh in ERA. He needs three wins to become the Angels’ first 20-game winner since Nolan Ryan went 22-16 in 1974 and is making a strong push for the AL Cy Young Award.

But he’s hardly the only success story in this rotation. Angel starters lead the AL with a 3.73 ERA and have a 3.03 ERA this month. They’ve limited opponents to three earned runs or less when departing in 24 of the last 26 games. They’ve provided quality starts -- six innings or more, three earned runs or less -- in 17 of 20 games this month.

“Not to downplay what Bart is doing because he’s been terrific -- he’s a Cy Young candidate,” Scioscia said. “But we have more than one horse. All five guys are as important as Bart.”

Colon did not seem overpowering Wednesday because he had only two strikeouts, but he was still dominant, because he was able to induce weak contact for much of the night by effectively locating his sinking, two-seam fastball.

And when the Orioles hit the ball hard, it was often right at people -- third baseman Robb Quinlan turned Eric Byrnes’ fifth-inning liner with two on into an inning-ending double play, and after the Orioles put two on to open the sixth, Melvin Mora lined to second baseman Adam Kennedy, who flipped to shortstop Orlando Cabrera for a double play.

The Angels scored all of their runs off starter Erik Bedard in the fifth inning, which included walks to Cabrera and Vladimir Guerrero and run-scoring singles by Garret Anderson, Bengie Molina and Quinlan.

Colon, who is 5-0 with a 2.01 ERA in his last six starts, retired nine in a row before Melvin Mora’s one-out double in the ninth. Mora took third on Miguel Tejada’s infield single and scored on Rafael Palmeiro’s sacrifice fly.

Colon’s pitch count was at 103 when Scioscia visited the mound.

“Any time you get that close, you want the complete game,” Colon said through an interpreter. “But Mike asked how I felt, and I was a little fatigued. He didn’t want to take any chances, so he went with a fresh arm.”

Rodriguez needed only four pitches to finish off Lopez and end the game, and Colon’s season-long joy ride continued.

“I won 20 games [for Cleveland and Montreal in 2002] but that was in two leagues, and that separated the wins,” Colon said. “I can’t recall a stretch like I’m having right now.”

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On a roll

Angel pitcher Bartolo Colon, who improved to 17-6 after Wednesday’s victory at Baltimore, has won six of his last seven starts:

*--* DATE OPPONENT IP ER H SO Aug. 23 at Baltimore, W 8.2 1 5 2 Aug. 18 Boston, W 7.0 3 8 5 Aug. 13 at Seattle, W 8.0 1 4 5 Aug. 7 Tampa Bay, W 7.0 2 7 6 Aug. 2 Baltimore, W 7.0 1 10 7 July 27 at Toronto, ND 7.0 2 7 5 July 21 N.Y. Yankees, W 7.0 5 8 3

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