Colon Not Quite Up to Speed but Gets Results

In the box score, Bartolo Colon pitched well. The radar gun, however, offered evidence that Colon might not have fully recovered from his shoulder injury last year.

In his first minor league rehabilitation start, Colon threw four shutout innings for Class-A Rancho Cucamonga on Thursday, giving up two hits and one walk and striking out three. The stadium radar gun clocked most of his fastballs from 87 to 91 mph, significantly below the 95 mph that signifies his top form.

“The arm is not bothering me at all,” he said through an interpreter, Rancho Cucamonga infielder Freddy Sandoval. “My strength is coming back, little by little.”

Colon dismissed concerns about his velocity by saying, “My arm usually doesn’t warm up until after the fourth inning. If I would have gone back out there, the velocity would have come back.”

Colon rehabilitated his strained right shoulder over the winter, without surgery, but he was throwing 92 mph when he reported to spring training.

He made three starts -- and posted a 7.07 earned-run average -- before the Angels put him on the disabled list in April, citing inflammation in the shoulder.

He breezed through his four innings Thursday in 47 pitches, then hit his 60-pitch target with additional pitches in the bullpen. Ken Forsch, the Angels’ assistant general manager, said he was pleased with the movement and command of Colon’s pitches. “I think he could have thrown harder if he wanted to,” Forsch said. “I think he was holding back.”

Colon, the reigning American League Cy Young Award winner, makes $12 million this season and $14 million next season. If he does not recover his velocity, can he win?

“Bart’s a major league pitcher,” Forsch said. “A lot of guys go out there at 90 to 91 mph.”

Colon is scheduled to pitch for triple-A Salt Lake on Tuesday and, if all goes well, return to the Angels’ rotation June 11.

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The Angels won’t be wearing “Los Angeles” on their road uniforms next season. Major league teams had a May 31 deadline to submit changes in uniforms, colors and logos for next season, and Angels President Dennis Kuhl said Thursday that the team had not submitted any changes. Kuhl also said team executives have not discussed putting “Los Angeles” on the road uniforms in the future.

When the Anaheim City Council voted this week to take the Angels into appeals court over their name change, council members cited in part Judge Peter Polos’ finding that the team can market itself under any name it likes, including the sale of Los Angeles Angels T-shirts. A jury previously found that the “Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim” name does not violate a stadium lease clause that requires the team name to “include the name Anaheim therein.”

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Major League Baseball officials have no evidence to support an umpire’s claim of a “well-documented” history of bad blood between the Angels and Chicago White Sox in general or catcher A.J. Pierzynski in particular, vice president of umpiring Mike Port said.

Pierzynski was involved in several controversial plays in last year’s AL championship series. When Kelvim Escobar hit him with a pitch April 29, during the first series between the teams this year, umpire Paul Nauert issued a warning to both clubs. Angels Manager Mike Scioscia said Nauert told him the umpires had “well-documented” information about “the problems with Pierzynski and your team.”

Port said he had no record of problems between the Angels and White Sox but said he understood that umpires might have been alert, given the emotion of the ALCS. He also said he had not spoken with Nauert about the incident but suggested that the umpire might have not chosen the most accurate language in the heat of the moment.

“I think ‘well-documented’ may have been overemphasizing it, but the umpire is just trying to be cognizant of possible situations,” Port said.

“To take ‘well-documented’ literally might have been a bit more than necessary, but I don’t know that the language or descriptions used would be 100% accurate in terms of the history between the clubs.”

At the time, Scioscia said Nauert’s comment was “very disturbing” and based on “misinformation.” The Angels asked the commissioner’s office to investigate.

“It took me by surprise when I heard something was well-documented,” Scioscia said. “I’ve come to understand nothing was, so that’s fine.”

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Rehab review

Bartolo Colon’s start Thursday at Class-A Rancho Cucamonga:

*--* Innings 4 Runs 0 Hits 2 Walks 1 Strikeouts 3 Pitches 47

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