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Elbow puts Colon on disabled list

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Times Staff Writers

The Angels put Bartolo Colon on the 15-day disabled list Tuesday, one day after he left a game after one inning because of irritation in his pitching elbow.

He underwent an MRI exam and a CT scan during an evaluation by Dr. Lewis Yocum that revealed a posterior impingement in his right elbow -- an overuse injury. He will undergo therapy to try to reduce the irritation, the club announced.

Manager Mike Scioscia said Colon’s elbow was “a little sore, a little puffy” after Monday’s game and that it carried over into Tuesday morning. He expressed concern about the severity of the injury.

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“There’s concern because of the nature of where his pain was,” Scioscia said.

It is the fifth trip to the disabled list for Colon, the 2005 Cy Young Award winner. He began this season on the DL after recovering from a torn rotator cuff, but returned April 20 and won his first five starts.

He is 1-6 with a 9.27 earned-run average since then and missed a start June 2 because of tendinitis in his right triceps. Monday night in the Angels’ 12-6 loss to Oakland, he left after the first inning, having thrown 33 pitches and given up four runs and four hits.

Scioscia said he didn’t yet have a plan for who would replace Colon in the rotation. The Angels have a day off Thursday, meaning Tuesday’s starter, Kelvim Escobar, could take Colon’s spot in the rotation Sunday on regular rest.

Long-term possibilities include Dustin Moseley, who has pitched mostly in relief this season, and bringing back Ervin Santana, who was sent to triple A last week because of poor performance.

“Right now we have a day off so we’ll look at a couple of scenarios in our rotation,” Scioscia said. “Ervin is an option, but we’ll take this one step at a time.”

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The Angels, who have had trade talks with Texas regarding first baseman Mark Teixeira, have also resumed their pursuit of Chicago White Sox first baseman Paul Konerko, who turned down a five-year, $62-million free-agent offer from the Angels after 2005 to remain in Chicago.

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According to several industry sources, the Angels, looking to add a power bat to their sagging offense, have inquired about Konerko, who is batting .261 with 22 home runs and 61 runs batted in.

Konerko has a limited no-trade clause and is signed through 2010, but he has a good relationship with Scioscia and would probably waive the clause to come to Anaheim. But the White Sox, who are 14 1/2 games back in the American League Central and are in a selling mode, haven’t decided whether to trade Konerko or right fielder Jermaine Dye, who can become a free agent at the end of this year.

The Sox have made it clear they don’t plan to tear down the team and don’t want to completely strip their lineup.

They are shopping pitcher Jose Contreras but are getting more inquires about pitchers Jon Garland and Javier Vazquez, all of whom could be of interest to the Angels.

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The team brought up two relief pitchers, Marcus Gwyn and Greg Jones, from triple-A Salt Lake. Infielder Kendry Morales was optioned back to Salt Lake City to make room on the roster.

Jones, a right-hander, was 4-1 with three saves and a 3.94 ERA, and Gwyn, also a right-hander, was 1-0 with 13 saves and a 2.78 ERA, but Scioscia said their stay in the big leagues probably would be short.

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“This roster right here that we’re looking at is certainly short term,” the manager said. “We’ll make some adjustments here within five, six, seven days as soon as things stabilize.”

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A sellout crowd Monday was particularly rowdy and team spokesman Tim Mead said 45 fans were ejected and two arrested, mostly the result of a fight between Angels and A’s fans in the upper deck.

Mead said the fight included beer throwing and spitting. Making matters worse, the melee occurred behind an Orange County youth swim team, which was having its family night.

The swim team would be given tickets to a future game, Mead said.

“There was a group that got out of control and unfortunately there were kids in front of them,” Mead said. “When you’re averaging 41,000 fans a night, you unfortunately can’t control the behavior of everyone all the time.”

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peter.yoon@latimes.com

mike.digiovanna@latimes.com

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