Bartolo Colon Is Dealing

Whenever you have a pitcher that has experienced his share of injuries it's best not to get too excited. Still, the way Bartolo Colon has thrown in his first two starts this season gives the Angels something to be excited about.

Colon shut down the Devil Rays on Thursday with seven innings of four hit ball. He also struck out 11 Devil Rays in the process, with the only setback being a two-run homer by Carlos Pena in the fourth inning.

"As you get more comfortable on the mound, you gain more strength," Colon said through a translator. "I expected to be stronger in my second start. I felt stronger after my first three innings than my last inning. But in that last inning, I told myself to let it loose to see how my arm was really feeling - because at that point I had built enough stamina."

All this coming off of Bart's 7 inning, 1run performance against the Mariners last week. Still to show just how good Colon has been, take a look at these numbers that Buster Olney shared on his blog.

Total Batters Faced: 55
Strikeouts: 12
Walks: 1
Three-ball counts:5
# of Batters Faced Before Reaching Three-ball count: 36

That's just a mathematical way of saying that Bart's command is phenomenal right now. Which is a must for him since he's lost about 4 MPH on his fastball after undergoing rotator cuff surgery.

Colon's mastery allowed the Angels to finish up their homestand with a 6-1 record. They now take to the road for seven games with the White Sox and Royals, where they'll look to improve on their current 1-7 record away from Anaheim.

Previously at the Fanhouse:
Bartolo Colon Eats Up Innings, Mariners