Bartolo Colon

The Angels hit a nice little trifecta at McAfee Coliseum on Thursday, getting Bartolo Colon just enough -- but not too much -- work to tune up for Tuesday's playoff opener, beating the Oakland Athletics, 7-1, and probably securing the American League Cy Young Award for their ace. Colon gave up one run and five hits in five innings to finish the regular season with a 21-8 record and 3.48 earned-run average in 33 starts.

Bartolo Colon is the Angels' first 20-game winner since Nolan Ryan won 22 games in 1974, but the comparison ends there as Colon enjoys something Ryan had little of -- offensive support. In Ryan's 16 losses, the Angels scored 22 runs. They finished last in the American League West at 68-94, and were last in the AL in batting (.254) and runs scored (618).

In the hills of the Dominican Republic, amid the coconuts and mangos and palm trees, a baseball field is under construction. Finally, the children of Altamira will have a diamond to call their own. The money to build the field comes from the town's most famous son, Bartolo Colon. The kids who play there will say they want to grow up to be just like Colon. They want to grow up, they will say, to become a 20-game winner in the big leagues.

Bartolo Colon says he and his somewhat balky back have no issues with possibly pitching on three days' rest the final two weeks of the season. "I'm ready for anything," Colon said in Spanish on Sunday. With 13 games remaining in the regular season, Manager Mike Scioscia said, "There are two or three scenarios we're looking at; some are going to be contingent on how guys come out of their starts. Bart's starting Tuesday and we'll go from there."

Bartolo Colon spent only a few minutes playing catch off flat ground Friday afternoon, but that brief workout, combined with a number of tests conducted by the team's training staff, was enough to convince the Angels that their ace can make today's start against the White Sox. Colon suffered a lower-back injury on Aug.

The lower-back injury that forced Bartolo Colon out of Sunday's game against Seattle in the sixth inning is more severe than the one that sidelined the ace for five days in spring training, and that could be cause for concern for the Angels. "There's no comparison," Colon said through an interpreter Wednesday. "In spring training it was more tightness. This is more pain in the back." Colon, who is 18-6 with a 3.

Kelvim Escobar still is on the disabled list. The Angels plan to activate him Tuesday, and by the end of the week he could be the most valuable player on the team. For the Angels, an otherwise satisfying 5-3 victory over the Seattle Mariners on Sunday was marred by two disturbing developments. Bartolo Colon, the ace, left the game in the sixth inning because of back spasms. Scot Shields, the setup man, staggered through another inning in which he lost touch with the strike zone.

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.

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.

The two-car garage has no room for a car. The bicycles are stacked against one wall. A refrigerator -- with an Angels' magnet schedule on the door -- stands against another wall. Three young boys wander in and out while their father shoots a basketball in the driveway, the oldest boy dodging the toddler play set, then clicking the television on and sinking into one of the folding chairs to play a video game.