Colon a Little Hesitant

As if Bartolo Colon needed another painful reminder of how his 2005 season ended, the right-hander will get one Sunday when he starts against the Yankees in Angel Stadium.

Colon was pitching at home against the Yankees last October when he suffered the slight shoulder tear that knocked him out of Game 5 of the American League division series and out of the playoffs.

Though he made it through the World Baseball Classic, spring training and his season-opening start against Seattle on Monday with no setbacks, Colon is still coping with fallout from the injury every time he throws his fastball, a pitch that used to hit 98 mph but has topped out at 94 mph so far this season.

“I still have that slight hesitation to let it go,� Colon said through an interpreter. “I’m a human being. There’s still a little fear, but it will come.�

Colon cruised through the first four innings Monday at Seattle, giving up two infield singles, but his start turned south after he lunged awkwardly for a fourth-inning grounder that went off his glove for a single.

Colon, his mechanics askew, gave up three runs during a 30-pitch fifth inning and loaded the bases with no out in the sixth before being pulled in an eventual 5-4 Angel victory.

“My back was fine, but I felt a little twitch in my groin because I tried to change directions so quickly,� said Colon, who will receive his 2005 Cy Young Award in a presentation before tonight’s game. “But it didn’t affect me, and it’s fine now.�

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Angel right-hander Ervin Santana will oppose Yankee left-hander Randy Johnson for the first time in the big leagues tonight, but it won’t be the first time the two have squared off.

On July 15, 2003, Johnson, then with the Arizona Diamondbacks, made a rehabilitation start for Class-A Lancaster at Rancho Cucamonga. The opposing pitcher that night? Santana, 20 at the time.

Santana got the best of the Big Unit, giving up one run and five hits in six innings of Rancho Cucamonga’s 5-1 win. Santana was promoted to double-A Arkansas for his next start. Johnson also went six innings, giving up five runs and 11 hits, including a home run by Dallas McPherson and a double and a single by Jeff Mathis, who could start behind the plate for the Angels tonight.

“All of us were in awe,� Mathis said, recalling the game. “Whenever a big leaguer came in, everyone wants to get a hit off him. When I got that double ... oh, was I excited.�