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Baseball Today: Friday, March 14 »
March 13, 2008
Pitcher Bartolo Colon made his Red Sox spring debut today and looked good during his two-inning, 26-pitch outing. He allowed one run on two hits, including a solo home run to the Rays' Jon Weber.
The Sox signed him to a minor-league contract at the start of spring training and the club feels he could be a diamond in the rough.
Colon loaded the bases with no outs in the top of the first inning, but retired the next three batters to end the inning unscathed.
“I feel very good,” he said. “My control was good and it was what I was looking for, and I felt really strong out there today.”
Colon said he was pleased with his velocity.
“I’m thrilled with the way my arm has been responding,” he said. “I don’t know how hard I was throwing, but it felt very good.”
Even though he feels strong and confident, he doesn’t want to place a target date on a return, he’ll let the Red Sox make that decision.
“I feel great and the trainers have done a great job with me,” he said. “I’ve seen a great improvement from where I began [spring training] to where I am right now.”
The one-time Cy Young winner (2005 for the Angels) has battled injuries the last few seasons, but he's hoping he can return to form in 2008.
“The past two years have been tough,” he said. “But it’s that more gratifying to see the results finally starting to pay out. More than anything it’s great to be able to go out on the mound, even for a brief stint, and have some success. It’s very rewarding and shows that the hard work is paying off.”
Posted by Joe McDonald 
at 2:25 PM | Permalink
