Sports News: Closing Time: Offense returns, but not on Bartolo Colon’s watch

While you were heating up your Memorial Day grill, Major League Baseball warmed up the bats. A whopping 46 homers were clubbed on Monday and 169 runs were scored. Doc Halladay of all people allowed three homers at Washington, though he still got a win. Breezy Wrigley Field hosted its highest-scoring game since 2004.

Only one man seemed completely bulletproof from this offensive fireworks show: the one and only Bartolo Colon.

They don't throw parades for a shutout in Oakland, of course, where Colon spun his Monday Magic (4 H, 0 BB, 6 K). But we're about to hit June and the Colon music keeps playing. He's been useful in six of his eight starts, he's got the lowest ground-ball rate for the measurable balance of his career, and his peripheral-suggested ERA (3.35 FIP) is right in line with his actual number (3.26).

Colon has been fortunate but not crazy-lucky with his balls in play (.276 BABIP). He's striking out better than eight men per nine innings, and he's getting four punchouts for every walk. Everything looks good under the hood. Colon is a clear play for the weekend date in Anaheim, and I'm not afraid to use him the following week at home against Cleveland.

While you work on your best Open Mic Night Colon material, let's peruse some of the other baseball happenings from Monday:

?�Mike Napoli is doing all he can to force his way into the Texas lineup. He clouted a couple of homers at Tampa, giving him four round-trippers and nine RBIs over the past three games. It was encouraging to see Napoli do something on the road, where he's struggled most of the year (.170/.328/.447, small sample and all). Mitch Moreland also had a hand in the victory, going deep, reaching four times and scoring three runs. He's quietly up to .301 with seven homers.

?�Jordan Walden probably needed a day off after a 37-pitch save at Minnesota on Sunday, so Fernando Rodney filled the bill Monday at Kansas City. Rodney shocked the world with a perfect inning, striking out two, though he needed 23 pitches to do it. I still think Scott Downs makes more sense as the Walden hedge, but Mike Scioscia makes the calls in the OC. Torii Hunter homered twice in the win (including the clout that essentially benched Joakim Soria), with Mark Trumbo and Peter Bourjos adding one each.

?�The Diamondbacks have surged into first place in the NL West (they're on a seven-game winning streak) and the offense is fueling the charge. The Snakes posted a league-high 54 runs over the past seven days, with 12 homers and 14 steals. Monday's 19-hit, 15-run shellacking over the Marlins on Monday was good to most of the Rattlers, other than Ryan Roberts (he didn't play - curse you, Melvin Mora) and Juan Miranda (0-for-4). Kelly Johnson ended any buy-low talk with a couple of homers, while Justin Upton went 5-for-5 with this ridiculous homer and a stolen base.

Long term, I still view Roberts as someone worth holding in mixers. His position flexibility can get him into the lineup at several spots, and eventually the D-Backs probably will accept that Mora's weak bat (.257/.271/.307) isn't worth using on a regular basis. It's a little annoying needing a Roberts caddy in daily leagues, but I figure he'll start at least 85 percent of the time. Be patient with Arizona Ink.

?�Madison Bumgarner passed the eye test in St. Louis, allowing just two runs over seven tidy innings en route to his second win. Congratulations if you stayed the course on Bumgarner; he's posted a 2.12 ERA over his last seven starts, with 37 strikeouts against 12 walks over 46.2 innings. He's back at home on the weekend, working against Colorado. Even in shallow mixers, he should be rostered.

?�The Rockies collected 14 hits at Chavez Ravine but 13 of them were singles and they only managed one run off Chad Billingsley and Co. Eric Young batted leadoff again, going 1-for-5 with a stolen base. The Dodgers were nowhere close to a save situation, nursing a six-run lead, but it's interesting to note that Matt Guerrier pitched the eighth (1 BB, 0 R) and Javy Guerra worked the ninth (2 H, 0 R).

?�The White Sox had no trouble with Jon Lester, throwing seven runs at the ace lefty and getting a fairly-easy victory at Fenway. Alexei Ramirez put up a 4-2-2-2 line, completing a sneaky .291/.363/.500 slash for May. Brent Lillibridge was 1-for-2 on the bases, though he sure looked safe on the unsuccessful attempt. Jake Peavy only struck out two for his seven-inning stint, but otherwise he was successful (6 H, 3 R). He'll get the Mariners next.

? Jorge Posada before the tantrum: .165/.272/.349. Posada since the tantrum: .185/.333/.296 (hat tip, Jeff Passan). You need to do better at DH, Yankees; your aging veteran isn't getting it done. Oakland has a pair of nasty lefties for the next two games (Brett Anderson. Gio Gonzalez), so Posada probably won't start again until the Yankees return home. Even in deep mixers, I'm not interested in Posada for the balance of 2011.

Speed Round: We finally have a culprit with this Hanley Ramirez slump: intense back pain, with a leg issue thrown in. He might get an MRI in the next day or two. Emilio Bonifacio played short at Arizona and reached base four times from the leadoff spot. … Angel Pagan is off to a 7-for-16 start since returning from the DL. He also had a nifty catch in Monday's win over the Pirates. … Brandon Webb was knocked around in a Double-A start and his fastball sat in the mid-80s. No interest here. … Clay Buchholz has been pitching through a sore back for most of the year. … Jed Lowrie (shoulder) should be back in the lineup Tuesday. He suffered the injury when he collided with Carl Crawford's wallet shoulder at Detroit. … Ian Kinsler was rested Monday but he's fine, just a routine day off. … Cameron Maybin has a sore knee and had an MRI on Monday; that explains why I've been offered him in trade a handful of times over the last 72 hours. … Chris Snyder homered against the Mets and has a clear path to playing time now that Ryan Doumit is on the DL. … Josh Johnson's rehab is progressing deliberately and he won't be returning on June 7. … Tony Campana stole four bases against Houston, which landed him in a stand-alone blog post. … The Phillies might get Shane Victorino back Friday, which would finally restore their preferred lineup. … Joe Mauer is working in extended spring training. He went 0-for4 with a couple of strikeouts Monday. Tsuyoshi Nishioka went 0-for-3 in the same game. … Francisco Liriano (shoulder) went on the 15-day DL. You can DL-stash him if you want, I'm not interested.