He Says He’ll Be Ready to Nail His Next Start

What was a split-decision Sunday became a unanimous choice Monday: Kelvim Escobar, questionable for Wednesday night’s game because of a split nail on the middle finger of his pitching hand, will start against the Texas Rangers.

“Coming to the park, my finger is looking pretty good,” Escobar said Monday after suffering the injury in the second inning of Friday’s game against the New York Yankees. “I decided I’m ready to go.”

The day after the Yankee game, in which he went six innings and gave up only one run, Escobar had thought there was no chance he’d pitch Wednesday. “I don’t think it’s going to get better in five days,” he said Saturday. After playing catch Sunday, Escobar said there was a “50-50 chance” he’d pitch.

By Monday, Escobar, who missed most of 2005 because of shoulder and elbow problems, had filed down the part of the nail that broke and was certain he would make the start, which would enable the Angels to keep long reliever Hector Carrasco in the bullpen.

“I didn’t want to miss any games, to be honest,” said Escobar, who had surgery to remove bone chips from his elbow last June. “I feel so good I want to be able to go out there every five days. I had a tough year last year, and with everything I went through, I’m not going to let a split nail stop me.”

Escobar suffered a similar injury early in his career in Toronto and had a fake nail put on his finger. He opted against a return trip to the manicurist because the fake nail “makes the original nail weak,” Escobar said.

“Plus, I had to keep going to get my nails done between games,” he said. “I didn’t want to do that over and over again.”

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The Angels do not seem overly concerned about their ace, right-hander Bartolo Colon, who has given up 10 earned runs and 15 hits, including three home runs, in seven innings of his first two starts, a no-decision in Seattle on April 3 and Sunday’s 10-1 loss to the Yankees.

Colon was 21-8 with a 3.48 earned-run average last season, winning the American League Cy Young Award, but has admitted several times this spring that he’s still hesitant to rear back and fire his full-velocity fastball after recovering from a slight shoulder tear that knocked him out of the playoffs last October.

“Two games is a real small sample size to draw any conclusions,” Angel pitching coach Bud Black said. “He seems fine physically. He says he feels fine. There’s nothing different in his daily routine from spring training to now.”

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Center fielder Darin Erstad’s wife, Jessica, was due to deliver the couple’s first child Saturday, but as of game time Monday, the child had not been born.

“I’m a little anxious, but I’m fine,” Erstad said. “It’s exciting. It’s not really a distraction.”

Jessica was hardly fazed by the delay; she watched most of Monday’s game from the press box.