You see it every year as May turns into June during the baseball season.

Runs, runs, runs everywhere, and not a stopper in sight.

Unless your name is Bartolo Colon.

Colon threw a 122 pitch shut out against the reeling Chicago White Sox Friday night.

Colon is the hottest commodity on the open market.

He’s out of Cleveland, but where will he go?Cleveland has made it abundantly clear that Bartolo Colon is not in their plans for the future.

Colon is headed to the National league where his overpowering stuff will be even more difficult to hit in the fast ball circuit.

How about Arizona?

The Diamondbacks have Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling.

I don’t have to outline what they mean to the Arizona rotation.

Manager Bob Brenly loves giving the ball to Miguel Batista, who showed what he could do when he dominated the all of a sudden completely feeble hitting Giants Tuesday night.

Righthander Todd Stottlemyre appears to near the end of his career.

Rick Helling dazzled the Giants Thursday, but that has to be discounted against the Giants, a team that almost gets no hit on a daily basis right now.

Jason Jennings took a no hitter into the seventh inning last night for Colorado before Barry Bonds beat the shift with a ground single to right.

But I digress.

Colon is a perfect fit for Arizona. Johnson and Schilling won’t go on forever.

Or will they?

Batista is the sleeper. He could be the key to a trade with Cleveland, if Arizona needed to sweeten the pot.

Colon is a top of the rotation guy who will put Arizona back into the World Series.

The Braves were great with Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, and John Smoltz, winning titles throughout the 90’s.

Johnson, Schilling, and Colon have power. The trio would breeze through the playoffs with ease.

They would make the Braves rotation look like batting practice.

I see Colon in Bank One Ball Park before the year is over, pitching for the Diamondbacks.

Meanwhile, the offense has kicked in this week in the American league.

Are the pitchers getting tired.

Maybe.

I think the hitters are locked in as they always seem to do in late May and early June.

Off days are now a precious few. Fifth and sixth starters are seeing action. Starters are getting knocked out earlier in the game. Middle relief, a crap shoot at best, is being tested on a nightly basis.

If you like offense, now’s your time.

Today’s games:

James Baldwin goes for Seattle. The Mariners are looking for pitching right now. Freddy Garcia and Joel Pineiro are good one night and shaky the next. Jamie Moyer and Rafael Soriano have fallen into the same mold. The bull pen is shaky, too.

Baldwin has been a problem for Lou Piniella for a month. The Orioles are one of those teams breaking out of a season long offensive slump.

Rodrigo Lopez throws bb’s for the O’s. This one has the look of another tough day for Seattle.

Barry Zito versus Joe Kennedy is a rematch of last Sunday in Oakland.

Zito has been the A’s best pitcher for over a month. Same goes for Kennedy in Tampa. The A’s are hitting the ball with authority. Adam Piatt, Miguel Tejada, and Eric Chavez are locked in right now. Jermaine Dye will break out any day, his spring training is about over.

Neither of these pitchers need a bull pen which is good because both teams’ pens are overworked (imagine these pens in August).

Strange things happen during games in the Juice Dome (Tropicana Field). Count on a more normal game tonight.

Kevin Appier in the Metrodome. The Twins and the Angels have played each other very tough over the last week. Appier is due for one of those stinkers he throws on a routine basis. This goofy park is just the place it could happen.

Todd Ritchie has shown he can beat the AL Central. Even though he has gotten lit up recently, he will be a little bit better than the 100 pitches in five innings, Danys Baez.

If Mike Hampton can’t beat the Giants today he will never turn around his awful season. Hampton has owned SF in his career. Hampton is struggling with his control every time out.

The Giants are honoring the ’62 NL Champions today at Pac Bell.

If Mays and McCovey suited up, they would add to this offense, even at 70 years old.

Mark Redman is worth a mention. The former Twins lefty is throwing quite well for Detroit right now. His opponent, Luke Prokopec is going in the opposite direction.

Rolando Arrojo tries to stop New York in a match up with Mike Mussina. I trust Moose in big games. Both teams can hit right now. Mussina may be a little better than the Sox hitters.

Two of the best young pitchers in Wrigley. Roy Oswalt, the curveballing Tim Hudson clone, against the phenom, Mark Prior. Send the script to Hollywood, these guys will be awesome today.

That prediction usually means a 10-9 game is on tap.

All in all, it’s June and the ball will be flying more and more every day.

Unless Bartolo Colon is pitching.