That's because Colon received permission to leave the team this week to return to his home in the Dominican Republic for personal reasons. He was scheduled to rejoin the club in Kansas City on Wednesday evening but transportation glitches delayed his return. Instead of meeting the Indians in Kansas City, his new itinerary called for him to be in St. Petersburg when the club arrived last night. Charlie Manuel said. Manuel decided not to move Colon's start back to Saturday and allow Tim Drew to pitch tonight, even though Drew would have the desirable four days between starts.
Pitchers usually try to maintain their edge by throwing a bullpen session between starts.
Colon missed his because of his absence. If he misses throwing on the side, it's not that important. Manuel also is not concerned that Colon threw 132 pitches in his last start. And we've got Cruz. It's hard to get all three guys in the lineup.