THE day that Bartolo Colon showed up in spring training this year, a no-hitter was the last thing on his mind. The first goal was no food.

Colon weighed in at more than 250 pounds, a good 30 pounds over his pitching weight. Last night he nearly weighed in with one of the seven greatest pitching performances ever against the Yankees.

Most of all, what he gave the Yankees was food for playoff thought.

Colon took a no-hitter into the eighth, struck out Glenallen Hill on a slider from hell and then surrendered a ground ball single right back up the middle to old Dominican teammate Luis Polonia on a fastball that got too much of the plate. Polonia had been 2-for-12 lifetime against the laser right-hander.

“When Polonia got that base hit it felt like a punch in the chest,” said Colon through an interpreter. “When I see him, though, I will give him a hug.”

Colon was punching out Yankees all night with ferocious stuff. He fired 49 pitches that were 95 miles per hour or better. Three times Colon hit the 100 mark. He finished the night by striking out the side in the ninth to give him 13 Ks and a complete-game, 2-0 win at the Stadium.

And how’s this for comparison? The last pitcher to throw a one-hitter at the Yankees was Pedro Martinez, a year and 10 days ago to the day. The Yankees have not been no-hit in the last 42 years. Hoyt Wilhelm was the last of six pitchers to throw a no-hitter against the Yankees – Sept. 20, 1958, a span of 6,637 games.

In the last two starts against Indian aces Chuck Finley and Colon, the Yankees have managed all of two singles over 15 innings. In a short opening series, if the Indians dynamic duo come close to repeating that performance, the Yankees could be in big trouble. Not to mention the fact that the Indians beat Roger Clemens last night, the first team to blow up The Rocket since the Mets did on June 9.

The Indians were the first American League team to take down Clemens since the Red Sox won by the same 2-0 score way back on May 28. That should do wonders to boost the Indians’ postseason confidence, if they can sneak in with the wild card.

Said perennial All-Star second baseman Roberto Alomar, “There’s only one way to beat Roger Clemens, you just have to compete, compete and compete. You can’t stop competing.”

The Indians are a veteran team with that kind of mindset, much like the Yankees. Colon set the tone on the second batter he faced, taking a line drive rocket off the hip from Derek Jeter. Colon ran down the ball and threw out Jeter at first. Then in the bottom of the second, Kenny Lofton did a great Vince Carter imitation, skying high over the center field wall to steal a home run from Jorge Posada. He celebrated with a flip of the ball, high in the air, Showtime.

“I’ve done that many times,” Lofton said of the catch. Jim Thome completed the troika of great fielding with a diving stab of Tino Martinez’ one-hopper in the seventh and then tossing to the hustling Colon for the out. Just think, this was the same Colon who asked out of starts just a few weeks ago. He then had a heart-to-heart talk with manager Charlie Manuel. Manuel basically told Colon to show more heart.

After Polonia’s single, Colon got out of the eighth with a double-play grounder to short by Scott Brosius and then came back out in the ninth to strike out Jose Vizcaino looking, Chuck Knoblauch swinging and Jeter looking.

“I will never forget this game or the line drive off the hip,” Colon said.

The Yankees will not forget this night and neither will the Indians. “We’ve done a good job lately and this is the kind of game that can give you a big lift,” said Sandy Alomar Jr. “But we know the Yankees have some people hurt.”

That last statement tells you what you need to know about the Indians. They are not dumb enough to think a September win will have any influence in October. But they are smart enough to know that if they play their best, anything can happen.

“The Yankees have one of the greatest clubs in the game,” Colon said. “To no-hit a club like this would have been an incredible feeling.”

Even though that didn’t happen, guess the diet was worth the trouble.