Colon notches 100th career win

Bartolo Colon became the 26th pitcher to earn 100 career wins after earning a victory Friday night against Hoboken. Colon went 6 innings, giving up 2 runs and striking out 5 to beat the Cutters, 6-2.

Now in his 12th season, Colon ranks 25th all-time in wins, tied with Barry Zito and one win away from matching Brad Radke at 101.

Colon is enjoying a resurgent season this year, standing at 5-1 with 3.48 ERA in eight starts for Livingston. Earlier this year, he passed David Wells for 15th all-time in career starts, with 320, and is just two behind Roy Oswalt for No. 14 (322). He's also 26 innings away from reaching 2,000 career innings, a mark only 15 other pitchers have eclipsed.

Colon enjoyed eight straight seasons of at least 31 starts for the Hillsborough/Vatican City/Wanaque franchise  but surprisingly only one winning season, 13-7 in 2006. His best season might be considered 2003 when he went 16-16, 3.61 ERA, with 12 complete games and 4 shutouts. He experienced double-digit losses in seven straight years, including another 16 games in 2005 and a career-high 19 in 2004. He entered the 2014 campaign 7th all-time in losses, with 130.

After 2006, Colon took some time off from the DMBL to get his head right and eat some Krispy Kreme, returning in 2012 as a supplemental pick by Blue Ridge.

Gutierrez, Bay bash their way to victory

Carolina, who's been in a bit of a freefall since being in first earlier this season, scored an important win over first place Vancouver. Barry Zito held the Iron Fist to 6 hits and no runs in 7 innings and struck out 9 en route to a 2-0 victory. Mat Latos pitched an impressive game for the losing end, giving up only 1 earned run on 3 hits in 7 innings, but it wasn't enough. The win was just the 3rd in the last 10 for Carolina.

Jason Bay's 2 home runs propelled the Mighty Men to a 7-5 win over Hoboken. Alberto Callaspo was also 3-4 in the game for the Mighty Men, who preserved their 5 game lead in the Hanover Division. The Mighty Men have dealt with injuries to their outfield, but have continued to play top shelf ball, currently riding a 3 game winning streak.

The Mallers slump continued as they were mercilessly shelled by the Sugar Bears 13-3. Jorge Posada was 4-5 with 3 RBIs and Mike Cameron had 5 RBIs for Newark. Brad Bergesen held the Mallers to just 5 hits. The Mallers have now fallen into 4th place in the Morris Division. Last week the Mallers lost 7 in a row to fall out of first place and hope that these last two games aren't an indication of a new streak.

Franklin Gutierrez hit 3 home runs - but drove in only 4 - to lead Team Buddah to a 7-5 win over Amityville. The Buddahs' offense has apparently awoken in the last few games, as the 7 runs was the lowest total in their last 5 games. The Buddahs have won the last 4 games, scoring 8 runs twice and 16 once. Buddah also score 8 runs in their last loss to Hoboken. They've got a long way to go, however, sitting 16 1/2 games out of first and 11 1/2 out of a playoff spot.

Remember when Alex Rodriguez was struggling for the Rat Pack shortly after being acquired from Amityville? Well that seems like a long time ago now with A-Rod tearing the cover off the ball. A-Rod is now hitting .284/.357/.670 since joining the Rat Pack with 11 homers and 22 RBIs. Yesterday, A-Rod again led the offense with 2 homers and 5 RBIs, but the Rats dropped a 9-7 decision to Sardine City.

Hillsborough-Marietta battle it out

Hillsborough and Marietta battled in a wild one yesterday. After just three innings, the score was already 9-8 in favor of Marietta and the amazing thing is neither team scored anything again until the 8th when Hillsborough tied it up on a sac fly. It took until the 11th to get a decision. A possibly fatigued George Sherrill, working his 3rd inning got into trouble quickly, walking the leadoff hitter, then giving up a single. Finally Josh Hamilton ended it all with a base hit into the right field corner that scored Adrian Gonzalez. Hamilton finished the game 3-6 with 3 RBIs and Mark DeRosa also drove in 4, while Ben Zobrist was 2-6 with 5 RBIs for the Hitmen.

Newark's Marc Rzepczynski tossed 7.1 shutout innings, allowing only 4 hits and striking out 8 en route to a 5-0 victory over the Cutters. Both pitchers were blanking the opposition until the 5th when Newark scored 3 runs. Jorge Posada piled on an additional 2 runs in the 7th to clinch it for the Sugar Bears.

Sardine City fans can now breathe a sigh of relief as the Straphangers finally won their first game of the year, although it did take them extra innings to do it. Evan Longoria tied the game up at 2-2 in the 9th inning with a solo home run. The Straphangers were all set to have a big inning, but James Loney hit into a double play to end the rally. The big inning would have to wait...just a bit. In the 10th, the Straphangers exploded for 5 runs capped by a Ryan Braun grand slam. Loney was hoping for a chance at redemption as he came up to bat with 2 outs in the inning and Longoria on the bases. But Loney didn't get his chance as Longoria took off for 3rd and tripped over his shoelaces and was thrown out by Miguel Olivo.

Spring Training phenom Ryan Rowland-Smith got a taste of reality yesterday when he was tagged for 5 runs in 6.2 innings against the Falcons, but escaped unscathed anyway as the Mallers won the game 6-5. Falcons starter Ricky Nolasco didn't make it out of the 2nd inning. Apparently Nolasco looked over at the time on the scoreboard and noticed he was running late for his fantasy league draft. "Last year I missed it and the stupid software auto-drafted Sidney Ponson with my first pick" said Nolasco.

Carolina's Barry Zito made a triumphant return to his old team, pitching 6 innings and allowing only 3 hits and one unearned run to earn the win against the Endzone Animals. Zito, who had a rough season in 2009 (7-16, 5.95), was left unprotected by the Mudcats. Philadelphia then swooped in and drafted him in the 10th round, but he was released a week ago. "It felt good to kind of shove it in their faces" said Zito "but Carolina has always been my DMBL home."

Century mark within reach for seven hurlers

A handful of pitchers are within striking distance of reaching 100 career wins during the 2010 season. Only 15 players in DMBL history have eclipsed the century mark.

Vancouver's Roy Oswalt, acquired in the offseason from Amityville for Adam LaRoche, starts the season closest to 100 with 97 (tied with Al Leiter for 16th all-time). A good first half of 2010 could mean 100 career wins by the All-Star break for A.J. Burnett of Las Vegas (93) and Johan Santana of Arkansas (90).

It's going to take a strong season for Hoboken's Mark Buehrle (86), Philly lefthanders Barry Zito (85) and C.C. Sabathia (84), and Kevin Millwood of Marietta (84) to reach 100 wins. Even a decent year -- heck, a lousy year might do it -- from any of the four will put them past David Wells (89) and into the top 20 all-time in wins.