Verlander becomes 3rd SP to 500 starts, matches Clemens in wins

Philly's Justin Verlander of blew past a number of milestones in recent weeks, starting his 500th career game and notching his 211th career win.

End Of The Line: Tim Hudson

End Of The Line is an occasional offseason series that will take a closer look at the career of DMBL players leaving the league after the 2016 season. Today, we look back at longtime Carolina Mudcat, Tim Hudson.

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.

Playoff Race Tightens With Little Decided

Some critical matchups over the weekend did little to quell the uncertainty of the playoff race as the 2012 regular season heads in the final week.

Rowdy (84-73) will begin play today in a tie with Hoboken (84-73) for the 6th and final playoff spot as they prepare for a three-game series at Hillsborough. After reeling off five straight wins, the Hit Men (82-74) now sit just 1 1/2 games back of a wild card but also 5 games behind Drabek division leader Amityville (87-69), whom they face in a season finale series this weekend. The Ant Slayers, with a magic number of 2 to clinch the division, host St. Louis (72-85) for a three-game series starting tonight.

Scheduled starters for Rowdy include two pitchers acquired before the trade deadline while Hillsborough counters with its ace in the third game:

RWD @ HIL
Lee (4-3, 5.31/10-8, 4.38) v. Scherzer (6-15, 6.27) 
Colon (4-3, 4.34/7-9, 3.55) v. Neimann (0-2, 6.12)
Gallardo (8-11, 5.80) v. Verlander (18-8, 2.67)

Meanwhile, a three-game set in Bridgewater looks like it could be a play-in game of sorts between the Mallers and Straphangers. Bridgewater (83-74) is just a game out of a wildcard and Sardine City (81-76) continues to cling to hope, 2 games back of the Mallers and 3 games out of the playoffs -- with 5 to play. Bridgewater lost two out of three to Hopatcong over the weekend in a critical series while Sardine City has won 4 of its last 5, including a sweep of Philly.

Neither Doug Fister nor Javier Vazquez, two starters the teams swapped earlier this year, figure to be among the probable starters in this showdown:

SAR @ BRI
Bailey (7-9, 4.56) v. Beckett (10-9, 3.61) 
Morrow (10-14, 4.67) v. Ogando (12-11, 4.62)
Detweiler (3-4, 6.75) v. Beachy (16-6, 4.75)

If the season ended today, playoff seedings would look like this:
No. 1 Marietta*
No. 2 Vancouver*
No. 3 Amityville
No. 4 Hopatcong
No. 5 Newark
No. 6 Rowdy/Hoboken
* Clinched playoffs

In this scenario, Hoboken and Rowdy would play a one-game playoff to determine the final seed, with the winner facing Amityville while Kruk division rivals Newark (84-72) and Hopatcong (85-71) would duel in the other first-round series. The two appear headed for a potential division title-deciding three-game series to end the regular season, with the runner-up hoping to be in the mix for a wild card. Marietta (103-53) and Vancouver (91-66) would earn first-round byes.

***

In other news over the weekend, Marietta's R.A. Dickey took the loss versus St. Louis, dropping to 18-5, and with just one start remaining, has lost his chance to be the league's only 20-game winner in 2012. Dickey had a respectable 8-inning, 6-hit, 4-run performance against the Farrakhans, but St. Louis prevailed, 6-2. Newark's James Shields and Hillsborough ace Justin Verlander have matched Dickey for the league lead with 18 wins. All three figure to be in the mix for the Ben McDonald Award.

Sabathia reaches 15th all-time in wins

An efficient outing by C.C. Sabathia Saturday night moved the big left-hander up the DMBL record books. Sabathia shut down the Hoboken Cutters for seven innings, scattering five hits and one run against the franchise that initially drafted him, in Rowdy's 5-3 road win.

Sabathia improved to 3-0 this season for the Roddy Pipers, earning his 109th career win, to match David Cone and A.J. Burnett for 15th all-time in DMBL victories. It was his 274th career start, which matched Andy Benes for 20th all-time, and broke a tie with Bartolo Colon. Originally an ineligible 14th-round pick in the 2001 draft, Sabathia also moved into the top 20 in all-time innings pitched, also passing Colon, and now with 1,675 2/3 innings.

Colon returned to the DMBL this season after a five-year absence, having last pitched for Hillsborough in 2006. He was a supplemental fifth-round pick by Blue Ridge in this year's draft, but so far has spent the season on the Bombers' reserve list.

Halladay passes Appier, Colon

Roy Halladay went 7 innings in nabbing the win in Carolina's 3-2 victory over New Jersey on Saturday. The Mudcats' ace passed Kevin Appier to move into 12th all-time in innings pitched with 1,848 2/3.

It was also Halladay's 274th career start, passing Bartolo Colon and moving into a tie with Andy Benes for 15th all-time in games started.