Sale reaches 300 starts, 8th in strikeouts

Chris Sale became the 31st pitcher in DMBL history to make his 300th start but more impressively, he moved into 8th place on the all-time strikeouts list.

Milestone night for Oswalt

Roy Oswalt, the longtime Honolulu Shark who has bounced around four different teams in the last five seasons, last night became the 16th pitcher in league history to make 300 starts, while becoming the 13th hurler to reach 2,000 innings pitched. It was quite the milestone game as Oswalt fell to 2-5 on the season, matching Tim Hudson for 10th all-time in losses, with 112. He also sits just 12 strikeouts from 1,500, a mark only 14 pitchers have reached.

Oswalt reached the milestone in the uniform of the Las Vegas Rat Pack, who selected him in the 4th round of this year's draft, after spending the last two seasons in Vancouver. He won a career-high 17 games last year for the Iron Fist but spent his first six seasons in Honolulu, where he was the workhorse of the staff, going 75-74 in 194 starts but averaging 32 starts and 221 innings per year. He also spent a season each with Tampa (2008) and Amityville (2009).

The Mississippi native is now tied with Kevin Appier, who sits at 15th all-time with an even 300 starts. Oswalt is likely to pass Al Leiter, up next at 308, and if he can stay healthy enough to make 26 starts this year, he'd pass David Wells at 315 and move into 13th all-time. Could Oswalt be putting together a potential Hall of Fame career?

Oswalt very nearly had a complete game, which would have been his 43rd, matching David Cone for 11th all-time. He was lifted after 8 2/3, plunking pinch-hitter Ian Desmond before making way for Fernando Rodney who promptly gave up the game-winning double to Justin Smoak in the 5-4 loss.

Kevin Appier: Hall of Famer?

Kevin Appier had a long DMBL career... but was it worthy of the Diamond Mind Baseball League Hall of Fame?

Looking at the 16 starting pitchers who are or were eligible for the DMBL Hall of Fame -- that is, leaving out the guys who haven't been retired long enough (Greg Maddux, Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez) and the two guys who are already in the Hall (David Cone and Dennis Martinez), but including pitchers who were eligible but are no longer on the ballot (Shane Reynolds, Pete Harnisch, Denny Neagle) -- Appier ranks first in several key categories.

Most wins (107) -- Appier, followed by Hideo Nomo (87)
Most strikeouts (1,470) -- Appier, followed by Nomo (1,370)
Most innings (1,810.0) -- Appier, followed by Andy Benes (1589.1)
Most starts (300) -- Appier, followed by Benes (274)
Most complete games (35) -- Appier, followed by Harnisch (29)
Most years played (11) -- Appier, tied with Benes (11)

On the other hand, he also ranks first in most hits allowed, most earned runs allowed, most walks allowed, and most losses.

But all this proves is that Appier had a long career. The question is, did he have a good one?

Appier's career ERA of 4.90 ranks puts him 6th out of the 16, between mediocrities Scott Erickson (4.86) and Kirk Rueter (4.96). (Bret Saberhagen leads at 4.35.) He's even lower in WHIP, ranking 10th. (Rick Reed leads with a 1.35; Appier's 1.55 puts him between Nomo at 1.52 and Pedro Astacio at 1.57.) He's just 8th in winning percentage (.471), between Juan Guzman and Reed. (Neagle leads at .565.) And despite having a huge lead in career starts and complete games, his 5 career shutouts leave him tied for 3rd with Reynolds. (Ismael Valdes leads with 8, followed by Nomo at 6.)

Appier is 6th in H/9 (10.2), 11th in BB/9 (3.8), 4th in K/9 (7.3) and 7th in K:BB (1.9). And remember, this isn't all-time... this is just out of the 16 starting pitchers who are or were eligible for the Hall of Fame.

Looking at his career season-by-season, you see Appier got off to a really bad start -- he was 6-28 with a 5.82 ERA and 1.87 WHIP in his first two seasons! If you throw out those two years, his career W% climbs to .523 (101-92) and his ERA drops to 4.78. He also had a brutal end to his career, with four years for the perpetually cellar-dwelling Columbia Rattlesnakes (28-44, 5.55 ERA). If you throw out those years as well, you really see why some people remember Appier as a solid DMBL pitcher -- 73-48 (.603 W%) with a 4.35 ERA, 1.51 WHIP, 31 complete games, and 5 shutouts over five seasons with Tampa and Newark. Looking at him just over that stretch, he has almost as good a HOF case as Cone (109-81, .574 W%, 4.42 ERA, 1.50 WHIP). He also was a two-time All-Star ('93, '98) and won a World Series ring with the 1997 Sugar Bears.

But can you ignore six bad years and focus only on five good years? Does a pretty good (but not great) peak warrant the Hall of Fame? Decide for yourself! Fill out your ballot today!

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.