End Of The Line: Mark Buehrle

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 at Mark Buehrle, who burst on the scene in 2002.

Batting Title Comes Down To Final Day

The duel for the batting title will come down to today's season finale.

Rowdy's Michael Young went 2-for-5 to gain ground on Victor Martinez, who never came off the bench for Bridgewater Friday night. The two are expected to start today, with Young facing starter Mark Buehrle and Martinez facing Philly (a scheduled starter TBD since Matt Garza went down for 10 days in his last start).

Entering today's games, Martinez leads the batting race with a .33333 average, ahead of Young and his .331838 clip.

Batting second in the Pipers' lineup, Young was able to get 5 at-bats last night. If V-Mart goes hitless in 4 at-bats that would open the door for Young, who then would need just 1 hit in 5 at-bats to sneak past him. Assuming Young gets another 5 at-bats, and Martinez 4, he essentially needs two more hits than Martinez. In most scenarios, if Young outhits Martinez by just one, he falls short by about .0001.

Buehrle wins his 100th game

It took 14 starts but Mark Buehrle has his first win of the season -- and the 100th of his career. The left-hander scattered four hits and a run over seven innings while striking out four in a 4-1 home triumph against Philly last night.

The 100 wins puts him squarely in 20th place in all-time victories, breaking a tie with Jake Peavy, who's spent most of this season working on his mechanics in the Hopatcong minor league system.

The third overall pick of the 2002 draft, Buehrle went on to win the McDonald Award that year for the Columbia Crusaders, going 18-9 with a 2.32 ERA and wicked awesome 0.98 WHIP-- yet somehow losing out on the Listach Award for Rookie of the Year to Joel Pineiro (who did win 21 games). He's been among the steadiest starting pitchers in the DMBL over past decade despite being with his seventh franchise in the St. Louis Farrakhans. Through his first five seasons, Buehrle pitched no fewer than 220 innings in all but one of them, and routinely recorded two dozen or more decisions a year.

Buehrle also is closing in on the top 20 in innings pitched, trailing Barry Zito and Bartolo Colon. He's third among active pitchers in complete games with 31 (behind Roy Halladay and Roy Oswalt), which ties him for 15th all-time with Mike Morgan. He's also within the top 30 in career starts, with 259.

Buehrle is just 1-5 this season with a team-high 6.37 ERA. The losses have added up, putting him just two away from 100 for his career (which puts him 18th in league history).

Verlander outduels Buehrle for 1-0 win

Bridgewater took sole possession of first place in the Morris Division after winning their 3rd straight - a 4-1 win over Sardine City. The game was tied up at one as the Mallers batted in the 9th, but Raul Ibanez hit a 3-run walkoff homer to win the game for Bridgewater. Ibanez drove in all 4 runs fro the Mallers. Jonathan Papelbon improved his record to 4-0.

Hillsborough won their 4th straight as Justin Verlander outdueled Mark Buehrle in a 1-0 win for the Hitmen. Verlander pitched 8.1 innings of 6-hit ball, striking out 9 and walking one. Buehrle pitched 7 innings and allowed 6 hits and 4 walks, while also striking out 9. The lone run scored in the 6th on a Gordon Beckham single up the middle.

Also winning 4 in a row are the Las Vegas Rat Pack. The Pack took an 8-6 decision against Carolina yesterday as Dan Uggla and Ryan Hanigan each had 2 RBIs. Dustin Pedroia was 4-4 in defeat.

Newark won a nailbiter - a 4-3 edging of Blue Ridge. Mark Rzepczynski held the Bombers to 5 hits and 3 runs in 7 innings to earn the win and Howie Kendrick was 3-5 with 2 RBIs. The win snaps Newark's modest 3-game losing streak, but the Sugar Bears are still struggling at 3 games under the .500 mark.

Nelson Cruz was 4-5 with 5 RBIs and 3 homers in leading the Ant Slayers to a 5-4, extra inning win over the Endzone Animals. Torii Hunter almost matched Cruz, going 3-4 with 4 RBIs and 2 home runs for Philly.

Carolina falls, but Sardines still rule the cellar

Carolina finally fell, 6-4 to the Endzone Animals. The Mudcats could only muster 4 hits total, though one of them was a 3-run homer by Aramis Ramirez. Other than the one gopher ball, Philly starter Jered Weaver pitched brilliantly, lasting 8 innings and walking only 2.

While the Mudcats ended their streak, the Straphangers had no such luck, descending to 0-4 on the season after a 3-0 loss to Team Buddah. Andy Pettitte pitched 6 innings of 5-hit ball to earn the win. The Buddahs only managed 5 hits as well, though 3 of them were doubles. Cole Hamels took the loss despite allowing only 2 hits in 5 innings (the 6 walks probably didn't help though).

Hoboken shut down the once-mighty Sugar Bears 3-1. Starter Mark Buehrle tossed 8 innings, allowing only one run on 8 hits. Denard Span was 3-4, leading the Hoboken offense. "It's almost as if our team thinks they're still on vacation" said Sugar Bear manager Don Mattingly.

All eyes were on 2010 first round pick Brett Anderson, but it was Randy Wolf who won the duel. Anderson was tagged for 4 runs on 10 hits in 7 innings - not a horrible debut - but Wolf allowed only 2 runs and 4 hits in 6 innings and earned the win in the 4-3 contest. Alex Rodriguez was 2-4 in the contest and drove in all the runs on two home runs.

Vancouver and Blue Ridge battled it out in a tight one yesterday. With the score tied at 5 in the 8th, Blue Ridge took a tenuous 6-5 lead. Closer Francisco Rodriguez was unable to hold it though, despite getting the first two outs in the inning. Rodriguez walked Michael Cuddyer and then promptly served up a 2-run dinger to Garrett Jones. Joe Thatcher retired the final three batters in the ninth to earn his second save of the season.

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.