Though the pitcher win is widely-regarded as an outdated stat in today's world of advanced stats and metrics, it's still kinda cool to see a pitcher reach a round win-total that only 111 pitchers before him have reached. In this case, we're talking about 41-year-old Bartolo Colon, who on Friday night notched career win No. 200 in the New York Mets 5-4 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies.
Colon, who's in his first season with the Mets, improved to 11-9 this season with a 3.97 ERA. He allowed one run over eight strong innings, and then sat back and watched the Phillies plate three runs against Dana Eveland and Jenrry Mejia in the ninth. Mejia finally settled down to record the final three outs to secure Colon's milestone.
With the victory, Colon becomes the third active pitcher to reach the 200-win plateau, joining Tim Hudson (213 career wins) and CC Sabathia (208). Colon is also the third Dominican-born pitcher to win 200, joining Juan Marichal (243) and Pedro Martinez (219). That's very good company.*
''I'm really happy to be in that category,'' Colon said through an interpreter. ''I'm expecting a call from those guys.''
If it seems like Colon found the Fountain of Youth, it might be true. Since turning 40 on May 24, 2013, he's won 25 games*
''It's amazing that he's still able to perform like he does,'' Mets manager Terry Collins said. ''Two hundred wins, that's a lot of wins.''
Given how well Colon has pitched these past two seasons, it would seem he has at least one more decent season left in him, maybe two. Obviously 300 wins is out of the questions and 250 is an extreme longshot, but 215-220 may not be. Getting there would move him into the top 80 on the all-time wins list.
ORIOLES BASH CARDINALS WITH SIX HOME RUNS: The Baltimore Orioles have always hit Justin Masterson well throughout his career, and that didn't change on Friday despite Masterson coming to town wearing a St. Louis Cardinals jersey. The Orioles offense pummeled him for five runs on seven hits, including two of their season-high six home runs, in just two-plus innings as they glided to an easy 12-2 win.
Manny Machado started the barrage with a three-run shot in the first inning. J.J. Hardy followed with a solo homer off Masterson and a three-run blast against Nick Greenwood in the fourth for his 11th career multihomer game. Adam Jones, Chris Davis and Ryan Flaherty provided the rest of the fireworks. *
TIGERS WIN LATE, BUT LOSE ANIBAL SANCHEZ:
It may not have appeared like the Detroit Tigers needed David Price at the trade deadline, but the old saying that you can never have enough pitching said otherwise. On Friday, it was proven right again as Detroit right-hander Anibal Sanchez was forced to leave the game in the fifth inning with a right pectoral strain. The Tigers won't have a timetable for Sanchez's return until he undergoes an MRI on Saturday, but it sounds like something that will require a DL stint.
That's the bad news. The good news is Detroit was able to rally from a two run ninth inning deficit against the Toronto Blue Jays. The heroes were not the usual suspects. Miguel Cabrera, Victor Maritnez and Ian Kinsler were nowhere to be found. Instead, it was Nick Castellanos who pulled them even with a two-run homer off closer Casey Janssen, and then Eugenio Sanchez immediately followed with a homer of his own to provide the difference in Detroit's 5-4 win.
Of course, securing the win wasn't easy either. Detroit closer Joe Nathan loaded the bases with two outs in the ninth and was bailed out by Rajai Davis' sliding catch in foul territory. But that's just what winning teams do. They get contributions from everywhere on the roster.*
UPTONS GO DOWNTOWN: A matchup with Stephen Strasburg doesn't sound like the answer for snapping an eight-game losing streak. However, the Braves were fortunate to catch him in Atlanta. On the road this season, Strasburg has an ERA over two runs higher than at home, and the Braves actually widened the gap with four homers off Strasburg in the first five innings en route to a 7-6 victory.*
That onslaught included a two-run homer from both Justin Upton and B.J. Upton, which made a little MLB history.*

The Uptons set an @MLB record tonight: 5 games when both brothers have hit a HR (while on the same team) pic.twitter.com/1fDbSzaUVi
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) August 9, 2014
Freddie Freeman also connected on a two-run blast and Tommy La Stella hit the first home run of his career to stake Atlanta to a 7-0 lead. Then it was white knuckle time as Washington plated four in the sixth and two in the seventh to make it a one-run game. Jordan Walden and Craig Kimbrel finally got things under control in the eighth and ninth innings as Atlanta snapped the losing streak and move within three games of Washington for first place in the NL East.*
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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Townie813