and the winner is …

His overall numbers for 2010 certainly don’t blow you away, but what Roy Oswalt did for the Philadelphia Phillies in his 13 appearances for them was fairly sensational. The former Holmes Community College standout from Weir was 7-1 with a 1.74 ERA for the National League East champs, a performance that is worthy of the second annual Cool Papa Bell Award. (The award is given here to recognize the best performance by a Mississippi-connected player in the major leagues. Ole Miss alumnus Chris Coghlan won the inaugural Bell.) Oswalt, who began the season with the Houston Astros, went 13-13 overall with a 2.76 ERA and 193 strikeouts in 211 2/3 innings. He beats out several other worthy candidates, including Fred Lewis, Marcus Thames, Jonathan Papelbon and even Cliff Lee. Down the stretch in the regular season, Oswalt was better than any of them, and he played a vital role in Philly’s division-winning charge.
P.S. Tyler Pastornicky, likely to be the Mississippi Braves’ shortstop in 2011, will play in the Arizona Fall League’s Rising Stars game on Saturday (8 p.m., MLB Network). Pastornicky, not highly rated on some of the early 2011 prospect charts, has done something to warrant Atlanta’s interest in his future. A recent slump has dropped his average in the AFL to .229, but he showed flashes of pop and a good glove during his time in Pearl last summer.