The Marlins' Infield (guest piece by Sackett)

The Marlins infield (Mike Jacobs, Dan Uggla, Hanley Ramirez, Jorge Cantu) became the first ever to each hit 25 home runs in a season. If Cantu had hit one more, each would have had at least 30. Ramirez led the team with 33, followed closely by Jacobs and Uggla with 32. That's a total of 126 home runs from the infield alone.

The last team to come close to having an infield belt 25 home runs each was the 2005 Rangers, and they came very close. Michael Young was the only player to not hit 25, and he hit 24. The other members of that infield were Mark Teixeira (43), Alfonso Soriano (36), and Hank Blalock (25), bringing the infield total to 128. (Even more impressive, every starter for that team had a home run total in the double digits, with the least amount being Richard Hidalgo's 16. And Hidalgo only appeared in 88 games!)

To further put into perspective how amazing the Marlins infielders' feat was, the Elias Sports Bureau records that only seven teams since 1876 have had three infielders to crush 25 longballs. Only six infield units, the '08 Marlins and '05 Rangers included, have had all four members hit 20.

Cody Ross (with 22 homers himself) commented last month: "A lot of times, teams will have first basemen or third basemen that hit for power, but to also have a second baseman do what Uggla does and a shortstop do what Hanley does ... it's pretty amazing what they've done."

Firsthand account from the Dodgers' hitless victory (guest piece by DaSkeeza)

What makes the game of baseball fascinating is that there is a wide array of things that can happen. The game can be won on a home-run in the bottom of the last inning. A team can rally from over ten runs down to seize victory. The pitcher can throw a perfect game. A defensive player can make an unassisted triple play. There can be a bench-clearing brawl.

Yet last Saturday, I witnessed something so rare, that in modern major league history, it has only happened five times.

A team won a game without a single hit.

With the need to be out of Orange County that night, I attended last Saturday’s Dodgers/Angels game at Dodger Stadium. Seeing as how my time in the southland may be numbered, I figured I’d take in a little bit of the freeway series just for the experience. Besides, there isn’t a place where baseball is bigger than southern California, and seeing these two clubs battle for LA supremacy was a fun and interesting proposition.

So there I am, in my usual third-deck seat behind home plate (I like this view because it’s the same one I have when I do the PA for college games), scorebook in hand with a couple of pencils. I’ve downed my order of nachos and am ready to take in the latest feud between LA baseball’s Hatfields and McCoys.

For the most part, it feels like any other game. Both pitchers are tossing gems. The crowd of better than 55,000 projects a sea of red and blue. During the Kiss Cam promotion, the last couple shown has the man propose to his girlfriend, who thankfully said yes.

The Angels get a chink in the armor in the 5th, when Matt Kemp reaches first as a slow roller to Jered Weaver’s left dies in the grass, and Weaver can’t pick it up. The scorer originally rules it a hit, but my better judgment thinks it’s an error, as it seemed well within Jered’s ability to make the play. A minute later, the scorer agrees with me and changes it to an error. Kemp then steals second while Jeff Mathis’ throw sails into center, allowing Kemp to take third (SB, E2). Then, Blake DeWitt floats a ball to right for a sac fly to score Kemp. Yadda Yadda, 1-0.

Yet Weaver continues to be solid, and while the Angels are able to get a couple on in the 6th and 7th, but then get shut down by the Dodger defense. And once the stretch is over, you start to realize that the Dodgers could win the game without a hit. Once they went down in order in the 8th, you knew it HAD to be without a hit.

Takahashi Saito then takes the mound for the 9th, and it certainly got interesting after a 2-out double by Kendrick and a walk to Mike Napoli. But then Saito’s breaking ball regains its zip, and Reggie Willits strikes out swinging to end the game.

PA Announcer Eric Smith begins his postgame announcements by stating that only four previous times has a team won a game without a single hit. He reads off the totals. “For the Dodgers, one run on NOOOOO HITS, and two errors.”

In baseball, there are rarities, but this one is one of the most elusive. You need a combination of lights out pitching, miniscule blunders, and luck out the wazzu to get such a result. Not even in video games can you finagle such a result on purpose.

But in the end, perhaps that’s why baseball is such a fascinating game. Why those of us most captivated by it stay through the five-hour games and the late nights and long, hot days to see a game from start to end. It’s moments like these that are for those who love the game the most.