The Closer: Giants No-Hitter Foiled By Hobbit

Thoughts on a day in baseball:

• 1. Cain Was Able. The main players in our lead item today are Matt Cain and Chone Figgins. Thank you everyone. Drive safely! The longest no-hit bid in the majors this season was delivered by the Giants' rookie, Cain. He took the no-hitter into the eighth before giving up a two-out single on his 128th pitch; a 3-2 fastball to Figgins (wasn't Chone Figgins one of the hobbits in Lord of the Rings?). San Francisco won, 2-1. Of course, it would have been nice if the Giants had given him more support, so he didn't have to be so fine. At any rate, Cain is the only person in the Giants organization not to have been contacted by George Mitchell.

• 2. But For the Record, We Also Predicted We'd Have Rocket Packs By Now. We've already predicted that Ken Griffey Jr. will pass Hank Aaron before Barry Bonds does. Griffey took a big step on Monday, pulling up to Mike Schmidt on the career home run list with No. 548, putting him in a tie for 11th place. It helped the Reds beat the Mets 4-2 for Cincinnati's eighth straight road win.

• 3. Long Live The Kim. We have never made a raw fish joke on this site, and we're not about to start now. So let's just say that Byung-Hyun Kim (4-4) was the winning pitcher despite a bout of food poisoning, as Colorado ended Oakland's 10-game winning streak with a 7-0 victory.

• 4. Just Kyle Being Kyle. When the Kansas City Royals reject you, what hope is there? Actually plenty, in the case of pitcher Kyle Snyder, who got the win as the Red Sox beat the Nationals 6-3 on Monday. Manny Ramirez hit career homer No. 453 for the Stockings.

• 5. Doh! The Pirates were down by a run with no outs in the bottom of the ninth and had the bases loaded. Needless to say, the Diamondbacks won, 5-4, in 11 innings. Johnny Estrada's pinch single drove in the go-ahead run.