Prior to Wednesday night, how many of you actually really knew who Florida Marlins rookie pitcher Anibal Sánchez was?  Come on, be honest.  Let alone know that he was a member of the Marlins, whose team payroll is less than Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter's.  And Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez'.  Speaking of the Yankees, it's the Marlins who've won a World Series more recently (2003) than when baseball's richest team last did it back in 2000.  Hard to believe.  Just like it was hard to believe with the no-hitter thrown by Sanchez on Wednesday night against Arizona, that Florida pushed a game ahead of .500 with an overall record of 70-69.  This for a team that was once 20 games under the .500 water mark during 2006.   

The Sanchez outing simply highlights what has been one of the most improbable turnarounds in recent baseball history.  Amazingly, first-year Manager Joe Girardi is 'under the gun' from Owner Jeffrey Loria.  If Loria lets him go, he'll be making a colossal mistake because Loria should be selected as NL Manager of the Year and the fish could sneak into the postseason, an unthinkable several months ago.  Also, it's not like they 'pack 'em' in down at Dolphin Stadium in Miami.  They draw much more at Miami Heat basketball games and the Heat are 10x more popular. 

Believe it or not, Florida sits within three games of the NL Wild Card, whereas Boston -- the team they traded Josh Beckett and Mike Lowell to for Sánchez -- sits six games behind AL Wild Card leader Minnesota.  While Sánchez is 7-2 with a 2.89ERA, Beckett has struggled at times for the Red Sox as he has given up a ton of home runs (33 to be exact) with a 14-10 record and 5.11ERA.  How is that trade looking right now? 

Sánchez, 22, became just the 19th rookie pitcher since 1900 to throw a no-hitter.  In addition, he became only the second Venezuelan pitcher to accomplish the feat; the other being Wilson Alvarez in 1991.  It had been two-plus years -- 841 days --  between the Sánchez performance and the perfect game thrown by Arizona's Randy Johnson in 2004.  In fact, the 6364 game gap between no-no's is now the longest in baseball history, surpassing the 4015-game gap the sport went from September of 1984 to 1986 without seeing one.  Florida certainly must be glad they held onto southpaw ace Dontrelle Willis, who is the foundation of this club.  What you have to like about the Marlins is the young pitching -- with Willis and Sánchez -- and the future.