DENVER - It's not often you'll find Alfredo Amezaga and Barry Bonds mentioned in the same sentence. Amezaga and Bonds -- one a largely anonymous spray hitter and the other a celebrated slugger -- exist on opposite sides of the baseball planet.

 

But thanks to Byung-Hyun Kim, their spheres intersected for a quirky moment when Amezaga did Saturday what Bonds did five days earlier: homer off the Colorado Rockies' sidearm pitcher.

 

So the home run Bonds launched off Kim was his 715th, the one that moved him ahead of Babe Ruth and into second place on the all-time list, and Amezaga's was only his fifth, which left him 710 behind Bonds.

 

But the home run by Bonds, as historically significant as it was, was inconsequential so far as the outcome. Kim and the Rockies still defeated the San Francisco Giants. The same couldn't be said for Saturday, when Amezaga's three-run shot defused Kim and punctuated the Marlins' 13-0 victory over the Rockies at Coors Field.

 

The Marlins became the last National League team this season to post a shutout win.

 

To put 13-0 into context, consider that the Marlins haven't won by that great a margin since July 1, 2003 -- the year they won the World Series. The Marlins have won eight of their past 11 games and have a chance to sweep the Rockies -- their 1993 expansion brethren -- on Colorado's home field for the first time. The two teams close out the series this afternoon.

 

Amezaga, Dan Uggla and Wes Helms each hit home runs for the Marlins, and rookie right-hander Ricky Nolasco pitched eight scoreless innings before being replaced by Taylor Tankersley, who pitched a scoreless ninth in his major-league debut.

 

''He'll have a chance to throw a complete-game shutout in his career, I believe,'' manager Joe Girardi said of Nolasco, who threw 108 pitches. ``But we want him sharp the whole year.''

 

This is how wacky things are going for the Marlins, who have 14 rookies on their roster.

 

SHOWING POWER

 

Amezaga promised Miguel Cabrera on Friday that if he got to play Saturday, he would hit a home run.

 

Cabrera's reply: ``No chance.''

 

Amezaga hasn't gone deep since 2004 when he was with the Los Angeles Angels. And his home run Saturday was no cheapie. He made contact with only his left hand holding the bat. As such, Cabrera and Hanley Ramirez gave Amezaga a razzing when he reached the dugout after rounding the bases.

 

''They told me they didn't know I had that much power because I hit it one-handed,'' Amezaga said.

 

The Marlins scored a run in the first and another in the third when Amezaga crushed a 0-1 pitch from Kim into the right-field bleachers, an estimated 371 feet from home plate. That made it 5-0, but the Marlins weren't finished.

 

Uggla smacked a leadoff homer in the sixth to give him seven, a club record for a Marlins second baseman. The Marlins added two more runs in the eighth, with Amezaga matching a career high by driving in his fourth run with a ground-ball out.

 

Only the compassion of the Marlins prevented Amezaga from knocking in five runs. Third-base coach Bobby Meacham held up Cabrera on Amezaga's single in the ninth.

 

''We were way ahead, so we wanted to be respectful to the other team,'' Amezaga said.

 

But the next hitter, Miguel Olivo, rapped a two-run single and Helms, who pinch-hit for Nolasco, hit a three-run blast.

 

TAMING COORS FIELD

 

The Marlins starter cruised, lowering his ERA on the road to 0.88 in seven outings (two starts). He said he couldn't help but think of the reputation Coors Field has as a hitter's park before he took the mound Saturday.

 

''Who doesn't?'' he asked.

 

But he gave up eight hits, struck out seven, and got better as the game grew later.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/sport...ll/14737110.htm

"So the home run Bonds launched off Kim was his 715th, the one that moved him ahead of Babe Ruth and into second place on the all-time list, and Amezaga's was only his fifth, which left him 710 behind Bonds."

 

really necessary line :lol

Only the compassion of the Marlins prevented Amezaga from knocking in five runs. Third-base coach Bobby Meacham held up Cabrera on Amezaga's single in the ninth.

 

''We were way ahead, so we wanted to be respectful to the other team,'' Amezaga said.

 

that is sooo kewl