• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Ramirez joins 30-30 club as Marlins down Nationals

Sep 14, 2008 - 2:53 AM By Christopher Stock PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

MIAMI (Ticker) -- One night after the Florida Marlins made history, their star shortstop made a little history of his own. Hanley Ramirez hit his 30th home run of the season to become the 33rd member of Major League Baseball's exclusive 30-30 club.

Ramirez and Jorge Cantu each homered and Josh Johnson tossed six strong innings to lead the Florida Marlins past the Washington Nationals, 4-2, on Saturday.

Ramirez accomplished his feat in the second inning, when he sent a Tim Redding offering deep into the second deck in left field, giving the Marlins a 4-0 lead. Already with 33 stolen bases, Ramirez becomes the second Marlin in franchise history to join the 30-30 club, along with Preston Wilson in 2000.

"It's a good feeling," Ramirez said. "I missed it last year by one homer and I didn't want that to happen again this year. So I tried to take a deep breath and calm down, and make a good swing."

The 30-30 combination has been achieved 53 times by 33 different players. Barry Bonds and Bobby Bonds did it five times apiece.

One night earlier, Cantu's 25th home run of the season made the Marlins the first team in major league history to have four infielders with at least 25 home runs. Ramirez' two-run blast not only achieved a personal goal for the young shortstop - it also put the Marlins in more rarefied air. The club becomes the second team in baseball history to have three infielders with 30 or more homers, joining first baseman Mike Jacobs (32) and second baseman Dan Uggla (30).

"Power kills," Nationals manager Manny Acta said, "and they have it."

The 2001 Oakland Athletics' infield trio of Jason Giambi, Eric Chavez and Miguel Tejada was the first to do it.

"I am happy for all of us," Ramirez said. "Last year they were making fun of me because I missed it ... I don't want to put pressure on Cantu, but I think he is going to do it (too)."

Cantu, the Marlins' third baseman, has 26 homers, including a two-run shot in the first inning that gave the team a 2-0 lead.

"Now they put the pressure on me again," Cantu said of reaching 30 home runs. "I couldn't even have a breather."

Johnson set a career-high with nine strikeouts. After suffering his first loss of the season in his last start, Johnson rebounded, allowing two runs, six hits and one walk in six innings while throwing 72 of his 104 pitches for strikes.

"You feel like you can do anything (when you're in a groove)," Johnson said. "When you're in a groove, everything just happens fast. A hitter comes up, you throw a pitch, done or a strikeout."

Matt Lindstrom pitched a scoreless ninth to preserve his fourth save.

The Marlins led 4-0 in the second after the two home runs, but Elijah Dukes finally got to Johnson with a two-run double in the sixth to cut the Nationals' deficit in half.

Tim Redding (10-9) took the loss as he gave up four runs in six innings.