Saturday evening Alex Cobb, starting pitcher for the Tampa Bay Rays, took the W in the 7-4 victory over the Florida Marlins, improving to 2-0 before being optioned down to the team's AAA affiliate in Durham, NC.

So long, and thanks for beating the Fish.

Cobb's brilliant performance—pitching six and one-third innings while yielding two runs on three hits—was one of several shining moments for the Rays on the evening. Johnny Damon hit his 500th career double to lead off the bottom of the first inning; he scored on the first of two sacrifice flies from Matt Joyce.

With that milestone, Damon joined an elite list of ballplayers—Babe Ruth, Rogers Hornsby, Goose Goslin, Lou Gehrig, Al Simmons, Stan Musial, Willie Mays, George Brett, Robin Yount and Paul Molitor—to have amassed at least 2,500 hits, 500 doubles, 100 triples and 200 home runs. While Damon is considered by some to be a long-shot candidate, all of the 10 previous players on that list are in the hall of fame.

"You look at these numbers, this guy keeps racking them up," said Rays manager Joe Maddon. "When you talk about deserving the hall of fame? Absolutely. That kind of performance deserves not only strong consideration but acceptance, I think."

This article appears in Jun 16-22, 2011.