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The Marlins weren't entirely unwelcome in the Windy City.

According to a list of neutral-site games assembled by Retrosheet, the only other defending champions to play home games in a ballpark other than their own essentially just moved across town.

The 1956 Dodgers played seven games in Jersey City. The 1915 Boston Braves played four months at Fenway Park. And that's about it.

Of course, no defending World Series champ had played a home game in Chicago since 1918, for well-documented reasons.

That got Expos public-relations virtuoso John Dever wondering whether that was some kind of record. But while the Elias Sports Bureau informed him (and us) that it wasn't, Elias also reported no two teams had done that since 1970, when the Pirates and Reds met at Forbes Field, Three Rivers Stadium, Crosley Field and Riverfront Stadium.

The all-time record is five parks, held by the 1889 Brooklyn Bridegrooms and Philadelphia Phillies.

Little did he know he was one outing away from tying for the longest streak of that dubious sort in the division-play era (which essentially parallels the era of modern bullpen usage).

Here are the only three relievers in that era to run off a streak of 13, or more, according to the Elias Sports Bureau:

14 -- Benj Sampson, Twins (June 12-Aug. 19, 1999)
13 -- Tanyon Sturtze, Yankees (June 9-Aug. 31, 2004)
13 -- Sammy Stewart, Orioles (April 30-June 11, 1983)

	Franklin

	Moyer

Jamie Moyer is up to 16 in a row since his last win, on June 18. Ryan Franklin was at 17 in a row when he finally stopped his streak Wednesday (and, amazingly, did it by winning a 1-0 game, with a two-hit shutout of Anaheim).

Those concurrent runs through the donut shop made the Mariners just the second team since 1900 to have two different starters go that many starts in a row without a win in the same year. The other, according to Elias:

The infamous 1916 Philadelphia A's (spiffy record: 36-117). That team had Jack Nabors go an almost-impossible 27 straight starts without winning (April 28-Sept. 28), while Tom Sheehan was going 17 in a row (May 4-Sept. 15).

Moyer has lost 10 straight in his streak. Franklin lost 11 in a row. And the last team that had two pitchers with 10-game losing streaks in the same season was another Philadelphia outfit -- the brutal 1972 Phillies (for whom Steve Carlton was responsible for 27 of their 59 wins): Billy Champion (11 losses in a row) and Ken Reynolds (12).

John Wetteland, Yankees at Baltimore (July 11-14, 1996)
Kent Tekulve, Pirates vs. Houston (Aug. 17-20, 1978) *
Sparky Lyle, Red Sox vs. Oakland (April 27-30, 1970)

(* - six-game series)

Granted, he allowed nine runs in that streak that were charged to other pitchers (out of 16 inherited runners). But it's still the longest streak by any reliever, according to Elias, since Gregg Olson knocked off 41 straight scoreless innings over two seasons (Aug. 4, 1989-May 4, 1990).

	Edmonds

	Pujols

	Rolen

Only four teams since World War II have had three 120-RBI men. And one of them played atop the Rocky Mountains. Here are those teams, courtesy of Elias:

1996 Mariners: Ken Griffey 140, Jay Buhner 138, A-Rod 123
1996 Rockies: Andres Galarraga 150, Dante Bichette 141, Ellis Burks 128
1953 Dodgers: Roy Campanella 142, Duke Snider 126, Gil Hodges 122
1950 Red Sox: Walt Dropo 144, Vern Stephens 144, Bobby Doerr 120

They probably don't want to know that only two teams in history have made it to the postseason with a winning percentage worse than theirs (16-25, .390), according to Elias. But we'll tell them anyway:

1948 Indians 10-20 (.333)
1981 Yankees 12-21 (.364)

If his ERA stays over 5.00, Lidle will be the first pitcher in a decade to throw two straight shutouts but still finish the season with a 5.00-something ERA. IN 1994, Arthur Rhodes (5.81) did it for the Orioles, and Bobby Witt (5.04) even threw three in a row for Oakland.

Tim Wakefield (5.61) was the last NL pitcher to do it -- in 1993, when he threw back-to-backers for the Pirates.

Elias reports that Edgardo Alfonzo also did it (6-5) in his six-hit game against the Astros on Aug. 30, 1999. But the big news was, no American League six-shooter had outhit his opponent since May 4, 1969 -- when Bob Oliver (Royals) outhit the Angels, 6-4.

According to Elias, that makes him the first pitcher in the expansion era to get no wins out of a streak of three straight starts of seven innings or more with double-digit strikeouts and no more than four hits allowed. Congratulations there, Unit. We guess.

Useless Boxscore Info
BOXSCORE LINE OF THE MONTH (FIRST PRIZE)

	Gonzalez

Arizona's Edgar Gonzalez, Sept. 3 vs. the Giants:

1 IP, 8 H, 10 R, 10 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, 2 HR, 1 WP, 1 HBP, 42 pitches to give up 10 runs.

STAT OF THE CENTURY: Gonzalez was the first National League pitcher to allow 10 runs or more but get just three outs or fewer, according to Elias, since May 5, 1938, when Hal Kelleher gave up 12 in an inning for the Phillies at Wrigley Field.

BOXSCORE LINE OF THE MONTH (GOPHERBALL DIVISION)

Anybody can give up four home runs in a game these days. But it sure didn't take the Reds' Jose Acevedo long in a Sept. 8 start against the Astros:

1 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, 4 HR

STAT OF THE DAY: Acevedo was the first NL starter to go at least an inning and still rack up more gopherballs than outs since June 19, 1973, when the Reds' Jim McGlothin served up four in an inning at Wrigley, to Ron Santo, Pat Bourke and Rick Monday twice.

BOXSCORE LINE OF THE MONTH (CAPT. INFINITY DIVISION)

In that classic Sept. 9 game in which the Tigers gave up 26 runs to the Royals, the first reliever out of their bullpen was Lino Urdaneta, who unfurled this nightmare:

O IP, 5 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 1 BB, 0 K -- for a career ERA of Infinity.

STATS OF THE DAY:

Really, Really Useless Information

The Tigers did it July 18 (an all-time record), the Padres on Aug. 20, the Rangers on Aug. 27 and the Cardinals on Aug. 29.

The Tigers didn't even get eliminated from the playoff hunt this year until Sept. 15 -- nearly FOUR weeks after last season's Aug. 19 elimination. You know it's been a rough decade when Sept. 15 is their second-latest elimination date since 1993 (trailing only 2000, when they weren't wiped out of the wild card until Sept. 24.)

William Henry Harrison (32 days)
James Garfield (121 days)
Zachary Taylor (555 days)
Warren Harding (882 days)
Gerald Ford (895 days)

Next up: Millard Fillmore (968 days) and John F. Kennedy (1,027 days).

He made 10 starts this year before getting yanked out of the rotation this week -- and the Diamondbacks lost all 10 of them. Elias reports he's the seventh starting pitcher since 1990 whose team lost the first 10 times or more he went to the mound.

Three guys actually had longer streaks -- Matt Beech (14 for the 1997 Phillies), Kyle Abbott (13 for the 1992 Phillies) and Todd Ritchie (12 for the 2001 Pirates).

The other three pitchers who matched Gonzalez's 10-start streak: Adam Bernero (2003 Tigers), Rod Nichols (1991 Indians) and, of course, the legendary Anthony Young (1993 Mets).

The others were the 1987 Brewers (won 13, lost 12) and the 1951 Giants of Bobby Thomson home run fame (won 16, lost 13).

Tampa Bay PR genius Rick Vaughn reports that when B.J. Upton homered in New York last week, he became the youngest player to hit a home run at Yankee Stadium since Junior Griffey did it at age 19 on May 30, 1989.

Then, on Tuesday, 20-year-old Scott Kazmir outdueled Pedro Martinez in Boston. Which made him the youngest left-handed pitcher to beat the Red Sox in Fenway since future Hall of Famer Hal Newhouser did it at age 20 on Aug. 3, 1941.

Youth is sure a beautiful thing -- at least it is when you're compiling useless information.

Not surprisingly, it's the only nine-inning game in the last 40 seasons in which one team walked 14 or more and the other team walked zero.

Howard's 46-homer, 131-RBI minor-league season puts him in rare company. Phillies publicity whiz Greg Casterioto wondered just how rare. So he had Lloyd Johnson, of the Museum of Minor League Baseball, do some math.

Only eight other players since 1957 have hit 46 home runs or more in a minor-league season -- Steve Bilko (56) in 1957, Dave Duncan (46) in 1966), Tony Solaita (49) in 1968, Gorman Thomas (51) in 1974, Bill McNulty (55) in 1974), Ken Phelps (46) in 1982, Ron Kittle (50) in 1982 and Chris Hatcher (46) in 1998.

But of that group, only Kittle, Phelps, McNulty and Bilko had as many homers and RBI as Howard. And all but Phelps did it in the bopper-friendly Pacific Coast League. So in the annals of eye-popping minor-league seasons, Ryan Howard just had an all-timer.

The Sultan's Corner

58, Mark McGwire 1997 -- A's 34, Cardinals 24
41, David Justice 2000 -- Indians 21, Yankees 20
38, Carlos Beltran 2004 -- Royals 15, Astros 23 *
37, Fred McGriff 1993 -- Padres 18, Braves 19

(* through Saturday)

(* - through Friday)

1978 Giants (3 games) -- June 27-June 30 (Jack Clark, Mike Ivie)
1975 Cubs (10 games) -- Aug. 23-Sept. 3 (Champ Summers, Pete LaCock)
1975 Cubs (10 games) -- Sept. 3-Sept. 14 (Pete LaCock, Tim Hovley)
1983 Pirates (12 games) -- Sept. 3-Sept. 15 (Mike Easler, Richie Hebner)
1982 Orioles (13 games) -- May 29-June 14 (Benny Ayala, Dan Ford)

19 years -- White Sox (Joe DeSa, Sept. 13, 1985)
13 years -- Orioles (Dwight Evans, July 26, 1991)
11 years -- Tigers (Chad Kreuter, Aug. 12, 1993)
9 years -- Padres (Archi Cianfrocco, July 21, 1995)
6 years -- Royals (Shane Mack, May 22, 1998)

Matt Williams (Cleveland) 1997 -- 32 total, 7 home
Donn Clendenon (Pittsburgh) 1966 -- 28 total, 3 home
Steve Finley (San Diego) 1997 -- 28 total, 5 home
Willie McCovey (San Francisco) 1977 -- 28 total, 6 home

(If Hafner gets to eight at home, the group with 29 or more and eight at home would include the fascinating trio of Del Ennis, Benito Santiago and Joe DiMaggio.

6 -- Hank Greenberg-Rudy York, 1938 Tigers
6 -- Frank Thomas-Magglio Ordonez, 2000 White Sox
6 -- Manny Ramirez-David Ortiz, 2004 Red Sox *
5 -- Joe DiMaggio-Lou Gehrig, 1936 Yankees
5 -- Johnny Bench-Lee May, 1970 Reds
5 -- Bret Boone-Chipper Jones, 1999 Braves
5 -- Larry Walker-Todd Helton, 2001 Rockies

(* - through Friday)

Reggie Sanders 6
Bobby Bonds 5
Jose Canseco 5
Jack Clark 5
Fred McGriff 5
Gary Sheffield 5 (including this year)
Dave Winfield 5

Jayson Stark is a senior writer for ESPN.com.