Last night, San Francisco Giants pitcher Matt Cain threw a perfect game. The 10-0 victory over the Houston Astros was the first perfect game in Giants franchise history and only the 22nd in Major League Baseball history. Some are calling it the greatest game ever pitched.

Cain, the longest-tenured Giant, has been through it all in his eight seasons in San Francisco. He has seen highs — a World Series title in 2010 — and lows — dozens of losses on nights when he was brilliant.

Through it all, Cain has been unflappable, but that trait never has been tested as it was Wednesday night.

“There’s really nothing like it,” said Cain, who previously had taken five no-hitters into the seventh inning and had a perfect game into the sixth inning of his second start this season.

“I was having to recheck myself to see the signs that Buster (Posey) was putting down. I was thinking about it. It felt like it was the World Series, but it almost felt a little louder.” (via Mercury News)

Cain’s special night is the feature of today’s Dugout, after the jump.

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New plan: Instead of making Rick Ankiel choose between pitcher and outfielder, we let him do both at the same time.

I’m a little sad that I wrote the The Dugout Opening Days ’12 strip about the Washington Nationals on Monday afternoon, because if I’d written it on Monday night it would’ve been about Rick Ankiel’s monster strike from center that kept the fastest Houston Astro (Jordan Schafer) from scoring from third on a sac fly. It’s a bit of a disservice to type anything but “holy sh*t” about that throw.

From The Washington Post:

“It came out clean,” Ankiel said. “And it was right on the money.”

Wilson Ramos, standing on home, did not have to move his glove. The throw hit him the chest. The crowd stood and roared.

“I would have called it a strike, that’s for sure,” said Stephen Strasburg, who had run behind the plate to back up the play.

At third base, Ryan Zimmerman and Schafer laughed about what they had just seen. “Everyone knows that it’s kind of predetermined not to test Rick out,” Zimmerman said. “It’s nice to have him on our team.”

Buy him a moped and let him cover the entire outfield by himself. It’d at least be better than when you guys had Nyjer Morgan in center.

The key words here are “and other devices”.

Houston Astros’ outfielder Jordan Schafer has been arrested in Florida and charged with felony possession of marijuana.

According to an arrest report from the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s office, Schafer was arrested early Tuesday morning in Tampa after a traffic stop and was released on a $2,000 cash bond. It wasn’t clear if he had an attorney.

A police report says that black Land Rover driven by Schafer with its windows open pulled up next to a police car. Police say officers noticed a strong marijuana smell and saw Schafer smoking a marijuana cigarette.

Baseball players are doing drugs! Here at The Dugout we try to approach each breaking news bit about pro athlete substance abuse with dignity and respect, especially if we’ve never heard of the player, and pending that player not being Manny Ramirez or someone whose wife-beating bullsh*t makes us too sad for jokes. I don’t even think Jordan Schafer’s parents know who Houston Astros outfielder Jordan Schafer is, so here’s a rundown of exactly what happened when he was arrested. And yes, the part about him having weed peanut butter cups is real.

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