It's been rumored for about a day now, but the Colorado Rockies have made it official by announcing the signing of Jason Giambi to a minor-league contract on Monday. Giambi will report to the Rockies Triple-A affiliate in Colorado Springs where he'll be joined by Russ Ortiz, who also signed a minor-league deal with Colorado on Monday.
Giambi started the season with the Oakland Athletics and hit a robust .193 with 11 home runs and 40 RBI before being released by the Athletics on Aug. 7, when Billy Beane said the team wanted to give their younger players a chance. Now it seems the Rockies are hoping that the mile high air of Denver can restore some pop to Giambi's bat.
NEW YORK -- When Jim Tracy took over as Rockies manager on May 29, he told Troy Tulowitzki two things:
• Stand up straight
• I'm standing by you.
An adjustment to his batting stance, and the knowledge he is going to play every day, have enabled Tulowitzki to take off. His 14 homers since June 8 are more than anyone but Derrek Lee and Albert Pujols.
"I think the biggest thing is just confidence," Tulowitzki, 24, told FanHouse. "I think when you're going good you've got confidence and believe in yourself."
If you picked Jim Tracy as the NL Manager of the Year, pat yourself on the back.
Even though he wasn't a manager when the season began, he's looking like a pretty sweet pick right about now. The Rockies were 18-28 when they fired Clint Hurdle, and they are 22-7 since elevating Tracy from bench coach, heading into a showdown series with the first-place Dodgers starting Monday night.
Of course, Hurdle wasn't that bad of a manager (he got the Rockies to the World Series in 2007) and Tracy isn't that great of a manager (the Dodgers and Pirates both let him go).
Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.
You Oughta Know ... The Rockies are 4 1/2 games out of the NL wild card after Thursday's 5-4 victory over the Brewers.
OK, so they're still four games under .500, and fourth in their division. But Colorado has won eight straight games – all on the road, no less – to climb toward respectability.
"It's hard to expect to win eight in a row, but we definitely are a team capable of doing it," [Ian] Stewart said. "Our pitching has been unbelievable these last eight days. Timely hitting with runners in scoring position, keeping innings alive. Everything has kind of been going our way. We know we can be this good, so we just have to continue to play this way."
MLB Power Rankings: Where MLB FanHouse's editors, writers and bloggers team up to break down the who's who and the what's what in the baseball world.
We had to break the trend. Sure, the Dodgers might have a better record than everyone else -- but competition has to count for something, doesn't it? The Dodgers have mutilated the mediocre-at-best NL West to the tune of 26-9. This means they are 14-11 against everyone else. Is that a top-two team in baseball? Hardly, I'll take the heated-rivals: Yankees (who have overcome a slow start to go 19-7 since May 12) and Red Sox (18-8 against the best division in baseball) as the top two.
MLB Power Rankings:Where MLB FanHouse's editors, writers and bloggers team up to break down the who's who and the what's what in the baseball world.
Sorry for the delay, kiddos, on the Power Rankings. I'm sure you spent the entirety of Wednesday wondering "WHERE IN GOD'S NAME ARE THEY??? WITHOUT THEM I'LL HAVE NOTHING TO BANTER SENSELESSLY ABOUT TO MY CO-WORKERS!!!1" Or something like that. Either way, it's time to debate the worthlessness of your favorite baseball team in numerical form once again. Do enjoy.
So much for the Rockies' desire to wait until the end of the season and assess the situation. Colorado axed maligned manager Clint Hurdle on Friday and replaced him with bench coach Jim Tracy for the rest of the season.
Hurdle, who led the Rockies on a magical run all the way to the World Series back in 2007, has been at the helm through a disappointing 2008 season and during an 18-28 start thus far in 2009. In seven-plus seasons managing the Rockies, Hurdle compiled a 534-625 record. The Rockies finished above fourth place just twice in his tenure and the NL-pennant-winning 2007 run was his only trip to the postseason.
Perhaps the Rockies are paying attention to how the odd managerial decision in Arizona has made the Diamondbacks worse. You see, the 'Backs ousted Bob Melvin after a bad start and replaced him with someone who has never managed before. As Ed Price pointed out in this morning's Starting Five, Arizona has gone 1-3 since, and has actually looked worse.
SAN FRANCISCO -- You don't have to hang around the Rockies for very long to get the feeling that Dexter Fowler is just about to blow up. In a good way.
By all accounts, Fowler just needs to meet his offensive potential and get the right publicity, and he could one day be one of those players who attain "face of the game" status.
Before you dismiss that as hyperbole, listen to Todd Helton.
It's been rumored for about a day now, but the Colorado Rockies have made it official by announcing the signing of Jason Giambi to a minor-league contract on Monday. Giambi will report to the Rockies Triple-A affiliate in Colorado Springs where he'll be joined by Russ Ortiz, who also signed a minor-league deal with Colorado on Monday.
NEW YORK -- When 
If you picked 
Starting Five
MLB Power Rankings
So much for the Rockies' desire to wait until the end of the season and assess the situation. Colorado axed maligned manager 
Perhaps the Rockies are paying attention to how the odd managerial decision in Arizona has made the Diamondbacks worse. You see, the 'Backs ousted 
SAN FRANCISCO -- You don't have to hang around the Rockies for very long to get the feeling that 
