FanHouse HustonStreet

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).

Things are obviously going pretty well for any team that wins 11 in a row, but the Rockies are giving baseball people reason to believe they might be legitimate.

Pitching has been the Rockies' issue when they've struggled, and a scout who saw the Rockies sweep the Mariners over the weekend said that they seem to have some quality arms these days.

"They're all pitching well right now," the scout said. "Jason Hammel had a really good game and good stuff the day I was there. Jason Marquis had his sinker working and he pitched well. And the big guy, Ubaldo Jimenez, has great stuff. He was 95-99 consistently, with a good breaking pitch and his changeup was working. It's all going to boil down to if those guys keep doing what they do best, which is sinker-slider for Hammel and Marquis, and Jimenez is a power pitcher who is going to win as long as he throws strikes."

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."

---

---

It's always nice to know how secure a closer's job is and who's next in line if somebody loses their 9th inning job. The Closer Report will give you that info. And if that wasn't good enough, we'll rank the closers from top to bottom.

As you'll see, Heath Bell has taken over the top spot on this edition of The Closer Report. A few big-name, top-of-the-charts closers from years past have fallen off quite a bit. How weird is it to see Brad Lidge near the bottom of the closer rankings and Joe Nathan stuck in the middle?

SAN FRANCISCO -- Rockies manager Clint Hurdle called his late-inning relievers into his office on Friday night to make another change.

"I want to change closers once a month, and it's May 1, so I figured it was appropriate," Hurdle joked later to reporters.

In all seriousness, Hurdle said that he's back to using Huston Street in the ninth inning. Street opened the season as the closer, then lost his job to Manny Corpas. Corpas since pitched so poorly that he's not only lost the closer job, he's not even the setup man.

Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.

The Washington Nationals will be looking for a new closer as Joel Hanrahan has been fired. He was given the opportunity to close out five games and blew saves in three of those. His ERA is an unhealthy 8.64. The team will look to use a closer by committee approach for a while, waiting to see if injured Joe Beimel can return and flourish.

Tuesday, one day after Hanrahan surrendered a game-losing grand slam, Manager Manny Acta said that his team would now finish games -- or at least try to finish them -- with a committee of relief pitchers that includes Julián Tavárez and Kip Wells, both signed in March to non-guaranteed minor league deals. Once Joe Beimel (left hip flexor) returns from the disabled list in the first week of May, he could either join the mix or claim the job for himself.

It's always nice to know how secure a closer's job is and who's next in line if somebody loses their 9th inning job. Each week The Closer Report will give you that information. And if that wasn't good enough we'll rank the closers from top to bottom.

Here's an interesting statistic. Somewhere between 30 percent and 40 percent of the closers who are listed as the the team's official closer will not be in that role by the end of the season. It's the case every year. Whether a closer loses his job due to injury or just plain can't get the job done, you're going to learn that you can find saves on the waiver wire throughout the season. You just have to know where to look.

It wasn't even 24 hours ago that I, in my infinite wisdom, proclaimed that Huston Street wouldn't be losing the job as Colorado Rockies closer any time soon. This came after Street came close to blowing another lead and had to be replaced by Jason Grilli to preserve a Rockies win.

You have to be asking yourself how long Street can hold down this job. I wish I knew the answer myself. The Rockies have been reluctant in the past to give Corpas a whole lot time to show that he can do the job for any extended period of time. And as long as Corpas isn't pitching "lights out", he's not going to force the hand of the Rockies to make a switch.

Another determining factor in keeping Street in the closers job might be more of an off-field reason. Street's name pops up quite frequently in trade rumors. I've heard many people say that as soon as Colorado feels they are struggling, Street will be shipped to the highest bidder. By keeping Street in the closer's role, the Rockies keep his value higher than if he were the set-up guy. So, it may be a while before Corpas can get this job from Street.

Clint Hurdle threw me a curve ball this evening as he announced that Manny Corpas would be taking over the closer's job from Street.

When the Rockies received Huston Street in a trade from Oakland they felt they were getting a relief pitcher with more closing experience than anyone on their roster. That much is true. Street entered the season with 94 career saves versus 24 for Manny Corpas, who was Street's competition for the closer role in Spring Training. It's looking, however, that experience isn't enough.

Street, last night against Chicago, allowed a Derrek Lee home run, a Mike Fontenot walk and gave up a single to Reed Johnson in the ninth before Clint Hurdle yanked him, and more importantly, before Street recorded an out.

In one of the final closer battles to be determined this spring, the Colorado Rockies today announced that Huston Street would be pitching the ninth inning in save situations and Manny Corpas would be his set-up man.

Huston Street, who came to Colorado in the Matt Holliday trade, started the spring slowly as he suffered from a quadriceps problem. But he caught fire of late and has pitched five scoreless innings in his last six pitched. For the spring, Street has a 5.23 ERA in 10.1 innings with four strikeouts and two walks.