FanHouse ToddHelton

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).

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.

Well, that took freaking forever ... but the Blue Jays finally started to stink the joint up. I swear to you, you can't stay long atop the MLB Power Rankings -- our failure by osmosis jinxing ability is just too strong, son. At any rate, it was a weird week for ranking baseball: the Cubs continued to skid, the Padres went on a tear and Toronto fell off the face of the planet. So, yeah, spiciness ensued, and you may take the jump to see how badly your team fared. Unless you're a Rangers or a Braves fan, in which case they couldn't have done that poorly.

From the Windup is Matt Snyder's extended look at some aspect of America's pastime each Thursday.

With the recent news that Mark DeRosa is on the trade block and the White Sox have possibly landed Jake Peavy, junkies of major league baseball trade rumors got an early glimpse at what promises to be a very interesting July. It's far to0 early to know exactly who will be in the market for what -- or who can afford to take on temporary payroll in this economy -- but it's certainly fun to speculate. Let's do it.

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.

While it's entirely possible the Blue Jays do hit a snag, isn't it about time columnists across the internet stopped doing Can the Blue Jays Really Keep This Up? pieces by now? I've seen at least 10 in the past three weeks. There are almost as many The Rangers Are For Real posts. The discrepancy in the media's faith in those two is likely due to the divisions in which the teams reside, but seven weeks isn't a small sample. At some point, you have to start giving credit where it's due.

Jason Kendall got his 2,000th hit Monday.

Todd Helton did not.

Yet.

Helton, and his Rockies teammates, thought he got No. 2,000 with a ninth-inning smash that Braves shortstop Yunel Escobar played like a matador, waving his glove at the ball as it shot past him.

But official scorer Jack Wilkinson (a long-time baseball writer whom I know, like and admire) ruled the play an error.

From the Windup is Matt Snyder's extended look at some aspect of America's pastime each Thursday.

I think we can all agree that it's far too early to start voting upon who the best 2009 players are when it's only the middle of May. That being said, there are certainly some shining stars at this point who deserve some props. Plus, Major League Baseball recently released their All-Star ballots for our voting pleasure -- we vote on who will start the All-Star Game. If that's not important, I don't know what is. Let's take a gander.

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

Every year in fantasy baseball there are a number of players whose hype exceeds reasonable expectations, because so many freaking people have them tagged as a "breakout." Peter Gammons may have been the first to tag Adam Jones with such a label, but it caught on quickly, and he was a popular fantasy draft selection. (Note that this also applies to my homie Chris Davis, who I think might hit 40 taters, but who was wickedly overvalued coming into drafts. More on this in a second.)

And the man that wants no part of being called "Pacman" -- for obvious reasons -- is suddenly flat-out destroying opposing pitching. Jones was always considered a "five-tool" prospect, with power and speed potential, not to mention just being a great baseball player.

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.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Troy Tulowitzki knows that this is the rubber year. After a brilliant rookie season and a forgettable, injury-marred second year, this is the year for him to show which of the others was legit.

"I believe in myself and my abilities," the Rockies shortstop said, "but there are some doubters out there. People want to see if (2007) was a fluke."

So far, the stats aren't doing much to make his case in 2009. Tulowitzki is hitting just .203, and earlier this week he was in such a tailspin that he was benched for a game.

To listen to Tulowitzki and those around him, though, the numbers don't tell the whole story. It is a story about a kid with one year in the majors who gets anointed by the public as a star, and gets a multi-million contract to match.