FanHouse Rockies

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.

The NL Wild-Card Race
Team	W	L	GB
Brewers	37	32	-
Giants	37	32	-
Rockies	37	33	1/2
Cubs	34	32	1 1/2
Mets	35	33	1 1/2

You Oughta Know ...
There are now five teams within 1 1/2 games of the NL wild-card lead.

San Francisco on Monday lost to Oakland for the first time in the past six Bay Bridge Series meetings to fall into a tie with idle Milwaukee.

Meanwhile, the Mets beat the Cardinals and the Rockies took advantage of six (!) wild pitches to beat the Angels, so both picked up a full game.

So Colorado is a 1/2 game back, and the Mets and Cubs are 1 1/2 out.

It bodes for a fun race. A year ago today, only three teams were within five games of the NL wild-card lead and Tampa Bay had a three-game lead on the AL side.

---

---

Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.

You Oughta Know ...
That the Rays seem to be putting it all together. The reigning American League champions left New York with a series victory over the Mets thanks to a big Sunday afternoon from B.J. Upton, who homered and had four hits. Tampa Bay is now 12-6 in the month of June and two games back of the Yankees in the AL wild-card race.

Upton has played a big part in the surge after slumping for the first two months of the season. The center fielder came into June hitting .204, but he's hitting .329 this month.

---

---

Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.

You Oughta Know ...
That the Angels and Cubs -- two overwhelming favorites to win their division entering 2009 -- finally seem to have their mojo back.

A day after Chicago rallied from four down in the eighth inning to beat the White Sox, they climbed out of a 7-0 fourth-inning hole to beat the Indians, thanks in part to another dramatic home run from Derrek Lee -- a drive that came off of longtime Cub Kerry Wood no less.

Not to be outdone, the Angels' Juan Rivera snapped a 4-all tie in the eighth inning of the Freeway Series opener with a decisive solo home run. The Halos have now reeled off seven straight wins, and, despite all the hard luck (and tragedy) they've had to deal with so far this season, are a 1/2 game behind the division-leading Rangers in the AL West.

---

---

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."

Yorvit Torrealba of the Colorado Rockies is thankful for the return of his 11-year old son and the child's uncle after they were kidnapped in Venezuela. The story was largely kept out of the public eye until the abducted were returned safely to their homes, and the perpetrators were apprehended. The situation resolved itself without tragedy, and we learned an important lesson: that this is way, way less important than two unassociated, relief-pitching strangers having beef.

Tonight's Dugout is after the jump. Say word.

Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.

You Oughta Know ...
That the Subway Series is finally living up to the hype on the field that Big Apple seamheads give it off the field. Friday, Luis Castillo made one of the most memorable fielding gaffes lately to cost the battered and reeling Mets a win. Saturday, Yankees walking injury relief pitcher Brian Bruney ripped record-setting closer Francisco Rodriguez for his antics on the mound just prior to Castillo's flubbed popup.

The series finale had a bit of everything.

---

---

Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.

You Oughta Know ...
That Milton Bradley has often been called a five-tool player. Guess one of those tools isn't math.

The Cubs outfielder had a bad day. He caught a one-out fly ball in the eighth inning and then flipped the ball into the stands as a runner scored from third on a sacrifice fly. Bradley probably had no play at the plate, so the error was more strange than costly.

"I wasn't embarrassed," Bradley said. "I've done a whole lot of things to be embarrassed about. That's water under the bridge. The run was going to score, the fan got a souvenir. Worst case scenario."

---

---

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."

---

---

Every Sunday, MLB FanHouse empties out its notebook in Baseball Brunch.

Everyone knows the No. 1 prospect in Tuesday's draft (and if you don't, read this). But after Washington selects Stephen Strasburg, things get less precise.

"Anybody from [No.] 2 to 15 could be just as good as the other guy," an executive from an NL team with a high pick told FanHouse. "It's really a strange year because it is in the eye of the beholder."

For example, Arizona State right-hander Mike Leake has been discussed as high as No. 3 overall, to the Padres. But he's more likely to go in the middle of the first round, no lower than Arizona's picks at 16 and 17.