Rockies Earning Props During Streak

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."

During their winning streak, which started shortly after manager Clint Hurdle was replaced by Jim Tracy, the Rockies have a 2.55 earned run average. Their pitchers have allowed 77 hits in 99 innings. Hammel is 3-0 with a 2.45 ERA and Aaron Cook, who pitches Wednesday, is 2-0 with a 1.29 ERA during the streak.

Jorge De La Rosa (2-6, 5.08 for the season) starts on Tuesday night against the Rays at Coors Field (8:40 PM ET).

Closer Huston Street has converted all five of his save opportunities, with a 1.93 ERA, during the winning streak. Street, who lost his closer job early in the year and quickly regained it, has been on a solid roll since late April. Street has converted 12 of his last 13 opportunities with an 0.92 ERA in that span.

"He's not all the way back to being what he was in Oakland when he first came on the scene and pitched really well," the scout said. "He's not that guy, but he's not the guy he was in Oakland last year (when he lost his job). He's somewhere in between. That guy can go out with less than his best stuff and pitch the ninth. I don't know if hes going to be a guy you can really count on to close games, though."

Offensively, the Rockies have hit .297 with 15 homers during the streak. The two best players have been third baseman Ian Stewart and shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, both of whom were struggling before the streak began.

Stewart has lifted his average from .188 to .226, hitting .333 with four homers during the winning streak. He has become the Rockies everyday third baseman, shifting Garret Atkins to the bench.

"He's an average major league third baseman," the scout said. "The big third base producers are those guys who drive in 90 to 120 runs. I think he'll approach 90. I don't think he'll do much more than that."

Tulowitzki has been trying to prove that his rookie year was not a fluke. He started this year so badly that he was benched briefly, but he's hit .385 during the streak. The scout was still skeptical that Tulowitzki is going to make it back to where he was.

"I don't see the same confidence in him right now," the scout said. "It may be the pitchers have gotten to know him. He's not hitting the ball away from the middle of the plate as well as he was [in '07]. He's not making the adjustments with his bat. I still think he's a solid major league shortstop."