Starting Five: Rockies Rolling

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."

---

---

The Rockies starter has been the winning pitcher in all eight games of the streak, with the rotation posting a 2.49 ERA. And Huston Street has saved the past four games.

Overall, since Jim Tracy replaced the fired Clint Hurdle as manager, Colorado is 10-4.

"I can't even tell you what a road trip that is, to sit here and have won eight games in a row," Rockies manager Jim Tracy said. "Seven in a row between St. Louis and Milwaukee – that's not easy to do. They deserve an awful lot of credit. We've played 37 road games already. Having done that, the important thing for us is to get back home and get our house in order. We're a much better baseball team at home than 9-14."

From the Trainer's Room ...
Angels right-hander Kelvim Escobar did not recover well from his start last Saturday at Detroit, his first in the majors since 2007 and intervening shoulder surgery. So the team has decided he will be a reliever for the rest of the season. Matt Palmer, 5-0 in eight games (seven starts), will go back into the rotation. And perhaps Escobar can help stabilize the troubled Angels bullpen.

"There was always a possibility of this happening," [manager Mike] Scioscia said. "Kelvim wanted to see if he could pitch as a starter, but now with the setback he had before (after an April 2 exhibition start) and now having some of the same symptoms after throwing 90 pitches (in Detroit), it's clear that he doesn't have the stamina to throw 90 pitches."

Numbers Game ...
In a no-decision against Pittsbugh, Javier Vazquez struck out 12 in eight innings, giving him 105 in 84 1/3 innings this season. That average of 11.21 punchouts per nine innings, if he can keep it up, would rank in the top 20 seasons all-time. Vazquez has struck out 21 batters since his last walk, in the sixth inning of a game on May 30.

In Their Own Words ...
"Against the rest of the league, we seem to be doing it right. But our main competitor seems to find ways to beat us. They're not making any mistakes against us, and we're making tons." – Yankees outfielder Johnny Damon after his team fell to 0-8 against the Red Sox; Boston's nine-game winning streak in the rivalry is its longest since 1911-1912, when the Red Sox won 17 straight from the Highlanders as they were moving into Fenway Park

Advance Scouting ...
Whether you want it or not, it's time for more interleague. In fact, the next 17 days are almost exclusively interleague play (excepting the daily NL vs. NL game). The Bay Bridge series opens with Oakland at San Francisco (10:15 PM ET), and Vin Mazzaro taking his 0.00 ERA into AT&T Park to face Tim Lincecum, who is 5-0 over his past nine starts.