By TRACY RINGOLSBY, Scripps Howard News Service

Even before the first pitch of the All-Star Game was thrown, Colorado Rockies manager Clint Hurdle had requested a meeting with commissioner Bud Selig to discuss concerns about the selection of pitchers for the event."You have two primary responsibilities," Hurdle said, "to see the game through to its conclusion and to return the players to their teams healthy."

With all due respect to the Chicago Cubs, Tampa Bay is baseball's feel-good story.The Cubs and their fans can get all worked up over the attempt to end a 100-year drought and claim their first world championship since 1908, but it's the Rays who should be capturing the attention of the baseball public.

Goose Gossage will finally be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame on Sunday.Now that the time has arrived, Gossage said, it was worth the wait.Emotionally, he might be right. Logically, however, it just doesn't make sense.What happened during the eight years that Gossage was jilted by the Hall of Fame voters that suddenly made him Hall of Fame worthy this year?

Texas Rangers outfielder Josh Hamilton is more than a baseball feel-good story. He's an old-fashioned success story.He's a guy who came out of high school considered one of the most talented baseball players in history. He had a squeaky-clean reputation off the field to go with his high level of talent on it.

Check out the American League East standings. The Tampa Bay Rays are in first place. And they are acting like they belong.Shocked?

First, there was then-Seattle general manager Bill Bavasi ordering the towels and post-game food removed from the clubhouse and demanding that the players stand at their lockers in response to continuing lethargic play.

When the Colorado Rockies were making their late-season push for the 2007 postseason, rookie shortstop Troy Tulowitzki was identified as a key factor in changing the clubhouse mentality. There wasn't a tidy statistical analysis that could support it, just a gut feeling.And the belief has only been reinforced by the Rockies' fast fade into oblivion this year.

In baseball's annual amateur draft next week, look for teams to make stronger commitments to college selections in the early rounds than they have in the past decade.Recent rapid rises to the big leagues by high-profile college players have set the stage for a trend back to focusing on college players early.

The novelty of a no-hitter creates only momentary fame. And it carries no guarantees.But Boston Red Sox left-hander Jon Lester's no-hitter against Kansas City on Monday carries added significance. Lester, 24, is a cancer survivor who, only two years ago, underwent treatment for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

The longer the Colorado Rockies struggle on the field, the sooner management is going to have to deal with the future of Matt Holliday, among others.Holliday could become this year's Mark Teixeira, dealt at midseason a year ago by Texas to Atlanta, which was willing to give up five prospects because Teixeira had another full year of service before becoming a free agent.