Tracy Ringolsby's weekly baseball notes

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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.While the Rockies had their problems in April, the free-fall didn't start until the day after Tulowitzki was sidelined with a torn tendon in his left quadriceps. The Rockies managed to win the game in which Tulowitzki was hurt, 3-2 at San Francisco on April 29, which left them with an 11-16 record.Since Tulowitzki went on the disabled list, the Rockies are 11-22.The real frustration for the Rockies is the opportunity they have allowed to slip away during that time.The National League West may have been considered the best division in baseball coming into the season, but it has not lived up to its billing.Consider that on April 29, the Rockies were eight games behind NL West-leading Arizona. And so where are they 33 games and 22 losses later? They are 10 games back of first-place Arizona.The NL West has only one team with a winning record - Arizona, 32-28. And Arizona is struggling. The Diamondbacks are only 13-20 since April 28.How bad is the West?Bad enough that no team in the division has a winning record against either the NL East or NL Central, and all five teams have losing records on the road. Consider that the Diamondbacks are 20-8 against the rest of the West but 12-20 against everybody else."During the winter, people were saying that we have a great division, but you have to go play the games on the field," said Rockies manager Clint Hurdle. "It's all about how you play the game on the field, not the analysis of what's on paper."INFIELD CHATTER-- Florida State catcher Buster Posey caught teams off-guard when his agents made it known on the eve of the draft that he was looking for a big-league contract and $12 million to sign. Those demands made life easy for Tampa Bay scouting director R.J. Harrison, who wanted to take shortstop Tim Beckham with the No.1 pick, but upper management was enthralled with Posey, backing off the pressure to take Posey because of the finances.-- Interesting negotiations loom between Pittsburgh, which selected second, and Vanderbilt third baseman Pedro Alvarez. Alvarez is represented by agent Scott Boras, a longtime target of current Pirates president Frank Coonelly, who until this year had been the Major League Baseball authority charged with cracking down on signing bonuses teams give draft choices.-- Kansas City doesn't worry about Boras' presence. First baseman Eric Hosmer, whom the Royals took third in the draft, is the third consecutive No. 1 pick for the Royals represented by Boras.THE ROTATIONThree catchers were among the top 10 selections in the draft -- Posey, No. 5 to San Francisco; Kyle Skipworth, of Riverside, Calif., No. 6 to Florida; and Jason Castro of Stanford, No. 10 to Houston. It's the first time three catchers were top 10 picks since 1975 when Danny Goodwin went No. 1 to the Angels, Butch Benton No. 6 to the Mets and Rick Cerone No. 7 to the Indians.Where the top five current big-league catchers went in the draft:-- Russell Martin, 17th round, Los Angeles Dodgers, 2002, as a third baseman out of Montreal.-- Joe Mauer, No. 1 pick in the draft, Minnesota, 2001, out of a St. Paul, Minn., high school.-- Brian McCann, second round, Atlanta, 2002, out of a Duluth, Ga., high school.-- Jason Varitek, 14th pick in the first round, Seattle, 1994, a year after being the 21st pick and failing to sign with Minnesota out of Georgia Tech.-- Geovany Soto, 11th round, Cubs, 2001, out of a Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico, high school.OUT IN LEFT FIELDPitcher Andrew Cashner has had ample opportunity to sign a pro contract before, but this year, there's an added motivation -- he's the first-round draft pick of the Cubs, the 19th player overall.Talk about skyrocketing. Cashner, a right-handed closer at Texas Christian who hit 98 mph with his fastball and 85 mph with his slider this year, was drafted by the Cubs in the 29th round a year ago when he was coming out of Angelina (Texas) Junior College. They couldn't come to terms.He also was an 18th-round draft choice of the Rockies after his freshman year at Angelina and was a 20th-round pick of Atlanta when he came out of high school in 2005.CLOSING STATEMENTDoesn't White Sox general manager Kenny Williams know by now not to overreact to manager Ozzie Guillen's tantrums?It's part of Guillen. You hire him, you live with them. He's not going to suddenly become a Boy Scout manager.Williams has done a good job of shaking off Guillen's tantrums until this week -- until Williams felt he was the target. Williams is too smart and confident to be so touchy.What Guillen said was something needed to change with the sluggish White Sox offense, and if Williams didn't make a deal, then Guillen would shake up the lineup.Williams permitted a couple of media members who have a vendetta against Guillen to twist the words into a slap at Williams, and Williams took the bait.NUMBERS GAME2: Low selections from Boston's 2005 draft that were first-round selections Thursday. Wake Forest first baseman Allen Dykstra, a 34th-round pick of the Red Sox out of high school, was the 23rd player selected in the first round, going to San Diego, his hometown. Catcher Jason Castro of Stanford, a 43rd-round pick of the Red Sox out of high school, was the 10th player selected, going to Houston.FAMILY TIESDykstra isn't related to former major league outfielder Lenny Dykstra. Cutter Dykstra, though, is Lenny's son.Cutter was the second- round draft choice of the Milwaukee Brewers, who have Prince Fielder, son of Cecil Fielder, at first base and Jason Kendall, son of Fred Kendall, at catcher.Brewers second baseman Rickie Weeks' brother Jemile, a second baseman at the University of Miami, was the Oakland Athletics' first-round pick, taken 12th overall.HE SAID IT"I felt there was a little bit of everybody from that group in this kid."-- R.J. Harrison, Tampa Bay scouting director, when shortstop Tim Beckham, whom the Rays selected No. 1 overall, was compared to Gary Sheffield, Orlando Hudson, Brandon Phillips, Justin Upton and B.J. Upton.COOKING ALONGWith an 8-3 record and 3.16 ERA in 13 starts, Aaron Cook is off to the second-best start of any starting pitcher in Rockies history.Mike Hampton was 9-2 with a 2.98 ERA in his first 13 starts in 2001. The only other pitcher with a lower ERA was Roger Bailey, who had a 3.10 mark but a 6-5 record after his first 13 starts in the 1997 season.Hampton's career with the Rockies took an about-face after those first 13 starts.He went 5-11 with a 7.37 ERA the rest of that season and was 7-15 with a 6.15 ERA in 2002, after which he was traded.Bailey wound up 9-10 with a 4.29 ERA in 1997 and the next spring, he suffered a career-altering back accident when a truck hit the vehicle in which he was riding from behind.Bailey never pitched again in the majors.(Tracy Ringolsby writes for the Rocky Mountain News in Denver, Colo. E-mail ringolsbyt(at)RockyMountainNews.com.)