Last night, Terry Collins should’ve pitched around Tulo in the fifth inning, but he chose to risk it. Tulo immediately deposited an outside fastball 10 rows deep into the right field bleachers. Later in the game, when Tulo came up again, Collins simply held up four fingers.
Collins is not the only manager to give up on trying to get Tulo out. Currently, the Rockies’ shortstop leads baseball in intentional walks. Overall, he has ten total walks, one less than he has hits. His OBP is approaching .500 — that’s Barry Bonds early 2000s territory.

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What’s the point of all these numbers? They are indication that Tulo is taking his game to the next stratosphere. Assuming he stays healthy, it’s almost guaranteed that he will hit 40 bombs this year. This kind of offensive production for a shortstop is almost unprecedented. A-Rod is the only player that has done anything like what Tulo is doing right now. While A-Rod had a terrific glove at short, he wasn’t as good as Tulo.

Obviously, we are watching something special develop right before our eyes. At the tender age of 26, Troy Tulowitzki is becoming one of the greatest shortstops we’ve ever seen. I think he’s robo-shortstop, assembled from all the best attributes of baseball’s finest players at the position. He has Shawon Dunston’s arm, A-Rod’s bat, Ozzie Smith’s range, and Ernie Banks’ intangibles. And, of course, he’s bringing something unprecedented to the table — the rat tail. Now, if we could just get him to stay healthy and improve his taste in music.
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Speaking of the top of the rotation, the team is being extra cautious with Ubaldo’s cut cuticle. He may miss Friday’s start against the Pirates.

Once again, the Rockies played an outstanding defensive game. There were the typical ho-hum web gems by Tulo and CarGo, but the guy that impressed me most was Ty Wigginton. When the Rockies signed Wigginton, I thought they were sacrificing defense for offense. Fans that have watched him play over the years told us as much. However, he was a vacuum cleaner at third last night. He showed range that none of us knew he had. Early in the game he saved Chacin’s butt twice.

It makes me wonder if defense is contagious. Wiggy is playing next to the best defensive shortstop in baseball and right behind him is the best defensive left fielder in baseball. Perhaps he doesn’t want to be embarrassed. Either way, the left side of the Rockies defense was outrageous last night. Right now the Rox have three guys that can play plus defense at the hot corner. That is a manager’s dream.
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