ESPN Buster Olney Blog

Spring training had just begun and Huston Street figures he'd been in the Rockies camp about 48 hours when Bob Apodaca, the Colorado pitching coach, approached him and told him he wanted to make a rather major alteration. "We'd like you to move to a different part of the [pitching] rubber," Apodaca said.

Street didn't buy it. Not then, anyway. But after a mediocre spring training, and after he allowed four runs in his first four relief appearances in the regular season, Street had an open mind. He shifted from the left side to the right side of the rubber, and after he had done it for a short time and saw what the change did for him, he couldn't even imagine moving back to the left. "I don't know why things work out the way that they do," Street mused Sunday, "but they do."

Since those first four outings, Street has excelled, posting a 2.33 ERA, converting saves in 15 of 16 chances. He is 8-for-8 this month as the Rockies have made their push back from deep in the NL West standings to over .500, capped by Street's picking up the save Sunday, closing out the Pirates.

Oakland pitching coach Curt Young had worked with Street in Oakland and had suggested a shift from the left side of the rubber to the right, but Street had success with the Athletics, racking up 94 saves in four seasons, and he wasn't inclined to change. "You kind of get stuck in that run, and you're used to performing at that level," Street said.

The trade to the Rockies for Matt Holliday changed that. As the season started, it was unclear whether Street or Manny Corpas was going to be the closer; the competition, and his slow start, made him reassess what he was doing. As soon as Street began working from the right side of the rubber, he could see the impact.

When throwing on the left side of the rubber, Street could throw strikes against left-handed batters by running a fastball over the outside corner, no matter how flat it was -- and the ball would have to travel a longer distance from his hand to the corner. But once Street was on the right-hand part of the rubber, it forced him to be more disciplined in his mechanics. He'd have to get on top of the ball properly to throw it for strikes to the outside corner to lefties, and inside to right-handers. If he didn't throw the ball correctly, it would drift off the plate.

"I've got more of the sinking action than the running action," Street said.

It shows in the results for Colorado, which has won 16 of its past 18 games. GM Dan O'Dowd indicated last week that he is a long way from determining whether the Rockies will be buyers or sellers near the trade deadline, but they continue to trend upward.

Street cited something that Troy Tulowitzki said recently -- that the Rockies are beginning to expect good things to happen. "You don't know whether success creates that mentality, or whether that mentality creates success," Street said. "I think it's a little bit of both."

A struggling Rockie, Garrett Atkins, is going to get some playing time on the upcoming road trip, writes Patrick Saunders.

Elsewhere…

• The "Moneyball" movie might be scuttled, as Susan Slusser writes within this notebook.

• The Indians were swept by the Cubs, and the fate of Eric Wedge is in the hands of the Indians' owners, who may or may not be making a change, writes Paul Hoynes, although no immediate change is expected; within this piece, GM Mark Shapiro says that if there is any blame, it's on him.

The Indians are ready to deal Mark DeRosa, but they want a young pitcher in return, and the Cardinals are not willing to give up any of their better young relievers (Jason Motte, Chris Perez or Kyle McClellan), and the Mets won't part with Bobby Parnell. The Yankees demonstrated some interest in DeRosa before, and if they believe that Alex Rodriguez might continue to struggle this year, DeRosa would be a heck of an insurance policy. But even the Yankees are coping with some financial limitations this season, and they haven't been engaged on DeRosa for a while.

• Watched a lot of the Cardinals' blowout of Gil Meche and the Royals on Sunday, and when Albert Pujols came to the plate with the bases loaded, it was one of those rare at-bats when you felt the pitcher would be fortunate if he got the hitter out. Pujols just seemed to have total command of the at-bat, and you couldn't imagine how in the world Meche could get the ball past him, so it wasn't exactly a surprise when Pujols blasted a grand slam about 50,000 feet. Pujols, in fact, predicted the home run. As Joe Strauss reports within the story, Adam Wainwright said after the game: "Face it: I'm playing with the best player of all time."

From the Elias Sports Bureau: "Pujols hit his 25th and 26th homers on Sunday in the Cardinals 70th game. Only two other Cardinals players have reached 25 homers in the team's first 70 games of a season: Pujols in 2006 (51 games), Mark McGwire in 1998 (49) and 2000 (68) and Stan Musial in 1954 (70)."

After Pujols' heroics, Tony La Russa was doused in champagne.

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