Garrett Atkins

DENVER, Colorado (Reuters) - The Colorado Rockies clinched a playoff berth on Thursday after their 9-2 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers sealed at least a wild card place. The Rockies are two games behind National League West leaders Los Angeles and could take the title by sweeping the Dodgers in a three-game series between them beginning on Friday. Colorado starter Aaron Cook pitched eight innings and gave up one run on four hits, while Garrett Atkins had three RBIs to help the Rockies secure just their third post-season appearance. "It was a long road to get here. It took more than the 25 guys ... Read Full Story

A week into the season, Ryan Church was raking doubles and Daniel Murphy was the new hotness. Five weeks later, Mets fans are looking at a much different scenario. Church has seemingly fallen out of favor with Jerry Manuel and Murphy has been unacceptably bad in left field. Daniel Murphy hasn't done it with the bat or glove so far Many thought that Manuel would use Murphy to spell Delgado at first base and potentially groom him for a future at the position. However, that hasn’t happened. To this point, Daniel Murphy has played 8 innings at first base (with another start coming tonight) ... Read Full Story

Garrett Atkins had three hits and two RBIs, Jason Hammel remained unbeaten in June and the Colorado Rockies beat the Oakland Athletics 4-2 on Friday night. Todd Helton added a two-run single as part of a three-run fifth inning, helping Colorado snap a seven-game losing streak in Oakland. Hammel allowed only four hits, struck out five and walked two to finish 4-0 this month. The right-hander also extended his career-best win streak to five straight to improve to 5-3 overall. Huston Street, pitching against his former team for the first time since being acquired in November as part of a trade that sent slugger ... Read Full Story

Colorado Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki has been benched for a game by manager Clint Hurdle. Hurdle criticized Tulowitzki for swinging at a high, first pitch and hitting into a double play in the eighth inning of Tuesday night's 8-1 loss at Atlanta. "I don't want to be a Little League manager," Hurdle said. "I don't want to have to tell everybody that walks up there to take a strike." Hurdle said he has talked "ad nauseam" about smart at-bats. He said benching Tulowitzki "makes a better statement than anything else I thought I could continue to do." Hurdle started Omar Quintanilla at shortstop instead ... Read Full Story

MLB.com noted, it's reasonable to assume that the 75 percent of polled Colorado fans who didn't think the Rockies got enough in return for Matt Holliday may have jumped the gun just a tad. Reports indicate that Colorado Rockies GM Dan O'Dowd might just package Huston Street in a follow-up deal. There are plenty of teams in the market for a closer — foremost among them the St. Louis Cardinals, the New York Mets and the Cleveland Indians — all teams which had called him about Brian Fuentes prior to the July 31 non-waiver Trade Deadline. Or, Monday's conditional deal may have been the ... Read Full Story