Huston Street News

Salary arbitration has been collectively bargained since 1974. It has been misunderstood for nearly as long.

The Rockies are hoping to hammer out an agreement with Rafael Betancourt before Friday's deadline for the club to decide whether to exercise a $5 million option for the right-handed pitcher.

After trading away All-Star Matt Holliday and losing All-Star Brian Fuentes to free agency during the offseason, many picked the Colorado Rockies to finish near the bottom of the National League West.

In the final year of his contract, Dan O'Dowd enjoyed his finest year as the Rockies' GM.

Like most of baseball's biggest fans, Commissioner Bud Selig has followed playoff baseball mostly on television this fall, riding his personal emotional roller coaster late into the evening, night after night.

The Rockies didn't waste any time making sure they have some depth in their bullpen for the 2010 season.

Neil Devlin, The Post's mop- topped preps sports editor, grew up near Philly. He's the kind of passionate East Coast baseball fan who wears his heart on his sleeve, and on his head.

The Yankees rolled out their best possible setup option for last night's eighth inning.

The Rockies have reason to believe they will be welcoming the old Manuel Corpas back when the new season arrives.

PAT GILLICK is as grass-roots as they come. Some general managers rise through the ranks faster than an untethered weather balloon, riding the information superhighway to the loftiest perch in the sport.

Jim Tracy To understand why Rockies manager Jim Tracy will sign a multiyear deal this week, don't focus on Tracy.

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- The face of baseball's raucous postseason so far? Ryan Howard? Alex Rodriguez? Mariano Rivera supposedly publicly spitting on the ball, and this during a flu epidemic? No, wait.

Rockies manager Jim Tracy, who managed the team to a 74-42 finish and a playoff berth after taking over for Clint Hurdle, was named The Sporting News' 2009 National League Manager of the Year, the publication announced Wednesday morning.

Just figured it would be the Rockies ' Troy Tulowitzki , not Philadelphia's Jimmy Rollins .

What we're talking about after the Phillies' 5-4 comeback win over the Dodgers in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series: * Jimmy Rollins: In Game 3 of the National League Division Series, he led off the ninth inning with a single against Rockies closer Huston Street and ended up scoring the winning run.

More than the cold, more than another critical missed call, more than one manager taking the game and the other giving it away, what I'll remember about last night's Rockies / game is the sheer number of great pitcher/batter confrontations.

With his club staring at a loss that would force a winner-take-all game in a National League division series, Ryan Howard started chirping on the Philadelphia bench.

Anyone who has read the book Moneyball knows that one of the basic theories or principles of Billy Beane and Bill James is that any pitcher can be a closer.

Colorado's Huston Street and St. Louis' Ryan Franklin were among the most effective closers in the National League.

Jayson Werth homered and singled in the deciding run in the ninth inning Monday to give Philadelphia a 5-4 victory over Colorado and advance the Phillies in the Major League Baseball playoffs.