Major League Baseball

Rockies SS Tulowitzki enjoying turnaround in June

Published Jun. 11, 2011 4:02 p.m. ET

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Troy Tulowitzki's fingerprints were all over Colorado's comeback, yet he was nowhere to be found in the clubhouse 45 minutes after the Rockies rallied past the Los Angeles Dodgers thanks to his season-best four RBIs and a spectacular defensive play in the ninth.

Despite having knocked in seven runs in two days, the All-Star shortstop was still in the video room dissecting his last at-bat, when he popped out and stranded an insurance runner on third base in the Rockies' 9-7 come-from-behind win.

Tulowitzki wasn't happy despite heading into the weekend with a .367 batting average and nine RBIs in June after hitting just .209 with 14 RBIs during a miserable month of May in which the Rockies tumbled from first place in the NL West.

''I'm still working through things. I'm still trying to get better. I'm not satisfied with where I'm at,'' Tulowitzki said. ''I'm going to keep working until I find it and it's going to be sometime soon here.''

Tulowitzki came up twice with the bases full and delivered a two-run double and a two-run single, the latter hit tying the game at 7 before Jason Giambi drew a bases-loaded walk to cap the comeback Thursday night.

''I think the biggest thing is we got some hits with runners in scoring position, that's what we've been missing all year,'' Tulowitzki said. ''It's nice to come up to bat with some runners in scoring position. I came up two times with the bases loaded and another time in the last inning that I'm still a little upset about that I didn't get that runner in. But it's nice to come up with runners on base as opposed to leading off an inning.''

The five-run seventh-inning rally marked a reversal of fortune for the Rockies, who scored just 13 runs over a recent eight-game stretch that was the most futile in franchise history.

Tulowitzki isn't the only batter who's scuffled all season. Aside from Todd Helton (.322), who is having a resurgent season worthy of an All-Star bid at age 37, and Seth Smith (.306), the Rockies' big bats have fallen largely silent in 2011.

Tulowitzki and reigning NL batting champion Carlos Gonzalez are both hitting .268 after signing huge contracts over the winter, and newcomer Ty Wigginton (.257) is finally coming on after a sputtering start.

To jump-start Gonzalez, manager Jim Tracy returned him to the leadoff spot, where he got on a roll last year, and Gonzalez collected three hits to go with Tulo's four RBIs Thursday night, then added four singles Friday night, when Tulowitzki hit his 12th homer.

''I've been swinging at a lot of bad pitches and getting myself out more than the pitchers are getting me out. They're just bouncing the ball, expecting me to swing. And they're going to continue to do it if I continue to swing at the balls in the dirt,'' Gonzalez said. ''But if I'm patient and look for a strike and put a good swing to it, a lot of good things are going to happen.''

Gonzalez said it was soothing to see Tulowitzki starting to find his stroke, too.

''It's nice to see your cleanup hitter driving runs in,'' Gonzalez said. ''That's the guy that we've been looking for. And about me, same thing, I just need to continue to get on base, find myself.

''When we both are going good, we have a lot of chances to win games.''

Tulowitzki hit a career-best .315 with 27 homers and 95 RBIs last year, numbers he'd like to make routine.

''This game is not easy, it's a grind,'' Tulowitzki said. ''There's a lot of good players around the league who are not hitting up to their capabilities and performing for their team. But I'm going to put in the work and go down swinging if we go down.''

And dissecting his swing even when he leads the Rockies to victory.

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Arnie Stapleton can be reached at http://twitter.com/arniestapleton

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