Jason Marquis threw a two-hit shutout against the Dodgers Tuesday night as the Rockies went on to a 3-0 victory. That’s five consecutive quality starts for the Colorado pitchers, and they continue to shine since the start of the winning streak. What exactly did Tracy do to get such great work out of his staff? The closest explanation I can find is this:

The Rockies are playing sound fundamental baseball under Tracy.

They move runners over. They’re aggressive at the plate without expanding their strike zones. They’re driving opposing starters’ pitch counts high early in games. They’re fighting off good pitches and when they see a mistake, they make ‘em pay.’

Defensively, they’re not giving teams extra outs or extra pitches.

Under Hurdle (through May 28), opponents hit .328 on fieldable balls in play, (hits-hr)/(ab-(hr+k)). Since Hurdle took over, that dropped to .288. It’s not a perfect measure of defense, as it doesn’t count players reaching on errors or failed fielder’s choices, but the defensive component of the turnaround should not be discounted.