For Rockies, Huston Street Is Back to Sweeping

(Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

It wasn’t all that long ago that the eyes of Texas relaxed and the hearts of Austin calmed at the first sight of him.

Is that Huston Street jogging in? Oh, okay, it’s over. Inning over, game over, series over. And eventually, Omaha over.

That was the simple way of life, just a handful of years ago, when Street was living collegiate stardom as the best closer in the country.

If the Texas Longhorns had a lead in the eighth inning, you could fill out the rest of your scorecard in ink and head home. There were no surprises. It was a perch of fame and credibility that Street earned.

Street holds the career saves record at the University of Texas at Austin with 41. He was a four-time All American in burnt orange. Proudly named the Most Outstanding Player at the 2002 College World Series after Texas beat South Carolina in the finals.

But it wasn’t all about the high life for Street. He too, fell victim to the game and was humbled. It just so happened that his moment of truth came in the big leagues.

After closing for the Oakland A’s for three seasons and having success, it looked as if Street would enjoy the long, illustrious career that was so often predicted for him in college.

Make All Star Games, accumulate saves, and enjoy a couple late October wild rides. That was the blueprint for the guy that did everything right on and off the field.

But as Street struggled last summer, the A’s grew impatient and decided that they didn’t have the time to wait around for a guy to work out his mechanical kinks, and regain the command of his fastball while pitching in one-run games. And with Brad Ziegler in the bullpen, they had another option.

That Street lost his closing job with the A’s wasn’t the telltale sign that any of his college dominance had evaporated. For one, A’s GM Billy Beane comes from the school of thought that closers are like strawberries. Plant the seed, add water, sunlight, and time, and voila…fruition.

Beane’s “Moneyball” legacy will be remembered for his preference for high on-base percentage hitters, among other specifics, but he also shed light on his idea of running a bullpen.

If you have a good arm, you can close. Period.

So you can chalk Street’s demotion up to another quick hook on the part of management. But it wasn’t as if Street was some 34-year-old veteran who had grizzled through multiple arm injuries and couldn’t cut it any longer.

It was only Street’s fourth season in the big leagues, and given the fact that he was relatively healthy with the A’s, it’s practically impossible for his stuff to have left him overnight. It couldn’t. He was too good for that to happen.

Of course, that’s where the Colorado Rockies came in, just in time to sweep Street off Oakland’s dump truck and polish him up to be their guy.

When Beane became interested in acquiring then Rockies outfielder Matt Holliday, Colorado’s GM Dan O’Dowd knew he wanted Street to be part of the package. Colorado had its own reservations about Manny Corpas, and Beane was happy to oblige.

When Street came to Colorado, his welcome was accompanied by a request for change. Pitching coach Bob Apodaca asked Street if he wanted to try switching from his customary spot on the left edge of the pitching rubber over to the right side. Street’s gut reaction was, “What for?”

After all, Street had been pitching from the left side his entire life, and had had great success. He firmly believed that the rough stretch in Oakland was just that. A slump that everyone needs to work through over the course of a long career. Apodaca didn’t force anything, but he recommended.

Street resented the change and stuck to his usual ways. He pitched well in spring training, won the closing job with the Rockies, and proceeded to the regular season looking to return to his dominant ways.

But as fate would have it, Street got his clock cleaned over his first couple weeks with Colorado. He couldn’t command his fastball and didn’t have much feel for his secondary pitches. His hole was only growing deeper.

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