DENVER • When Jim Tracy replaced Clint Hurdle as Colorado’s manager, general manager Dan O’Dowd said he wasn’t expecting miracles.The Rockies were 10 games under .500 and threatening to become irrelevant.Surprise!The Rockies won 19 of their first 24 under their new skipper, including an incredible 17-1 streak.Tracy likes to deflect credit, but there’s no hiding that it took him half as many games to win 18 times as it took Hurdle, who was fired with the Rockies in last place in the NL West at 18-28.“I just asked them to play the game correctly,” Tracy said. “And I’ve asked them to play the game unselfishly, and I’ve asked them to get a little bit more aggressive offensively. And we’ve done an unbelievable job of that.”Colorado won eight straight on the road before an 8-1 homestand that was most memorable for Todd Helton’s game-winning ninth-inning homer Saturday against Pittsburgh that recalled his similar shot that ignited their Rocktober run to the 2007 World Series.After Tampa Bay snapped their winning streak at 11 last week, shortstop Troy Tulowitzki shrugged and suggested, “We’ll just start another streak tomorrow.”A familiar refrain, but about as believable as their contention a month ago that they were a good team that just happened to be playing bad baseball.Just as Tulowitzki envisioned, the Rockies reeled off six straight wins.“It’s nice to show up and go out and expect to win every day,” second baseman Clint Barmes said.The Rockies credit their turnaround to the change in atmosphere that followed the switch in managers May 29.They’re not as uptight on the field nor in the clubhouse. They show up at the park expecting to win rather than wondering if they’re in the lineup.That’s a welcome change from the days under Hurdle.Tracy benched slumping third baseman Garrett Atkins and replaced him with emerging slugger Ian Stewart. Tracy made Barmes his everyday second baseman and he carved out more at-bats for outfielder Carlos Gonzalez, who came over from Oakland in the Matt Holliday trade that also netted closer Huston Street.“It’s a blast right now,” said Street, who converted 16 of his first 17 save chances. “Twenty days ago, not that it was no fun, but we’ve been waiting for this. We’ve been saying it, almost ad naseum, to where people were saying, “Uh-huh, you guys are almost there, sure.’ But we really felt that and believed it.”

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