Denver Post: Paige: Around Rockies’ horn of plenty

Done fritzing his hair in a delightful early Gerard Malangaesque twist-o-twirl look…Woody Paige rocks on.

The manager rattled off each position, too quickly for me to take notes. But, to paraphrase Clint Hurdle and to add my own comments:

Given Todd Helton’s history, the veteran first baseman will hit over .300 again. Helton has to produce more than 17 home runs. He has lost weight— “fat,“he told me — because bulking up last year didn’t help his home run total. He has been moved into the third spot ahead of Matt Holliday, which should give Helton (who has intentionally walked in recent years second only to Barry Bonds) better pitches to examine.

A Matt Holliday carbon copy would delight the manager — and interest more MVP voters. Can Holliday do .340, 36 and 137? Hard to believe, but anything close would be Mantle-like.

“I think we’ve scratched the surface with Willy (Taveras) and get more out of him,” Hurdle said. The center fielder did hit .320, but played in only 97 games. He must strike out fewer than 55 times and occasionally get a hit that goes more than 20 feet.