The temptation is to let loose with a Ka-ching! although only longtime Rocky readers would get the joke.

For the record, that's 15 of 18 for the kid Rocks at the ballyard on Blake Street. If Wednesday's offensive explosion didn't remind you of the old days, you weren't around for the old days.

Records were falling like balls in the gap as the Rocks broomed the Brewers, once everybody's darlings. The Rocks now have the better winning percentage, but they remain utterly under the radar.

Which, from their point of view, is a good thing. They are the new Fun Bunch. They're having too good a time to notice they might be in a pennant race.

"You turn your head, you look away to get a glass of water and you hear a loud crack and someone else is rounding first, heading to second," said Garrett Atkins, whose 4-for-4 with six RBI improved his average to .283, as if April and May never happened at all.

"We're not trying to think how are the Dodgers or the Diamondbacks or the Padres doing, or whoever's ahead of us. We know there's quite a few teams ahead of us, so we're just trying to take care of as many wins as we can get and then at the end of the day we'll look at it and see how we stack up against everybody else."

Or, as those rock 'n' roll philosophers, the Blues Magoos, put it, We ain't got nothing yet.

If Atkins finishes the season the way he did a year ago, when he caught Matt Holliday for the team batting lead on the final day, watch out. While other players wear down during the dog days, Atkins wakes up.

A year ago, he hit .306 with 11 home runs and 58 RBI in 84 games before the All-Star break. His numbers afterward were .354, 18 and 62 in 73 games.

This year, he was at .259 with 13 homers and 53 RBI before the break. Privately, some in the organization were "unthrilled" about his offseason conditioning program.

In 25 games since the break, he's batting .364 with 29 RBI. You don't need a degree in statistics to know that's a pace that can carry a team.

"If I knew what it was, I'd do it earlier and start in April and go from there," he said. "I don't know what it is. It's just everything starts to kind of click toward the end of the All-Star break, and it's fun. It's fun when everything's going well.

"It's definitely the best that I've felt all year. I feel like I'm seeing the ball about as well as I can possibly see it. I'm just hoping that each day I come in here the bat still feels the same and everything's still working."

Gone are the days when it was all up to Holliday and Todd Helton. Those guys are still in the middle of everything, but the joy of the ensemble cast is the wealth of contributions.

Rookie Troy Tulowitzki remains a revelation, his 4-for-5 Wednesday busting a recent slump that had people talking about rookie walls.

"He expects to do well," manager Clint Hurdle said. "He doesn't dwell on negatives. He just expects to do well, and he's going to find a way to come out of it."

Ryan Spilborghs' energy and production is frankly hard to fathom. His .343 average and 41 RBI in just 143 at-bats cry out for more playing time, but it's hard to bench a guy hitting .313 (Willy Taveras) or driving in 72 runs (Brad Hawpe). Although, in all honesty, watching Hawpe play right field lately is reminiscent of The Gong Show.

For all the recent fun, the Rocks still have issues on the mound, and they're likely to get worse before they get better, assuming team doctors make rookie Jason Hirsh sit down until his fractured fibula heals. With Rodrigo Lopez already on the shelf, Taylor Buchholz would likely have to move into the rotation while the Rocks hope for Franklin Morales to show enough in the Springs to justify a call-up.

But worrying about such things is exactly what the kid Rocks are not doing. Their clubhouse hasn't been this loose since . . . well . . . maybe ever.

"They really think they can play," Hurdle said. "I think they can play. The coaching staff thinks we can play. We're enjoying this. We haven't been in this position before. We're embracing it. We're having fun with it.

"So we'll just see. We like where we are, but we're not where we want to be. I think that's the biggest point. We want more."

They said they wanted to play meaningful games in August and September. They'll cross September when they get to it. But so far, so good.

kriegerd@RockyMountainNews.com

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