This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

This story easily could have become the Curse of the Green Pig.

The Colorado Rockies claim Utah as part of their territory, so new manager Bud Black and three players made a promotional visit to Salt Lake City in late January. They staged a baseball clinic for children at the Central Park Community Center and greeted fans at the Green Pig Pub, making a good impression at each stop.

So Utahns can claim to have inspired the Rockies to a resurgence that features the best record (32-18) in the National League entering Saturday's games. Well, except for the part about those three players — pitcher Jon Gray, outfielder David Dahl and catcher Tom Murphy — all being injured.

Black is the early favorite for the NL Manager of the Year award, though. And he was rejuvenated when he spent last year working for the Los Angeles Angels, checking in with the Salt Lake Bees and other prospects in the farm system. That's the beauty of Utahns' ties to the Rockies: We can have selective attachment, taking credit for their success and caring about them only during the good times.

The Rockies include Utah in their television market via Root Sports and make regular visits to maintain a neighborly connection. In return, we give them conditional love. It's a wonderful relationship from our side. If the Rockies are worth watching, we'll follow them.

This looks like a good year to give those guys some attention. They won't play .640 baseball all season, but they're sure to end a six-year run of losing years, including three miserable seasons of 90-plus defeats. Black caught them on a slight upswing, but nobody could have seen this success coming.

"It is seriously fun," said Zach Wittwer, of West Valley City, who has stuck with the Rockies since latching onto the 2007 World Series contestants as a teenager. "It's hard to manufacture excitement and investment for a team that loses every year, so this is as much fun as can be."

The Rockies have developed young starting pitchers to complement their offense, and they solved last season's biggest problem by acquiring reliever Greg Holland, who has converted all 19 save opportunities.

Black is making it all work in his second managing job after nine seasons in San Diego. He'll always be thankful to Salt Lake City, as the Angels' pitching coach in 2002 when John Lackey, Brendan Donnelly and Francisco Rodriguez all pitched for the Salt Lake Stingers then took the mound in Game 7 of the World Series.

Keith Johnson, the Bees' manager, liked having Black visit last summer. "An absolutely top-notch individual," Johnson said, as if reading a scouting report. "Great mind, great person, great personality. Approachable. All the attributes that you would look for in a person."

With his pitching background, Black clearly has influenced the Rockies' staff. Gray is Colorado's ace, but he sustained a stress fracture in his foot in mid-April (Dahl and Murphy, the other Salt Lake City visitors, were hurt in spring training and haven't played this season).

Yet seemingly out of nowhere, the Rockies have produced rookie starters Antonio Senzatela, Kyle Freeland, German Marquez and Jeff Hoffman.

Senzatela is the star of the group. He pitched eight scoreless innings Friday vs. St. Louis in Denver, improving to 7-1 with a 3.19 ERA. Black spoke in January about confronting the challenges of pitching in the high altitude of Coors Field, and his approach is working.

Offensively, the Rockies have the best top half of the lineup in baseball with Charlie Blackmon, D.J. LeMahieu, Nolan Arenado, Carlos Gonzalez and Mark Reynolds. And they're not hitting only at Coors, judging by Colorado's 18-8 road record.

The Rockies played through Gonzalez's slow start and shortstop Trevor Story's injury. Alexi Amerista, who spent parts of three seasons with the Bees, filled in wonderfully for Story and is a success story for Johnson, who managed him at multiple levels in the Angels' system.

"He's carved out a nice little niche for himself in the big leagues," Johnson said.

And the Rockies are playing their way into Utahns' consciousness in 2017. You don't have to be as devoted as Wittwer, who agonized during the tough times, to enjoy what this team is doing.

Twitter: @tribkurt