What a difference two days make...
by Rox Girl on May 21, 2008 7:45 PM MDT
in Rockpile
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PrintClint Barmes, after Monday's win:
"It's good for us to be home and have a long homestand at this point," said shortstop Clint Barmes, who got the Rockies' scoring started with a leadoff home run in the fourth, extending his hitting streak to 12 games. "We played a lot on the road early. I'm not using that as an excuse, but I will say it's good to play at home for awhile. We have a lot of guys who do well here."
Clint Hurdle today:
“We probably need to get away, take a breather mentally more than anything else,” Hurdle said. “It’s tough sledding right now; there’s no other way to put it.”
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And that
about sums up Clint Hurdle as a manager.
Which is why
I’ve come around to thinking that Hurdle just might need to go. The man can obviously not motivate this team, or get out of their way. To go from a WS appearance to just perfectlygodawful doesn’t cut it. I was tolerating April and very early May, but I’m not convinced that the guy just thinks that everything will just magically turn around.
Well, Harry Potter he’s not. But even if he goes, we’re still stuck with “No Longer Dealin’ Dan”, and owners who seem to think like Clint.
Big sigh.
A baseball game is simply a nervous breakdown divided into nine innings. ~ Earl Wilson
I don't know.
I have no authority to speak on these things, but my feeling from following the Rockies since 2003 (thus only the Clint Hurdle era) is that the managerial and coaching staff only changes when individuals leave of their own volition. I can’t recall anyone in the last 5 years being fired. Player changes happen, of course, but the higher-ups are a tight group.
That’s why, to me, to read talk of firings (of Hurdle, hitting coach, etc.) is depressing. I know it simply won’t happen. Hurdle et al. aren’t going anywhere.
.228
Hurdle isn’t the one hitting .228 with RISP.
Hurdle isn’t Todd “Mega-Contract” Helton watching a border line pitch go by with his bat on his shoulder.
Hurdle wasn’t Chris Iannetta who left 5 men on base today or Garrett Atkins who left EIGHT men on base in yesterday’s game.
The problem with the team now is what everyone is saying it is and that is the clutch hitting thing. It’s really not anything more complicated than that. And Hurdle certainly isn’t that problem because motivating his players doesn’t have anything to do with that.
Clutch hitting was a problem last year and in seasons past. It plagues this team in bad stretches and gets magnified because the rotation is so ordinarily average. Hopefully the bats will heat up with the weather and they’ll work themselves out of the abyss they are in which is something Hurdle has basically no controll over.
How much correlation does the manager have to his players performance?
This team is awful across the board. Some of that IS the coaches fault. How much is debatable. Hurdle is not responsible for Helton, getting old, but he may be responsible for keeping a player who isn’t that good, and regressing in Hawpe. (I use those as examples). I think in baseball, coaching has a big impact on a players performance, mental approach, adjustments, etc. But it’s only part of the overall problem with this club.
I think Hurdle is an idiot, and should have been fired long ago. BUT that doesn’t solve the real problem as you point out…...the players are at issue too. As my favorite football coach Barry Switzer was asked in the early 80’s when his team was struggling if he should abandon the Wishbone, and go to the then popular I formation, or maybe he should fire some of his coaches and bring in coaches familiar with the “I” , Switzer responded, “it’s not the alignment, It’s not the aligners, It’s the Alignnees.” For him it was always the talent level. Good talented players win, bad players lose. period
This team needs better players.
Colorado Rockies: Playing meaningless games in June for more years than I care to remember.
I agree w/ you guys on
much of what is being said. I don’t think this is Hurdle’s fault, the players need to get the job done. Its most of the same players in the same situations as the last couple months of last season and the hitters are just not hitting when it counts. Hurdle annoys me w/ some of his moves, but overall I don’t have issues w/ him as most Rockies’ fans do. Having said that, some teams need a change and maybe a more in-your-face manager would work here.
I go back to what I’ve said before, its an organizational philosophy of over aggresiveness that I don’t like. See the Cubs as an example of a patient team and how that improves the offense. I am not asking for our guys to take called 3rd strikes, but to have enough confidence to put the bat on the ball w/ 2 strikes, and work the count some more. They would have face the middle of the bullpen against many of these teams if the would stay w/ a patient approach for the entire game.
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