In theory, it sounded great. In planning, it seemed digestible.
The raw Rockies would grapple with youthful mistakes and limited pro experience. Rockies management would join hands with the manager and encourage each other with reminders of patience and diligence. Stress would be shared. The big picture would always provide solace.
It is the manager, though, who is on the front line. It is Clint Hurdle who absorbs the biggest and boldest blows.
He got the initial sinking reaction, particularly in the clubhouse, from this 6-13 Rockies start that included an eight-game losing streak.
The fact the team has exceeded expectations in many ways, so far, has been overcome by a bullpen that has been baseball’s worst.
And it has worn on him. Literally knocked him off his feet.
“The reality of going through the roller coaster we’ve been through, there is no way to prepare for that,” Hurdle said. “We’ve lost too many games that were like missing a field goal at the end or missing the last basket on the last play. How do you keep ’em sane after that? Keep them pulling together?”
How does the manager keep himself sane?
How does the manager manage his emotions?
Hurdle started feeling ill on the team’s first road trip, April 8 in San Francisco. Before that, the Rockies had opened their season at home with that thrilling, last-at-bat 12-10 victory over San Diego. Two straight losses followed in which the bullpen collapsed.
Six straight similar losses followed that.
In San Francisco, Hurdle, who turns 48 on July 30, found himself lying down in his office for three hours before that April 8 game. He had to do it again before a home game April 15 against San Francisco. The symptoms – intense chills, spiked fever, soreness all over, respiratory congestion – reached their highest voltage, he said, Tuesday before the game here against the Florida Marlins. Rockies doctors sent him home.
By Wednesday, he had undergone blood work and a CT scan. By that afternoon, he said he “felt like an 80-year-old man.”
All tests showed no serious problems, he said.
He left with the team Thursday from Coors Field after their doubleheader against Florida was postponed for a nine-game, 10-day road trip that starts today with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
He looked good, colorful, upbeat, except for glazed eyes. He will seek a second medical opinion. Thus far, team doctors believe he has a 100-day virus.
“If so,” he said, “I’m only at 20 days.”
With 71 games left in the remaining span.
There may be a nasty bug going around, but even Hurdle admits that the stress of the Rockies’ peculiar season could be the culprit. His team is 1-7 in road games, 1-7 in games decided after the seventh inning, 4-12 when his bullpen allows a run. The bullpen is 0-4 in road games and 1-7 overall with a 9.09 ERA.
“Last year I had nights where I rolled with ‘should have’ and ‘could have,’ but I’ve been sleeping OK this year,” Hurdle said. “We talk long and hard here about dealing with stress. But no one expected the degree and kind we would have so far. Stress being the cause of my illness? It’s something you can’t rule out in our industry.”
Not with a baseball manager who has a personality and style more like a football coach. Hurdle is a big man with a big bellow and a sometimes needling style. His passion is evident. So is his desire to win.
“There is no relief in these jobs. It is demanding, and illness in them can be tough to shake,” Rockies president Keli McGregor said. “We have a team where we are looking for continued improvement. We want teaching and execution behind it all, where each and every day the learning matters for the future. We have full support for Clint in that effort.”
But is Hurdle a manager well suited for managing for the moment? Can he handle this style, this dictum?
His mind is telling him yes, but maybe his body is telling him no.
His players, his revamped bullpen, could certainly help. It may be a veritable case where more victories provide his cure.
Staff writer Thomas Georgecan be reached at 303-820-1994 or tgeorge@denverpost.com.
