DENVER-
It was coffee and complaints for Clint Hurdle as he stood in line at Starbucks on Saturday morning.
Customers were all over the Colorado Rockies manager for his decision to yank starter Jeff Francis in the eighth inning of Friday night’s 5-2 loss to the Kansas City Royals. Reliever Manny Corpas came in and promptly gave up four runs.
Hurdle blamed himself after the loss. Francis had only thrown 74 pitches and was taken out after fanning David DeJesus.
Hurdle thought about the move all night.
“I slept like a baby—I woke up every three hours and cried myself to sleep,” Hurdle said.
But on Saturday morning when he woke up, Hurdle’s daughter, Madison, wouldn’t let him dwell on the loss.
“Maddy was saying, ‘Let’s go dad. We’ve got stuff to do. It’s Saturday,'” Hurdle said.
And Saturday mornings are reserved for Maddy and her father. She doesn’t care about how the Rockies lost.
“We don’t lollygag, we don’t feel sorry for ourselves, we don’t second-guess ourselves,” Hurdle said.
When they arrived at Starbucks, Hurdle heard everything from, “Hang in there” to “You’re an idiot.”
“And that was kind of soft-spoken because I had my daughter with me,” Hurdle said. “She’s kind of a nice shield to carry around.”
Despite the outcome, Hurdle said it won’t change the way he manages his bullpen.
“You get the information, you watch with your eyes, you feel with your heart and your gut and all these things add up one way and you make a move and it works out sideways,” Hurdle said. “You’re accountable for that. I’m definitely responsible.”
General manager Dan O’Dowd knows the feeling. He feels he’s responsible for the Rockies’ slow start this season. The team was 17-25 heading into the game Saturday night with Kansas City.
“Everything ultimately stops at my desk. So, ultimately, the record of the club is accountable to me,” O’Dowd said Saturday night as he watched batting practice.
The mounting losses are eating at O’Dowd.
“We’re all competitive people,” he said. “That’s why you do this job. Players don’t want to lose, the manager doesn’t want to lose, the coaching staff and front office don’t want to lose.”
But O’Dowd refuses to make a move out of desperation.
“You keep evaluating your personnel on the field and keep looking for ways to see if there’s a way to get better,” O’Dowd said. “We’re not really looking outside the organization. It’s a tough time of year to do that.”
When asked why the Rockies are having a hard time scoring runs, O’Dowd simply said, “I really don’t know the answer to that.”
Hurdle doesn’t know why the club has gotten off to such a slow start, either. But he feels he shares the blame.
“I’m the man in front,” he said. “What I’ve tried to continually explain to the guys is we’ve got to keep our focus on playing the game of baseball and not get distracted about anything. I made a move that didn’t work (Friday night).”
And he heard it from the crowd. As he walked to the mound to pull Francis, the crowd booed.
“I said to (Garrett) Atkins (on the mound), ‘They’re not saying boo, they’re saying Hurrrrdle,'” Hurdle said with a grin. “I think I’ve been booed just as loud before.”
Hurdle heard it again the next day at the coffee shop. He admired the passion of the fans.
“You’ve got to appreciate that,” Hurdle said.
