Clint Hurdle is nothing if not an optimist. Neither the Rockies’ 18-27 start nor their recent 1-9 road trip scuttled the manager’s belief that his team is a legitimate contender in the National League West. Rather, Hurdle views the Rockies’ ability to survive tough times as evidence of his team’s talent and durability. As he puts it, “We shower well.” He points to the club’s recent 5-1 homestand as confirmation of the Rockies’ ability to rebound. To preview the second half, which starts tonight in Milwaukee, Hurdle sat down with The Denver Post to discuss the state of his team.
Denver Post: You are in fourth place, 5 1/2 games out in the NL West. Do you think the Rockies are in the race?
Hurdle: Yeah. How many times have we been written off this year? But we’re still around. Again, our sail doesn’t blow in the wind. We need to go out there and match up every night. When we come up short, we aren’t happy about it, because we feel that we have the tools. On paper, there are teams better than us, but throughout this first half, we embraced the opportunity to play the game on the field.
Post: You were 44-43 at the break last year and just 3 1/2 out, yet you fell apart in the second half. Why do you think things will turn out differently this year?
Hurdle: Every player who’s a factor in this thing has a year’s more experience. They went through a second half last year where they had to deal with adversity. Now they’ve had a first half where they’ve had some real bright spots, but also had to deal with adversity. They have grown closer together. They are more aware of each other’s talents. They are playing more for one another than ever before. They are very unselfish.
Post: Do you have enough quality starting pitchers to stay in the race?
Hurdle: If they pitch like they are capable of, we do.
Post: Is a trade for a pitcher a possibility?
Hurdle: I think that’s every team’s position at the halfway point, but you have to decide where you are and decide where your next step is. I know Dan (general manager Dan O’Dowd) gets phone calls from teams all the time looking for things from our club.
Post: Will the Rockies be a buyer or a seller at the July 31 trade deadline?
Hurdle: Dan’s looking to improve the club. And I think our ownership will be looking for the right deal or the right opportunity to improve the club. I can’t say that we are not interested.
Post: Brian Fuentes blew four straight saves on that 1-9 road trip. Are you confident he can regain his touch and be a quality closer?
Hurdle: Without a doubt … But we all get off track sometimes, because we are human. If you break down everything that happened, it’s not like he got barreled and barreled and barreled.
Post: You have backed off a little this year and have given the players more freedom. Has that been difficult for you?
Hurdle: No. It wasn’t about it being difficult. It was just like a period I went through with my daughter (being ill). It’s an area where you haven’t been before, so it’s just different. And it just made sense. This group has a lot of guys popping at the same time. At the end of the day, we want to get to the place as a team where they can say either we got it done or we didn’t get it done.
Post: Any major surprises in the first half?
Hurdle: Yeah, the 1-9 road trip surprised me, the dynamics of it: that the games could go the way they did, that the games would spin the way they did. For us to go 1-9 and still play that well, that surprised me.
And I was encouraged by the fact that we rolled off a 20-7 stretch, because we hadn’t done that in a long, long time. Collectively, it’s been all about guys complementing each other and that’s the most optimistic thing. I believe our unselfishness has been the best thing.
Staff writer Troy E. Renck can be reached at 303-954-1301 or trenck@denverpost.com.Staff writer Patrick Saunders can be reached at 303-954-1428 or psaunders@denverpost.com.
