CHICAGO — It is a simple question on the minds of many Rockies fans: How can a team seemingly so good be this bad?
The answer from third baseman Garrett Atkins was part explanation, part indictment of a season gone wrong.
“When you don’t play well at this level, you lose games in bunches,” Atkins said Thursday.
“There probably aren’t too many guys in here who are happy with how things are going. Our numbers aren’t where we’d expect them to be, individually or as a team. It’s embarrassing going out there and getting beat every night. We need to keep working and get a little mad.”
There is a growing sense there will be consequences if the Rockies don’t get better soon. Last week, general manager Dan O’Dowd identified a .500 record by the all-star break as a goal. That would require a 28-14 run. It’s fair to wonder if patience will run out sooner, with trades being explored for the likes of Brian Fuentes and Matt Holliday, among others, if this team doesn’t make a U-turn on the final two legs of the current road trip.
“We have the opportunity for improvement all across the board: myself, the coaches, the players,” manager Clint Hurdle said. “But we have to stay focused on the challenge each game presents (not the bigger picture).”
The Rockies’ offense is without three of its big bats — shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, who is inching closer to a rehab assignment, and outfielders Brad Hawpe and Holliday, who are on schedule to return June 5 and June 10, respectively. Still, that doesn’t excuse the terrible start.
“You can probably go around this room and everybody is guilty of not doing their share,” Todd Helton said. “We all need to take care of ourselves.”
“We need to play better and start winning. It’s obvious,” Tulowitzki said.
Rusch Street.
The last time Glendon Rusch was at Wrigley Field as a player, in September 2006, he nearly died, collapsing in the Cubs’ weight room from a pulmonary embolism. Rusch will return Saturday, taking Jorge De La Rosa’s vacant spot in the rotation. Rusch was told Thursday that he would be joining the big-league club after allowing just one run in 11 innings for the Triple-A Sky Sox.
Rx update.
Out with a right hamstring injury, Hawpe sprinted and simulated running the bases Thursday, leaving him on track to begin a rehab assignment this weekend in Colorado Springs. . . . The next step in Tulowitzki’s recovery from a torn left quadriceps tendon is more fielding drills and baserunning. . . . Pitchers Jason Hirsh and Luis Vizcaino remain on schedule to join the Rockies in mid- to late June.
Troy E. Renck, The Denver Post
