As hope fades with each loss by the Rockies and the days are ripped rapidly from the baseball calendar, is it all over except the venting of frustration for our defending National League champs?
If general manager Dan O’Dowd was trying to send a message to his disappointing team by saying, “Our execution has been abysmal,” then his displeasure was impossible for players to ignore.
A copy of The Denver Post sports section with O’Dowd’s cut-to-the- bone words printed in a big, bold headline was taped to the clubhouse wall for all Rockies to see as they walked into the players lounge for a postgame meal after a 2-0 loss to Houston on Saturday.
Although they are all big boys with thick skin, it was obvious the criticism hurt the professional pride of Colorado players.
But know what’s interesting?
“I don’t think we put any concern in what somebody from the outside says about us,” Colorado outfielder Brad Hawpe said Saturday night, after collecting the team’s lone hit against Astros pitcher Roy Oswalt.
“The front office is different than the players. We’re trying to grind it out every day. If your shortstop is getting on you, it’s a different story.”
This is a team O’Dowd built, and when the Rockies went on their amazing run to the World Series last October, he got drenched in the champagne celebration alongside manager Clint Hurdle and first baseman Todd Helton.
But, among an unusually tightknit group of Rockies players, the general manager isn’t considered a member of the core group that lives and dies on a daily basis with every victory and defeat.
Sure, the general manager determines raises and signs free agents. As the Rockies make tough decisions going forward, O’Dowd will decide who stays and who goes from a team that must wear a 67-76 record that nobody likes.
“We’re just as frustrated as anybody else,” Garrett Atkins said. “If we finished with the same record we had last year, we’d win the division fairly easily. But obviously, that’s not going to be the case.”
Although O’Dowd is the boss, that doesn’t make him part of the players’ fraternity. And that’s probably a good thing.
While every sports organization talks about being a family, it requires cool emotional detachment to evaluate personnel strengths and weaknesses. It’s good to know somebody in the Rockies’ organization is unafraid to hold the team accountable when things don’t go according to plan.
Nonetheless, when O’Dowd announces the fundamental hitting and pitching shortcomings of this Colorado team have “been tough to watch,” the truth can hurt the men who lace up their spikes and sweat every ball and strike.
Although Atkins said he could do nothing more than speculate on O’Dowd’s motivation for shining a light on the team’s failures, the infielder guessed it was an expression of frustration.
“If a GM is talking bad about his players, he’s got the right to do it,” added Colorado outfielder Willy Taveras, who believes O’Dowd was looking to motivate his players for the stretch run. “I’m not happy where we are in the standings because we’re a better team than we’ve shown.”
With 19 games remaining on their schedule, including three against first-place Los Angeles and six against second-place Arizona, the Rockies still have a slim chance of winning the National League West.
“I guess the media says we’re out of it every time we lose a game, and each day we win, we’re in it,” Hawpe said.
Should Colorado fall short in the chase for an unlikely playoff berth, these players can count on one thing.
There will be personnel changes made, almost certainly a more serious roster overhaul than the tweaking that was done a year ago.
Those changes will hit the fraternity of Rockies harder than a general manager’s harsh words ever could.
Mark Kiszla: 303-954-1053 or mkiszla@denverpost.com
