Jim Tracy has looked at life from both sides during his eight years as a major-league manager.
He has played the palace, managing the Los Angeles Dodgers and their parallel-universe payroll and Hollywood A- listers and players with private jets and egos to match. And he has played the Heartbreak Hotel, having spent two years in Pittsburgh, a city in which last place has become both destination and destiny.
The Rockies? They’re in between, far from a hopeless small-market club but not one to be confused with baseball’s high rollers.
For Tracy, nearing his one-year anniversary as the Rockies’ leader, managing in Denver has become a happy medium. Emphasis on the happy.
“It’s a wonderful place for me to be,” Tracy said. “I really feel appreciated here. I’ve never felt appreciated in any of my three stops more than I do right here. I hope I get to sit here until I decide I’ve had enough.”
Who knew, last May 29, when the Rockies were imploding and the ice beneath Clint Hurdle finally cracked, that it would come to this? That Tracy, who didn’t know if he would ever get a third chance to manage, would be talking about staying for years to come?
The temptation is to say it’s all about winning. And, for the most part, it is. The Rockies are 96-64 (.600) and have a trip to the National League playoffs under Tracy and will reach a full-season, 162-game mark under his watch Wednesday night. Before Tracy’s arrival the Rockies’ best record during the regular season was 90-73 (.552) in 2007, the year they went to the World Series.
It isn’t just his success, however, that has made Tracy fit in so well. It’s also how he has handled failure. Tracy embraces the ebbs and flows of a six-month season. He abides by an unwritten rule: If he doesn’t show his players patience, then they can’t reward him for showing it.
“That’s huge,” shortstop Troy Tulowitzki said. “Any time you have a manager who understands how difficult this game is and how much failure you’re going to deal with, that’s a plus. You’re going to deal with highs, and you’re going to deal with lows. You just try to keep it as even as you can.”
Relief pitcher Joe Beimel, acquired from the Washington Nationals before last year’s trading deadline, made it known during the offseason that he wanted to return to the Rockies. Tracy’s presence was a key factor.
“He’s just a calm guy, a calm presence,” Beimel said. “He doesn’t get too excited. He lets the players police the clubhouse. He doesn’t step in unless he feels the need. Other than that, he lets you go through your routine.
“As a player, that’s something you respect. He’s the same guy every day, whether we’re winning or losing. He’s not one of those managers who, if you’re struggling, doesn’t say hi to you.”
Maybe Tracy’s managerial style is a matter of his inner journeyman coming out. If anyone knows what it’s like to struggle in the big leagues, it’s Tracy. He makes jokes about his two partial seasons with the Chicago Cubs, when he had 46 hits in 185 at-bats (.249) in 87 games from 1980-81.
Those are batting numbers his current team can relate to. The Rockies haven’t just struggled, they’ve been inept on offense for much of May, averaging four runs per game this month, lower than the 4.5 that got Hurdle fired last May. They’ve had major injuries, prolonged slumps and a seemingly bottomless sick bay in their up-and-down .500 season heading into tonight’s home game against Arizona. They recently went eight consecutive games without scoring more than four runs.
Tracy’s reaction?
“We’re playing a game that’s centered around learning how to be successful in the midst of failure,” he said. “That’s what baseball is. It’s all about failures and how well you can handle them and, in between, finding some success and helping your team win.
“You have two choices here. You have the choice of remaining consistent and being the same guy that was here when they asked you to (take over). Or you start doing things that are interpreted out there (in the clubhouse) as knee-jerk reactions.”
Know this about Tracy: He doesn’t do knee-jerk reactions. The worse things get, the more patience he shows. Overreacting, he said, takes its toll on the team.
“You can actually make things a heck of a lot worse before it even comes close to having a chance to get better,” said Tracy, the 2009 NL manager of the year. “I’m not going to do that under any circumstances. I’ve managed too long to know that’s not the way to handle a group of veteran players.
“They want to feel like you’re sitting here knowing exactly what’s going on, what the situation is. ‘Give us a little room to get some stuff figured out here, so we can get going and take off.’ . . . I told the players on the day I took over: ‘Play the game, be yourself and don’t be afraid to fail.’ That hasn’t changed. If you don’t win today, try to win tomorrow.”
Jim Armstrong: 303-954-1269 or jmarmstrong@denverpost.com
Looking ahead
TODAY: D-backs at Rockies, 6:40 p.m., FSN, KOA
It’s pretty simple with the Rockies’ Jhoulys Chacin (2-2, 3.12 ERA). When he throws strikes early in the count, allowing him to get to his secondary pitches, he’s tough to hit. Right-handed batters are hitting .155 against him. The Diamondbacks’ Ian Kennedy (3-2, 3.24), who is Ian Stewart’s ex-high school teammate, has been good after being acquired from the Yankees. Like Stewart, he is a former No. 1 draft pick. Jim Armstrong, The Denver Post
Upcoming pitching matchups
Wednesday: Diamondbacks’ Rodrigo Lopez (2-2, 4.42 ERA) at Rockies’ Ubaldo Jimenez (8-1, 0.99), 6:40 p.m., FSN
Thursday: Diamondbacks’ Dan Haren (5-3, 4.79) at Rockies’ Jason Hammel (1-3, 7.52), 1:10 p.m., FSN
Friday: Dodgers’ Hiroki Kuroda (5-2, 3.03) at Rockies’ Jeff Francis (1-0, 0.68), 7:10 p.m., FSN
Saturday: Dodgers’ TBA at Rockies’ Aaron Cook (1-3, 5.40), 6:10 p.m., FSN
