Troy Renck of the Denver Post thinks that Clint Hurdle is about to be shown the door:
It was the type of moment that defines games, and, over time, frames a season. It arrived in the fifth inning Tuesday night: Aaron Cook vs. Andre Ethier.
Ethier, setting the stage for Casey Blake, won with a walk. The Rockies did not, falling 7-1 to the Dodgers in a second consecutive boo-littered outing that did nothing to douse speculation that manager Clint Hurdle is making his last stand on this homestand.
"Right now with the people we've got, we have to find a way to execute better all across the board," Hurdle said. "That's the bottom line."
The "people we've got" line gets at what's really going on here. Make no mistake: this Rockies team should be playing better than it's playing and that's on Hurdle. Outside of the nice run to the World Series in 2007, he's probably gone by now. But it's the guy who makes the personnel decisions in Denver that is driving all of this. General Manager Dan O'Dowd is the guy who gave Hurdle the "get better" ultimatum last week. But he's also the guy who has been running the Rockies for nearly a decade, and while it can be argued that the overall talent level of the club has improved somewhat over that period, they're still nowhere close to the Dodgers. Even the Padres cycled in better players since O'Dowd was hired, even if they have since cycled them out.
O'Dowd's contract is up at the end of the season, and he no doubt wants to keep his job. One has to assume that, at this point, he feels that getting rid of Hurdle is the key to doing that, either by casting him as the scapegoat or by somehow catching Billy Martin-style lighting in a bottle with whoever replaces him.
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From a long suffering Rockies fan, O'Dowd should have been gone years ago.
Unfortunately in pro sports, the coach, or manager in this case, is always the scapegoat when the over paid spoiled brat athletes under his care don't perform.
O'Dowd has been in Denver since 2000. In his first season, the Rockies went 82-80, but it wasn't really O'Dowd's team that year. Since then, the only year they have had a winning season and won more than 76 games was the 2007 World Series year. O'Dowd came into town and promptly traded Dante Bichette and Vinny Castilla, two of the Rockies most popular players. He doesn't know what he is doing. He should be gone.
General Manager Dan O'Dowd is just like Brian Cashman, GARBAGE
Didn't I read a couple of years back how the Rockies were actively, publicly, and unapologetically promoting Christianity in the clubhouse? So I don't understand... doesn't Jesus like the Rockies anymore?