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October 25, 2007
BY KEVIN McNAMARA
Journal Sports Writer
BOSTON -- After getting whacked around to the tune of 13-1 in the first game of the World Series, the best thing the Colorado Rockies could do was get a decent night’s sleep and forget they even showed up at Fenway Park on Wednesday.
That, essentially, was what manager Clint Hurdle prescribed for his team. He noted that while 'outside forces' were pushing for a complete dissertation on the reasons for the Rockies’ poor play, Hurdle could not disagree more.
''After a game like [Wednesday] night, I think the last thing you need to do is get your boys together and explain what went wrong. I think that's the last thing you need to do,'' he said. ''There seems to be some people outside of our clubhouse that think that's going to add value to what we do and I think it's more for their comfort zone than our comfort zone.
''What we need to stay in touch with is our comfort zone. We know exactly where we are, we know exactly what happened [Wednesday] night, we lived it, we wore it, and we've showered it off. We're going to get ready for Game Two and get out there and try and even this thing up and get home.''
Hurdle said 'short-term memory is important in this game' and his focus is more on getting a well-pitched game out of starter Ubaldo Jimenez than lamenting what went wrong in Game One.
''I think you always look for reasons why people don't do well, and we kind of focus on was there emotional adrenaline overflow or something like that,'' he said. ''All I know is, mechanically, neither one of the first two pitchers (starter Jeff Francis and reliever Ryan Speier) were really in sync, and I'm not a psych major,'' said Hurdle. ''We talked about mechanics, about slowing things down, making pitches one pitch at a time with everybody.''
Asked if he was leery that some of his young players appeared a bit wide-eyed, Hurdle said, ''There's a lot of first-time things going on for this ballclub and that's how you build an organization's value and how you build tradition and you build all those things that they have going on in Boston. They had a first time. We've got some guys that are experiencing some things for the first time, some of them better than others so far. But we've got more games in front of us.''
* * *
Ever since the Rockies won the wild-card playin game against the Padres, they’ve adopted a consistent message throughout the playoffs. Reliever LaTroy Hawkins had written the words 'Not Done' on the blackboard in the clubhouse, a theme that remains with the club.
''LaTroy Hawkins wrote 'not done' after the tie-breaker game, so that's been in the clubhouse, a little sketch board wherever we've gone,'' said Hurdle.
* * *
Hurdle said he met Terry Francona years ago in a winter league in Venezuela and admires what Francona's accomplished with the Red Sox. He’s also friendly with Sox coaches Brad Mills and Dave Magadan. He and Magadan played together with the New York Mets and stayed close while Hurdle managed in the International League (Tidewater, Norfolk) and as a hitting instructor with the Rockies.
''He became a hitting coach and we've had running commentary and conversation for a number of years now,'' Hurdle said of the Red Sox hitting coach. ''One of the things we used to share as hitting coaches, we would kid each other, whoever was hot at the time, I would say, 'So-and-so is listening to you now, huh?’ So I said to him yesterday behind the cage, 'You've got the whole team listening to you now; how did that happen?’ ''
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