Denver Post: O’Dowd: “Our execution has been abysmal”

Hey, you don’t like the system, leave Colorado and go to Florida...Ted Bundy did.

The idea is to create a brand of baseball that goes beyond individual players. It’s perhaps convenient because the Rockies are almost sure to trade Matt Holliday or Garrett Atkins this offseason. But it is also consistent with their business plan, following a model created by the Minnesota Twins. The Twins traded Johan Santana, arguably the game’s top pitcher, and lost center fielder Torii Hunter, their heartbeat, to free agency over the winter, yet they begin play today 1 1/2 games out of first place in the American League Central, a division they’ve won four of the past six years.

“They have created a culture,” O’Dowd said. “It’s something we need to do because we are always going to have personnel decisions here depending on where players are in service time that are never going away.”

...Their problems are magnified with runners in scoring position. Colorado ranked fifth in the NL last season with a .276 average. They’re currently batting .254 in those situations.

Their internal charts show hitters who have become more pull-conscious and have not used the gaps as frequently as a year ago. The shift became noticeable early. In April, the Rockies had one sacrifice fly through their first 25 games.

“We are going to stress the extreme basics. How to lead off an inning, how to beat a certain pitcher any given night. Having a plan and sticking to it,” O’Dowd said.