It's still lacking, obviously, but the feel of everything was different.

Yeah, I, I tell people, Mandy, uh, they're turning a corner.

The corner is incredibly long, but they're starting to turn it.

I mean, you can look and see the number of position players, and how they're playing the game is greatly improved from last year to this past season.

Incredibly so.

It's, it's the age-old Rockies question: Can we, one, keep pitchers healthy, and then, two, find enough of them?

That was not the case this year.

No, I think Warren Schaefer did a great job in, in, um, really Feeding a, a mentality into that clubhouse of, "Hey, this is who we are.

'Cause look, from afar, I know the wins and losses don't look that much different than the last few years, but from afar it seems like there have been some positive strides made by this team.

Oh, I don't think there's any question to that, Dave.

I think, you know, they, they're trying from the front office, Paul DePodesta and, and, and Josh Byrnes, to Warren Schaefer and his staff, they're, they're, they're trying to figure out n- not only a team that can be successful here, but a team that plays better on the road.

You know, have a, a, an approach, have a style that doesn't have these rollercoaster rises and dips, and it's in progress trying to make that happen.

But they have some guys, like a Jake McCarthy, a Tyler Freeman, um, Willie Castro, guys that they've brought into the organization who fit that let's make contact, let's, you know, move the line kind of process.

And, a- and they like playing for Warren.

And, and I think he, he's an aggressive guy.

There, there are a few names on the lineup sheet too where I look at the numbers, and it's not guys that I necessarily know a lot about, but who seem to be playing pretty well.

So as a former season ticket holder who finally gave up, do you think this time the Monforts are serious?

Yes, I do.

I think it was very evident in the news conference that maybe not officially, but it is much more about Walker Munford in charge of the day-to-day.

He's still obviously going to have to run things past his dad to a degree, but the way Dick talked and maybe in many ways the lack of of involvement in the news conference with Paul and having Walker be front and center on it.

The hiring of Paul DiPodesta and the way Walker carried today, yes, they are aware of what they have to do, and now the challenge is trying to make it succeed.

Yeah.

And this is why we're doing this today.

Yeah, there's no question.

How do you approach your job and try to keep that momentum, enthusiasm, excitement, and hope up every single game?

Yeah, that, that's a great question.

You know, I, I was fortunate w- kind of in a backhanded way if you will, uh, when I started with the Indians, uh, back in 1985, three of my first seven seasons covering the Indians, they lost more than 100 games.

And so I learned early on in my, uh, play-by-play time if you will, uh, to really compartmentalize, uh, the great Joe Tate, may he rest in peace, uh, who was my first baseball partner and outstanding basketball announcer in the Basketball Hall of Fame for his work with the Cavaliers.

Joe said to me, he goes, "Baseball's a 162 chapter book.

All you do is worry about the chapter that night." And, and maybe one of the best things he said, "You know, you can be an awful team, and you're gonna l- still win 50, 60 games." So you tell yourself, "Well, tonight's one of the nights we're gonna win." You get all excited, you do it, and then, then if you don't win, uh, you leave the ballpark feeling even better because your odds have just improved by a game that you're still gonna win 50 or 60.

I know you don't want to bite the hand that feeds, but how did the Rockies get in this situation?

Well, I think you, you can certainly look at where they are in terms of...

How do you approach your job and try to keep that momentum, enthusiasm, excitement, and hope up every single game?

That's a great question.

You know, I was fortunate, kind of in a backhanded way, if you will, when I started with the Indians back in 1985, three of my first seven seasons covering the Indians, they lost more than 100 games.

And so I learned early on in my play-by-play time, if you will, to really compartmentalize the great Joe Tate, may he rest in peace, who was my first baseball partner, outstanding basketball announcer in the Basketball Hall of Fame for his work with the Cavaliers.

Joe said to me, he goes, baseball's a 162-chapter book.

All you do is worry about the chapter that night.

And maybe one of the best things he said, you know, you can be an awful team and you're going to still win 50, 60 games.

I know you don't want to bite the hand that feeds, but how did the Rockies get in this situation?

How do you approach your job and try to keep that momentum, enthusiasm, excitement, and hope up every single game?

Yeah, that, that's a great question.

You know, I, I was fortunate w- kind of in a backhanded way if you will, when I started with the Indians back in 1985, three of my first seven seasons covering the Indians, they lost more than 100 games.

And so I learned early on in my, uh, play-by-play time if you will, uh, to really compartmentalize, uh, the great Joe Tate, may he rest in peace, who was my first baseball partner and outstanding basketball announcer in the Basketball Hall of Fame for his work with the Cavaliers.

Joe said to me, he goes, "Baseball's a 162 chapter book.

All you do is worry about the chapter that night." And, and maybe one of the best things he said, "You know, you can be an awful team, and you're gonna l- still win 50, 60 games.

So you tell yourself, well, tonight's one of the nights we're gonna win." You get all excited, you do it, and then, then if you don't win, uh, you leave the ballpark feeling even better because your odds have just improved by a game that you're still gonna win 50 or 60.

I know you don't want to bite the hand that feeds, but how did the Rockies get in this situation?