Rockies give Tracy credit

That the Colorado Rockies are on a big roll, at this juncture, cannot be questioned. But the question is, how?

Did firing manager Clint Hurdle and replacing him with bench coach Jim Tracy really spark that much of a turnaround? Or was the clubhouse in such a funk that a change, any change, would have been positive?

Some suggest the answer is this: Guilt.

“We know we messed up, we basically got Hurdle fired, and we have to turn this thing around,” shortstop Troy Tulowitzki said. “Otherwise players will start losing their jobs.”

Since May 29, when Tracy took over, the Rockies are 19-6, and have won 17 of 19 games. As of Tuesday, they led the National League in runs scored and rank second in home runs and total bases.

But Tracy said he doesn’t see the recent success as merely a “run.”

“I think it’s become an expectation,” he said. “It’s not a run. It’s just who we think we are.

“The identity that they had gained for themselves back in 2007, they had surrendered it,” Tracy said. “In order to regain that identity for ourselves, our style of play, the way we go about our business day to day had to change.”

It’s that variable -- change -- that’s hard to pinpoint when assessing the Rockies’ turnaround. Some of the change has manifested itself in managerial decisions, some has been atmospheric, but whatever the recipe includes, it tastes good to the Rockies.

Second baseman Clint Barmes says Tracy handles certain situations different than Hurdle did, such as keeping a consistent lineup.

“It’s nice to show up and kind of know what the game plan is going to be for the most part,” Barmes said.

Tracy has also stressed aggressiveness as a necessary ingredient.

“We were playing the game way too tentative,” he said. “We needed to turn the dial up a lot higher than it was.”

In addition to tangible baseball decisions, Tracy’s approach to the team and the clubhouse, the players said, helped create an environment conducive to success. First baseman Todd Helton said Tracy “shows a heck of a lot of confidence in us.”

Veteran right-hander Aaron Cook said Tracy respects the clubhouse atmosphere, letting players run free -- within reason. More soft-spoken than the loud and opinionated Hurdle, Tulowitzki said, Tracy represented a necessary shift.

“It was time for a change,” Tulowitzki said. “We needed something different because what we were doing wasn’t working.”

Tracy has plenty of experience. He managed the Dodgers from 2001 to 2005 and the Pirates in 2006 and 2007. He led the Dodgers to the playoffs in 2004 but lost an NL division series to the St. Louis Cardinals in four games. He left the Dodgers with a .527 winning percentage. But with the Pirates, Tracy was not so lucky, finishing 135-189.

“I had a wonderful run as a manager in Los Angeles,” he said. “I was disappointed in the way it ended in 2005, given the fact of what we had done in 2004.”

Toward the end of the 2005 season, Tracy demanded a contract extension or he would exercise a clause in his contract that allowed him to opt out. The team ended with a 71-91 record, and Tracy moved to the Pirates.

Last winter, Hurdle hired Tracy as bench coach. The Rockies started the season 18-28 under Hurdle, who led the team to the NL pennant in 2007. Helton credited Hurdle with laying the groundwork for where the team is now, and Cook said the team took responsibility for Hurdle’s firing.

“He wasn’t the one between the lines and not executing,” Cook said. “He was our manager, but he wasn’t the one playing the game every day.

“At the same time, the managerial change kind of freed us and really opened our eyes. I think you start to see guys in here play baseball like we’re in high school again.”

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william.brink@latimes.com