Spring came early for the Colorado Rockies. The first full-squad practice isn’t scheduled until next Tuesday, yet nearly every position player was on hand Wednesday as pitchers and catchers went through their second day of workouts.
For sure, they wanted to see their gorgeous new spring home. Spacious Salt River Fields at Talking Stick is a far cry from their crowded ancient digs in Tucson.
But for a team rich and deep in talent, there also is a strong desire to get on with it, to begin laying the necessary groundwork for a season that, these players firmly believe, should stretch deep into autumn.
‘‘I would say probably the big word is ‘determined,’ ’’ third baseman Ian Stewart said. ‘‘We’ve had the taste of winning the wild card, getting to the playoffs, getting to the World Series. But unless you win the World Series, you haven’t really won anything.’’
Manager Jim Tracy said his players seem to understand how important attention to detail is in the sometimes tedious early days of spring training.
‘‘You realize with all the familiar faces that we have out there there’s a complete understanding as to what it is that we do and the results that we’ve gotten from it,’’ he said. ‘‘There’s still so much for us out there to attain and the focus seems to be that we all realize that.’’
Despite being wracked by injuries, the Rockies were in the NL West race a year ago before fading badly at the finish, losing 13 of their last 14. Yet they still wound up 83-79, their third winning season in four years.
Then the Rockies went home and watched NL West foe San Francisco use brilliant pitching to win the World Series, a goal that has eluded Colorado in the franchise’s 27-year history.
‘‘To see them be able to and do that, something that we were trying to do, makes us mad that we couldn’t do it,’’ Stewart said. ‘‘It just makes us more determined, makes us more motivated to get where they were last year and experience the joys and thrills of winning the World Series. . . . ’’
Knowing these Rockies could be poised to do just that helped lure the players back to spring training earlier than was required.
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