Article: APODACA REALISTIC OPTIMIST ; Pitching coach has helped staff deal with stigma at Coors Field

DENVER

Bob Apodaca is not Mr. Sympathetic. If you want to complain about the perils of pitching at Coors Field, he won't be listening.

Apodaca, the Colorado Rockies 58-year-old pitching coach, employs a complex potion of blunt, tough talk mixed with unbending optimism. He knows Coors can serve as a wonderful launching pad. He knows the park has ripped pitching careers to bits.

Big deal, he tells his pitchers. Don't worry about the altitude. Don't worry about those fences that beckon to batters.

Don't gripe. Don't focus on negatives.

Do your job.

Pitching in Coors can be rugged. Apodaca knows this.

And he doesn't care.

"So what?" Apodaca said as he stood at the edge of the Rockies ...

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