The 5280.com Fire Clint Hurdle Countdown ended in just nine days, as the Colorado Rockies confirmed this afternoon what seemed inevitable: coach Clint Hurdle has been fired. Bench coach Jim Tracy, formerly of the Pittsburgh Pirates and Los Angeles Dodgers, will probably take over the team, which is 10 games under .500 and in a bad slump. Hurdle went 534-625 as head coach of the Rockies over his eight-year run after taking over for Buddy Bell in 2002, according to MLB.com. In other words, aside from 2007’s magical run to the World Series, the Rockies have been mediocre under Hurdle. This morning, we noted that even some of the team’s players were thinking Hurdle would be canned. We like Clint, and hope he catches on somewhere, but something had to give.