The following is an excerpt from Tracy Ringolsby's column in the Rocky Mountain News on Saturday, September 20, 2003. (NOTE: While Ringolsby casts aspersions on reporters from his sister paper, the Baseball Observer has found the veracity of Ringolsby's reporting in the past to be less than reliable.)

SILENCE: Hurdle and outfielder Larry Walker have adopted a policy to curtail interviews when members of The Denver Post are present.

The policy stems from articles the Rockies said have included quotes that were not obtained by the writers. Rockies players and officials also say quotes either were taken out of context or, in some instances, were from conversations a year ago but were portrayed as having been said recently.

"The sad part is, people read and might actually believe what is written," Walker said. "I've always tried to be cooperative, but nothing good comes out of it. Everything gets misconstrued and becomes a bigger issue than it is."

The action comes in the wake of a column Thursday in which Walker was quoted discussing attendance problems at Coors Field, although Walker said he had not spoken to the columnist in several months. He said the quotes were from a conversation several days earlier with another writer from the paper but were made in reference to baseball in general.

Hurdle cut off his daily pregame briefing with the media when a member of the Post staff showed up Friday.

"When someone from the Post is in attendance pregame or postgame, Clint will leave," said Jay Alves, Rockies senior director of communications. "It deals with a lack of professionalism, using quotes without even talking to the players involved."

Post editor Greg Moore and sports editor Kevin Dale did not return phone calls.