Weakened Weiss returns to Rockies' dugout

LOS ANGELES -- Days of being sequestered in a hotel room and unable to see his team left Rockies manager Walt Weiss determined to make it back to his club, regardless how far below 100 percent he felt. Noticeably weak from Wednesday's appendectomy, Weiss rejoined the Rockies for Saturday night's game against the Dodgers.

Besides having to recover from the operation, Weiss faced not being able to see the team. The system in his hotel did not carry the games against the Dodgers -- a 5-4 victory Thursday to end an 11-game losing streak and a 6-4 loss Friday.

Weiss said he felt ill Monday and Tuesday. When informed Wednesday that tests revealed he needed the appendectomy, he tried to talk his way into delaying the operation until after Wednesday night's game against the Angels. But head athletic trainer Keith Dugger would have none of it, and made sure Weiss made it to a hospital.

Weiss followed the club on MLB.com Gameday, which is a great option for fans (shameless plug). But Weiss is admittedly not computer savvy enough to catch live telecasts or even all the available information and video, and is used to watching games from the dugout, so the time it took to enter highs like Carlos Gonzalez's game-winning homer Thursday and lows like Troy Tulowitzki's right groin tightness (which was not as bad as it seemed) that pushed him out of Friday's game in the third inning, seemed like forever.

"When 'CarGo' hit that home run, the computer said, '…in play, runs,' and I was saying, 'How many?'" said Weiss, who said he immediately texted Dugger when he heard about Tulowitzki's injury. "My son was in the room next to mine and he heard me yell, 'Yeah!' He came in and I told him 'CarGo' hit a three-run homer."

Weiss said he would try to conserve energy until he feels better. Recently ejected from a game for questioning a pitch call from the dugout, Weiss said, "I don't think they're going to be able to hear me. I don't have the energy to yell at them."

Weiss said the club was "in good hands" while going 1-2 with bench coach Tom Runnells running the games.

"He did not send me flowers," Weiss said. "He did bring me a coffee. Good enough. I'd rather have coffee than flowers."