On a 10-point scale, with 1 being lower than the Rockies’ lowly standing in the National League, what’s your confidence level in general manager Dan O’Dowd ever getting Colorado back to the World Series?

This team is a joke.

O’Dowd built it.

Any talk among frustrated Rockies fans of trading center fielder Dexter Fowler or dumping pitching coach Bob Apodaca or firing manager Jim Tracy avoids the real issue.

Although frustrated, O’Dowd insists his directionless team doesn’t need to make changes, because that’s not the way the Rockies do business.

What else did you expect O’Dowd to say?

Because if the Rockies significantly want to change the way they do business, the one change that would make sense is the removal of O’Dowd.

His ballclub is on its way to missing the playoffs for the 11th time in 13 seasons since O’Dowd became the general manager. Heading into a game against San Francisco on Tuesday night, the Rockies’ record since Sept. 15, 2010, was 90-123, worse than even the bungling Chicago Cubs during the same time span.

O’Dowd has turned the Rockies into lovable losers. LoDo is Wrigleyville West. Good party. Bad baseball.

So maybe that’s the real way baseball business is done in Colorado. The Rockies know they can draw 2 million fans to Coors Field simply by turning on the sunshine. O’Dowd has fooled most of the people most of the time since he landed this gig late in the 1999 season.

Carmelo Anthony was declared a bum for averaging 25 points per game for the Nuggets, and Josh McDaniels was quickly run out of town for driving the Broncos into the ditch. But, summer after summer, O’Dowd gets a free pass. Do unlimited rides at Elitch Gardens come with that?

We’ll gladly give full credit to O’Dowd for Rocktober and the surprise appearance at the 2007 World Series, so long as he acknowledges squandering the magic.

What’s the next trick up his sleeve? O’Dowd has tried blaming Clint Hurdle, dumped as manager. O’Dowd constructed a pitching staff around Ubaldo Jimenez, only to suffer through an ugly divorce. More times than not, Generation R proved to be rejects. While Jamie Moyer has been an inspirational story, a scuffling ballclub with a 49-year-old pitcher in the starting rotation speaks loudly to the lack of talent developed by the farm system.

The first weeks of this season have been exactly as franchise owner Dick Monfort recently described it: Holding on, waiting for reinforcements.

While Colorado is in deep soup, it’s too early to flush all hope. Maybe Christian Friedrich, a first-round draft pick by O’Dowd, can re-energize the starting rotation. The statistics of Carlos Gonzalez project to an MVP-caliber season of a .301 batting average with 33 home runs, 133 RBIs and 29 stolen bases. While trying to hold on until injured Jorge De La Rosa can return as staff ace and prospect Nolan Arenado is ready to take over at third base, what’s the real worth of a resilient clubhouse culture the franchise worked so hard to establish?

It’s not all the fault of O’Dowd. I scream, you scream, we all scream for Troy Tulowitzki every time he steps to the plate, but no matter how you analyze the metrics or how much you love the shortstop, Tulo has stunk. Michael Cuddyer has been solid, but not $10 million per year spectacular. Who could have anticipated Jeremy Guthrie would hop on his bike and turn his debut season with the Rockies into a remake of “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure”?

O’Dowd can’t hit or pitch for the Rockies. But the guys failing at the ballpark? They are his guys.

This is not a call for O’Dowd’s immediate dismissal, which would be met with deaf ears from the Monfort brothers, even if the denizens of the Rockpile chanted it.

But rather than scapegoating Fowler or pink-slipping the pitching coach, the rest of this Rockies season needs to be a referendum on O’Dowd.

If Colorado can’t be among the teams contending for a spot in the expanded baseball playoffs come September, then it will be time for the Rockies to say goodbye to O’Dowd and try fresh ideas in the front office.

Let’s ban the talk about patience and the process at Coors Field. Enough already. Todd Helton isn’t getting any younger. We aren’t either. If O’Dowd can’t find a way to win with CarGo and Tulo, find us a general manager who can.

Mark Kiszla: 303-954-1053 or mkiszla@denverpost.com