Filling out the lineup card for the crazy-bad Rockies, how does Bud Black manage to keep his sanity?

He sits precariously near the top of Vegas oddsmakers’ doom-and-gloom board of the next big-league manager to be fired. Fair or not, when stuck in a dumpster fire, your seat is always hot.

With Colorado on pace to lose 100 games for the second straight season, does the failure wear on Black?

“It can drive you crazy,” Black told me Monday afternoon.

As much as Black tells himself rebuilding the Rockies back to respectability is a noble task, the losing stinks.

“You don’t like it,” he said. “The losing wears on all of us.”

With the Rockies reeling and a contract extension for Black put on hold since spring training, would general manager Bill Schmidt fire a manager who has been a fixture in the Colorado dugout for eight seasons?

Should we regard the lack of urgency in negotiations as a sign of trouble?

“We talked about a contract in the spring and we decided to just wait until the end of the season. I wouldn’t read anything into that. That’s a fair question, though,” Black said. “We talked about it in the spring and we’ll readdress it here in a few weeks.”

While some good baseball men might tell the Rockies to take this job and shove it, Black is in no mood to quit.

Despite the day-to-day frustration of being so far out of first place in the N.L. West that he needs a telescope to see the Los Angeles Dodgers, Black told me in no uncertain terms that he wants to manage the Rockies again in 2025.

“I still love it. I love baseball,” said Black, who celebrated his 67th birthday in June. “I want it to happen here, man. I want to be part of that success. And I’m not tired. I feel good.”

In the past 15 years, we’ve seen major-league teams from Houston to Baltimore prove a nasty habit of 100-loss seasons doesn’t have to be a ticket to eternal damnation.

But with good-for-nothing Kris Bryant the worst thing to happen to baseball in Colorado since Dick and Charlie Monfort, do the Rockies have any real hope?

How long before Colorado can get back in playoff contention?

“I don’t know,” said Black, being bluntly honest.

As the final days of August wilt under the summer sun, we all know what that means. Our Bad News Rocks have been reduced to a footnote to the start of football season.

This week, they’ve got nothing to play for except last place in the National League, with the equally hapless Miami Marlins in sparsely populated Coors Field for a four-game series.

Among their eight position players, the Rockies appear to have two legit foundational pieces in shortstop Ezequiel Tovar and center fielder Brenton Doyle. Everything else is as big a question mark as the potential of outfielder Nolan Jones and first baseman Michael Toglia. And can we please stop wasting time waiting for infielder Ryan McMahon or Brendan Rodgers to be a legit heart-of-the-batting-order thumper?

While loath to bring up a sore subject, let’s discuss pitching, which in a word, can be described as: yuck. Germán Márquez has been too wrapped up in Ace bandages to be counted on as a reliable ace. It has been six long years since Kyle Freeland has gotten big-league hitters out with any real consistency. Most nights, it would be more satisfying for Black to order a pizza and a beer than calling his bullpen.

Lacking the financial wherewithal of the New York Yankees, it sometimes seems as if the Rockies are looking for a miracle without any clues, much less a map.

In a sport whose grind is defined by humbling failure, however, maybe what has allowed Black to survive for so long is his stubborn optimism.

“Every year, you see a team jump up in the standings and say: ‘I didn’t see that coming.’ But the thing is, there are 26 guys on this team, and they’re all capable of having a good season. And with as many teams as make the playoffs now, it can happen fast.”

He has suffered through more than 600 losses as the manager in Colorado. Shouldn’t that be enough?

Black, however, is not ready to put up his ball, glove and go home.

“My family, my kids, my wife. They want me to keep doing this.” Black said. “And I ask them: ‘Are you guys sure?’”

Looking him in the eye, that’s precisely the same question I wanted to ask Black: “Are you sure you want to keep doing this job?”

Without a second of hesitation, Black replied: “Yes. I’m sure. I still love it.”

For better or worse, he loves baseball too much to quit.

If the Rockies want Black out the door, they’re going to have to push.