Bricked into the Rockies’ brains is the idea they are going to hit at Coors Light Field. They have this notion despite having a .273 average – 25 points lower than they have ever hit at home for a season – despite being outscored by 12 runs and despite hitting just 26 home runs.
The confidence lies in road trips and spray charts. The Rockies went nuclear in San Diego and Washington this season, two noted graveyards, by driving the ball to all fields.
“The gaps are huge here,” third baseman Garrett Atkins said. “There’s no reason we can’t have success.”
To this point, the offensive numbers have been pedestrian, yet Colorado remains within striking distance in the clustered National League West. The Rockies spent the better part of the past 11 years ruining opposing ERAs and providing souvenirs. But this club has been more acoustic, scoring three runs or fewer 15 times in the first 32 home games.
For players other than hulking Matt Holliday, who homered in Monday’s first inning, several well-struck balls have not only not gone out, but have become outs.
It raises a concern that seemed unfathomable before the advent of the humidor in 2002: Can Coors Field be getting into the hitters’ heads?
“I see what you’re saying: If you think you have a hit, then have nothing to show for it,” outfielder Brad Hawpe said. “I view a (long flyball) just like a line drive to shortstop. Where you run into problems is trying to do too much. If you are pulling the ball all the time (as the team did in May), that’s trying to do too much.”
General manager Dan O’Dowd acknowledged during the past homestand, when the Rockies went 3-6 and clawed to scratch out runs in all but two games, that the Colorado hitters might have to make a mental adjustment. It’s not unlike what pitchers went through for years, when they weren’t rewarded for great pitches.
“Nobody is going to say they would rather hit at Petco (Park) or RFK Stadium,” Atkins said. “We know we have to play better at home and the formula for success is the same: Get the guys on bases at the top and hit line drives and get them in.”
A few years from now, this season may be viewed as a transition period, the club getting comfortable with playing small ball. But long term, former Rockie and current Oakland outfielder Jay Payton said, it should become an asset.
“They don’t have to try to be two different teams anymore,” Payton said. “You used to go on the road and swing harder to try to get the ball out. That won’t be the case if the home field plays more that way, too.”
Footnotes
Erstwhile Rockie Joe Kennedy, shipped to the A’s along with reliever Jay Witasick, hopes to return to Oakland’s bullpen in about two weeks after dealing with shoulder tendinitis. Of the Rockies’ success, Kennedy said, “Anything can happen in the NL West. I have no hard feelings. I like it in Oakland.” Kennedy still makes his home in Denver. … A’s manager Ken Macha blamed closer Huston Street’s hiccup earlier this season on his spring training. “I would advise against him participating in the World Baseball Classic again. He was at a stage of his development where he needed to pitch more (to get ready),” Macha said.
