Prior to Friday night’s game against the Los Angeles Dodgers, manager Walt Weiss was asked about the Rockies’ woeful home record.
“We just haven’t played well enough at home,” said Weiss, who in the past has said that the Rockies must win 50 to 55 games at Coors Field to be contenders. “I don’t think I could put my finger on anything specific. We just have not taken advantage of what I think should be the biggest home-field advantage in the game.”
Then, of course, on “fan appreciation night,” complete with postgame fireworks, the Rockies snapped a five-game losing streak and beat the soon-to-be National League West champion Dodgers 7-4 in front of 38,485 fans. Colorado received a nice pitching performance from fill-in starter David Hale, who allowed one run on five hits over five innings.
In the fourth inning, Charlie Blackmon, Carlos Gonzalez and Corey Dickerson slammed solo homers off ineffective L.A. starter Mike Bolsinger. Dickerson went 3-for-4, drove in three runs and finished a triple shy of the cycle.
Night in and night out, win or lose, Nolan Arenado has been the star attraction at Coors Field. He was again Friday. The third baseman, likely headed to his third consecutive Gold Glove, added to his résumé with a sensational play in the third inning. With the Rockies in a shift to the right side of the infield, Carl Crawford dribbled a hit up the third-base line. Arenado chased it down, made a sliding stop, popped to his feet and threw a strike to first baseman Justin Morneau. Crawford got credit for a single, but he was tagged out after rounding first, never thinking that Arenado would have the wherewithal to make the play.
For one night, at least, Coors Field was indeed a house of pain for the visitors. But that has not been a common occurrence this season. With Friday’s victory, the Rockies improved to 34-45 at home. Their worst home record for a full season came in 2012, when they went 35-46. With two home games remaining, there is still a chance the 2015 Rockies could set a franchise record for futility on their home turf.
For the record, Colorado entered Friday hitting .299 at home with 96 homers and a .350 on-base percentage. Those aren’t Blake Street Bombers-type numbers, but they are by no means terrible by Rockies standards.
Moreover, Weiss disagreed with the notion that the Rockies’ lack of execution on offense has been a major factor.
“No, I don’t think you can point to that,” he said. “I think we have been average. We should be better, but I don’t think that’s kept us from winning 45 or 50 games at home.”
Yes, the Rockies’ pitching has been bad at home. The starters’ ERA is an unsightly 6.04, but that’s only the 10th-highest in club history. The bullpen’s home ERA was 5.28 entering Friday. Bad? Certainly, but only the ninth-worst in franchise history.
Weiss did concede that the penchant of Colorado starters to give up a lot of runs early in games this season could be part of the reason for the dismal home record.
“It’s been a factor,” he said. “We have been down early a lot. You don’t want that to be a factor; you still have to go up there and take your at-bats. I think we have done that, but it gets tougher when you are playing from behind, and we’ve had to do that.”
Patrick Saunders: psaunders@denverpost.com or @psaundersdp
