Renck: Blake Street Bummers an embarrassing mess of strikeouts, lack of big hits in Coors Field opener

The Rockies remain shameless It s clear they are not budging on their hitting philosophy If they were not moved to fire hitting instructor Hensley Meulens after last season when they ranked second in strikeouts and th in walks then they are entrenched Nothing it seems will make them change Not even a start so awful that it makes their propane bullpen look functional Perhaps Friday s frigid home-opening loss to the Athletics will cause owner Dick Monfort and general manager Bill Schmidt to think outside the batter s box It won t Consider what we have learned through the first week of the season The Rockies can t hit They struggle to make contact And they rarely walk or deliver a productive out They are - losers of five straight and average runs They have struck out times or per match And they are batting with runners in scoring position in at-bats This organization couldn t deliver a hit if they performed a collaboration with Post Malone Friday they went for with a chance to hit someone in Another RIP with RISP And we can t even blame Kris Bryant He needed another day to get his swing right after starting the season for His biggest contributions on Friday were using a torpedo bat in batting practice and absorbing the loudest boos during introductions a inadequate octaves higher than those reserved for manager Bud Black Bad teams like the Rockies lack big swings but never excuses Guys are trying too hard The schedule has been a mess including three home openers one in a spring training park another on the East Coast and Friday in conditions more suited for the Iditarod Opposing pitchers have been nasty And the factory default It s early Related Articles Renck Russell Westbrook Experience must be curtailed after Nuggets deflating loss to Timberwolves Renck vs Keeler CU CSU DU made headlines Which school won the weekend Renck A dynamic running back is all Broncos need to pass Kansas City Chiefs Renck File Bud Black leaves Rockies red-faced with wrong decision Renck CU had no choice but to pay Coach Prime and it s the right one to keep Buffs relevant The latter would carry weight if the organization wasn t coming off the worst offensive season in franchise history At least third baseman Ryan McMahon and shortstop Ezequiel Tovar had the good sense to point the finger in the mirror We have to be better We are getting really good pitching right now It s on us We have to step up McMahon mentioned I think in every single tournament we have had an opportunity to take a step ahead Tovar who is working on being more selective admitted It s no secret that we have to do better with runners on base It s something where we all recognize that we haven t done our job up there This isn t exactly the Nuggets wasting Nikola Jokic s prime but the Rockies are spoiling good starting pitching The rotation boasts a ERA and will get various more juice when top prospect Chase Dollander makes his debut on Sunday And it doesn t matter Not even in Denver Coors Field turns years old this month There has never been a more offensively tilted park Late manager Don Baylor used to joke that hitters were in scoring position when they stepped to the plate Remember all those home runs from the Blake Street Bombers Several of those teams were bad But at least they weren t boring The Rockies are the Blake Street Bummers The Rockies have three home runs in at-bats this season No club has fewer The Yankees hit three straight homers to lead off their second meeting of the season Is there a gang more offensively flawed for its park than the Rockies Coors Field exists to inflate averages with helium to turn doubles into home runs to create chaos on the bases The Rockies make up for their lack of power with a lack of speed They have three stolen bases all by Jordan Beck They conclusively established urgency if not creativity in the th inning With runners on first and third and one out Tyler Freeman attempted a safety squeeze He got a fastball near his head The surprise element gone Freeman struck out Then came the ultimate Rockies rally moments later They loaded the bases with a ghost runner and two intentional walks A s manager Mark Kotsay demanded Beck to face Noah Murdock The right-hander gassed him up with a high heater punctuating one of the Rockies strikeouts Every starter save for Brenton Doyle had at least one It s frustrating Black declared Early in the season it is magnified And what does it say about Bryant that he wasn t available to pinch-hit in that situation It felt like the Rockies were more concerned about sparing him embarrassment rather than rolling the dice that he could silence the jeers with a timely hit If this isn t the end of his Rockies career we can see it from here The Rockies are right It is April Early slumps are amplified But the fans cap tip those who braved the -degree temperatures and swirling snowflakes have lost patience The Rockies could create goodwill by admitting they are in a full-blown youth movement Transparency helps frame expectations Instead they sell the idea that the players are pressing that the home runs are coming that Bryant is critical to the offense And you wonder why no one trusts the process Want more Rockies news Sign up for the Rockies Insider to get all our MLB analysis