'Losing is not OK': Rockies ready to move onto better 2nd half

CINCINNATI -- The Rockies made the postseason in each of Ryan McMahon’s first two seasons with the club. While reality is much different for the current young players, Colorado’s veteran third baseman wants them to absorb the experience.

“I want them to feel it,” McMahon said. “I got lucky. When I got called up, it was winning teams, going to the playoffs. I want the guys to know that losing is not OK.”

The Rockies head into the All-Star break with a 22-74 record. They have won just two series this season, missing a chance to win a third in Sunday’s 4-2 loss against Cincinnati at Great American Ball Park.

Perhaps more than any team in the Majors, the Rockies need a break, a chance to not think about baseball for a few days.

“I think all the teams kind of relish the break,” McMahon said. “It’s a grueling season, especially this time of the summer, with it getting hot. Four days, clear your head, come back refocused and ready to go for the second half.”

The break also allows time for Thairo Estrada, Seth Halvorsen and Mickey Moniak to heal their injuries. Shortstop Ezequiel Tovar is rehabbing an oblique injury at Triple-A Albuquerque and could return shortly after the break as well.

The hope is that some poor trends will start to resolve themselves in the second half.

The Rockies were 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position in Saturday’s loss to the Reds, and getting runners home from third with less than two outs has been a frustrating issue all season.

But on Sunday, with runners on first and third with two outs in the third, Mickey Moniak came through with a two-run single to center to put the Rockies ahead 2-1.

Yet Colorado could not take advantage of runners on first and second in the sixth, coming up empty. The Rockies left eight on base Sunday and went 1-for-7 with RISP.

“Especially when it’s happening over and over again, it gets in guys’ heads,” interim manager Warren Schaeffer said. “It’s just a matter of stacking some games where we do it right and getting some confidence in there.”

The fielding needs to improve as well.

The Rockies entered with the lowest fielding percentage (.977) and a Major League-worst 80 errors, and committed two more on Sunday.

An error by Orlando Arcia allowed the winning run to score on Saturday. On Sunday, an error by shortstop Ryan Ritter extended the sixth and allowed the go-ahead run to score. A routine fly ball also dropped between Ritter and Yanquiel Fernández, once again putting the pitching staff in a difficult position.

Ideally, the Rockies will also start to score more runs. But McMahon believes it’s the little things that are more important.

“Hit more homers, [that] would help for everybody, but if we’re not going to do that, we need to keep playing small ball -- and play clean baseball,” McMahon said. “We can’t make mistakes on defense. Got to get our bunts down. Score guys from third when there’s less than two outs. Stuff like that.”

It should help that the Rockies have a six-game homestand out of the break. But they are just 10-36 at Coors Field this season, the worst home record in MLB and the worst start at home for any team in the Modern Era.

Ideally, lessons are learned while a team is winning. But McMahon’s message to his younger teammates is that this experience can help them, especially when the winning starts.

“Remember this feeling,” McMahon said. “When you’re winning, this should be a reason to never let up and keep going. You never want to feel this again.”