Fans unload by booing players

First, the boos from the hometown crowd hailed down upon Rockies reliever Scott Oberg after the usually reliable righthander yielded a pair of runs via a balk and a wild pitch.

Then the Coors Field faithful came for Nolan Arenado after the slumping slugger struck out in the midst of a 60 loss that ended their season at the hands of the Brewers in the National League division series Sunday.

The defeat was ugly, no doubt, as was the offense’s putrid performance throughout a sweep that took the shine off the notion of Rocktober. But in the wake of a 91win season in which Colorado posted its first backtoback postseason showing in franchise history in addition to winning the wild card, the question is raised: Was the Rockies’ performance in their first home playoff game in nearly a decade booworthy?

Depends on whom you ask. For his part, Arenado said “I don’t blame them” after he hit .188 (3for16) with six strikeouts in four playoff games.

“It was disappointing. It was a bad loss with bad atbats. It is what it is. You get booed because I obviously wasn’t doing something right,” Arenado said. “It comes with the territory — it’s October and you’ve got to do something, and I wasn’t able to.”

Rockies Twitter feeds seemed to be split on the issue, with many noting that voiced criticisms of underperforming, highly paid athletes was well within their prerogative as fans.

“There is NO PASSION shown by our ‘core players,’ ” @Soupdog005 tweeted. “Weak atbat after weak atbat. Getting here is cool. Fans want more. We pay for (these) tickets, we spend our time cheering for our team and defending them to the national (Coors Field) narrative and they DON’T SHOW UP!”

Added @RayChaz2: “Was at the game, the performance by (Oberg and Arenado) and rest of the team deserved to be booed, and joined in. I’m a diehard fan but when your team puts up no fight and scores two runs in three playoff games, there comes a breaking point. Fans had enough.”

And @jeffperry1 chimed in: “You can appreciate the success they had to get there while also being critical of their lack of performance. They are mutually exclusive of one another (in my opinion). Ticket prices allow fans to express their disgust with the laughable performance of every star on team. Collectively horrid.”

The other side of the argument was put forth by @Claudia36110375: “Frustrated & disappointed, yes. But booing Arenado, Oberg and (Wade) Davis, three guys who have an awful lot to do with (the) team being here, is classless and just wrong. Just simply wrong.”

Colorado finished with four hits Sunday and scored only two runs in three games.