In a Colorado Rockies season full of ups and downs, it doesn’t get much farther down than this. The Rockies suffered a fifth-straight loss yesterday and the third in an embarrassing series in Philadelphia. The crushing 3-2 loss was the result of a familiar and disturbing lack of hitting.

The Denver Post reports that team manager Jim Tracy held a rare, closed-door meeting Sunday morning, trying to impress upon the faltering team the importance of hitting the ball. The Rockies subsequently stranded 12 runners on base and went 1-9 with runners in scoring position.

“It’s pretty simply why [the team is faltering],” says outfielder Ryan Spilborghs. “We are not getting enough quality at-bats. We have chances to score, and we are not getting it done.”

Despite the recent slide, the Rockies are only four-and-a-half games off the division lead, but time is running short to make up the deficit. Rockies fans are likely biting their nails over how their team will make a second-half run at a playoff spot, but the worry may not include those who sit in the Rock Pile.

It’s a special type of fan who pays as little as $1 to sit on metal bleachers and who may care more about socializing than watching the game. That’s the way ESPN tells it, anyway, in a profile of the diverse group of fans willing to sit farther away from home plate at Coors Field than in any other Major League Baseball stadium.