The Rockies don’t need a manager. They need a shrink.

We are witnessing the emotional meltdown of Jeremy Guthrie, the team’s alleged staff ace. There’s a look in his eyes. And the look says: Get me the heck out of here.

Coors Field can do irreversible pyschological damage to a pitcher.

In his first season as a member of the Rockies, I’m afraid Guthrie might already be a lost cause. His statistics are a train wreck, so gruesome you should turn away but can’t stop staring: 6.91 earned run average, 15 home runs surrendered in 56 innings, foes batting .326 against him.

The thin mountain air messes with the mind of a pitcher. Walking off the mound, Guthrie tipped his cap Tuesday night to the home crowd.

What’s so weird about that, you ask?

Guthrie did it after working his way out of a jam against Oakland in the first inning. Yep, the first inning.

The ballpark is shattering an intelligent man with a kind heart into 1,000 shards of insecurity.

After being staked to a 4-0 lead by his teammates, Guthrie surrendered six runs in the third inning, including a home run crushed high and deep into the third deck of right field by Oakland first baseman Brandon Moss. By my crude estimation, the baseball traveled 450 feet. If the cheap seats didn’t get in the way, the homer might have splashed down in Water World at 88th Avenue and Pecos Street.

As boos from the audience pelted him when the carnage was finally done in the third inning, Guthrie again doffed his cap while marching to the dugout.

Way to stay classy, Mr. Guthrie.

“Frustrated with myself,” said Guthrie, explaining his sarcastic gesture. “The fans didn’t give up two home runs or six runs.”

Sure, it’s tough to be embarrassed on the mound with more than 30,000 irritated customers making no secret of their disappointment. The Rockies stink. But if I’m franchise owner Dick Monfort, Guthrie is called to the office ASAP to be reminded there might be a better way to let off steam than to mock paying customers.

For a second consecutive start, Guthrie was scary bad. After being tagged for 11 hits and seven runs against Arizona, he sounded like a proud athlete fresh out of answers. “If they kicked me off the team, it wouldn’t surprise me,” Guthrie said last week.

After taking his fifth loss of the season against the A’s, however, he maintained there was no need to skip his next start.

If Guthrie, a man with more than 1,000 innings of experience in the majors, can’t handle the strain, imagine what a challenge it is for Christian Friedrich or Drew Pomeranz to learn how to retire hitters in Colorado.

This ballpark can cause any pitcher to lose his grip.

Anybody remember Bill Swift? He joined the Rockies in the late 1990s, arriving as a veteran with a 20-victory season on his résumé. In fewer than three seasons, working at altitude so wrecked his confidence that Swift appeared reluctant to release the pitch to home plate, as if he wanted to grab it before a hitter to could rip the cover off ball.

Remember when we compared Ubaldo Jimenez to Bob Gibson? That fantasy didn’t last long. After being irked by the lack of confidence shown him by general manager Dan O’Dowd a year ago, Jimenez privately admitted there was no way he could envision playing his entire career in a ballpark where peering at your earned-run average can be way more painful than checking the price for a gallon of gas.

The sad irony is Guthrie was added to the staff for his mental toughness, after the Rockies traded the box of chocolates mystery that was Jason Hammel, regarded as soft.

Rockies manager Jim Tracy admitted before the series-opener against Oakland he now feels trapped in a time warp, back in those crazy days of LoDo before the humidor was installed to cut down on scoring.

What’s gone wrong?

“I don’t have an answer for it,” Tracy said. “But I feel it.”

Tracy insisted he has witnessed head-scratching home runs in Coors this season that would not have left the field of play when he took the job with the Rockies in 2009.

A strategist who prides himself on subtle late-inning moves now is reduced to praying his starting pitcher doesn’t fall to pieces while his batters mash.

“I’m going to sit there for six innings and let them bang away,” Tracy said.

Forget baseball. Now, the primary management duty of Tracy is damage control.

Is Guthrie damaged beyond repair?

Mark Kiszla: 303-954-1053 or mkiszla@denverpost.com