In the Rockies’ dictionary, June is a four-letter word. And it is spelled d-o-o-m. By definition, June means: Curses, foiled again. This is the time of year when we fire up the barbecue grill, and all the dreams of the local baseball team go up in smoke.

As the calendar flipped to the first of June, I sat in the Colorado dugout next to manager Walt Weiss, and asked: Should I be worried? And are you worried?

The Rockies have made a bad habit of coming unraveled in June. Since 2012, their record in the month is 42-71. June is cruelest month for Colorado.

“I can’t argue with that,” Weiss said. “History shows that.”

In 2016, the Rockies started June with a 7-2 loss to Cincinnati in a game when the home team appeared to be going through the motions.

“I felt like we came out a little flat. … It’s disappointing,” Weiss said after the embarrassing defeat.

I wish sometimes that Weiss would get angry. Maybe read the riot act to a team drifting back to old bad habits. But that is not this manager’s style. Everything Weiss does is understated. Even when he fumes, and he was definitely hot after this loss.

Let’s not mince words here.

While the Rockies are not a great team, they are an underperforming team with a record of 24-28 that should be better. Weiss keeps telling us that this Colorado team is not the same as his past teams that have finished his three seasons in the Rockies the dugout with 88, 96 and 94 losses.

This was a nightmarish defeat. The Rockies got beat by Cincinnati left-handed pitcher John Lamb, who looks like Beetlejuice standing on the mound and threw 74 mph change-ups and lollipop curves that Colorado hitters could not touch.

Yes, there were reasons to believe June could be different for the Rockies this year. I dared to dream Colorado could contend for a playoff berth, with a combination of slugging from Carlos Gonzalez, Gold Glove defense from third baseman Nolan Arenado, the feel-good story of starting pitcher Tyler Chatwood and a bullpen with bite. What’s more, the schedule for June did not appear particularly daunting, with more scuffling teams than World Series contenders on the slate.

During this sloppy loss to the Reds, however, the June gloom got the best of me.

First pitch was at 6:41 p.m., and by 6:42, Chatwood was already in a jam, with Reds standing on second and third. The Colorado pitcher who has come back from not one but two Tommy John surgeries had nothing on this night. Chatty throws like Clayton Kershaw on the road, with a sterling 0.53 earned run average. But in LoDo, he scuffles. After getting chased in the sixth inning, Chatwood’s ERA at home is 5.29.

Gonzalez, as smooth in right field as anybody in the game, uncharacteristically lost focus on a bouncing ball his way, muffed it, and his first error of the season turned a routine single into a base-runner in scoring position that would soon come around to cross home plate and pad Cincinnati’s lead. Hey, it’s June. Weird stuff happens. The setting Colorado sun can be as beautiful as a Thomas Moran painting, and the sky still falls on the Rockies. Related Articles Kiszla: How should cute, little Nuggets fight back against big, haughty Lakers? One sharp elbow at a time.

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The Rockies’ pressing need for another starting pitcher was hammered home with the velocity of a home run smashed in the eighth inning by Jay Bruce off Jorge De La Rosa, the former Rockies ace now trying to get his groove back as a mop-up reliever. Nobody on the team wants to say it, but the 35-year-old De La Rosa not only has lost his stuff, there are signs it ain’t ever coming back.

On the final day of May, the Rockies blasted seven home runs and crossed the plate 17 times against the Reds, a truly hopeless last-place ballclub in business to be a seller at the trade deadline. Only 24 hours later, Colorado batters misplaced all their muscle memory, as if they had awakened on June 1 unable to recall how to ride a bike, much less hit a fastball offered them by Cincinnati pitchers.

How to explain that?

As the calendar flips from May to June, a switch flips for the Rockies. Lights out. Nighty-night. Better luck next year. Before the official start of summer, Denver sports fans should have more to do than start counting the days until Broncos training camp.

Is anybody else around here mad?

Let’s hope Weiss is ticked.

I asked him how he reacts to a loss so disappointing.

“I usually let it go for 24 hours. That’s usually the best way to handle it. But not always,” Weiss replied. “I check in with these guys every few days. I always have something to say.”

The Rockies need a kick in the pants.