Arenado enduring dog days of summer at plate

PHILADELPHIA — Games in Texas and Philadelphia have been played in triple-digit heat and stifling humidity, the Rockies have been losing and third baseman Nolan Arenado has been struggling. What a tiring combination.

“It’s been a tough road trip, but it’s something we’ve got to deal with,” Arenado said. “To be honest, we’d rather play in the heat than the cold. It’s not an easy thing to do, but it comes with the territory where you’re going.

“But it’s the games in general. It could be cold, it could be hot. The games we’ve been playing have been draining.”

In the grand scheme of baseball, Arenado’s slump — 1-for-14 with two sacrifice flies — in the first four games of a road trip that ended Sunday, aren’t much. But the intense Arenado, who shattered his bat slamming it in disgust after making the final out of Friday night’s 10-6 loss to the Phillies, has to fight the feeling that his offense is circling the drain.

“I feel like I haven’t been playing the way I’d like to at all for about two months now, and that [Friday] game was frustrating,” Arenado said. “Yesterday was frustrating, also, but it’s a long season, and there are lots of ups and downs. I feel like there have been a lot more downs lately than there have been ups.”

During the Rockies’ last homestand, Arenado hit .414 with four home runs and 12 RBIs, with hits in six of the …

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