The kids wait with big eyes, lurched over the railing at Wrigley Field last weekend. Their heads jerk up at once as Todd Helton emerges from the Rockies’ dugout. His appearance is almost always greeted by the goose bumps of young fans eager for an autograph.
This is not one of those days. After Helton obliges two young boys with his signature and a picture, they turn on him, peppering him with expletives as he walks away.
Baseball players talk a lot about suffering at the plate, and now Helton couldn’t even hit it off with fans.
Three weeks and 58 at-bats deep into purgatory, the all-star first baseman finally broke out of his slump Thursday, delivering the biggest punch in the Rockies’ improbable 8-7 victory over the Cardinals at soggy Coors Field.
“I don’t want sympathy and I don’t need it,” Helton said. “Everyone needs challenges. That’s what makes you better.”
Helton’s two-RBI, ninth-inning single plated the tying runs. After a bases-loading intentional walk to Matt Holliday, who hit two home runs, reliever Randy Flores walked Brad Hawpe to force in the game-winner.
Not only did Helton’s hit snap a 4-for-58 stretch, without question the worst skid of his career, but Larry Walker, formerly known as the greatest Rockies player, scooped it up.
Walker watched Helton veer back on track as he headed out of town for good. The 38-year-old outfielder talked afterward like a man who is certain to retire at season’s end.
“It’s not the way I wanted to have my last game at Coors Field,” said Walker, who is in the final year of his contract. “That’s a tough way to go out.”
After a game delayed twice by rain for a total of 2 hours and 1 minute, Helton and Walker own almost identical statistics. Walker is hitting .250 with five home runs and 21 RBIs. Helton sits at .257 with five home runs and 22 RBIs.
Walker has been dealing with his own baseball mortality since the second half of the 2002 season, his body betrayed by injuries and age.
Helton, though, never has experienced anything like this. He doesn’t do slumps. At 31, his career, viewed singularly through personal statistics, has been a magic carpet ride.
Until this year. With Preston Wilson the only other veteran in the lineup, Helton has expanded his zone and lost his timing at the plate.
“You know that old saying, ‘Don’t take your work home with you’? That doesn’t work too well for me,” Helton said about his sleepless nights. “I am obsessive, compulsive, so this fits right in.”
As manager Clint Hurdle explained, Helton was ahead on breaking balls and late on fastballs. He became tentative, a stark contrast for a slugger whose famous bat wiggle amounts to an “I dare you” to pitchers.
Helton sprung from mediocrity in a vintage at-bat, fouling off three pitches to work closer Jason Isringhausen to a 3-2 count.
“I mean, come on, the guy’s a lifetime (.335) hitter. He’s been raking for eight years,” Desi Relaford said. “Being the competitor he is, I guarantee you he wanted to be in that position with bases loaded.”
Added Hurdle, “Every time he goes up there, I expect him to hit the ball hard somewhere.”
The three-run inning provided a series split.
What will be remembered, however, is Helton’s hit.
“Every team is determined not to let him beat them,” Hawpe said. “He’s our guy.
“We all have complete confidence that he’s going to come through, because he always has.”
Rockies recap
Rockies outfielder Matt Holliday puts on a show during batting practice, launching flyballs into different area codes. That power is starting to appear when it matters. After a disappointing three-week slump, Holliday has hit safely in 13 of his past 14 games (20-for-50) and blasted two home runs Thursday.
“Everybody would like to hit home runs, but it doesn’t work like that,” said Holliday, hitting .303. “If you try to hit them, you won’t.”
WILD ON: Shawn Chacon and David Cortes distributed three wild pitches; Todd Greene had two passed balls.
Staff writer Troy E. Renck can be reached at 303-820-5457 or trenck@denverpost.com.
