Todd Helton stood at his locker, dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, a convincing picture of ordinary. Only the Creed lyrics bouncing off the clubhouse wall Tuesday provided a hint of the wake-up, pinch-self moment he provided moments earlier.
“Can you take me higher? To a place where blind men see. Can you take me higher?”
For one day at Coors Field, nothing seemed impossible, no height unreachable, after Helton smashed a walkoff home run in a 9-8 victory, capping a doubleheader sweep of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The Rockies remained in the wild-card race, 4 1/2 games behind the San Diego Padres.
But whether Colorado completes an improbable finish was, in many ways, secondary. All that will be remembered is Helton jogging home, screaming in jubilation before leaping into a mosh pit at home plate.
“When you are in a situation like that, why would you want to keep your emotions in?” said Helton, his blast made more significant by a 3-1 victory in the matinee. “To experience that, it’s hard to explain.”
Helton, to whom all good adjectives have applied since 1997, revealed a side never seen before.
In getting his second career curtain call in three days, the 34-year-old channeled his inner kid, revealing jubilation most figured had been eroded by a decade of empty Septembers.
“It’s one of my favorite moments ever,” said slugger Matt Holliday, who set up Helton’s at-bat with the Rockies’ first hit off Dodgers closer Takashi Saito in 14 at-bats this season. “It’s something I will remember for the rest of my life.”
Asked about Helton, Garrett Atkins broke into a smile. He watched the first baseman drill Saito’s two-strike, hanging slider into the right-field seats from the on-deck circle, knowing it was a gone by Helton’s reaction. Helton paused for a second, followed by several fist pumps.
“It’s what he’s been waiting 10 years for,” Atkins said. “Then he did a stage dive (into the battery of players at home plate). I couldn’t believe it.”
The ending was hard to fathom, but not difficult to rank. Manager Clint Hurdle said “it was as good as it gets.” While Dante Bichette’s christening home run of Coors Field in 1995 might have been more dramatic, it wasn’t as meaningful as this. This one kept the Rockies in the postseason hunt and practically vanquished the Dodgers’ dreams in the process.
“We’re not mathematically (out of it), but this day we spent at Coors Field, that hurt us,” Dodgers manager Grady Little said.
Jeff Francis won his 16th game in the opener, most ever by a Rockies left-hander.
Holliday collected his 200th hit and 100th career home run on the same swing. There were even a few chants of M-V-P! from the fans in left field.
But it was Helton who left the lasting impression: A franchise, too long defined by losing, savoring one of its most poignant victories ever.
“It was an amazing win for us,” Helton said. “I have never felt like that before.
“Ever.”
Staff writer Troy E. Renck can be reached at 303-954-1301 or trenck@denverpost.com.
Twice is nice
Highlights of the Rockies’ doubleheader sweep of the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday at Coors Field:
* Todd Helton hit a two-run, walkoff homer in the Rockies’ 9-8 victory in Game 2.
* Matt Holliday hit a two-run homer in Game 2, the 100th homer of his career and 200th hit this season.
* Jeff Francis won his 16th game, the most ever by a Rockies left-hander.
* Rockies moved into a tie with the Dodgers for third place in the NL West, but gained just a half-game on San Diego in the wild-card chase.
– Patrick Saunders
