The noise began building quickly, a convergence of joy and delirium. Soon the clapping started in the hallway and the Domaine Ste. Michele champagne and Coors Light sprayed his face.
At 10:28 p.m. Monday, Todd Helton entered the Rockies’ clubhouse and teammate Cory Sullivan hugged him. Helton, for a second, couldn’t see a thing. It was the perfect snapshot of a team that had an entire state unable to believe its eyes or slow its pulse. The Rockies had done the unfathomable, Matt Holliday scoring on Jamey Carroll’s sacrifice fly in the 13th inning, punctuating a 9-8 victory over the San Diego Padres for the National League wild card.
The Rockies are going to the postseason, opening on the road Wednesday against the Philadelphia Phillies. All they had to do was play a 163rd game for 4 hours, 40 minutes, use 10 pitchers and slay the most accomplished closer in major-league history.
“It feels better than I thought it would,” Helton said in a rare quiet moment as he led his daughter Tierney toward his corner locker. “To do it with these guys, it makes it so much more meaningful.”
Before the 13th inning, Helton told anyone who would listen on the bench to be patient against Padres closer Trevor Hoffman. He reminded them to let the ball travel deep, to not become the latest victim of his Bugs Bunny changeup. With the fans’ throats hoarse and arms sore from waving towels, Kazuo Matsui greeted Hoffman with a double. Troy Tulowitzki followed with a shot to the left-center field gap, setting the stage for Holliday.
It was Holliday’s misstep on Brian Giles’ flyball in the eighth that ultimately forced extra innings. He found redemption, tripling off the right-field wall. With no outs, Helton, who had played 1,578 regular-season games without reaching the postseason, was walked. Hoffman had issues at first and third.
But his biggest problem became Carroll, a defensive substitution. After nearly quitting baseball in 2002, after losing his mother nearly two years ago, Carroll’s swing popped the cork on 12 years of frustration for a city that had spent the better part of a decade watching too many losing seasons. Right fielder Giles caught the line drive and fired home.
Holliday, his chin bloodied, his right hand scratched, would say later there was no doubt he was going. The throw arrived as Holliday slid headfirst. He was kneed in the head, leaving him in a purple haze, unable to stand. Legend will say he missed home plate – as text messages and TV commentators suggested.
The score and the scrum at home plate screamed something different. Fireworks went off. The Rockies ran wildly to first base to mob Carroll. Hoffman, obviously crushed, trudged off the mound, saying, “This is a burden I will have to live with.”
When it comes to the Rockies, impossible is nothing. They won 14 of their final 15. Their wild- card tiebreaker was not a heartbreaker, but a heartstopper.
“Even when they were down by two runs, I honestly never lost confidence,” owner Dick Monfort said. “These guys have been doing it all year. And I am telling you what, with the momentum we have, watch out.”
There seems to be no limit what this team can do. The Rockies squandered 3-0 and 6-5 leads. They pounded Jake Peavy for six runs, then watched their bats turn into linguini against the Padres’ bullpen.
The expiration on the miracle seemed to hit in the 13th when Jorge Julio entered and immediately erased Matt Herges’ three innings of brilliance. Scott Hairston hit a two-run homer, pushing the Padres ahead 8-6.
“You may live the rest of your life and not see a better baseball game,” Rockies bench coach Jamie Quirk said. “It’s just unbelievable. There’s no other way to explain it.”
Troy E. Renck: 303-954-1301 or trenck@denverpost.com
