Lincicome: Helton ready to flip power switch

Published March 22, 2007 at midnight

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TUCSON - The tale of Todd Helton's first spring home run has grown over the days. I first heard it had cleared the right-center field fence at Hi Corbett Field, not that impressive.

It then had hit the roof of the exercise facility beyond the stadium. Notable.

Next, it had landed in the parking lot. Very impressive.

The last report I got was that the ball cleared the fence, the exercise room, the parking lot and hit the fence on the far practice field. Astonishing.

I walked off the distance: 545 feet.

I asked Helton for the correct details.

"I hit a home run?" he asked.

Just kidding. Helton, not me. And how refreshing that is. Helton has passed the past two seasons in grim bewilderment, low on laughs as well as his usual production.

Injury and ailments became his identity. What he did not do became more absorbing than what he did.

Home runs were never his identity - not, that is, until they diminished. So this, I said, was a good sign.

"I'm not big on signs," Helton said.

What Helton wants is what he has always wanted - for things to be as they were, for him, and better for the Rockies. His is a career that has demanded patience and forbearance, the one great light in a room full of dim bulbs, with each spring the promise of progress.

Remarkably, Helton has not stomped or steamed or demanded anything other than what he demands of himself, the best. But he can add.

"One winning season in nine," he said.

So when the possibility of leaving the Rockies, the team and the mountains, came about in a brief flurry of cross talk with Boston in the winter, Helton was agreeable.

But nothing came of it, nor is it likely to, leaving whatever rewards await exactly where they have always been, with a management that never seems to get it right.

"As I said at the time, it was win-win," Helton said. "Either way. But I enjoy my teammates, I enjoy the fans, I enjoy the city. Colorado is my home."

Ah, but all the losing must get wearing.

"Every day you don't win is wearing," Helton said. "When you start adding it up, it does take its toll.

"I asked Steve Finley (a 42-year-old veteran who didn't make the playoffs until his third team and his eighth year, then was in six more playoffs in the next 10 years, including two World Series), how do you maintain your focus, if it gets harder as you get older?

"And he said, what you play for is to have something on the line every day into late September and you can't wait to get to the park."

And that is what's missing here?

"Damn right," Helton said. "You like to think we're headed in the right direction, but until you prove it, it is just talk. I'm not a big fan of talk."

Helton dedicated himself in the offseason to getting fit and healthy. And he had to gain back 15 pounds just to get where he was before he was sidelined by an intestinal ailment.

"I have pictures of myself then, and I look like I was in high school," Helton said.

Eating ("Things with fat," he said, not recommending the diet) and continually lifting, anything, anywhere, built up his chest and shoulders and put him around 230 solid pounds. He has a completely different body shape than the quarterback's body he used to have.

"Hey, I'm not going to steal any bases," he said. "I play first base. What do I have to do, take two steps and dive?

"I feel a whole lot better than I did. Not just physically but mentally. I have more confidence. It makes the biggest difference in the world.

"It's a tough thing to do, to hit .350. It's just not easy. I don't make anything look easy. Making toast, I don't make it look easy.

"I expect a lot out of myself. Numbers are not important. As long as I feel I'm playing well and helping win, that's what matters. And now there's (Matt) Holliday and (Brad) Hawpe behind me, so I don't have to swing at bad pitches just to get something started.

"I feel strong and powerful, and it feels good."

I almost forgot to ask about the beard, trimmed a bit from where it was but still full and obvious.

"Don't you like it?" Helton asked.

Looks good, I said. I was just wondering if it was an ego thing or something.

"It's my face, I can make it look like anything I want to," he said.

Damn right.

lincicomeb@RockyMountainNews.com

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