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Helton goes on DL with ailing back

Baker, Koshansky will team to fill void at first base

By Tracy Ringolsby, Rocky Mountain News

Published July 4, 2008 at 4:09 p.m.

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Rockies first baseman Todd Helton has been battling an inflammation of his lower back for the past three weeks.

Photo by David Zalubowski / Associated Press

Rockies first baseman Todd Helton has been battling an inflammation of his lower back for the past three weeks.

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For nearly three weeks, Rockies first baseman Todd Helton tried to play through a lower-back inflammation. It wasn't working.

Helton was placed on the disabled list Friday. Joe Koshansky, who is leading the Triple-A Pacific Coast League with 78 RBI, was called up from Colorado Springs and will combine with Jeff Baker to fill the void at first base.

Helton, meanwhile, will see if several days of complete rest will calm down the flare-up of a back problem that he has battled for at least five years. His situation will be re-evaluated next week, but the hope is he can return to the roster at the end of the All-Star break.

"We don't think it is too serious," trainer Keith Dugger said. "We just want the area to calm down."

Helton has been battling the injury since the Rockies' trip to Chicago to play the White Sox three weeks ago. He initially tried to play through it, in part because the team was facing the loss of catcher Yorvit Torrealba to a two-game suspension, while left fielder Matt Holliday, shortstop Troy Tulowitzki and second baseman Clint Barmes were already on the disabled list.

Helton finally had two full days to rest his back - the Rockies were off June 26 and he sat out a game in Detroit the next day. But after a big swing of the bat Wednesday, Helton had to come out of that game early, didn't play Thursday and, according to Dugger, when he showed up Friday, he "felt a little worse. That made our decision easier."

Helton suffered through a slump that coincided with the time frame of the injury. Hitting .297 when the Rockies arrived in Chicago on June 13, he had gone 8-for-56 since as his average fell to .268.

"This gives him a chance to heal rather than try and push his way through it, which I don't think he was capable of doing," Rockies manager Clint Hurdle said.

This is the third time in Helton's career he has been placed on the disabled list.