It has been a painful season for the Rockies, and not just because they have fallen to the bottom of the NL West after winning the first NL pennant in franchise history last year.
Wednesday, left-handed starting pitcher Jeff Francis was placed on the disabled list because of left shoulder inflammation. Friday, first baseman Todd Helton went on the disabled list because of lower back inflammation. Earlier this season, second baseman Clint Barmes (sprained right knee), shortstop Troy Tulowitzki (torn tendon, left quad), left fielder Matt Holliday (strained left hamstring) and right fielder Brad Hawpe (sprained right hamstring) were all on the disabled list at the same time.
Helton tried to play through the lower back inflammation for nearly three weeks. Finally, he gave in. 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 first base void.
Helton will see if several days of complete rest will calm down the flareup 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.
Helton has been battling an injury since the Rockies' trip to Chicago to play the White Sox three weeks ago, but he initially tried to play through it in part because the Rockies were facing the loss of catcher Yorvit Torrealba to a two-game suspension and already had Holliday, Tulowitzki and Barmes on the disabled list.
Helton finally had two full days to rest the back -- the Rockies were off on June 26 and he sat out a game in Detroit the next day -- but after a big swing of the bat on Wednesday, Helton had to come out of that game early, didn't play Thursday, and according to (Rockies trainer Keith) 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, and his average fell to .268.
"This (move) 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," said manager Clint Hurdle.
ROCKIES 18, MARLINS 17: Matt Holliday homered twice, including a seventh-inning grand slam that cut the Rockies' deficit to 17-16, then blooped a broken-bat single into right field in the ninth, setting up Garrett Atkins' game-tying single, and scored the game-winning run himself on Chris Iannetta's single. The Rockies rallied from a 13-4 deficit, the biggest comeback in franchise history. For the second consecutive night, they had a game-winning, two-run, walk-off rally against Marlins closer Kevin Gregg. They scored twice in the 11th for a 6-5 win on Thursday. The Rockies' previous biggest comeback was eight runs. The game was on the 29th anniversary of the Triple-A Denver Bears' 16-14 win over the Omaha Royals when the Bears scored nine times in the ninth, including eight times with two out. Rockies manager Clint Hurdle was an outfielder with Omaha in that game. "I think I was there," he said of the game in 1979. "I won't have to work hard to remember being here for this one."
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