Bordow: At long last, Helton, Cirillo reach promised land

Todd Helton would like to answer the question. He really would.

But he can’t.

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How does a man explain what it feels like to finally play in the postseason after 11 years and 1,578 games? What can he possibly say that would sufficiently capture his emotions?

“I don’t think you can put it into words,” Helton, the Colorado Rockies’ first baseman, said Wednesday. “I don’t think it does it justice. It’s kind of like somebody asking you, ‘How did you feel when you had your first child?’ ”

Jeff Cirillo understands.

The Diamondbacks pinch-hitter and reserve third baseman waited 14 seasons and 1,617 games for this moment. As he moved from team to team — six in all — he became convinced his career would end without a meaningful October.

Now that he, like Helton, is experiencing the thrill for the first time, the right words are hard to find.

“I don’t know,” Cirillo said. “I guess I’m like a kid in a candy store.”

There are multiple story lines heading into the National League championship series between the Diamondbacks and Rockies.

Will Colorado finally cool off?

How will Arizona’s starters deal with the Rockies’ formidable lineup?

Could the Diamondbacks stick it to the skeptics one more time and get to the World Series?

And then there’s the starving man angle. Before this postseason, Cirillo ranked No. 1 among active players in games played without a playoff appearance. Helton was No. 3.

One of them is about to play in the World Series.

(FYI: New York Mets infielder Damian Easley now tops the unenviable list at 1,593 games and counting.)

“We played a long time in the major leagues and we played with each other (in 2000 and 2001 with Colorado),” Helton said. “Now that we’re here, it’s pretty cool we get to play against each other.”

Cirillo’s drought has received little attention. He’s not a player whose career is closely followed, and he didn’t bother informing his teammates he had finally hit the jackpot when the Diamondbacks clinched a playoff berth.

“Tony Clark told me, ‘I would have given you more of a bear hug (in the celebration) had I known,’ ” Cirillo said.

Helton’s maiden voyage, on the other hand, is receiving generous media attention. He has been the face of the Rockies since 1997, a Hall of Fame talent who had the misfortune of being, well, with the Rockies since 1997.

There is great sentiment within the game that Helton, 33, is finally getting what he deserves.

“I know he’s wanted it so bad,” said former Rockies third baseman Vinny Castilla, a longtime Helton teammate who is now a special assistant in Colorado’s front office. “I’m so happy for him.”

Unlike Cirillo, Helton was convinced he’d play baseball in October before hanging up his batting gloves. There was no good reason for his faith — Colorado finished with a winning record just twice in his first 10 seasons — but he believed, anyway.

“I just always felt like it was going to happen,” he said. “What was I supposed to do, sit at home and cry?”

Helton does not often let the world see his emotions. He needs nine cups of coffee to be laid back. But the opportunity to play in the postseason for the first time has lifted his mask a bit.

When the Rockies beat the Diamondbacks the final game of the regular season just to qualify for a one-game playoff against San Diego, Helton leaped off the first-base bag as if Colorado had won the World Series.

“I’m excited,” he said. “Winning gets me excited. … There are no givens in life. That’s why you have to enjoy something like this when it rolls around.”

Cirillo understands that, too.

He’s spent far too many Octobers sitting on his couch, watching the postseason pass him by. To be here now, at the age of 38, with retirement beckoning, feels too good to be true.

“I didn’t like baseball much some of those years,” he said.

Finally, after 3,195 games, baseball is paying Cirillo and Helton back.

It’s about time.