Helton can finally enjoy the feeling

PHOENIX -- Todd Helton has won a National League batting title and three Gold Gloves. He has led the league in hits and runs batted in and has played in five All-Star games.

But he had never been to the postseason until last week. And the experience, he says, has been made better by the long wait.

“I don’t think you can put it into words,” said Helton, whose streak of 1,578 games without a playoff appearance was the third-longest among active players. “It’s kind of like somebody asking you, ‘Well, how’d you feel when your first child was born?’ You can throw any adjective you want out there and it’s really not going to do it justice.”

A career .332 hitter, Helton struggled in the Rockies’ three-game sweep of Philadelphia in the NL division series, going one for 12. But Colorado Manager Clint Hurdle said everyone on his young team is aware how much this season has meant to Helton and no one wants to see it end now.

“As much as anything, there’s a big part of this team and a big heartbeat going to push him into the World Series,” Hurdle said. “That’s a big want-to for all the men in [the clubhouse].”

The Rockies added center fielder Willy Taveras to their roster for the NL Championship Series, giving the team a boost of speed at the top of the lineup.

“Any time you can implement speed in your lineup it puts pressure on a pitcher, puts pressure on the defense and the offense,” Hurdle said of Taveras, who hit .320 with 33 stolen bases in 97 games before going on the disabled list Aug. 15 with a strained groin.

Taveras has been rehabilitating for the last week with Colorado’s Arizona Instructional League team in Tucson and after performing a series of agility and running drills Wednesday, the Rockies decided he was healthy enough to play.

Taveras almost didn’t make it back, however, after being hit by pitches six times in his last four instructional league games -- twice by the Diamondbacks’ Micah Owings, who was pitching in Tucson on Tuesday in a tuneup for the NLCS.

Owings, who hasn’t faced big-league hitters since beating Pittsburgh on Sept. 27, nailed Taveras with a slider, then nicked him with a fastball during a five-inning outing.

“I didn’t even know it was him that was in the box,” said Owings, who apologized to Taveras afterward.

The Rockies decided against activating Aaron Cook, their opening-day starter, for the NLCS despite the fact Cook gave up one run and five hits in an instructional league start Wednesday.

Colorado apparently believes Cook, out since Aug. 11 with an oblique strain, needs at least one more rehabilitation start before being ready to pitch in the playoffs.

Although Arizona finished with the best record in the league, recognition -- and respect -- has mostly eluded the Diamondbacks, says veteran first baseman Tony Clark. But even after proving the experts wrong, nobody on the Arizona side is losing any sleep over the slight.

“If you ask guys in here, being patted on the back is not why you play the game,” Clark said. “Personally I would like to see our guys gain more recognition. But at the end of the day we are simply hopeful that we are continuing to play and we are successful, indifferent to who gets the credit.”

kevin.baxter@latimes.com