Atkins hits steady diet of pitching

DENVER (AP) — Garrett Atkins found the difference between a spot in the playoffs and a place on the bench was surprisingly subtle.

Stuck in a two-month slump to start the season, Atkins got pulled from the Colorado lineup in early June. Riding the pine for two days, he hated the view.

So he raised his back elbow a bit, torqued his body a tad and kept his hands back, all of which allowed him to do better with offspeed pitches and hit more to the opposite field.

Basically, he’d rediscovered his old swing.

“I don’t know what it was. I was just struggling for long enough and it was just that I found my stroke and things started happening a little better for me,” Atkins said. “As you can see, you just kind of roll with it and good things happen.”

At the time of his benching, the 26-year-old power hitter was batting .223. After a couple of games next to manager Clint Hurdle, Atkins went on a tear, hitting .338 with 22 home runs and 91 RBIs the rest of the way and helping lead the Rockies to the NL wild-card berth.

“It’s a different look,” Hurdle said. “Sometimes when you rearrange the furniture in your house, you have to find a different way across the room.”

With wins in 17 of their last 18 games, including a sweep of the Phillies in the first round, the Rockies start the NL championship series Thursday night at Arizona.

Atkins wound up hitting .301 overall with 25 homers and 111 RBIs, similar to his breakout season last year when he hit .329 with 29 homers and 120 RBIs.

The third baseman also improved in the field, cutting down his errors from 19 to 13.

Hurdle said one of the biggest things he learned during his playing days was that sometimes the best way to pick a guy up is to sit him down