Helton becomes 6th player to reach 2,000 games

It will be a year full of milestones if Todd Helton keeps this up. On Tuesday night, the longtime DMBLer became the sixth player in league history with 2,000 games played, and now only two other players stand ahead of him in career doubles.

Helton, drafted by the Hoboken Cutters in the 7th round this year, smacked two doubles in Monday night's win over Marietta, passing Edgar Martinez to move into third all-time. He started the year tied for sixth with Barry Bonds (487), and also passed Ivan Rodriguez (490) along the way. The only players left ahead of Helton are Chipper Jones (535), who is chasing Manny Ramirez (538).

A career-high 63 doubles in 2001 -- his first with Stanhope/Marietta -- kicked off a stretch of eight straight seasons of at least 38 doubles. That stretch also included eight out of nine seasons with at least 159 games played.

Helton has but one home run so far this year, 286 for his career, good for 26th all-time, although he recently was passed by current teammate Miguel Cabrera. The lefty slugger also overtook Jeff Bagwell (2,047) for 13th in career hits, and moved into 15th all-time in RBIs, passing Jim Edmonds (1,129), as he tries to compile a Hall Of Fame resume.