"It was just past 10 p.m. Monday, and signs of another whiplash-inducing reversal of fortune were everywhere.

Outfielder Carlos Gonzalez was carrying second base, the one he swiped in the eighth inning to become the seventh card-carrying member of the Rockies' 20-home run, 20-stolen base club.

Outside the clubhouse door, Todd Helton stood with his daughter in his arms and a grin on his face after collecting four hits.

Just as they have done so many times this season, the Rockies won at Coors Field, a teeth-grinding 5-4 win over the Braves that was delivered by Helton's final hit and secured without drama by closer Huston Street.

The win was fitting for the Rockies' season. They have been Ozzy Osbourne on the road, a predictable mess, and Ozzie and Harriet at home, nearly white-picket-fence perfect. Lose a series to the Arizona Diamondbacks, the swill of the National League West. Steal a pulse-race from the Braves, an NL East beast.

"I know, it makes no sense. It's been so weird," said reliever Joe Beimel, who induced a critical groundball to Helton in the seventh that the first baseman converted into a 3-6-3 double play. "We can play poorly on the road, but when we get here we feel invincible."

The difference between the venues is reflected primarily in clutch hitting. Had the Rockies blown a 4-3 lead in the eighth in a visiting park, as Rafael Betancourt did Monday, there would have been little reason to believe a win would follow.

But in the bottom of the inning, the Rockies demonstrated the type of at-bats so often absent last week. Gonzalez, his right knee still sore from a collision with an outfield wall, led off with a single. With Troy Tulowitzki, Gonzalez was given the green light to steal. That meant he could go if he wanted to. Gonzalez swiped the base — his eighth consecutive in the second half without being caught — and put pressure on the defense."