SAN FRANCISCO - Edgar Renteria has 15 years of major league experience, along with a hint of that telltale middle-age spread that is a by-product of all those postgame food spreads.
He has known victory: In 1997, just 20 years old, he drove in the winning run in the bottom of the 11th inning of Game 7 of the World Series against the Cleveland Indians to bring the expansion Florida Marlins their first championship.
He has known defeat: In 2004, he made the final out for the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 4 of the World Series, clinching the Red Sox [team stats]’ first championship in 86 years.
And while we’re on the subject of defeat, let’s just go ahead and get this out of the way: Renteria signed with the Red Sox after that ’04 season and staggered through a 2005 season that was pretty much a disaster. He never came right out and said he couldn’t play in Boston, except that, well, he couldn’t play in Boston. The Sox ate a ton of money in shipping him off to the Atlanta Braves, beginning what has become a vagabond existence for this soft-spoken native of Colombia.
But if the San Francisco Giants happen to be his fourth team in six years, you wouldn’t have known it last night at AT&T Park as he toured the bases in the fifth inning of Game 2 of the World Series. Having just socked an 0-1 pitch from Texas Rangers starter C.J. Wilson into the runway in left field for a solo home run to break a scoreless tie in an eventual 9-0 victory for the San Franciscans, Renteria was applauded by Giants fans as though he were Willie Mays, Orlando Cepeda and Juan Marichal squeezed into one pair of pants.
“You have to feel good after something like that,” Renteria said. “And that’s the way I feel right now, after hitting that home run.”
After saying, “I just wanted to help my team,” he paused and added, “Sorry, my English is going out.”
Actually, his English was perfect, as when he said, “This year was real tough for me. But I’m always surviving, always trying to work. And trying to get ready for my teammates, you know?”
Yes, we do. For Giants fans were cheering Renteria again when he added a two-run single during a seven-run eighth-inning rally that busted open the game. And we also know he has been banged up most of the season, including three stints on the disabled list. He played in only 72 games. His range isn’t close to what it used to be. In 1998, he stole 41 bases; over the past three seasons combined, he has 16.
Yet there he was, circling those bases, a journeyman who had found a home. OK, so Boston didn’t work. For him, San Francisco is heaven.
“I couldn’t be happier for Edgar,” said Giants manager Bruce Bochy. “It’s been a tough year for him. The ups and downs, the injuries . . . but he’s a leader in that clubhouse and everyone looks up to him.”
Giants hitting coach Hensley Meulens was even more succinct: “He knows that he’s almost at the end of his career. But he wanted to be in the playoffs, and, once we got here, he wanted to contribute one more time.”
He has become something of a Halley’s Comet in the World Series, crossing the late October sky every six or seven years. Again, look at the record: With the Marlins in ’97, with the Cardinals in ’04, and with the Giants in ’10.
It’s not that Renteria is Mr. October. But when he does make it to the World Series, he produces. Not only did he get that big hit for the Marlins, he hit .290 in the seven games. Though the Cardinals were swept, he hit .333.
True, he no longer is a star. He is a role player. But such is the beauty of the World Series: It can take role players and turn them into legends. It happened to Bernie Carbo when he clubbed a pinch-hit, three-run, game-tying home run in Game 6 in 1975.
The Halley’s Comet of baseball is back. And to the joy of Giants fans, he is lighting up the sky.
Friday, October 29, 2010
Edgar Renteria
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