Renteria Came Through When Giants Needed Him Most
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Edgar Renteria can now retire a happy man as World Series MVP.
On a team with many heroes, it was the journeyman who stood tallest. It only seems fitting that on a band of misfits, it was one of the elder statesman who made the biggest impact.
Renteria sat more than half the season but came through when it mattered the most, batting .412 in the World Series.
Once upon a time, he hit the game-winner in Game 7 of the 1997 World Series, but that was back when he was a 20-year old kid playing his second season in the major leagues.
That was before Renteria became a castoff playing for five different teams in the last seven seasons.
The 35-year-old isn’t the oldest player on the Giants roster. However, his career has been in visible decline for some time. He has bounced around the league and even got booted from the starting lineup at the beginning of the season in favor of Juan Uribe.
A testament to manager Bruce Bochy, Renteria never complained publicly when he was benched. He didn’t ask to be traded. Instead, he waited for an opportunity to contribute on the field as he constantly provided veteran leadership in the clubhouse. He hit only three home runs and batted a measly .276.
But like Dusty Rhodes, who knocked two pinch hit home runs to be named MVP when the Giants last won the World Series in 1954, Renteria seized an opportunity and did more than just play a supportive role off the bench. He grabbed the spotlight and shined it right in the face of his opposition.
In fact, he blinded Texas Rangers’ ace Cliff Lee when all the high-powered lights were burning down during Game 5 at the Ballpark in Arlington. In the seventh inning, Renteria turned on a 2-0 cutter that Lee left over the middle of the plate. Much like he did to C.J. Wilson in Game 2, he deposited the pitch in the outfield seats.
The Columbian native batted just twice in the division series and hit an abysmal .063 in the NLCS after being inserted into the lineup in place of the struggling Pablo Sandoval. Bruce Bochy never wavered on his lineup change. He had faith in the “dinosaur,” as Aubrey Huff called Renteria after the game.
And when the Giants truly needed him, Renteria was there with two big home runs and the most consistent bat throughout the series.
This World Series was supposed to be decided by whether the Texas Rangers could win two of the five games Cliff Lee didn’t pitch. Instead, it was decided by the two games Lee lost. Texas was never able to recover from Lee’s inability to be the big game pitcher he had been all last season and throughout the first two rounds of the playoffs this season.
The Giants’ young pitchers outdueled the proven ace. Matt Cain and rookie Madison Bumgarner were magnificent while Tim Lincecum beat Lee not once, but twice in the five-game series.
So Cliff, move on over buddy because the new kid on the block with the flowing locks has taken over your spot as postseason ace. But behind the kid, there was the “old man,” who, despite being all but forgotten, continued to play his part for the Giants -- the part that changed from “role player” to “clutch.”
The same part that now reads “World Series Most Valuable Player.”
To reach Shotgun Spratling, click here, or follow him on Twitter @BlueWorkhorse.
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