Support System Still In Place For Shortstop
By Paul Harber, Globe Staff
May 23, 2005
The frustrations of Edgar Renteria continued yesterday as the Red
Sox beat
the Braves, 5-2, in the final game of their weekend series at Fenway
Park.
Everybody in the lineup got a hit except Renteria, who went
0 for 4 and
saw his average drop to .239.
Renteria was 1 for 13 for the brief homestand.
But the boos were
louder and more frequent.
He left seven runners on base Friday night, and went 1 for
5 with two
errors before being ejected Saturday night. No matter, his teammates
are
supporting him. When you asked the Red Sox about the victory, all
seemed to
offer encouraging words, including Kevin Millar, who sat out
yesterday's game
with a bruised foot sustained when hit by a foul ball Saturday night.
After giving an assessment of his foot injury, Millar
offered a plea to
the public regarding Renteria. "Don't let six weeks of a struggle erase
eight
years of his success," said Millar.
Johnny Damon also praised the struggling shortstop.
"He does the little things well. He moved me over on the
hit-and-run," said
the center fielder. "Those things don't show up in the box score."
Renteria walked in the first and moved to third base on
David Ortiz's
single to right.
In the second, Renteria struck out with the bases loaded.
He did it on
three pitches, a pair of sliders and then a changeup. Atlanta starter
John
Smoltz completely fooled Renteria, who waved at air to end the inning.
Then, with Bill Mueller on third base, Renteria fouled to
first on the
first pitch of his at-bat to end the fourth.
He followed that with the aforementioned hit-and-run ground
out, moving
Damon to second base. Damon eventually scored the go-ahead run on
Ortiz's
double. Renteria opened the eighth with a ground out to short.
"The guy is going to be great for us," said Millar of Renteria, a
four-time
All-Star and two-time Gold Glove winner. "He's a great teammate. He's
been in
the World Series. He's going to be OK. This is my Derek Lowe speech of
2003,
Cowboy Up and get off of Renteria. Get on me because I said it. I'm not
a good
player, he is."
Renteria isn't playing as badly as Red Sox Nation may
think, said Millar.
"I think he has been OK. We're seven games over .500. Obviously
[Saturday night]
he got a weak error. I should have been able to stay on the bag or I
should have
come off the bag for a tag. The weather's been tough. That's the way it
goes.
But Renteria has been fine. I think he's taken some unfair heat because
that's
the way it is around here."
Millar saw most of the game from the clubhouse where he was
checking out
his boot, similar to the one worn by teammate Curt Schilling. He
noticed the
booing on television. "The guy's a player. He's always been successful.
The
first six weeks isn't going to tell you the whole story," said Millar.
"It's not
cool to boo Edgar. I can understand if it was for a lack of effort. But
it isn't
a lack of effort. The guy is out there playing as hard as he can and
works as
hard as anybody. He's going to bring a lot of smiles to the people here
over the
next few years. He's a veteran, a professional, and a great player."
It isn't the adjustment from moving from the National
League to the
American League, either. "The guy is not hitting .180. He's hitting
around .250,
" said Millar. "So what if he popped out with the bases loaded? So
what? Who
cares? Realistically he is a shortstop and we need him for his defense.
We have
enough offense. You can't expect him to come in here and hit .350 and
30 homers.
That's unrealistic."
His batting averages the last four seasons for the
Cardinals were .260,
.305, .330, and .287 last year. In the last four seasons, he made 24,
19, 16 and
11 errors. This year he already has eight.
Add into the equation that he is being paid $10 million a
year. "That's
the business side," said Millar. "It doesn't matter what you make. I
make $3
million and I [stink]. That's the business. That's the game. [Booing
him]
because of the salary, is that fair? Is that a reason to boo? I don't
think so."
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