Renteria's Hot Streak Shows He's Got Game
By Howard Bryant
The Boston Herald
May 29, 2005
NEW YORK - He has only been in Boston for a little under two
months, but
Edgar Renteria is enveloped in the sticky clutches of the Hero Game. It
has
taken hold of him, claimed him.
The Hero Game is the Dow Jones Industrial Index of sports, the
athletic
equivalent of a volatile real estate market. It is the hero-goat cycle
that
fuels sports, especially in the rugged terrain of East Coast baseball.
In 1977,
the Hero Game drove Reggie Jackson both to a near nervous breakdown and
the
heights of legend. Its insane expectations fried Nomar Garciaparra and
Pedro
Martinez in Boston.
Renteria started his Sox career in bust mode, but is entering a
boom cycle.
His recovery started in the first game of the Sox' six-game road trip
that began
in Toronto, when Renteria went 2-for-4 with a triple. Renteria's rise
continued
yesterday, when he blew open the 17-1 destruction of the Yankees with
three
hits, including a fifth-inning grand slam off Paul Quantrill that
turned a 5-0
game into a 9-0 rout.
He finished 3-for-3 yesterday and is now 12-for-19 with one game
left on this
road trip. He is hitting .281, a mere eight points below his career
average. For
the first 48 games of his Sox career, the question hasn't been whether
Renteria
can play, but whether he can handle the temperamental nature of the
Hero Game.
Before he heated up, the answer had been a resounding no. His old
manager, Tony
La Russa, suggested that fans and press lay off, a sentiment echoed by
his
teammates, including Kevin Millar and David Ortiz.
``Give this guy a chance,'' Ortiz said after yesterday's romp.
``He's a very
good player. He's not a wait-and-see player. He deserves a chance from
the fans.''
On May 22, Renteria was hitting .239. The Sox, behind Matt
Clement, were in
the process of beating the Atlanta Braves 5-2, at Fenway Park, but
Renteria, the
man who replaced Orlando Cabrera and Garciaparra, went 0-for-4. He
popped up
with men on. He got booed. He stranded four men. Got booed for that,
too.
In Boston, Renteria is not just a shortstop, he's a four-year,
$40 million
shortstop.
Earlier in the year, Ortiz had a conversation with Renteria
confidant Placido
Polanco of the Phillies. Polanco told Ortiz the most important thing
was to
``keep Edgar positive.''
Keeping Renteria positive will require familiarizing him with the
cyclical
nature of the Hero Game and helping him ride out the temporary
fluctuations. The
relatively benign fans in St. Louis and Florida certainly did little to
prepare
Renteria for the Sox roller coaster.
David Wells knows the Hero Game well, having experienced it in
Boston and New
York, where the game is more shrill and more rewarding than anywhere
else in the
baseball universe.
``You better be able to handle it. If you don't, it'll kill
you,'' Wells
said. ``At some point, everyone has to go through it. You know you're a
good
player. You know your time is going to come, but as much as you
recognize that,
it bothers you.''
Jay Payton has also played in New York and Boston. A highly
touted prospect
with the Mets, the Sox outfielder knows the boom and bust cycle well.
``Everyone has to deal with this in their own way,'' he said.
``You know you
can play, but that's the good thing about baseball. You can be the
goat, and
then you get your chance to be the hero.''
With Renteria finally enjoying his chance to be a Sox hero, Wells
had a piece
of advice for his teammate as he walked out of the clubhouse yesterday:
``Hey.
When they love you, let 'em.''
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