Renteria Return Calls Up Emotion
By Jeff Horrigan
The Boston Herald
June 07, 2005
ST. LOUIS - The reception was warm, but his play remained ice
cold.
Edgar Renteria, who anchored shortstop for the Cardinals for six
seasons
before signing a four-year, $40 million free agent deal with the Sox in
December, made his first return to Busch Stadium last night. Despite
being
well-received by the fans, Renteria grounded into two double plays and
made his
11th error of the season.
Before the game, the introverted infielder said he would only
have fond
memories of playing for the Cardinals. When he came to the plate for
his first
at-bat, a smattering of boos was quickly drowned out by cheers and a
standing
ovation from the Cardinals crowd.
Renteria subsequently grounded into a double play. He later
duplicated that
feat and also fouled out in an 0-for-4 effort. His error matched his
total for
all of last season when he held down short for the NL pennant-winning
Cards.
``To me, the whole Edgar Renteria story was his first at-bat, and
as the game
went on the fans started having some fun,'' Cardinals manager Tony La
Russa
said. ``Anybody having a tough day, our fans are going to hoot a little
bit.''
A .289 hitter in nine big league seasons coming into this year,
Renteria had
recovered from a dreadful early slump and is batting .272 despite his
failings
in last night's 7-1 loss.
Renteria said he wasn't offended by La Russa's recent statements
on WEEI
radio that the shortstop might not react well to the pressure of
playing in
Boston.
``I didn't hear it, so I don't know exactly what he said but
people tell me
he said I don't like (media attention),'' Renteria said. ``I'll play
hard every
day and if they boo me, it won't be because I don't play hard. I don't
think
Tony would say something bad about me.''
La Russa, who was later criticized for the comments by Curt
Schilling, was
not happy when asked about the subject once again.
``He was off to a slow start and the fans were unhappy and being
unhappy with
him will not make him better sooner,'' La Russa said. ``I still fail to
see
where there's an issue. It's kind of ridiculous.''
Sox manager Terry Francona continued to keep his distance from
the
controversy.
``I kind of heard about it thirdhand, which I usually do,''
Francona said.
``Tony knows how I feel about (Renteria). Schilling, I think his heart
is in the
right place but sometimes his mouth might get a little out of whack.''
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