Jeff Gordon: Renteria Is The Key In Dangerous Cards Lineup
By Jeff Gordon
Of the Post-Dispatch
April 03, 2002
The Cardinals needed another good righthanded hitter. All winter, your cyber-correspondent was convinced of that.
Tino Martinez was a nice acquisition for sure. But the addition of another lefthanded bat, we theorized, seemed to leave this team vulnerable to tough lefthanders like Mike Hampton. The Cards went through this ordeal two autumns ago against the New York Mets.
Perhaps the team should have added a righthanded-hitting left fielder, allowing Albert Pujols to move to first base in Mark McGwire's old spot. Wasn't this the more logical way to go?
Apparently not. As it turns out, the Cards had that tough righthanded hitter in the house all along -- shortstop Edgar Renteria.
After an encouraging spring, he moved up to sixth in the Tony La Russa's batting order Monday afternoon against Hampton, ahead of Martinez. That kept a left-right-left-right pattern to the lineup and took some pressure off Tino after his unproductive spring at the plate.
And, sure enough, Renteria got good swings in every at-bat on Opening Day and drove the ball all over Busch Stadium. If this is an indicator of where Edgar is at this season, the Cards will feature a vastly improved offense.
Last season, Renteria hit just .235, .224 and .218 during the first three months of the season. After the All-Star break, he was his old self again, batting .283 the rest of the way. Of his 17 stolen bases, 11 came after the break.
Earlier this spring, La Russa wondered if Renteria could serve the team in the No. 8 spot as sort of a second leadoff hitter. A speedy player in the slot can get on base ahead of the pitcher and do some running. From 1997 through 1999, he stole 110 bases.
But with Renteria hitting with such authority, the team is better served with him in a run-producing role. If he can bat .285, slash a bunch of doubles and drive in 75 or 80 runs as a No. 6 and No. 7 hitter, the Cards could confront righthanders and lefthanders alike with a dominant offense.
This decision-- along with the no-brainer to keep Placido Polanco at third base as the No. 2 hitter and give catcher Mike DiFelice plenty of at bats -- keeps this batting order balanced.
Just compare what you saw Monday to the scene early last season. In 2001, Renteria and Jim Edmonds struggled though sub-par starts, Ray Lankford became a strikeout machine and the battered McGwire was badly overmatched against top pitching.
Their failures, combined with Mike Matheny's feckless hitting and J.D. Drew's injuries, gave opposing pitchers too many easy innings. The Cards went through stretches where just putting the ball in play was a chore.
Only Pujols' heroics, the clutch hitting of fill-in Craig Paquette and the small-ball boost from Kerry Robinson saved this offense from a total catastrophe last season.
Now look at this team. If Renteria can pound the baseball and if Martinez does a nice, steady, professional job at the plate, the Cards will start seven dangerous hitters. If DiFelice and the made-over Matheny provide some competitive at-bats, as DiFelice did Monday, this team will be a threat every single inning.
The dynamics have changed quite a bit in one year. This Cards team can build big innings, like their four-run rally against Hampton that started with two out. Such a rally was nearly unheard of for most of last season.
This team can play small ball. This team can play sluggo ball, too, since it sends four significant home-run threats to the plate most nights. This team can string together hits and get more runners home with well-placed grounders and sacrifice flies.
The bench is better, too. Robinson and Eli Marrero can bring speed into the game and Miguel Cairo should be infinitely better than the washed-up Bobby Bonilla. The Cards couldn't stage late rallies last season because La Russa didn't have enough offense in reserve.
Robinson was a mid-season godsend from the minors. Cairo was a late-season godsend from the Chicago Cubs. The off-season addition of DiFelice puts Marrero in play as a utility man, giving the club something it lost when Placido Polanco became an everyday player.
This Cards team will score runs, lots of them -- even against lefthanded pitching.
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