Cards Notes: Renteria Rolling
By Matthew Leach / MLB.com
April 27, 2003
MIAMI -- On a team full of stars, a team that you could argue has three potential MVP candidates, Edgar Renteria is supposed to be a role player on offense. An excellent role player, that's for sure, but not the guy who makes the offense go. Those duties are supposed to fall to Albert Pujols, Jim Edmonds and Scott Rolen -- the Thunder Stixx in the middle of the order.
But Renteria has been every bit as crucial to the offense as any of those guys, hitting for average, hitting for power and coming up with big hit after big hit, all while playing 193 of a possible 198 innings at shortstop. The Marlins kept him off the bases on Saturday, but that was most assuredly the exception. The Gold Glover and two-time Silver Slugger winner leads the National League with 12 multi-hit games and has either scored or driven in a run in 16 of 22 games.
"He likes driving in runs," manager Tony La Russa said. "Some guys like scoring runs. I think he likes to score them too, but he really likes (RBI situations). And he's good at it because he can handle so many pitches. He gets a ball up, he can poke the ball away. Ball inside, he can hit down the left-field line. That's why he's got a well-deserved reputation for getting RBIs against good pitchers."
Renteria already has batted second, third, fifth, sixth and seventh this season, and he's contributed in all those spots. He prefers to hit further down in the order, so as to have runners on base for him. But he doesn't complain, wherever he finds himself in the lineup.
After 22 games, Renteria either leads the Cardinals or is tied for the team lead in RBIs (17, tied with Edmonds), runs (16, tied with Rolen), hits (30), total bases (51) and doubles (nine, tied with Edmonds). Edmonds leads the NL in batting average, on-base percentage and slugging, but Renteria has been a constant, with 31 more plate appearances.
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