San Francisco Giants' Edgar Renteria Beginning to Deliver on Offseason Promises

One of several dangers that accompany writing for public consumption is the liberal helpings of crow you must eat if you fancy yourself two things. One would be an individual unafraid of looking foolish while giving opinions about unwritten events. The other would be an individual who possesses integrity.

After all, you get a lot of praise if you write sincerely and only a coward laps up praise while running from error.

Since nobody's perfect, every so often you've got to stand up and take a punch on the chin from yourself.

Of course, it helps immeasurably when the humble pie tastes just fine on your palate. This is a nice little perk to a maneuver by the home team that looks bad and feels worse at the time.

Anyway, time to put in the mouthguard because Edgar Renteria is threatening to make all the naysayers look mighty foolish.

I have taken my fair share of swipes at the man and, in truth, I still feel Orlando Hudson would've been the better signing. However, the San Francisco shortstop is showing hints of life and his timing couldn't be better. The latter point especially deserves some special attention, to which I'll get.

First, I want to give the seasoned veteran his due because Edgar Renteria has earned it.

Not simply with his much-reported grand slam because, his stirrings are more extensive. Obviously, the salami merits every drop of publicity it gets—the timely big fly propelled the Gents to their weekend sweep of the Colorado Rockies and into a tie atop the National League Wild Card Division.

Not to mention it officially put the nail in the coffin of that potentially scarring Monday night meltdown in Denver. Ryan Spilborgh's preemptive strike will always be an unpleasant bit of nostalgia, but the fellas got their retaliatory salvo in spades.

Regardless, a single hit can be just that, no matter the magnitude.

Even the enormity of Renteria's ding-dong wouldn't be much of a reason to hope for a strong finish from him if it were an isolated event. Not from a guy hitting a pedestrian .264 with only four home runs and a .663 on-base-plus-slugging percentage (OPS).

Fortunately, aficionados of squad know the grand cilantro was NOT an isolated event.

In fact, Renteria barely missed yanking one out of the unusually live AT&T Park earlier in the game on Sunday. That particular screamer went for a double, but only because it had so much top spin it looked like a tennis shot the way it bit (at least on my television).

Furthermore, Edgar is doing all of this from the No. 2 spot in the batting order, a promotion he received courtesy of a scorching month.

August saw the first-year Giant rake at a .303 clip with an .812 OBP and his first two round-trippers of the season since April (both in the last week). Renteria bottomed out at .251 and a .624 OPS on Aug. 9, but has been swinging a hot bat ever since—adding 13 points of average and 39 points of OPS (neither is a small feat this late in the year with so many at-bats).

Which brings me to the second point—the timeliness of the Colombian's hot streak.

When Brian Sabean inked Renteria, the Giant faithful were sold on two elements in particular: a revival in the friendlier Senior Circuit confines and a penchant for big hits in situations where most fail. That the former assurance is happening as the calendar turns to September and the club enters the stretch run of a Wild Card race delivers on the latter one.

Edgar seems to be finding his stroke just as the games have taken on a more profound consequence. And not just any stroke, he seems to have found what remains of his power stroke.

Hopefully, he keeps it as San Francisco embarks on its last arduous road trip of 2009 (by distance and caliber of opposition).

Although los Gigantes' road woes are a bit overstated if you ask me.

It's true they're currently 10 games under .500 away from the City, but they opened the season playing putrid baseball and consequently went 0-6 on the road in Southern California. Later in May, they had a brutal 1-5 trek through San Diego and Seattle.

For the remaining three months and change, the Giants have been playing roughly even in other teams' parks. In other words, they're basically on equal footing with the rest of the Wild Card contenders (from both leagues) when it comes to playing on unfamiliar ground once they got over the opening hiccups.

Granted, the Gents are a better team by the Bay. There is simply no arguing the fact.

Overstated or not, an anemic offense becomes doubly so in roadies and some of the young players seem to have a harder time concentrating on all aspects of the game.

So it would be a huge mitzvah (according to the Holy Book of Baseball) for the organization's key offseason acquisition to continue driving the ball right through the season's final month. The San Francisco Giants face a rougher finish than its chief rivals and 15 contests will be on the road.

If they want the last remaining playoff spot, they'll need all hands on deck.

Edgar Renteria seems to be emerging just in time.

And that's exactly what he was brought in to do.

**www.pva.org**