Bernie’s article today touches on the return of Edgar Renteria to St. Louis. Edgar Renteria starred as the St. Louis Cardinals’ shortstop last year when they were swept by the Boston Red Sox. Edgar Renteria now plays for the Boston Red Sox.
I’ll be the first to admit I don’t get the whole “Edgar screwed us” aspect of this story, but to each his/her own.
Bernie starts off laying out the feeling:
If Edgar Renteria misses St. Louis, don’t expect him to reveal his innermost feelings as he returns to Busch Stadium. An expression of regret or remorse or pro-St. Louis emotions would only exacerbate Renteria’s image problems in Boston, where he’s been booed and treated harshly at times by front-running Red Sox fans.
Ok, so we’re going to try to bait Edgar into saying something. Cool. I love it when sports columnists slap the glove.
The next section of Bernie’s article relates questions to Edgar on whether he really felt it was worth it to go or not. Bernie then gets into the meat:
And I wonder if Renteria was just pandering last month when he called Red Sox fans the best in baseball.
Ouch. Nice call out, Bernie.
Bernie, always the master of statistics, comes out with this:
If Boston fans are the best, then Renteria should be thriving in the home setting. Oddly, he’s batting .215 at Fenway Park this season, and .328 away from Boston. That’s a dramatic change from Renteria’s final four seasons in St. Louis, when he hit .306 overall at Busch Stadium, compared to .288 away from St. Louis. Must be a coincidence.
Ding.
Bernie goes on to say that the money Renteria left here was well used:
As much as Renteria meant to the Cardinals, they benefited by taking that $10 million and divvying it up among Eckstein, Mulder and second baseman Mark Grudzielanek. That’s three new, primary players for a combined cost of $10.45 million this season. I’m no Theo Epstein, but I can do simple math.
Bernie finished with a final blow:
It would be silly for Cardinals fans to boo Edgar Renteria over the next three games.
But if it happens … well, at least Renteria will feel as if he’s right at home, at Fenway Park, in front of the fans that he calls the best in baseball.
Bernie calling out the fans. Awesome.
Good column and well explained.
Score: 8 out of 10.