It was less than a hour after San Francisco Giants catcher Benito Santiago had launched one of the most significant home runs in franchise history.
Yet is was already time for a reality check.
Asked if he thought opposing teams would change their strategy of pitching around Barry Bonds to face Santiago, Giants manager Dusty Baker shook his head.
“I think they’ll still put him on,” he said. “He has hit 600 or whatever home runs.”
Then Baker turned to Santiago, sitting beside him on the podium before two dozen reporters.
“How many home runs do you have, Benny?” Baker asked.
“I have 201.”
“OK,” Baker said. “You guys do the math.”
Logic says that Anaheim will follow its predecessors by making Bonds fish for something to hit. The Cardinals walked him 10 times in five games.
So it follows that Santiago, the Most Valuable Player of the National League Championship Series, will have every chance to add to his lore in the World Series.
After hitting that two-run homer in the eighth inning of Game 4, the San Francisco Chronicle hailed Santiago as “Benito Bambino!”
Sure beats “Benito Finito!”
But that headline would have been accurate a few years ago. Or so it seemed.
Doctors wondered if Santiago ever would play again after his gruesome car accident on Jan. 4, 1998. After trying to dodge a car that ran a red light near his Florida home, Santiago crashed his yellow Ferrari into a tree.
“Thank God the hospital was just down the block,” he said recently. “I could have walked there.”
At least in theory. Santiago fractured his pelvis and tore ligaments in his right knee, which required multiple surgeries and months of rehab.
Already 32, an age when some catchers contemplate moving to first base or finding a new line of work, Santiago thought about retreating to a life of leisure on his boat.
His first full year back did little to encourage him to continue playing.
He endured a forgettable season for the Cubs in 1999, batting .249 and driving in only 36 runs in 109 games. After a subpar first half, Santiago lost playing time to Jeff Reed, a late-season acquisition whom Colorado had released.
“I’m not ready to be a bench player,” Santiago told reporters late that season. “I didn’t put up the numbers I expected, but I was coming back from the car accident and I wanted to go through the year without pain. That was my goal, and I made it. I’m happy. I’m going home with no pain in my body.”
Santiago found new life with Cincinnati in 2000, batting .262 with 45 RBIs. His production dropped off so steadily for San Francisco in 2001, however, it appeared his time with the Giants was done.
Santiago still was unemployed in mid-March when he grudgingly accepted a $500,000 deal to return to the Giants.
Something clicked this season, however, and Santiago earned his first All-Star berth in 10 years, finishing with a batting average of .278, 16 home runs and 74 RBIs. Baker decided to bat him fifth behind Bonds after Reggie Sanders and J.T. Snow didn’t cut it.
“He knows how to handle a bat,” Baker said of Santiago. “And he doesn’t take it personally when they walk Barry. He doesn’t lose his head and try to hit a home run. I’ve explained to him that all he has to do is hit a single or a double because someone is usually in scoring position. Then he has done the damage.
“I didn’t make that up on my own. That’s what Hank Aaron told me when I was hitting behind him. I don’t want to hear anybody complain about [Santiago] because nobody complained about me, a 22-year-old kid hitting behind him.”
At 37, Santiago is still quicker than a cat behind home plate and seems to have as many lives.
He still throws from his knees, as he did for San Diego in 1987, when he became one of seven unanimous winners of the National League Rookie of the Year Award.
Santiago threw out one of two St. Louis runners in the NLCS.
“I think his interest has been renewed,” Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. “You see that sometimes with veterans who don’t crank out great year after great year and they’re still around in later years. They appreciate coming to the park.”
STATS & STUFF
THE SCHEDULE
Game 1: Saturday
at Anaheim, 7 p.m.
Game 2: Sunday
at Anaheim, 7
Game 3: Tuesday
at San Francisco, 7:30
Game 4: Wednesday, Oct. 23
at San Francisco, 7:30
Game 5: Thursday, Oct. 24
at San Francisco, 7:30*
Game 6: Saturday, Oct. 26
at Anaheim, 7*
Game 7: Sunday, Oct. 27
at Anaheim, 7*
Note: Best-of-7 series; *-if necessary
All games on WFLD-Ch. 32
NOT MUCH EXPERIENCE
AL champion Anaheim is making its first World Series appearance. NL champion San Francisco is in for the 17th time, the third since moving to California and first since 1989. The Giants’ franchise has won the World Series five times, the last in 1954 while still in New York.
WALK THIS WAY
Barry Bonds was walked a record 10 times in the NLCS and has walked 14 times this postseason. During the regular season Bonds walked 198 times.
Most walks in World Series:
4 games: 7 Hank Thompson, Giants, 1954
5 games: 7 Jimmy Sheckard, Cubs, 1910; Micky Cochrane, Phillies, 1929; and Joe Gordon, Yankees, 1941.
6 games: 9 Willie Randolph, Yankees, 1981.
7 games: 11 Babe Ruth, Yankees, 1926; Gene Tenace, A’s, 1973.
GOLDEN STATE
This year’s matchup will mark the fourth all-California World Series. The other three were: Giants-Athletics in 1989, Dodgers-A’s in 1988 and Dodgers-A’s in 1974.
HOW THEY MATCH UP
Statistics for the Giants and Angels. (Major League ranking in parenthesis when applicable):
Batting
CATEGORY GIANTS ANGELS
Games 161 162
Record 95-66 99-63
At home 50-31 54-27
On road 45-35 45-36
Night 60-36 76-51
Grass 91-61 89-58
1-run games 28-22 31-22
Extra innings 8-1 10-5
Average .267 (11) .282 (1)
Slugging .442 (5) .433 (7)
On-base .344 (5) .341 (6)
Doubles 300 (9) 333 (3)
Triples 35 (9) 32 (12)
Home runs 198 (6) 152 (21)
Walks 616 (5) 462 (26)
Strikeouts 961 (24) 805 (30)
Runs 783 (11) 851 (4)
Steals 74 (22) 117 (5)
Caught steal 21 (27) 51 (8)
Sacrifice fly 52 (8) 64 (2)
Hit into DPs 136 (9) 105 (29)
Pitching
CATEGORY GIANTS ANGELS
ERA 3.54 (2) 3.69 (4)
Shutouts 13 (6) 14 (5)
Complete gms 10 (7) 7 (16)
Walks 523 (10) 509 (9)
Strikeouts 992 (21) 999 (20)
HR allowed 116 (1) 169 (17)
Hits allowed 1,349 (5) 1,345 (4)
Runs allowed 616 (2) 644 (4)
Opp. average .251 (6) .247 (4)
Hit in DPs 138 (6) 126 (20)
Saves 43 (10) 54 (3)
Postseason
CATEGORY GIANTS ANGELS
Games 10 9
Average .247 .328
Slugging .417 .547
On-base .332 .365
Doubles 12 15
Triples 2 2
Home runs 13 17
Walks 39 16
Strikeouts 81 44
Runs 47 60
Steals 2 5
Caught steal 1 2
ERA 3.94 4.10
Innings 89 79
Walks 32 23
Strikeouts 53 63
Hits allowed 88 75
Errors 1 2
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SERIES FLASHBACK
1989: Known as the Bay Area Series and BART Series (for Bay Area Rapid Transit), the 1989 Fall Classic featured the Giants and A’s. After Oakland won twice at home, the series was postponed for 10 days after an earthquake minutes before Game 3. The break didn’t help the Giants, who were swept in four games, losing the last two 13-7 and 9-6.
