Jeff's
hot streak couldn't have come at a better time. With injuries piling up for
the Giants, the team was in danger of fading from the race in the NL West.
But Jeff kept the club in contention. When Sabean acquired for Kenny Lofton
from the White Sox, San Francisco received a much needed spark, and by September
the Giants were back in the thick of things. Ortiz, Rueter and newcomer Jason
Schmidt were anchoring the rotation, while Jeff and Bonds were making life
miserable for opposing pitchers. With the pair on base so often, veterans
Reggie Sanders, Benito Santiago and Snow were driving in runs in bunches.
The
Giants wound up winning 25 of their last 33 and captured the Wild Card. In
the Divison Series they faced the Atlanta Braves, a team loaded with playoff-savvy
veterans. But San Francisco was the team that played like it had been there
before. Bonds made his presence felt in Game 1, and Lofton and Snow continued
to swing hot bats. On the mound, Ortiz made important pitches when he had
to. The Giants claimed the series in five games, taking the finale in Atlanta.
Jeff was uncharacteristically quiet with only five hits and one RBI.
Jeff
also struggled in the NL Championship Series, against the St. Louis Cardinals.
Again, the Giants advanced without a major contribution from him. Schmidt
was dominant in his start, and Tim Worrell gave the club valuable innings
out of the bullpen. With Santiago, Aurilia and David Bell pacing the offense,
San Francisco handled the Cardinals with surprising ease to win the pennant,
four games to one.
That
set up an exciting showdown between two West Coast clubs. Neither the Anaheim
Angels (the AL's unexpected Wild Card pennant winner) nor the San Francisco
Giants (who moved to California in 1958) had ever won a World Series.
The
atmosphere in the opener at Edison Field was incrediblemore like a
Japanese game than an American one. The Giants silenced the raucous crowd
with a 4-3
victory in Game 1. The following night Anaheim pounded out an 11-10 win.
Jeff got his first hit of the series in this contest, a solo home run off
Kevin
Appier.
That
blast appeared to snap Jeff out of his slump, as he picked up two more hits
in Game 3a 10-4 loss to the Angels. The Giants took the next two
games to go up 3 games to 2. Jeff knocked in a key run in the first win
with a sac
fly, then doubled and homered to knock in a quarter of his team's 16
runs in a Game 5 laugher.
No
one on the Giants was laughing when Game 6 ended. The Giants had the game
in hand when Baker yanked Ortiz, who was pitching well in the seventh inning.
The Angels rallied from 5-0 to win 6-5, with Scott Speizio belting a clutch
home run. In Game 7, with the wind out of their sails, the Giants fell behind
early and never came back.
The heartbreaking loss turned
out to be Jeff's last game in a Giants uniform. In the offseason, he made
headlines when he signed a two-year, $18.2 million deal with the Houston
Astros. The club cleared room for him at second when Craig Biggio, whose
days in the infield were numbered anyway, agreed to move to the outfield.
The addition of Jeff to a lineup
that already included Jeff Bagwell and Lance Berkman gave the Astros perhaps
the best 3-4-5 punch in baseball. With the short leftfield porch in Houston
and the expansive power alleys, everyone expected Jeff to continue to
build on his already impressive numbers. He stared the year well, batting
.300 in April with four homers and 16 RBIs. May was also a good month
for Jeff, but in June an injury to his left wrist landed him on the shelf
for some three weeks.
In his absence, the Astros
managed to keep their heads above water, and remained in the thick of
the race in the NL Central. Bagwell was enjoying a typical season, Berkman
began to heat up after a sluggish beginning to the year, and Richard Hidalgo
looked like a cinch to win Comeback Player of the Year.
The pitching staff, however,
was dealing with injury problems. The biggest hit came when Roy Oswalt
went down. Thanks to excellent work from rookie Jeriome Robertson and
bullpen workhorses Brad Lidge, Octavio Dotel and Billy Wagner, Houston
was able to survive without its ace.
Heading into the
season’s
final month, the Astros were healthy and appeared ready to take control
of the division. But down the stretch the team stopped hitting in the
clutch, and the starting staff wilted. The Astros watched the Chicago
Cubs surge past them and win the NL Central. They also fell short of
the
Wild Card, as the spunky Florida Marlins clinched their first post-season
appearance since 1997.
For Jeff, his first
year in Houston was a disappointment. Though he posted solid numbers—a
.297 batting average, with 39 doubles, 22 homers and 93 RBIs—he
didn’t have the impact many predicted. To be fair, however, his
production was limited somewhat by his sore left wrist.
GM Gerry Hunsicker
used the off-season to focus on his rotation. First he signed free agent
pitcher Andy Pettitte, and then convinced Pettitte’s former teammate
and future Hall of Famer Roger Clemens to come out of retirement. With
the addition of the two, Houston quickly gained an experienced postseason
staff, and became a favorite to advance to the 2004 World Series.
After a rough April,
Jeff came out swinging in May, hitting .346 with five homers and 28 RBIs.
The hot streak came at a perfect time, as Houston was dealing with rough
starts at the plate from Bagwell and Richard Hidalgo. The pitching staff
was also struggling. Pettitte was on the disabled list, and Dotel was
having trouble closing games.
With St. Louis running
away with the division, Hunsicker sprang into action again. He traded
the slumping Hidalgo to the Mets, and then pulled off a blockbuster, sending
Dotel to Oakland in a three-way deal for centerfielder Carlos Beltran.
Still, the Astros couldn't put it together.
At the All-Star break,
Jeff joined teammates Berkman and Clemens on the NL squad to the delight
on the fans at Minute Maid Park. The hometown crowd, however, didn't treat
Houston manager Jimy Williams nearly as well, booing him loudly during
pregame introductions for the Mid-Summer Classic. Hunsicker fired Williams
days later, and tabbed Phil Garner as his replacement.
The Astros needed
time to adjust to the upbeat Garner, but when they did, they took off.
The offense started stinging the ball, Clemens and Oswalt carried the
starting rotation, and Lidge was unhittable down the stretch. A 12-game
winning streak in August and September vaulted Houston into the thick
of the Wild Card race. The Astros went on to win 36 of their final 46
games, including a sweep of the Rockies on the season's final weekend
to clinch a spot in the playoffs. Jeff finished the year at .289 with
27 homers and a team-leading 107 RBIs.
Houston opened the
postseason on the road against the Atlanta Braves. After a 9-3 victory
in Game 1, the Astros jumped out to a early lead in Game 2, but the Braves
rallied and won it on an eleventh-inning home run by Rafael Furcal. In
Houston for Game 3, the Astros crushed John Thomson to go up 2-1 in the
series.
With Houston’s
first-ever playoff series win in their sights, Clemens toed the rubber
in Game 4. He pitched well, but the bullpen coughed up the lead and the
Astros lost 6-5. Forced into a deciding Game 5, Houston’s offense
exploded—including Jeff, who went 2-for-5 with a RBI—as the
Astros cruised to a 12-3 victory.
The win advanced the
Astros to the NLCS against the Cardinals. Jeff homered and drove in two
runs in Game 1, but was silenced in Game 2. His performance was academic
anyway, as St. Louis won both contests.
When the series shifted
to Houston, the Astros came back with three victories in a row. Jeff,
looking much more comfortable at the plate, hit a two-run homer in Game
3, and then played hero again two nights later. With Game 5 knotted in
a scoreless tie entering the bottom of the ninth, he launched a long home
run to put Houston one win away from the World Series.
But the gutty Cardinals
responded on their home field. Game 6 was a nailbiter that St. Louis captured
in the twelfth on a homer by Jim Edmonds. In the decider, with Clemens
on the mound, Houston seized an early lead. But the Cardinals rallied
in the sixth, and held on to beat the Astros 5-2.
Jeff had a decent
series with three HRs and seven RBIs, but he also showed limitations defensively.
In Game 7 against St. Louis, he was unable to come up with two groundballs
that second basemen with better range might have fielded. Of course, that's
the trade-off with a power-hitting infielder like Jeff.
Coming out of the
post-season, the Astros had to decide whether to retain Jeff’s services.
With Biggio and AAA phenom Chris Burke available at second and a slew
of young outfielders, including Willy Taveras and Jason Lane, Jeff’s
salary didn’t make any sense. They tried low-balling him in November
but he declined. When Houston did not offer him arbitration, he was free
to negotiate with other teams. In early December, the Dodgers signed him
to a two-year deal.
The absence of Barry
Bonds from the Giants’ lineup made LA the team to beat in the NL
West in 2005. The Dodgers looked pretty good on paper, but the game is
played on the diamond. The club hovered under .500 all year, suffering
from injuries, underperformance and finally just a lack of interest.
Jeff, however, was
a rock in the lineup and in the field. He batted .289 with 29 homers.
He also scored and drove in more than 100 runs. The rest of the Dodger
infield was a shambles, with a revolving door at third, a career-threatening
injury to shortstop Cesar Izturis, and a rogue’s gallery at first
led by Hee Seop Choi and Olmedo Saenz. Jeff volunteered to play first
to open up his position to a couple of promising kids, but the team told
him to stay put. The Dodgers finished 71-91.
The 2006 club has
been retooled with veterans like Nomar Garciaparra, Bill Mueller, Kenny
Lofton and Rafael Furcal. Jeff fits right in with these names, and will
no doubt anchor the lineup once again. If the team gets any pitching,
and Eric Gagne returns to health, LA could challenge for a division title.
Jeff would certainly
like to play in another World Series. It must have irked him to watch
the Astros win the pennant the year after he left. Even if he does not
get back to the Fall Classic, he will continue to creep closer to immortality.
Indeed, if Jeff puts together a few more campaigns like '03, '04 and ’05,
he should eventually earn serious consideration as a Hall of Fame candidate
when he hangs up his spikes. What are his chances? Considering the position
he plays, it could happen. But keep in mind that baseball writers have
been known to hold a grudge, and the last time anyone looked Jeff was
not a member of the all-interview team. He’ll have to continue clubbing
the ball and breaking records for several more seasons.
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