His placement was positively perfect

Melvin Mora saw it, the quick glance Edgar Renteria shot at the Baltimore third baseman as Renteria walked to the plate with Mark Bellhorn on first base, two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, and the Red Sox behind, 4-3, yesterday.

''But," Mora said, ''sometimes he looks at me to pull the ball."

So Mora stayed put, deep behind third base and guarding the line. The ''book" called for Mora to play where he did in that situation.

''Because," said Sox manager Terry Francona, ''you've got to guard against the double down the line."

And so, with a 24-man reception awaiting him at home plate if he could float a ball over the Green Monster, Renteria did the prudent thing. He bunted. For a hit.

Just as imposing closer B.J. Ryan delivered his first pitch to Renteria, the Sox shortstop pivoted and steered the ball toward Mora, who might as well have been sitting in a Monster seat. By the time Mora collected the slow roller, he had no chance of erasing Renteria, who was hustling all the way out of the box.

''Two weeks ago that was an out," Renteria said with a smile. ''I wanted to be sure I didn't hit it to the pitcher or the catcher, so I put a little more into it."

Said Mora: ''He put it perfect. Not too many people can do that."

Six pitches later, Renteria enjoyed a mobbing at home, when David Ortiz hit a three-run blast that gave the Sox a 6-4 walkoff win. It was made possible by Renteria, who did something both altruistic and risky.

''It's hard to explain what a guy is like, but what a great example of a team play, something out of the ordinary and something that takes a lot of guts to do," said Sox starter Matt Clement, who didn't get the decision and remains unbeaten at 6-0. ''Because if you don't hit the bunt right, the game's over, and you don't want to end the game on a bunt.

''To know that we got a great chance with David or Manny [Ramirez] up there and to be unselfish and make that play, that's what he's all about."

Bunting to third base might appear to be a third-rail play, but Renteria is smart enough to know that the odds were better of him reaching by bunt than by swinging the bat. That's nothing against his hitting ability. It's fact. He was 56 for 200 this season going into that at-bat, meaning he'd gotten a hit in 28 percent of his official at-bats. Furthermore, he was just 2 for 17 (.118) in the series to that point.

Drop down a bunt, he figured, and his odds of succeeding were north of 50 percent.

''If you try to bunt, and that's not a base hit, it's still a great play," Renteria reasoned. ''That's not in their mind. They're thinking I'm going to try to hit a homer. Against a great pitcher, you have to put the ball in play. I saw him and the bag and tried to bunt."

The bunt single was only the third by the team this season (two by Renteria, one by Johnny Damon).

''When Edgar is walking to the plate, he's watching everybody," Ortiz said. ''And he doesn't miss a second of the game. He knows what his role is when he's hitting second."

Which is, get on, and get out of the way. Funny to think that Renteria injured himself earlier this season attempting to drop down a run-of-the-mill sacrifice bunt in Detroit.

''I almost burned my finger [yesterday]," he joked, referring to the day in Detroit when he squared around and took the pitch off his right index finger, bruising it. ''I got the confidence back. Right now I feel so much comfort."

Renteria's average is now .284, having cooled a bit since he peaked at .295 with his scintillating 10-for-12 performance in the three-game series in New York.

''I knew it would be a matter of time before everybody would see what the real Edgar Renteria is all about," Clement said. ''To me, that [bunt] is as great an example as the whole weekend he had in New York."