Kent Leaves Giants Some Parting Gifts

SAN FRANCISCO -- If this was his last night at Pac Bell Park, his last night as a Giant, his last night as an uncomfortable, confrontational, uneasy but well-matched teammate with Barry Bonds, then Jeff Kent can walk away proud of his performance.

It might be nice if he walked the Dodgers way. Kent hints that he wouldn’t mind playing in Southern California. The Dodgers could use a second baseman. Whether they want one who is going to command substantially more than the $6 million he made this year, one who has been involved in his share of controversial incidents, who is considered by some teammates as prickly, is a question for another day.

On this day Kent, who grew up in Orange County and went to high school at Huntington Beach Edison and who will file for free agency as soon as the season is over, hit two home runs, he drove in four runs, he scored four runs. He was the catalyst in the Giants’ 16-4 hammering of the Angels.

His first home run took the fight out of the Angels, who had gained some momentum and hope after knocking a 6-0 deficit down to 6-4. Kent’s blast in the bottom of the sixth, with two outs and Rich Aurilia on base, caused Ben Weber, the pitcher he clobbered, to drop his head and the shoulders of all the Angels standing at the dugout railing to sag, a choreographer’s dance line of dejected high-steppers.

Kent’s second blast was just piling on, part of a late-inning walloping of the Angels’ sadly exhausted relief pitching staff.

And after leaving Fox announcers at a loss when he refused to be their postgame guest, Kent sat on the back of a chair in front of his locker getting a little teary and a bit nostalgic.

While he hasn’t said he definitely won’t be a Giant next year, Kent kept saying, “If this was my last game ... “ with certainty that it was instead of hoping that it wasn’t.

“If this was the end,” Kent said, “I didn’t want to disrespect the other team, but I wanted to look around and try to let the fans who have supported me know how much they meant.

“If this was my last game, yeah, there is some nostalgia and, yeah, I felt that a little bit.”

Until Wednesday night at Pac Bell, Kent hadn’t been having a good series. He was batting .231 with three hits, one a home run for his only RBI, against Angel pitching. He was making it easier for the Angels to intentionally walk Barry Bonds. He was a quiet man in the corner of the clubhouse, not saying much and not wanting to.

Last Monday, the off day before the Series started here, Kent had told the media that he was already reflecting on how he might not be playing here much longer.

“I’ve been thinking about that for three weeks now,” Kent said, “ever since we started the playoffs. You think about all the possibilities but none of them have come true yet.”

Kent, 34, is the only second baseman in history to have gathered 100 RBIs or more in six straight seasons. No. 6 was this year. He is a three-time All-Star. He is one of only four Giants in history to have six straight 100-RBI seasons. The other three -- Willie Mays, Mel Ott and Bill Terry -- are in the Hall of Fame and are beloved in San Francisco.

That sort of love has not come to Kent in San Francisco. He has been Bond’s nemesis. There has been animosity -- a fight in the dugout during a game against San Diego in June was only the most recent ugliness between the two. There has been jealousy -- both fought for the 2000 MVP award that Kent won and Kent has felt that Giant management and some fans have chosen to favor the moody home run hitter over himself.

And Kent didn’t help himself when he may have fudged the reason he broke a bone in his wrist during spring training and tried to sell the story that he broke it while washing his truck. Another version of the story was that he broke it doing tricks on his motorcycle.

“All that stuff doesn’t need to be rehashed,” Kent said. “It’s hard to think about all that now. It’s hard to think about what comes next. It’s an emotional time right now because we’re doing something special, we’re one more win from something special and you forge some different bonds during a run like this.”

While Giant owner Peter Magowan has said that he wants to keep the nucleus of this Giants team together -- and Kent is part of the nucleus -- Magowan was also vocally unhappy with Kent after the broken wrist incident and has expressed reluctance in paying Kent what he will probably be offered by some other team, say, the Dodgers.

As Kent continued to talk, the more he said, “If this is my last game here,” his nose and eyes became red. He sniffed a bit, he put his head down. He put his hands over his eyes.

“I’d like to think, if this is my last game,” he said, “that I gave a good effort and did things right, just came out and played the game and made things happen. That’s how I’d want fans here to remember me, that I was just a guy who came out every day and did things right and played the game.”

Diane Pucin can be reached at diane.pucin@latimes.com

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On a Run

*--* Most individual runs scored in a World Series game: No Player Team Date 4 Jeff Kent San Francisco Oct. 24, 2002 4 Lenny Dykstra Philadelphia Oct. 20, 1993 4 Carney Lansford Oakland Oct. 27, 1989 4 Kirby Puckett Minnesota Oct. 24, 1987 4 Reggie Jackson N.Y. Yankees Oct. 18, 1977 4 Enos Slaughter St. Louis Oct. 10, 1946 4 Frankie Crosetti N.Y. Yankees Oct. 2, 1936 4 Earle Combs N.Y. Giants Oct. 2, 1932 4 Babe Ruth N.Y. Yankees Oct. 6, 1926

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