ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Reggie Sanders usually has as much fun in the postseason as the rest of us do going to the dentist for a double root canal.

	Reggie Sanders broke out of a career-long postseason slump with his two hits.

Entering the World Series, he was 5-for-34 in the playoffs this year, including an 0-for-17 stretch that got him moved down in the San Francisco lineup and then benched for Game 5 of the National League Championship Series.

Yep, Reggie Sanders usually enjoys the postseason like he does a visit from the IRS.

Before Saturday, he was 23-for-126 in his postseason career -- a miserable .183 average -- with just two home runs and six RBI.

If Reggie Jackson is Mr. October, Reggie Sanders has been Mr. Whifftober. The quintessential Sanders moment has seen him walking back to the dugout after yet another strikeout. He once fanned 10 times in 16 at-bats in an NLCS.

He had another strikeout Saturday night. But he also had an official World Series Frozen Moment -- a second-inning home run off Jarrod Washburn that may prove to be one of the most important hits of the World Series.

The red-clad, thunder sticks-waving, monkey-loving crowd in Anaheim was still buzzing over Barry Bonds' long blast to right field when Sanders stepped to the plate one out later.

Sanders took ball one, then unloaded a drive to right-center. Darin Erstad and Tim Salmon raced after it, but the ball cleared the fence to give the Giants a 2-0 lead.

"Barry got us started with his home run," Sanders said. "He hit a fastball that was up and in. For myself, it was a fastball away. When I go to right field with authority, I know my swing is going well."

Sanders needed that hit. The Giants needed that hit.

Considering San Francisco's weak bench, Dusty Baker is unlikely to sit Sanders again, as he did in the clinching win over St. Louis in the NLCS and as Arizona manager Bob Brenly did in Game 7 of last year's World Series, even though Sanders had been second on the Diamondbacks with 33 home runs and 90 RBI during the 2001 regular season.

The Giants will have to live and whiff with Sanders. In Game 1, they lived. Sanders had another key hit when he singled with two outs in the sixth inning, just before J.T. Snow hit a two-run homer that put San Francisco up 4-1.

That at-bat was something not usually seen from Sanders in the postseason. He got in a one-ball, two-strike hole, fouled off a pitch, took another pitch just off the plate for a ball and then lined a sharp single to left field.

Sanders said the benching in the NLCS and the down time before the World Series helped him.

"That day off that Dusty gave me and the four days off gave me time to work on some things," he said. "The key was getting in good hitting position early."

Benito Santiago delivered some clutch hits in the first two rounds of the playoffs, but relying on the 37-year-old catcher to keep producing while hitting behind Bonds may be wishful thinking. That's why the Giants need Sanders to produce.

It's also why Baker inserted his right fielder back in the lineup, and back in the sixth spot in the batting order.

"This is definitely a very good ballpark to hit in," Sanders said. "It's a big difference from our park (the toughest home-run park in the National League)."

Of course, considering Sanders' postseason history, he may be a little biased in favor of Edison Field.

You can't blame him.

David Schoenfield is ESPN.com's baseball editor.