Julio Lugo

 

            I’m going to start off on a negative:  Julio Lugo is not the best player on the Boston Red Sox.  When we first acquired him from the LA Dodgers during the off-season before the ’07 year, we had just been through several different shortstops since losing the former Sox legend NOMAH (that’s Nomar Garciaparra, for those of you who didn’t watch the disappointing 90’s-early 00’s Red Sox), including Championship player Orlando Cabrera, who was let go after the World Series, Edgar Renteria who the Sox paid to leave after a 30 error season, and defensive superstar (not so much offensive, however) Alex Gonzalez.

            At the start of the ’07 season, Lugo was less than good.  His defense was shaky at best, and his batting was terrible.  Sox manager Terry Francona had acquired Lugo in order to have a strong leadoff hitter, but soon Francona had moved the inconsistent shortstop to the bottom of the order because he struggled to get on base.  Throughout the season last year, Lugo recorded 19 errors and 82 strikeouts-many of which came in his 0 for 33 slump from June 15^th to July 3^rd.  At this point I had little faith in the surprisingly seasoned shortstop from the Dominican Republic.  I think columnist Tom Elitch put it best with his phrase, “Lugo for 4,” playing off Lugo’s common 0 for 4 batting stats.  He had played since being drafted by the Houston Astros in 2000, but at that time he was playing like a fresh rookie with no experience at all.  I know every player gets in slumps, like Big Papi did to start off this current season, but not reaching base in thirty-three at bats is pretty low.

            However, when Lugo did get on base, he was often a force to be reckoned with.  Last season he recorded just as many steals as at-bats he had during his slump: that’s right, an impressive 33 stolen bases.  The speedy shortstop also had 36 doubles.  Also, after his 0-33 slump, Julio turned it around with a 14-game hitting streak which raised his abysmal .136 batting average up to a decent, not great, .226.  He finished the ’07 season with an average of .237.  Not amazing, not terrible, just an average average.

            Julio Lugo helped out enough in the Red Sox playoffs last year on the way to the World Series.  He had 13 hits, including three doubles, and a stolen base with a .271 average.  This season, Lugo has been doing better, with a .283 average, 8 RBIs, and 30 hits.  Unfortunately, his defense is still only average, and he has 10 errors already this season.  Hopefully his D will undergo a change like his offense did last year.

                Now for some highlights in the last week:  Second baseman Dustin Pedroia had three hits in Saturday’s game against the Rays, rookie Brandon Moss had an appendectomy on the same day, and Jon Lester won another Sunday during the Celtics’ slaughter of Game 7, bringing the pitcher’s record to 2-2.  Next week, look out for two blogs coming your way.