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July 1, 2007
Slumping shortstop Julio Lugo, who compounded his hitting woes (0 for 31) by making a poor baserunning decision as a pinch runner last night, is on the bench for the third straight game, again replaced in the starting lineup by Alex Cora.
Manager Terry Francona had a chat with him earlier today, and one topic of conversation was Lugo's ill-advised and unsuccessful attempt to steal third with two outs in the eighth, the Sox trailing by one run and .326 hitter Kevin Youkilis at the plate.
Lugo was thrown out by catcher Gerald Laird, on a one-hop throw, ending the inning. Lugo did not slide and was tagged out in a collision with third baseman Travis Metcalf.
Lugo did not make himself available to the media last night.
"He was trying to make something happen that wasn't there," said Francona a short time ago, noting that he spoke with Lugo today as opposed to right after last night's game when emotions would have been running higher.
"He didn't slide. That made it look bad. He thought it was a foul ball. He had his head down. A lot of things went wrong, but we were able to talk, which is good. You want to have those lines of communication open."
One major point Francona said he made with Lugo is that the Sox aren't quitting on him.
"We need to get him back in there, probably tomorrow, depending on what happens today," said Francona. "We need to get him going. I told him that. That's why we got him here."
-- Steven Krasner
Posted by Steven Krasner 
at 12:08 PM | Permalink
