Projo Sox Blog

Terry Francona's morning meeting included talk about two of the Red Sox shortstops.

Jed Lowrie, the guy who has been handling that role so well, is not in the starting lineup today. It is simply a day off. Lowrie played both games of the day-night doubleheader Saturday and the Sox are scheduled to face Tama Bay lefty Scott Kazmir tomorrow (which would make it harder to play Alex Cora) so today was a good time to give Lowrie a rest, the manager said.

``We try to keep everyone fresh,'' he said. ``We try always to keep in mind not running people into the ground.''

There was encouraging news for the Sox on Julio Lugo, the guy who began the season at short. There was, and still is, concern that Lugo might not be able to play again this year because of a torn quad in his left leg. However, Lugo took 15-20 ground balls between games Saturday and reports he is feeling better, so the Sox will take him on the road to Tampa Bay and Toronto this week.

``He's going to go with us on this trip because he's able to do baseball activities,'' Francona said. ``We're basically indoors the next six games. We have extra people with us so every night game we'll hit early. He can get out and get some work done at 2 or 2:30 and we can get a better gauge of where he is.

``He's doing a good job. He's worked hard the whole time. That's not been an issue,'' Francona said.

``I'll see what happens this week, but I feel a lot better,'' Lugo reported today.

``I'm not at the point where I've turned the corner yet, but the last four days I've felt more comfortable running. Probably this week is when I'll tell if I can push it hard to where I can play.''

Now, a weather update. . .

We've just witnessed one of those New England moments where if you don't like the weather, just wait a minute. We told you 45 minutes ago that it was pouring and foggy and awful. Well, now the rain has stopped, the sky is brightening (we can see the dome of the State House again from the press box), workers are out mopping dugouts, taking off the tarp and putting drying agents on the warning track.

 Tags  Jed Lowrie Julio Lugo Red Sox Terry Francona

Comments

Tom Clancy said:

You've got a different definition of "encouraging news" re: Lugo than the rest of us.

Link | September 14, 2008 1:44 PM
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