Projo Sox Blog

BOSTON -- The chances of Nick Green making the playoff roster are decreasing by the day, and the odds of Jed Lowrie being the team's utility infielder against Anaheim are rising.

The two leading possibilities to be the playoff utilityman have taken divergent paths over the last 24 hours.

A dejected Green stood in the clubhouse Thursday, disappointed in the way his back injury hindered his ability to play defense in the pregame infield session. Meanwhile Lowrie stood nearby, tentative but hopeful about how his wrist responded to hitting lefty Wednesday.

In a world of perfect health, Green would probably be the top choice for the utilityman spot. But in the past month, disk and nerve issues in his back have sapped the strength in Green's leg, and he can't move around the infield the way he wants. He took infield practice Thursday and didn't injure himself further, but he clearly didn't feel ready to play the infield in a playoff game.

"Nothing was bad, it just wasn't what I wanted," said Green. "I wanted to go out there and take ground balls like I'd normally take ground balls, and I didn't do it as well as I should, the way I wanted it to be. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't what I wanted.

"It wasn't a step back -- I think my expectations are higher than they should be, probably. Any time you have high expectations and things don't turn out the way you want them to, it's always disappointing."

The advantages Green provides at shortshop are speed and range. He isn't particularly sure-handed, his arm isn't the most accurate, and he's not a natural shortstop, so if he's physically limited it saps much of his value.

Green needs to get into game action this weekend to have any shot of making the playoff roster, but the prospect of even that is growing bleaker.

"I'm still trying to shoot for the weekend, but I don't know how realistic that is," Green said, acknowledging that now the focus may shift to being healthy in time for a potential American League Championship Series.

Lowrie, on the other hand, is showing signs that he could have value in limited action, which may be all Boston needs if his role is to be purely the utility man providing late-inning defense and right-handed pinch hit at-bats.

"I feel comfortable doing that," he said. "I've told [management] that, I played third [Wednesday] night, went over to short, I've taken some ground balls at second."

If a serious injury fells one of the starters, and Lowrie is needed for more extended duty, it could be a problem. Lowrie is technically a switch-hitter, but right now he's one who can't switch.

Following April wrist surgery, Lowrie can hit from the right side without a problem, and, seemingly, from the left for limited spurts. In one of his first lefty at-bats in a month Wednesday, Lowrie hit a hard line drive to center field, a promising sign. But then his wrist started to fatigue, and the inflammation he feels after overuse returned.

"My first at-bat I was a little tentative, that was the first left-handed at-bat I've had in a long time," he said. "Second at-bat, I took a real good swing, and at that point, the adrenaline kind of wore off. And then those game swings, and then it kind of started to go back to what it was. The inflammation came back, and I started to feel it in my hand a little bit."

He thinks he could hit lefty once in a game, but more than that might be pushing it.

"I don't think it's so much that, left-handed, I couldn't do one pinch-hit at bat, or one at-bat at the end of the game," he said.

These meaningless end-of-season games are a good test to see how Lowrie's body responds the day after to regular work. Thursday he seemed to show no ill effects, said manager Terry Francona.

"He feels it a little bit," Francona said. "I thought he swung the bat pretty well. I think in his last at-bat, he felt like he was fatiguing a little bit, which is a concern. But I thought he played pretty well. Early on, I thought he looked a little bit rusty. But as he got into the game, I thought he started moving around a little bit better."

Chances are, Lowrie's greatest worth will come as a defensive replacement, and so he's been trying to get as much work as possible around the infield. Wednesday, the natural shortstop played third, and while he made several diving stops, his first few throws were erratic. Then he seemed to settle down.

"That first couple of innings at third, I hadn't been over there in a while, I hadn't made the plays. But after I made a couple plays, it felt okay. The throws are different, but once you get back out there, it's like riding a bike," Lowrie said.

He'll need more work at second base to be a true utilityman, and he's taking grounders at the position during infield practice.

"Second base, I played second base all through college, and I know that's not major-league level, but I still have that memory and the footwork to go off of," Lowrie said.

With his left-side hitting still weak, some have wondered whether Lowrie could just try hitting right-handed pitchers from the right side of the plate. Lowrie said, chances are, that's not going to happen.

"Whether I could hit right handed against a righty during a game, I haven't done it since Little League. That's an answer I don't really have for you," he said.

Lowrie is batting .145 with one home run and seven RBI in 29 games this season. Green is hitting .236 with six home runs and 35 RBI in 101 games. If neither one can play, Chris Woodward is also a possibility to be the team's utility infielder, but even Green or Lowrie at less than 100 percent are believed to have the edge over Woodward.

-- DANIEL BARBARISI

 Tags  Boston Red Sox Dan Barbarisi Jed Lowrie Nick Green Terry Francona

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