Sox's Lugo shrugs off his slow start

There was a time not too long ago when shortstop Julio Lugo was the Red Sox offensive player taking more heat from the fans than any other player on the team as his batting average slipped to .189.

At one point, he went hitless in 33 at-bats and had just three hits in 46 at-bats with no RBI in 15 games, and as a free agent signed more for his bat than his glove, a lot of people were questioning the wisdom of parting with defensive whiz Alex Gonzalez to go with the former Houston Astro, Tampa Bay Devil Ray and Los Angeles Dodger.

But lately, even with the team struggling as a whole offensively, Lugo has been one of the team's top hitters.

Coming into the weekend series with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Lugo has gone 12-for-28 in his last seven games and his batting average has gone up nearly 50 points from that season low to its current .238.

"I had confidence in myself that I could do a lot better than I was doing," said Lugo. "I knew I was a better hitter than I showed, and I thought it was just a matter of time and sticking with it."

Lugo had a strong series against his former teammates this week, going 5-for-12 with three RBI and a run scored as the Red Sox took two out of three games from the Devil Rays.

On a night when the Sox were having trouble scoring runs in the series opener on Monday, Lugo led off the game with a single and scored the first run on a David Ortiz double. He also doubled home the second run of the game in the seventh inning.

On Wednesday, he was a big part of what was nearly a miraculous comeback from a 6-0 deficit with run-scoring doubles in the seventh and ninth innings, the latter making the score 6-5 and putting Lugo on second base with no outs, carrying the tying run.

The Sox couldn't get him around to score as reliever Al Reyes struck out Dustin Pedroia, Kevin Youkilis and Manny Ramirez to preserve the win for the team.

Lugo had played most of his big league career prior to this season, but it was just a continuation of the strong offense that Lugo has been providing.

"I'm sure he might be a little more pumped up to go against his former team and that's not hurting him, but I just think he is playing well right now and he is swinging the bat real well," said Red Sox manager Terry Francona during the Devil Rays series. "We figured he'd come around when he was struggling, and he has."

"I think they always had confidence in me and I have confidence in myself, and I'm helping the team more now," said Lugo. "One thing I was conscious of was not taking it out to the field when I wasn't hitting. I know there are other ways I can help the ballclub, and that's what I try to do."

In his most recent hot stretch, Lugo had driven in eight runs and had five doubles in those seven games as he continues his push to get up to .250, not bad for a guy who some people were wondering if he would ever even see .200 six weeks ago.

Batting average was never a problem for Lugo with the Devil Rays with a pair of seasons hitting .275, followed by a .295 season two years ago, and he was hitting .308 for the Devil Rays last season when he was traded to the Dodgers.

Now, he's just looking forward to helping the Red Sox hold on to their lead in the American League East and get into postseason play for the third time in his career (Astros in 2001 and Dodgers last season).

"The exciting thing about being here is knowing this team has a great chance to win and I want to be a part of that," said Lugo.