But the Sox may also have gone too far with Lugo, the slumping shortstop who whiffed with two on and two out in the eighth inning of a tie game.
Why did Francona elect to let Lugo, despite his crippling hitless streak, bat for himself against Brandon Morrow, who is in his first full season of pro ball? It was either that, Francona said, or send up a lefthanded pinch hitter, Alex Cora or Eric Hinske, to face a lefthanded reliever.
Seattle's best lefty, George Sherrill, already had been used -- Mike Hargrove had sent him to get David Ortiz, and for the second straight game, Sherrill was up to the task, retiring Ortiz on a fly ball with two on and one out in the seventh. Warming up in the Mariners' bullpen was one Ryan Rowland-Smith, a rookie lefthander from Australia who has the distinction of being the first player with a hyphenated last name to appear in a big league game. That makes him one out of about 17,000, which these days is about the odds of Lugo getting a hit.
Rowland-Smith, who pitched in the 2004 Olympics for Sox scout Jon Deeble, the man who is partly responsible for Matsuzaka being in a Red Sox uniform, has 2 1/3 innings of big league experience. And they weren't especially pretty. He'd given up three hits and two runs -- two hits and two runs in a blowout victory over the Sox Monday.
Nonetheless, Francona didn't want to see Rowland-Smith in the game. He sent Lugo to the plate. His decision looked savvy when the first three pitches were balls. It looked less so when Lugo went down swinging to extend his hitless streak to 0 for 31, dropping his batting average to a major league-low .190.
"The eighth inning seems like it was about three hours ago," Francona said when asked about his decision. "I honestly don't remember now. Walk me through the eighth."
