On a list professional athletes ranked by popularity in the Boston area, Julio Lugo’s name can probably be found somewhere in between James Worthy and Aaron Boone.  So, you can imagine the gamut of emotions currently roiling through our collective mindset right now, after witnessing Lugo deliver a game-winning pinch-hit single in the 11th inning last night.

Lugo is now hitting .301/.365/.388.  Say what you want about him, but the guy gets on base, just as he did last year.  And, for all of the talk about him improving his offensive game over the offseason, we may have some more evidence of that actually happening: Lugo’s line drive percentage is at a career high of 24.4%, while his ground ball percentage is at a career low of 37.2%.  Some of this trend can probably be chalked up to the standard errors one would expect to find in a small sample of data.  But, he definitely looks better at the plate than he did in his first two seasons here.

Defensively, he’s still shaky.  But, when faced with the question of which player the team should jettison to make room for Jed Lowrie, I’m not sure Julio Lugo is the clear cut answer.

Do you think Nick Green will outperform Lugo in the second half of 2009?  Before you answer, look long and hard at their respective track records.

Comments are closed