Julio Lugo Speaks Out

Julio Lugo says his leg feels fine and he is satisfied with his range at shortstop. But he is annoyed at the media and frustrated at not playing every day.

[W]hatever the managers put out there, that's what you have to do, because if they don't put me in there, I can't go take my glove and at 7:05 just run to the shortstop. I have to wait until they put me in, and I'm not going to stress it. ...

It's tough. I mean, nobody wants to be booed -- not me, not anybody -- and sometimes the only person who knows what's going on and why you miss a ball is you, because you're the only one out there. You know what happened. Those fans, they just want you to make the play. They don't understand sometimes that you make an effort. At the same time, I ain't making excuses, not at all. I ain't making excuses. It's not fair to anyone, not me, anybody. If you try to make a play like that and you get destroyed by [the media] the next day, it's not fair.

I mean, you guys can say whatever you want. I can take it. I'm a human being, I got feelings, but I can take it because you know what, I go out there, I work my [behind] off. ... I love Boston, man. I love it. There's nowhere else you want to play. I love it. And I tell you the truth, I think fans will be OK with me. I signed here because they want to see Julio Lugo hitting the ball, going crazy making plays. Sometimes you deserve to be booed, sometimes you don't. But I love it here.

Francona:

[T]he last thing I'm ever going to do is sit and pick a player's game apart publicly, because it doesn't help us. [The media is] good at it, anyways. ... Players, I don't know it's always fair to ask them to self-evaluate. That's our job. They're going out there trying to win. So, on the flip side, we do what we think is right, and we tell them, because I think it's fair. That's kind of how we've always done it. They don't always have to agree. ...

I don't know what I envision [at shortstop in the future], to be honest with you. We're trying to win. We're trying to balance now with down the road. [I'm] not saying I don't respect a media person's opinion. As a media person, you can have an opinion right now. If you're wrong, you can change it next week. Sometimes we need to not just jump at an opinion, and try to see things through.