Night is day... Up is down... and Julio Lugo is good

Has anyone else noticed that Julio Lugo has played really really well since coming off of the DL?

Is that a sign of the apocalypse?

I mean isn't it a fact that Lugo is one of Theo Epstein's rare missteps?

Wasn't his 4 year $36 million contract worthy of constant head shaking?

Didn't we all give a sigh of relief when Lugo got hurt last year and Jed Lowrie started playing full time?

Now he's batting .333?
He has an OPS of .866?

He had a 5 hit game the other day and made a few nice defensive plays?

He seems to be on base when homers are hit?

How strange is this? When I saw Gil Velasquez in the game last night, I thought "Oh no! What happened to Lugo???"

If this works out and Lugo winds up having a terrific season, I will believe that Theo is incapable of error.

NEVER MIND GAME 7! START LESTER NOW!

A few people responded to my plea to start Lester in game 6 with a familiar refrain:

If you start Lester in game 6, what do you do in game 7?

My response:

GAME SEVEN?
There IS NO Game Seven!

There is ONLY game six!

It's a one game playoff.
What exactly are we saving for? If the Red Sox lose tonight, Lester can pitch on 5 months rest!

You have to play each game like it is the last one because IT COULD BE!!!

And you can't hold off the best team that you can field to save for a game this is not guaranteed.

In 2004, the Red Sox went into game 7 with no clue who they'd start.
Tito went with Lowe, who pitched wonderfully... but he got to that bridge when it mattered.

I'll give two other examples.

In the 1987 NLCS with the series between St. Louis and San Francisco tied at 3... Giants manager Roger Craig had a choice between Atlee Hammaker and Mike Krukow for game 7.

He went with Hammaker despite the fact that Krukow's complete game victory stymied the Cardinals in game 4.

Hammaker got rocked.
When asked why he went with Hammaker, Craig responded that he had Krukow penciled in for Game 1 of the World Series.

Well guess what? Krukow watched game 1 from his La-Z Boy!

And lest we forget last year Lou Piniella pulling Carlos Zambrano early so he could be fresh for game 4 of the Division Series... only to see the Cubs get swept.

He was quite fresh in spring training.

There is no guarantee for a game 7... so put the best team on the field NOW! And if they need to start Gil Velazquez in game 7, I'm sure he's rested too!

Enjoy the view from the bench, Gil Velazquez

Unless you are a rabid Red Sox fan, you probably don't know who Gil Velazquez is.

Well I'll tell you... Gil was an infielder for the Pawtucket Red Sox.
He batted .260 with 10 homers. A career minor leaguer, he's been kicked around to a few organizations since 1998 before finally getting a shot in 3 games in the show for the Red Sox.

He singled a run in on a game against the Yankees on September 26th.

And he is on the active playoff roster.

That's right... he can play in a post season game.
The Red Sox needed an infielder when Mike Lowell went down and Gil fit the bill.

And when the Sox were blown out in games 3 and 4... I really thought Francona was going to send in Gil for an at bat.

Come on! It's 9-1... its 13-4... why send Jacoby Ellsbury up for a meaningless at bat when a career minor leaguer can have the apex of his career.

Well, we found out why.
No lead is safe.
No 7-0 lead in the 7th is safe.

Gil, if you couldn't get in those games, you aren't getting in.
Just enjoy the view buddy... you've got the best seat in the house.