DETROIT - As the Red Sox eagerly anticipate the return of Jed Lowrie, the starting shortstop job has been less of a platoon between Julio Lugo and Nick Green lately. Though Lugo is getting healthier by the day, and working before games to improve his range with infield coach Tim Bogar, he has begun each of the last three games on the bench.
"I'm here," Lugo said. "I'm ready. When he asks me to play, I'll be ready. I ain't going to worry about it anymore. Everything is fine, everything is perfect. I feel good mentally, physically. That's his choice.
"Of course, I want to be out there every day. I'm ready to be out there every day. I feel good now. Everything's fine. I think I'm playing good right now."
But not good enough. It's a decision that manager Terry Francona said he has been agonizing over lately, as he has tried to right the ship both offensively and defensively after a difficult start to the road trip.
"That's the hard one," Francona said. "I think Greenie's played pretty good. I also understand that Julio needs to play. That's just something I'm fighting.
"I've asked Julio to be patient because we're scrambling trying to get every win we can. Greenie's done some good things. That doesn't mean we've forgotten about Julio. Just trying to do the best, what we think is right for the team."
At the plate, Green was tested early in last night's game, failing to get anyone home with the bases loaded and one out in the second inning. He popped to first, and the Sox did not score in the inning.
"We're trying to take two guys and make the best we can," said Francona. "Like I said, it's not always the easiest. I don't think Lugo's probably the most thrilled."
With Lugo coming off knee surgery, he is still trying to regain his athleticism. The manager said Lugo's stride has been slightly different when running.
"We're getting closer to him being to the point where he would pitch for us," Francona said. "We're thrilled with his progress and we'll make it work."
Other than "dealing with the old normal 42-year-old achy back," Smoltz said, he was pleased with his last start, and accomplished everything he wanted. He expects to throw about six or seven innings and 90 pitches next time.
He's trying not to look far beyond that, especially to June 16, potentially the date of his first start for the Sox.
"There's going to come a time when I'm going to stop visiting these other cities, and I'll be pretty grateful for it," said Smoltz.
"It was scurrying and scampering around," he said. "I want no part of that."
It made for some quality ribbing, though.
"I told Pedey it looked like - anybody have AOL, they have that celebrity look-alike? - when he was behind him at second, that's what it reminded me of," Francona said.
Earlier, the squirrel climbed a scoreboard in right-center to avoid pursuit, then ventured into the bushes in straightaway center. After it returned, it was chased into the Sox dugout.
"That was pretty funny," Pedroia said. "I've never seen a squirrel running around. I got made fun of pretty much half the game.
"That was pretty much a distraction the whole night for me.
"It was kind of cool seeing that thing running around. Our hunting guys on our team, they were licking their chops."
"From a personal standpoint, I guess it's a little anticlimactic because I thought it was about three weeks ago," Francona said. "That's how much I've been paying attention to that.
"I think what it means is that I'm really lucky to be part of an organization with a lot of players that have really been good, and do it with a staff that probably helps me out more than I help them. That's probably what it means to me."
His players were happy to offer their congratulations.
"That's quite an accomplishment," said Pedroia. "Hopefully there's a lot more wins, many more than 500 for him."
Amalie Benjamin can be reached at abenjamin@globe.com. 
