Lugo taking criticism about play at short

"I feel fine," he said. "People think I'm bad on my knee. I got a good jump on the ball, dove, couldn't get it. I'm fine."

The Red Sox shortstop laid himself out for three ground balls in Friday night's 5-1 loss to the Texas Rangers. He got to one of them but couldn't make the throw. The other two got under his glove and led to runs, which led to boos.

But Lugo said, "Every time you guys want to get on me for a play like that, I'll take it. Because my effort - it was a diving play, I didn't come up with it - there's nothing else I can do."

He didn't knock the fans or the media for their criticism.

"I'll tell you the truth, I think fans are being fair to me," he said. "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.

"It's tough. Nobody wants to be booed. Not me. Not anybody. Sometimes the only person who knows what's going on - why you missed a ball - is you, because you're the only one out there. Those fans, they just want you to make the play.

"At the same time, I ain't making excuses. It's not fair to anyone. Not me, not anybody. If you try to make a play like that and you get destroyed by you guys the next day, that's not fair.

"You guys can say whatever you want. I can take it. I'm a human being. I've got feelings but I can take it. Because I go out there and I work my [expletive] off.

"I don't care how many errors, how many strikeouts I've got. I ain't the guy that if I go 0 for 20 I feel sorry for myself. No. I go to sleep every day good, because I do my best."

Lugo had a chance to help his pitcher, Brad Penny, out of a first-and-second situation with two outs in the fifth, when Elvis Andrus shot a ball in the hole between short and third. It looked like Lugo would get there, but baserunner Marlon Byrd had to hop over the ball.

"I just got blinded by the runner," Lugo said. "I was playing him a little more up the middle. I was going that way, but I just got kind of blinded by the runner. I still thought I had a good jump."

The play allowed Byrd to score and extended the inning long enough for Ian Kinsler to hit a three-run homer.

An inning later, with a man on and two outs, Byrd sent a ball up the middle that sneaked under Lugo's mitt. Chris Young followed with an RBI double.

"You try for one, it doesn't work," Lugo said. "You try for another, it doesn't work. You've got to keep trying again. It doesn't mean you're going to come up with it."

The will to work is there. Red Sox manager Terry Francona said Lugo consistently takes the field early to work with infield coach Tim Bogar. The team is also evaluating where things stand. "How can we get better," Francona said.

"I think there's times when we have a little different opinion of where he is."

Lugo, for what it's worth, is always looking for feedback.

"Communication, I don't think, is bad," Francona said. "I don't think he always likes what I tell him. That's the best way I can put it.

"We're all trying to do our job the best we can, and because you see something as a manger or as a coach, it doesn't mean you look down on that guy as a person. It's just we're trying to win as many games as we can."

As far as handling the criticism, Lugo said, "Everybody makes errors. If you want to boo someone for making an error, that's tough on you, because everyone makes errors. If you want to boo someone for striking out, who would want to strike out? Who would want to make an error? If you want to boo, go ahead."

Julian Benbow can be reached at jbenbow@globe.com.