Steady as he goes

Jed Lowrie hit .157 over the final half month of the season, raising questions and concerns about his value in the playoffs. The Red Sox had asked a lot of Lowrie in his rookie season. He played every game in August. He batted in every position but leadoff. He had never played baseball this frequently or this intensely, and his body wore down.

Lowrie recalled some advice he was once given when he played college ball at Stanford: “Anybody can play when it’s going well. If you’re hitting .400, anybody can play. But you really find out who you are as a player when you’re not playing.”

Lowrie, and the Red Sox, know just what kind of player he is. He is, at 24, poised, clutch, and resilient, a relentlessly competent and versatile infielder who understands how to come through when needed most. Lowrie bounced back from his swoon with a solid playoffs. He drove in the final run in the ALDS and the first run in the ALCS. Tonight, in Game 2 at Tropicana Field, the Red Sox will count on his steadiness to continue.

Lowrie has a .286 average – only J.D. Drew, Kevin Youkilis, and Jason Bay are better on the Red Sox. He has two RBIs – only Jacoby Ellsbury and Bay have more. Once mired in a slump, Lowrie made himself a primary playoff contributor.

“This is a hard game,” Lowrie said. “Baseball, this is a tough game. It’s just about maintaining that steady approach. It’s easy to say, but hard to do. In September, I didn’t have a lot to show for it, but I felt like I had some good at-bats. I scuffled a little bit. But I came in with some confidence.”

He could think back to his success with men on base. Lowrie hit .297 as a rookie with runners in scoring position. He came up 74 times in that situations, and he knocked in 41 runs. He said he bears down in pressure situations, tries to focus a little harder.

“Yeah. I think everybody does,” Lowrie said. “Just try to keep it simple, and do what it takes to get the run in.”

Last night offered a perfect example. He came to the plate in the fifth inning, men on second and third, 0-0 score, no outs, James Shields on the mound. “He’s a guy that’s able to manipulate his fastball – he throws cutters, two-seamers,” Lowrie said. He’s got a good curveball and an outstanding changeup. In the back of my mind, I know that changeup is his out pitch, especially to lefties.”

Lowrie fell behind 0-2, and he knew what to expect – Shileds’s changeup, perhaps the league’s best. Shileds threw one. “He left it up enough for me to get it to right field.” More than deep enough. Bay scored with ease, and the Red Sox had their first run.

The Rays later in the game proved how difficult it can be for a playoff neophyte to deliver in that situation. In the seventh and eighth innings, the Rays put two men on with no outs, including a man on third in the seventh. Dioner Navarro, who is the same age as Lowrie and has the same scant playoff experience, worked to a two-strike count. He lofted a ball to left, but not deep enough. Eventually, all four base runners from those two innings never moved.

Playoff games are won and lost in scenarios like that. And Lowre, a rookie who two weeks ago couldn’t extricate himself from a vicious slump, is showing two teams how to deliver.

“That’s part of growing up as a player, being able to deal with situations like that,” Lowrie said. “You have to know yourself as player.”