There are plenty of reasons not to panic if you are a Boston Red Sox fans. But there is one reason to become upset, and it has little to do with the loss Wednesday night.

Regarding the loss, there is concern.

Regarding Julio Lugo's lack of hustle until it was too late, there is ... what shall we call it, disappointment, frustration, anger?

Why is it so hard to run hard out of the batter's box, no matter what you think the outcome should be?

I'm talking about the top of the seventh inning, when the Red Sox were down 2-1, and had bases loaded with two outs. Lugo looked like he hit into a sure out, a soft bouncer to short. But the ball took a funny bounce and was mishandled. But Lugo did not begin to sprint hard until he realized he might be safe.

He was thrown out.

If Lugo had run hard, especially with his speed, he would have been safe and the score would have been tied. Who knows what would have happened after that?

You can excuse a lot of things in a baseball loss, and say "that's baseball." But there is no excuse for Lugo.

We should not let Clay Buchholz off the hook entirely. I'm not talking about the ill-conceived and errant shuttle toss to third base. At least that was an "aggressive error." His other mistake was not being quicker to cover first base on a grounder in the fifth inning.

But I can excuse the new kid more than the big-money shortstop.

Lugo normally does hustle. And with the Red Sox needing a win to stop the slide, he chose a bad time not to.

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