FanHouse Slump

Blame it on youth. Blame it on this stupid, friggin' game. Blame it on what you will, but whatever the cause, the end result is a dreaded "slump," and Anthony Kim is dead in the middle of one.

If Tiger Woods' current "slump" is the equivalent of a decent bottle of Johnny Walker green (not the best, but not all bad), Kim is currently sipping on Early Times Whiskey and not liking it. Coming off 2008, when Kim won two times on the PGA Tour, his play this year after the first event (a t-2 at the Mercedes) has been rather humdrum. One top-10, three top-25s and a missed cut at the Players Championship that included a second-round 82.

As we've noted before here at FanHouse, things haven't been going so well for Julio Lugo. He'd been in an 0-for-33 slump, batting .189 -- roughly what Stephen Hawking would hit if he were in the AL East -- and quickly becoming the last guy you'd want to see with a bat in his hand when a key hit was needed.

But it all ended last night, as Lugo collected two hits against his former team the Devil Rays, raising his average to a robust .194, and ending the longest Sox slump since 1991.

Of course, with the benefit of a 10-and-a-half game cushion in the AL East, Lugo got more support than death threats from Boston fans. Monday night they chanted his name when he came to the plate with the bases loaded. Last night, they gave him a lengthy standing O when he finally connected.

"That felt good. (Monday) night was really special for me," Lugo said. "I'm a guy who's going to go out there and give 100 percent every day. Fans see that and appreciate it. That built me up a lot. Things had to change. Because these people deserve for me to play good."

If he can somehow get that average up over .200 by the end of today's Fourth of July matinee game, that'd be pretty much all the fireworks we need here in Boston.