BOSTON –– Not many players can sustain streaks in baseball.

Whether it’s offense, defense, or pitching, extended streaks don’t happen very often.

Red Sox center fielder, and leadoff man, Jacoby Ellsbury is in the midst of a hitting streak. With his double in the bottom of the second inning Sunday afternoon off Mets starter Tim Redding, Ellsbury extended his streak to 19 games.

So what are the intangibles a player needs to be consistent during a streak? Is it focus, or is it luck?

“First, he has to be good. It’s probably different for other people,” said Red Sox manager Terry Francona. “I think what makes streaks special, if they get to that point, is doing it in the course of playing the game right. If you have a hitting streak going, and you feel like swinging at a 3-0 pitch when you’re down eight, I think it loses some of its allure.”

Francona mentioned Ellsbury’s streak of 16 stolen bases as an example.

“You didn’t see Jacoby steal third too many times when we were up four. You play the game in the context of how its supposed to be played, and when some things happen that are good, it makes them even better. My point it to play the game right and when hitting streaks happen, it makes it better because it’s in the context of playing the game right.”

It seems only certain players can handle the pressure of such  streaks. Ellsbury is obviously one of them, and teammate Kevin Youkilis is, too.

Youkilis has a knack of stringing together different streaks, including reaching base and errorless games. He’s the co-owner of pro baseball’s record for reaching base safely in 71 straight games, while in the minors in 2003. He matched Kevin Millar’s mark.

In 2008, Youkilis set a major-league record with 238 errorless games on 2,002 chances.

“I think everybody would love to have the so-called pressure of that,” said Francona. “It’s got to be fun to come to the ballpark when you have some kind of streak on the line because when you wake up on a Sunday morning and you’re tired, but you get a little kick in the pants - I would think that would be tremendous.”

Francona had a 27-game hitting streak, all singles, in 1988 while playing for the Indians.

“Try it the other way when you haven’t had a hit in a week. Trying to end that streak isn’t a whole lot of fun,” he said.

Replay strikes again

Francona was asked Sunday morning for his impressions of instant replay on home run balls.

The Red Sox and Mets were involved in the first-ever under-review play at Fenway Park Saturday night since the rule’s inception late last season and it didn’t go in favor of the Sox.

In the top of the ninth inning, the Mets’ Omir Santos hit a ball off Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon that barely made it over the left-field wall and into the first row of Monster seats. It was originally called a double, but after review the proper call of a home run was made.

"I didn’t like [having replay] last night," said Francona. "I guess, for the most part, a home run should be a home run. I understand it. It was anticlimactic because I know what I saw."

It happened again on Sunday.

It marked the first time the replay was used at the same ballpark in consecutive games since it was instituted on Aug. 28, 2008.

In the top of the fifth inning, the Sox’ Kevin Youkilis crushed a high fly ball that appeared to be fair just above the left-field foul pole. Crew chief and third-base umpire, Joe West, called it foul. That brought Francona out of the dugout to argue the call and ask for the umpires to review it.

They did and the call stayed the same.

"I thought it was a fair ball," said Youkilis. "I don’t know how the reviews work, but when I hit it, and the way it went around, I thought it was fair ball. The call was foul and I guess there was no good camera angle, so I guess you have to go with the first call."

While the play was under review, Youkilis stood on second base. The rule is once the play is under review no one on the field can move. The players are told to stay where they are, so play can resume immediately.

"I stayed at second base because I didn’t want to run around the bases again," Youkilis said with laugh. "I'd rather stay at second. It would have been weird to run around the bases from home plate, and drop the bat. So I thought it was the right thing to do."

He had his revenge in the seventh with a three-run homer that cleared the Monster in left-center field.

When asked if he thought about asking West if that one was fair or foul, Youkilis wasn’t going there.

"If I asked Joe West that, I would probably be thrown out of the game. No chance. He’s not a guy you want to joke around with," he said. "There are certain things you can do in this game, and there are certain things you can’t do. You have to know when and where to say things. Hopefully I won’t end up with 199 home runs."

Lugo not happy

Red Sox manager Terry Francona hinted prior to Saturday’s game against the Mets that Julio Lugo would be in the lineup for the series finale on Sunday because it was a day game after a night game.

The manager changed his mind.

Because Nick Green played well Saturday, especially defensively, Francona penciled him into the starting lineup again. Lugo, who has been struggling defensively, was clearly not happy with the situation in the clubhouse early Sunday morning.

When asked if he was hurt, he said everything was fine. When asked why he was not in the lineup, he walked away from a group of reporters saying: “Go ask Tito.”

The manager’s response was cut and dried.

“I thought Nick played a real good game,” Francona said. “We’re trying to play good baseball. Sometimes, I don’t want to say ‘going with the hot hand’ is appropriate because I actually think Lugo is swinging the bat okay. But I thought Nick really played good.”

The Red Sox are 17-6 when Green is in the starting lineup, but Francona isn’t putting too much emphasis on that stat.

“Well, 17-6 is pretty significant for me,” he said. “Anytime we have positive numbers it’s good, but I don’t know if you can hang the opposite on somebody. I don’t know if that's entirely fair in this game. Pap left a fastball over the plate (Saturday) night, so I don’t know if we’ll put a minus-1 on Jason Bay.”

Green went 1-for-3, but he was solid in the field. He’s known as a hard worker, even on the days he’s not playing, and that work ethic has not gone unnoticed.

“We love the kid. That’s part of the reason at spring training he got an extended look to begin with. He came ready and he just showed up every day ready to go. He does that know when he plays, or when he doesn’t play. He’s always ready, and as a coach you always appreciate guys like that.”

Lowrie ready for tee

Rehabbing Red Sox shortstop Jed Lowrie will begin to hit off a tee on Monday. He is progressing quicker than expected after having surgery on his left wrist on April 21.

Over the last few days he’s been taking grounders and said his wrist is the best its felt in a long time. He believes he’s 90 percent and hasn’t felt any pain since beginning baseball activities.

The 25-yearold played with the injury for the majority of 2008 and the organization felt it was better he rehab the wrist, instead of having surgery last offseason. He arrived in camp pain-free, but suffered a setback the first week of the regular season.

Even though he’ll end up missing two months of the season, he feels once September and October rolls around, he’ll be in midseason form.