Boston shortstop Julio Lugo is unable to tag out New York’s Derek Jeter, who steals second base yesterday.

MCT / David L. Pokress

NEW YORK — Mike Lowell is a Gold Glove third baseman.

He has the hardware to prove it, a trophy he earned in 2005, his last year with the Marlins. Lowell could easily have been awarded another one last season, when he made only six errors.

This year? It’s more like he has been using a glove made out of gold. Yesterday, Lowell made two more errors, boosting his season total to eight.

Sometimes, fielders get in slumps. Sometimes it just seems as if the ball is finding them on the short-hop and there has been little love from the official scorer.

Lowell still is making outstanding plays. The error total seems like an aberration.

Yesterday, for the second time on this trip, Lowell was forced into the position of having to make a backhanded short-hop pickup of a ball hit by Derek Jeter in the first. He didn’t make the play. The ball clanged off his glove, and Lowell was charged with an error. He had a similar play with the same result in Baltimore earlier on the road trip. An uglier error came in the fifth when he failed to corral a routine grounder, also hit by Jeter.

Lowell, manager Terry Francona and the rest of the Sox are at a loss to explain what’s going on.

“On the first one, with Jeter up, I was playing even with the bag. But then I didn’t think he’d bunt so I moved back three steps,” said Lowell. “And I got the ‘tweener.’ His speed makes you make that [backhand try]. If [Jason] Giambi’s up, you can stay back on the ball [and wait for a better hop]. For the second one I have no explanation. I closed the glove at the right time, but the ball came out.

“That cost [starter Tim] Wakefield some pitches. You don’t know what happens if you make those plays. Maybe [Jorge] Posada [who hit a two-run homer in the fourth] doesn’t come up in that situation. The second one added 15-20 pitches to Wake. Hits or errors, those are plays I should make. It’s not, ‘Oh, my God [don’t hit me the ball].’ I still feel I’m playing good defensive third base,” he said.

Francona isn’t worried Lowell has suddenly become a black hole.

“I feel for him because he cares so much,” said Francona. “But that won’t be a problem down the road. He’s a great third baseman going through a tough time.”

Alex Rodriguez, Lowell’s counterpart on the Yankees, also was charged with an error on a short-hop play to his left that, like Lowell’s first error, could have been ruled a hit. In fact, Lowell hit the ball.

A save for Rodriguez

With the game in the balance, A-Rod made the play of the game.

With a runner at first and one out in the ninth, Rodriguez helped save Mariano Rivera’s bacon by racing in, making a barehanded pickup of Julio Lugo’s roller and throwing out the speedy shortstop for the second out of the inning.

Had Lugo reached, the struggling Rivera likely would have had to face David Ortiz with the game on the line. A-Rod’s play accounted for the second out. Then Rivera retired Kevin Youkilis on a popup, ending the game.

Torre’s crystal ball

Yankee manager Joe Torre is a psychic.

Before the game, Torre talked about having to go from Plan A to Plan B and beyond with his pitching options in various games, but he said that those plans could change with one line drive, meaning a liner that literally knocks out a pitcher.

His crystal ball was clear. On the first pitch of the game, Lugo drilled a liner off the outside of starter Jeff Karstens’ right knee, ultimately knocking him out of the game after only six pitches.

Charting pitches

The Red Sox have become slaves to pitch counts over the last several years.

As soon as the count goes to 100, a light seems to go off and that’s about it for the starting pitcher.

Not so in the first two games of the series. Daisuke Matsuzaka threw 117 pitches Friday night. Wakefield threw 118 yesterday.

A change in philosophy? Hardly. The Red Sox have tomorrow off, so each pitcher is going to get an extra day of rest, making it easier for Francona to allow them to throw more pitches than normal.

Abreu hits a hole

How badly is Bobby Abreu struggling lately, especially in his own mind?

In the third inning of a 0-0 game, with runners at first and second and none out, Abreu, batting third in the Yanks’ stacked lineup, tried to drop down a sacrifice bunt on his own. He fouled it off.

Better he should have kept trying and fouled off two more from New York’s point of view. Abreu wound up hitting into a double play on a weak grounder up the middle, defusing another promising Yankee inning.

The same situation presented itself in the fifth, this time with New York on top.

Abreu took the first pitch for a ball, and then bunted the next pitch. It was a terrible bunt, right back to Wakefield, who threw to Lowell for the forceout at third for the lead runner.

And if Lowell had looked to first instead of second, he would have been able to double up Abreu. Instead, he held the ball, content with the one out.

Woes behind the plate

Doug Mirabelli’s caught-stealing numbers haven’t been the greatest, mostly because he primarily catches knuckleballer Wakefield.

It’s difficult enough to catch a fastball and be quick enough with your feet and accurate with your arm to throw out a big-league base stealer. The equation becomes more complicated when you’re trying to handle a knuckleball.

Derek Jeter stole second base in the second inning yesterday, making it Base stealers 5, Mirabelli 0, this season. But on a 3-and-2 pitch to Alex Rodriguez, Jeter took off for third. A-Rod swung and missed for a strikeout, and Mirabelli threw to Lowell, who slapped the tag on Jeter, retiring him for an inning-ending double play.

Hideki Matsui added a stolen base to Mirabelli’s log in the second.

Trick, but no treat

The Sox tried a bit of Little League trickery, but it didn’t work.

Matsui swiped second base in the second inning, but as he popped up from his slide, he had no idea where the ball was. He didn’t know that Lowell, pulled over on a shift against Posada, had pulled down Mirabelli’s high throw.

Lugo was backing up the play. Seeing Matsui was looking around to find the ball, Lugo turned and pointed to center field, as if the ball had sailed into the outfield, hoping Matsui would step off the base, whereupon Lowell could tag him out.

Matsui, though, didn’t fall for the ploy.

skrasner@projo.com