ellsbury

A few random thoughts about the Boston Red Sox after a week of good-riddance-to-Manny games that produced a 5-1 record:

• JED LOWRIE

He isn’t a physical specimen. At a liberally estimated 6-foot, 180 pounds in the media guide, he won’t stand out in a crowd.

And when he is on a baseball field, there’s the perception around the game that Lowrie will make a nice utility player and nothing more.

Watching him play in the big leagues, however, will change that perception. Lowrie, in his first year of big-league duty, is by no means a flashy player.

Yet he’s a steady player, whether he’s in the lineup at shortstop, third base or second base. He’s not afraid to bat in clutch situations, as his game-winning 12th-inning single last Friday night and productive extra-base hits over the last few days have shown. Lowrie has knocked in 11 runs over his last six games, boasting five multiple-RBI games over that stretch.

The switch-hitting 24-year-old from Stanford, the 45th pick overall in the 2005 draft, also has done little things, which means dropping down sacrifice bunts and lofting sacrifice flies. He has hit for power, too, crossing up shallow-playing center fielders for a pair of triples and a double over the last week.

So maybe there are some things he can’t do. He doesn’t have great range, for instance.

But Lowrie seems to fit the same mold of several other youngsters the Red Sox’ impressive farm system has been feeding to Boston on a regular basis the last few years.

He’s another winner.

Lowrie, who was called up to play shortstop in place of injured Julio Lugo, doesn’t play with the chip on the shoulder that helps fuel second baseman Dustin Pedroia. But, as with Pedroia and center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury, Lowrie knows how to play the game and places team above individual glory.

• JON LESTER

Apparently the Red Sox knew something about the left-hander that made Boston skittish about including him in an offseason package for Minnesota’s Johan Santana last winter.

Maybe they had no plans whatsoever of trading away Lester, who came back in the latter half of last season after battling cancer.

Whatever was going on behind the scenes, the Red Sox now have a young left-handed ace on their staff, an innings-eating horse whose confidence clearly has risen by leaps and bounds in his first full season in the big leagues.

Naturally, Lester’s season will be highlighted by the no-hitter he threw against Kansas City on May 19.

His maturation as a pitcher, though, already was in full bloom. Over the first month or so of the season, Lester worked on commanding his fastball. Once he mastered that he has been mixing in his other pitches. And as he started getting positive results, his confidence was manifested in the way he pounded the strike zone.

Lester no longer nibbles. His walk totals are way down — over his last 15 starts Lester has walked as many as three batters in a game only twice.

He was the league’s pitcher of the month for July. Barring health issues, Lester will be in the running for several such honors before his career is done.

• JACOBY ELLSBURY

He’s a rookie.

People have forgotten that. He spoiled everyone by zooming through the Sox’ minor-league system last year, from Double A to Triple A to becoming a starter and a star in Boston’s sweep of Colorado in the World Series last fall.

Nevertheless, he’s a rookie, and almost all rookies are susceptible to ups and downs. Ellsbury has ridden that roller coaster.

By June 17, Ellsbury had 34 stolen bases, five homers and was batting .289 as a catalyst atop the Red Sox’ order. By Aug. 3, Ellsbury’s stolen base total had inched up by only one, to 35. His home-run total still was five. And he was batting .259, having been dropped to the bottom of the order.

But over the last two games on this road trip Ellsbury went 5-for-8 with a homer, four RBI and two stolen bases.

The Sox can only hope his personal roller-coaster ride is headed back up.

• MANNY RAMIREZ

What’s interesting in how Ramirez talked his way out of Boston was the reaction of the fans.

Suddenly, they turned on him. They had forgiven him for many quirks, and they even turned the other cheek when Ramirez quit on his teammates in September, 2006, when he said he couldn’t play because of leg issues, leaving the Sox short-handed and several teammates to have to play through various injuries.

Media criticism of Ramirez at the time for this worst of all possible professional sports transgression generated venom by the fans. But it was directed at the media as the fans steadfastly backed the selfish and ridiculous self-proclaimed Manny Being Manny mantra.

Now the fans are outraged at Manny? What changed? The fact he couldn’t hit 35 homers or drive in 140 runs anymore?

skrasner@projo.com