Last week, millions of households witnessed the Winchester, MA native and Olympian gymnast, Alicia Sacramone, and her struggles in Beijing.

After a horrific fall on the balance beam (which might have cost the U.S. a gold medal), she was inevitably robbed of a medal by the Olympic judges during the vault competition. Sacramone completed two clean attempts while China’s Cheng Fei made a costly(?) error by landing on her knees while attempting her second vault jump.

Apparently a gymnast can now earn a bronze medal even with a fall, as Cheng Fei captured the bronze medal due to the “difficulty of her vaults.”

Alicia, you were robbed, and that sucks.

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So why am I writing about Sacramone and women’s gymnastics? Well, for one, I was one who was caught up in the drama that is the Olympic judging. Also, Alicia is not your ordinary gymnast. What makes her different?

• She’s a Bostonian — got to love that.
• She can knock you out — check out this video.
• She’s not your typical China-doll, 4′5″, 80lb gymnast.
• She’s an Ivy-league college student (lots of gymnasts are barely 18).
• Let’s face it: she’s easy on the eyes.

Sacramone earned a silver medal with her U.S. teammates and was robbed of a bronze. Not too shabby at all.

So how do I tie this in with the Red Sox?

I’m not sure if Jed Lowrie is single, but he’s just a few years older and also attended a sort of prestige school (Stanford), so the two of them have something in common.

Jed, you might want to take a look into that.

Zero.

That’s the number of errors Jed Lowrie has made in a Red Sox uniform. That factoid alone should cement Lowrie at short stop for the rest of the season, but Julio Lugo (who still leads the AL with 16 errors despite not playing since July 11th) has been lurking in the training pool like a $36 million dollar shark looking to reclaim his territory.

Tito says Lugo still isn’t ready to begin baseball activities, but Lowrie may be sensing that his roster spot is in jeopardy… hence the sudden outburst at the plate this month.

While teammates Kevin Youkilis (12-game hit streak) and Dustin Pedroia (26-game hit streak on road) gobble up all the headlines, Jed Lowrie has quietly gone on a tear in August, compiling a 5-game hit streak of his own that includes a double, two triples and a staggering 9 RBI from the bottom of the line up.

He now owns a .289 BA to go along with 20 RBI in 97 major league at-bats. Those are some nice numbers, especially compared to Lugo: .268, 22 RBI in 261 ABs and Alex Cora: .271, 5 RBI in 70 ABs… but Lowrie offers more than just a nice batting average and solid fielding.

SoxProspects.com had this little tid-bit in their scouting report: “Outstanding plate discipline, in true Red Sox form, his best attribute may be his ability to work pitchers for good at bats.”

His .342 OBP isn’t anything to call home about (Lugo is at .355), but Lowrie seems to have a knack for getting on base when it counts, while Julio Lugo seems to have perfected the art of the rally killing ground-out. Here’s a look at some situational stats:

Runners in Scoring Position :  Lowrie - .300 BA / .786 OPS … Lugo - .139 BA / .429 OPS
Men on 3rd w/ < 2 outs :  Lowrie - .455 BA / 1.284 OPS … Lugo - .158 BA / .458 OPS

He’s also cut down on the strikeouts, fanning just once in 21 plate appearances in August and just 5 times since June 21st (49 PA), giving him a 11% strikeout rate over that span. For comparison, Lugo’s 51 K’s in 307 trips to the plate give him a 0.16 K rate, while the currently red-hot Dustin Pedroia whiffs just 8% of the time (40/516).

If you dig deep enough, you can always find a stat to prove your point, but you need only look back to the game winning single that Lowrie hit in extra innings on August 1st to see whay many are comparing him to 2003 AL Batting Champ and clutch-hitter Billy Mueller (career .297 w/ men on, 2 outs):

“He’s kinda Billy Mueller-ish, which isn’t so bad,” Terry Francona said . “It means he’s a switch hitter that swings at strikes and hits the ball in the gap. You don’t know after 80 or 90 at-bats what a kid is going to be, but he’s really an interesting young hitter.”

Red Sox Nation would prefer Lugo stay in that pool for the rest of the season, but he’s likely to be healthy again come September – just in time to steal time from Lowrie and make crucial errors during a pennant race… but as Surviving Grady put it – a well-placed banana peel could solve that problem.

Bottom Line : Lowrie has played 19 games at short stop, 15 games at third base and 3 games at second without making an error. He’s batting .289 on the year and will likely pass Lugo’s RBI total before the week is through – with only 1/3 of the at-bats.

Tito, you know what needs to be done. Don’t let us down.

Read more from Bottom Line Rob at The Bottom Line blog .

Well, looks like we’ll be without Julio for a month and a half. I bet everyone in Red Sox Nation is really bummed to see him out. They’re really bummed to miss his errant throws in clutch situations, his late game mishaps booting balls all around Yankee Stadium, and his oh-so-famous crotch grabs in the batter’s box and on base (when he got on base). So the real question now is: Do we just stick with Jed for the remainder of the season?

Here’s the thing about Julio. He came here as a potential leadoff guy, failed at that. He came with the thought of providing a little pop, failed at that. He came as a stolen base threat; he’s proven he’s a decent base stealer.

But where he really can hurt the team is in the field. Of the 30 starting Shortstops, Mr. Lugo has the worst fielding percentage by far (.945). With a team that could really excel defensively, with a fast outfield, Youk and Lowell at the corners, and Tek behind the dish, Lugo has been a huge hole in the defense. Lugo’s .270+ average does not make up for his lack of focus in the field…

Paging Mr. Lowrie! The 2007 Baseball America AA All-Star, Jed comes up hitting .268 in Pawtucket this year, but has come up with a string of impressive games with the big club when he’s had the shot. Last year, he provided some decent pop as well in Portland. Waiting to break out, Jed has also proved himself in the field, even though he’s bounced from SS to third and second.

In this writer’s opinion, the team needs stability at Short. Speed is not a necessity with Ellsbury at the top. We need a guy that can sacrifice someone over, play hit and run, and have good chemistry with Dusty at 2nd turning two. My vote is to keep Jed in the lineup, even when Julio comes back.