Lowell hopes rest will improve hip

ESPN.com—June 25, 2010   

The Red Sox left Mike Lowell with a narrow range of options. He could soldier on, even though his pitiful performance had left him, by his own admission, with a "guilty conscience" and "embarrassed," or he could go on the 15-day disabled list because of his surgically repaired right hip.

There were no other options, according to his agent, Seth Levinson.

Lowell informed manager Terry Francona, he said, that he'd felt a "twinge" in his hip while taking some swings during a session of soft toss with staff assistant Ino Guerrero.

Lowell said he planned to consult with Dr. Bryan Kelly, the Hospital for Special Surgery orthopedic surgeon who operated on his hip, to map out a plan on how best to proceed. He acknowledged that Kelly had told him at the time of his surgery that he was a "great candidate" for hip replacement, but said he hoped to avoid that procedure -- as well as a new technique called hip resurfacing -- until he was older.

Lowell, who has been enormously frustrated at not playing with the Red Sox and not getting the chance to play elsewhere, said he understood the decision to place him on the DL and was "not terribly upset about the move. I understand it. I'm OK with it.''

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