That night, after Lowell was brought in to pinch hit in the ninth inning, he could barely run to first base on a game-ending ground out to Colorado shortstop Clint Barmes, a play on which Lowell said Barmes “pretty much embarrassed me.’’

After that game, Lowell denied there were any problems with the hip, as did manager Terry Francona. But once he let his anger and humiliation die down, Lowell text-messaged Francona with the news that his hip wasn’t right.

So with the Sox needing a roster spot for last night’s starter, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Lowell landed on the DL, a development that he wasn’t exactly angry about.

“I think I have a little bit of a guilty conscience already with my roster spot and how I’m used,’’ Lowell said. “So I feel like if I’m taking a different swing, now I’m really not contributing. So I think that’s why I made it a point to tell Tito, because I’m not really happy with the way I’m performing.’’

So instead of sitting on the bench and hardly ever hearing his name called, Lowell will take a few days to weigh his options with Dr. Brian Kelly, the surgeon who performed his hip surgery in 2008. He said cortisone was likely to be a more viable option than the synthetic lubricant Synvisc, which Lowell said “gives you about three days of puppy love.’’

Lowell acknowledged that he had one injection this year, though not during the season.

“I do have reservations about using cortisone all the time,’’ said Lowell, who added that he’s a candidate for both hip replacement or resurfacing. “Even my surgeon says that it eats away at cartilage. I don’t have much left.

“I’ve expressed I don’t have the desire to get a hip replacement at 40. I think if you’re playing every day, you’re willing to do a lot more. I think that’s human nature.’’

Ultimately, though, it’s far easier for Lowell to take time off at this point, given that he has had just 13 at-bats in June and only one since June 13.

So, he was asked, does heading to the disabled list ease a bit of that guilty conscience?

“A little bit, honestly,’’ he said. “Not that I’m happy with it. But I don’t want to feel handicapped for myself or for the team.’’

Lowell has spent much of the season wondering whether the Sox would deal him or release him. He said he was sure his agent had explored such scenarios with the Sox, though, as he said, “I don’t think we’re there.’’ He also said he hadn’t requested that his agent discuss a release.

Asked whether this stint on the DL might hurt his chances to be picked up by another team, should it come to that, Lowell didn’t exactly sound like a player seeking a way out. He just sounded caught.

“I don’t think that helps my cause,’’ he said. “But I don’t think there’s a team out there that was going to say, ‘We’re getting this guy the way he was in 2004.’

“But I hate to look at the fact that I’m a member of this team looking at other teams. Because if I don’t get traded and we reach the postseason, one at-bat could be the difference in the game. That could be satisfying in itself.’’

He didn’t want to look dishonest, he said, not knowing whether the Sox were in talks about him. So, he said, he thought this was the right route.

“I don’t really see the days off as being that negative, because I’m not playing that much,’’ Lowell said. “So that’s why I’m not terribly upset or anything about the move.’’