Lester swept up in fun

Lefthander whiffs 10 to finish off Nationals

June 22, 2006|Amalie Benjamin, Globe Staff

It was with a small, understated fist pump, and a wipe of the face with the top of his jersey that Jon Lester found a way to celebrate the 92-mile-per-hour fastball that exploded past Matthew LeCroy on its way to a not-so-cushy landing in Jason Varitek's glove. He could have been excused for going Josh Beckett style, increasing the demonstration level by a factor of 10 or so, as that last pitch struck out LeCroy swinging to bring his strikeout total to an even 10.

``Shoot," Varitek said, ``his last pitch he had some serious velocity to get by a very good fastball hitter in LeCroy."

And with that, with all the strikeouts and all the offense (16 hits) and all the superlatives that seem to attend a Red Sox-National League matchup, Lester finished off back-to-back sweeps of the dregs of the NL East for his second career (and second straight) win, a 9-3 drubbing of the Washington Nationals last night before 36,464 at Fenway.

The win made it six straight against NL competition in a six-day stretch that has seen some of the best from the offense all season. The Red Sox are hitting, and it isn't just David Ortiz -- whose second-inning grand slam took significant pressure off Lester -- and Manny Ramírez -- who added another hit and RBI to his totals -- it's others such as Alex Gonzalez (2 for 4, two runs) and Trot Nixon (3 for 5, two runs, two RBIs).

But it is not just the offense. Over the last six games, while Matt Clement and David Wells remain on the disabled list, the starters' run totals have looked like this: 1, 2, 2, 3, 1, 1. Those three runs? They belong to Kyle Snyder, the righthander picked up from the Royals who is no longer with the major league club.

So Lester's outing, though it featured the most strikeouts of the season for a Sox pitcher, as well as just one run allowed on three hits, was not all that out of the ordinary. Not this week. And while general manager Theo Epstein combs the scrap heap for anyone with a starting résumé -- Jason Johnson anyone? -- one of his most-prized possessions continued to slow the hint of panic that was creeping into any discussion about the Sox' pitching.

``What I thought he did so effectively was that he made them respect all of his pitches," manager Terry Francona said of Lester. ``The slow breaking ball, his cutter, his fastball, his four-seamer. You can't sit on one pitch, and he threw them all for strikes. Looks like his fastball has got a little bit -- whatever it registers on the gun -- it's got that last couple feet that it keeps going, and when it's getting to the hitter and Tek [catcher Jason Varitek] it's got a little finish on it.

``It looked like to me the game slowed down for him a little bit tonight, and that's good."