FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Maybe it's just part of the code of the so-called man-cave, which, after all, is what a baseball clubhouse really is. Or maybe it's because they're in a business where tough breaks come with the territory; the guy sitting beside you one day is gone the next, and you can't afford to get too close.
So you don't pry too much. Not about somebody getting cut or traded, somebody blowing out a knee or an elbow, and definitely not about somebody getting cancer.
"It's more or less, 'How you doing?' I say, 'Good.' That's about it," Jon Lester said yesterday, describing the typical exchange he has had with teammates since his early arrival in Red Sox camp.
And sometimes, Lester will tell you, that's more than enough.
"I think I've more or less surprised people," he said. "They expect to see a cancer patient instead of me."
The hair hasn't grown back all the way yet -- he shaved his head, after getting sick of waking up to the clumps the chemo left on his pillow. He's still a couple of pounds shy of regaining all of the 25 he lost, and he'd like the legs to be a little stronger.
Get past that, though, and Lester doesn't look any different from the pitcher who was winning a bunch of games as a rookie last season until a doctor, trying to figure out why Lester's back was hurting, discovered that he had a rare form of blood cancer known as anaplastic large cell lymphoma.
"When I first saw Jon today, I almost didn't recognize him because I didn't expect him to look that good," said teammate Jonathan Papelbon, one of those who said he didn't call or write while Lester was undergoing treatment back home in Washington state because he didn't want to encroach on Lester's privacy. "Looked like the same ol' Jonny to me.
"I've said prayer after prayer for him this offseason, me and my wife. It's just awesome. Awesome, awesome, awesome to see him come back from that. The fight that he's gone through, you know, it's just amazing.
"For me, that's the kind of teammate I want, somebody that's never going to give up, somebody that's going to go out there and bust his butt to succeed and bust his butt to get where he wants and deserves. That was awesome, almost like a pick-me-up."
You know what the best part is, according to Lester?
"It's just nice being normal," he said, "and working out, getting back to that everyday routine."
Those who figured this experience might have turned Lester into a walking Hallmark card, spewing platitudes about finding new meaning in his life and such, are apt to be disappointed.
