Make room for the new ace

October 02, 2008|Bob Ryan, Globe Columnist

ANAHEIM, Calif. - Thirty-seven pitches.

Jon Lester threw 37 pitches to get his final six outs. You hear that, you figure there must have been a base runner in there somewhere. But nope, just six Angels batters trying get on base against a 24-year-old lefthander who seems to get better with each passing month, week, or even start.

He was protecting a one-run lead like a mother eagle guarding the nest, and he was prepared to fight. He had been battling from the start, fighting his way through three-ball counts, tough, borderline calls (with two excellent pitchers working the outer regions and with an inordinate amount of check swings, this was a very challenging night for plate umpire Tim Welke), and a tough unearned run, and he had never been able to get locked in completely. Yet here he was, ahead by a 2-1 score after five innings, trying to give his team the seven-inning start that would set the bullpen up properly to finish the job.

Daisuke Matsuzaka won those 18 games and Josh Beckett has that gaudy postseason résumé, but there was simply no arguing the fact that the best Boston starting pitcher this season was Jon Lester. And so it was just not that big a deal that Beckett was not able to start Game 1 of this series. It will be very nice to see Beckett on the mound Sunday in Fenway, sure, but in terms of a chance to win Game 1 here in Anaheim, Jon Lester was the best Terry Francona had to offer.

A year ago, the story line was right out of the Oxygen Network: "Courageous Kid Beats Cancer." And it was capped off by his performance in Game 4 of the World Series, when he gave his skipper 5 2/3 scoreless innings in a 4-3 triumph. But you knew coming into 2008 he'd had enough of the cancer victim scenario. Oh, he would always be affected by his ordeal, which he has been able to turn into a positive life occurrence. But what he wanted most of all was to be judged as a lefthanded major league starting pitcher - no qualifiers.

Then - bang! - 11 starts in, a no-hitter against Kansas City. Of course by that time, we had already had a glimpse of his potential in the form of eight innings of one-hit ball against Toronto April 29. But a no-no is special, and it was really special to the skipper, who has never made much of a secret that Lester is on the verge of breaking into the will.