Lester-iffic

Tonight Jon Lester dazzled the Toronto Blue Jays through 8 innings, allowing only 1 hit while walking three en route to a dramatic 1-0 win for the Boston Red Sox tonight. Kevin Youkillis knocked in David Ortiz in the bottom of the ninth with two outs to snap Boston's five game losing streak.

Although Lester did not figure in the decision, he was the story tonight. For the third game in a row the Boston bats were unable to put runs together to make their outstanding starting pitching stand out. For the first time in his career, Jon Lester made a believer out of me. I always skeptical when Lester was on the mound because of his tendency to throw 100 pitches through 5 innings. I was a fan of trading Lester for Johan Santana this past offseason because I strongly believed Lester was a fluke. I was dead wrong. When Lester pounds the strike zone he is tough to figure out for opposing hitters. With the young arms the Boston Red Sox system has, I see big things for Lester. He will be a solid number three behind Josh Beckett and Daisuke Matsuzaka for years to come.

Now that I am done praising Lester, it is time for a wake up call for the Red Sox bats. Tonight they had an excuse in the form of Roy Halladay. However in Tampa Bay, the bats were silenced by Edwin Jackson and James Shields. It is puzzling to me how the Sox are among the league leaders in most team offensive categories, but have looked this bad over the past three days. Thank God for the starting pitching over the past couple games.

One of my favorite players stepped up big with his glove yet again tonight. With a runner on second and two outs in the top of the ninth with a ball hit up the middle, Dustin Pedroia made an amazing diving stop, got up and fired to first to end the inning, preventing a run from scoring. The play was eerilly similar to the one he made last year against Baltimore's Miguel Tejada to perserve Clay Buchholz's no hitter. Dustin Pedroia simply gets the job done. No sophomore slump here.

The series continues tommorow with Daisuke Matsuzaka facing Dustin McGowan at 7:05 from Fenway Park.

-Scottie