Blooper Reel.

The Globe put together a blooper reel of sorts from picture day. A couple of notes: Josh Beckett may have a very dry sense of humor. Jon Lester is thrilled, THRILLED, to wish you a happy Fourth of July. And JD Drew is either madly in love with his hat or was suffering from hat head. (I'd vote for hat head.)

Captions, Series Three.

More Globe photos:

No Daisuke! No! There may be too many pitchers but there is a better solution.


Jon Lester is aware of my softening opinion of him and he will glare me back to indifference.


A giant among men.

Change of Heart.

I was never really a fan of Jon Lester. I didn't dislike him per se I just found him boring. When he was on NESN earlier today, however, I found myself interested in what he had said. It was odd. I decided to attribute it to Peter Gammons and his habit of asking interesting questions. But then there was this video from CSNNE and I once again found him to be interesting. He seems so relaxed. The boy needs to buy some sunscreen though.

If You Can't Say Anything Nice...

I've given up caffeine for Lent. It's not going well; suffering from withdrawal, I'm grouchy and short-tempered. The good news is that I know that I'm being a jerk. The bad? I'm not really able to control it. So presented without commentary:



Jon Lester.

Meanwhile, Down in the Fort...

WEEI come to us from Fort Myers with video from the workouts performed today.



The first show Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz throwing. It's not terribly interesting but the thwack of the ball into the glove is a nice sound to hear.



The second shows an interview with Clay after his workout. Maybe it's the fact that he now weighs nearly 200 pounds or maybe it's the angle of the camera (he's usually looking down but here he's looking up) but he looks different and I can't put my finger on why. Older, maybe?

A Major Turn Around.

After a terrible April and May in 2009, Jon Lester got himself straightened out and never looked back once the calendar turned to June/May 31. Except for the night he took a liner off the quadriceps in NY he never allowed more than four runs an outing from then on. He also started striking batters out like it was going out of style. And so for the second year in a row, Jon Lester has been selected as the Red Sox Pitcher of the Year by the Boston chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America.

I am a Little-stitious.

I don't think that I'm alone in having little things I like to do before and during a sporting event. I wouldn't call them superstitions because I honestly don't believe that my doing them will have any effect on the outcome of the game but I faithfully do them anyway. And why not? They don't cause any harm and they give me a sense of control over something I have no control over. Rituals might be a good word.

Jon Lester starts used to be met with a groan and a prayer but not anymore. Somewhere along the line, he became immune to my rituals. It doesn't matter if I have to park somewhere besides my usual spot at work or if I get too busy and have to skip lunch. It's okay because Jon Lester is pitching and he doesn't need my help to win a ballgame.

And that is very cool.

You're So Vain.

Jon Lester is a pretty serious guy. He seems dour, humorless, and to be a man of few words. I would feel perfectly comfortable calling him boring. He does nothing to dispel that image in the pop culture grid of last week's Sports Illustrated. His answers are uninspired but completely believable.

I can imagine him steadfastly refusing to read the headlines of the tabloids while waiting in line at the grocery store. Of course he can cook salmon: he's from Washington, baked salmon is ridiculously easy, and it tastes terrible. It's the perfect food for Jon Lester. Dustin Pedroia doesn't shut up, Mike Lowell works on a more fabulous level than Lester and, therefore, Lester can't read Lowell. And he can't think of one thing good or interesting about himself.

But wait! Here's an interesting answer: Jacoby Ellsbury spends too much time looking at himself in the mirror. Ellsbury's mom would have you believe that her son is a good boy; that he didn't have a girlfriend in high school. I do believe his mother; he son's features, while exotic around here would be fairly common on a reservation. But I also believe Lester that the attention may have gone to Ellsbury's head.

Mo' Money.

It may be time to buy stock in bubble-yum, Jon Lester has a new contract.

Lester has never been a favorite of mine. He turned into an excellent pitcher last season but he always seemed a bit boring. Well, it turns out that he's going to be around for five more years. Pending a physical, he's on track to collect $30 million over the next five years. There's also a $13 million six year option. A steal.

Early Bird.

Woot.

Jon Lester has already shown up in Southwest Florida. I now know that I'm not the only one who finds Lester a little bit boring. The cameraman agrees with me and if not for him I might never have seen a close up of Lester's knees.

The gist: He arrives early so that he can get acclimated to the weather. He's very, very glad that Jason Varitek has returned. He feels good physically. He hopes to be more efficient at the start of the season (Please. Oh, please. Follow through on this one.) He'd like to sign a long-term contract but nobody, besides the reporter, has brought it up to him. Learning baseball is an on-going process for him and he's looking forward to talking to John Smoltz.

And things can be equal in different ways.

Lecture Circuit.

Jon Lester (and Joba Chamberlain) appeared at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, CT last night. The two answered questions for about an hour and signed a few autographs. Jon Lester isn't the most exciting person in the world but I did enjoy this quote about his World Series ring:

"It’s big, it gets in the way, and it draws a lot of attention. You have to pick and choose where you wear it, but I like wearing it at stuff like this.”

Lester also joined Manny Delcarmen in the abject fear of having to pitch to anyone else beside Jason Varitek.

"I don’t want to think about that. If I had to build a team, he’s the guy that I would pick to start my team around.”

They're going to have to give up their binky at some point.

Growing Pains.

Little Jonny Lester is growing up.

Jon Lester received the Hutch Award today in Seattle. The award goes to the major-leaguer who "best exemplifies the dedication to team, family, and community and exemplifies the honor, courage, and perseverance of the man the award...is named for, Seattle sports legend Fred Hutchison."

Lester and Hall of Famer, Tom Seaver (hence the title) spent the morning hanging out with the kiddos of the Hutch school--a K-12 school affiliated with the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. Lester who has generally been reticent about discussing his cancer he had this to say today:

"At first, I just wanted to come back and play, and don't ask me about it. I got frustrated at times, because it seemed like that's all I talked about, instead of baseball. Now it's to the point I'm talking about baseball more, and it's a little easier to answer those questions."

Awww. Baby's growing up.

Perhaps because he was in a room of people who had had similar experiences to his own, Lester also shared this story:

"Lester described his final day of treatment there, and as he was laying in bed, with all of the scans done and the results clean, the nurses came in and handed him a baseball that had been signed by the hospital staff members that had cared for him. "I've been pretty fortunate to collect a lot of memorabilia over the years, some pretty [good] names such as Tom Seaver, Nolan Ryan. ... This ball, still, to this day, means more to me than any of those baseballs, jerseys or bats or cleats that I've received over the years," Lester said. "It still sits on my mantel, and it means more to me than anything in this world."

And this? (regarding his mother):

"The past two years I know have been very, very tough for her. She has been through a lot of crap from us, to say the least, and she's put up with a lot of sickness, a lot of moody days, and she's seen both of the men in her life go through something that I wouldn't wish on anybody."

There's some real maturity there.

Also, you'll be happy to know that Papa Lester is doing well.

Photo from the Seattle Times.

Moment 3: Jon Lester Proves Me Wrong.

May 19. Kansas City at Boston.

I never really saw what was so special about Jon Lester. He was molasses and walked too many people. In fact, I recall thinking on the night of May 19 that I could tune into the House finale and only have missed an inning or so when I went back to the ballgame.

I must not have been paying close attention to the game because I didn't realize what was happening until the sixth inning. When I watch baseball on t.v. I run the sportsline scoreboard on the computer to keep an eye on all of the other scores, in the sixth inning of that ballgame I looked down at the clock to see if it was time to change the channel and it wasn't; it wasn't even close to 9:00. I refreshed the page a couple of times in disbelief and went so far as to open another box score to make sure it was right. And then? Then Jon Lester had my attention. The game actually ended before House was over and I could have watched most of the second half but I didn't.

It was either Remy or Orsillo that, at a later point in the season, said Lester was chameleon-like and the game he had thrown two starts previous to the no-hitter against Halladay had an incredibly positive influence on Lester, as Lester was being Halladay for that game. Perhaps they were right and it was Halladay's influence that set him straight. Regardless, at that point a new Lester seemed to exist. Obviously, people smarter than myself had seen what he could and would be long before I recognized it but my attitude toward Lester changed that night. Lester's starts went from being a chore to being something to look forward to. And I don't think I'm the only one.

So, for Jon Lester and his family, Terry and company, and what it meant to all of them, Jon Lester's no-hitter takes spot three.

The Weather Outside is Frightful?

If it doesn't start snowing soon, I'm going to look like such a wimp. I don't know why I believed the weather people but I called out of work this morning because of *ahem* the weather. If you did the same, you might be interested to know that Lester's no-hitter will be aired for free at 3:00pm today at MLB.com. And, fittingly, it turns out that the game won This Year in Baseball's Performance of the Year Award.

Can the Starsky Award be Far Behind?

On January 21 Jon Lester will be presented with the Hutch Award.



The award is presented to the "Major League Baseball player who best exemplifies the honor, courage and dedication of baseball great Fred Hutchinson, both on and off the field." Lester was selected by a committee made up of the past award winners from the following list:

Rocco Baldelli, Tampa Bay Rays
Lance Berkman, Houston Astros
Doug Davis, Arizona Diamondbacks
Ken Griffey Jr., Chicago White Sox
Raul Ibanez, Seattle Mariners
Cliff Lee, Cleveland Indians
Jon Lester, Boston Red Sox
Aaron Rowand, San Francisco Giants
Mark Teahen, Kansas City Royals
Vernon Wells, Toronto Blue Jays

So, congratulations to him.

The Boys of the Pacific Northwest.

(or the story of Red Sox rookies whose names start with the letter J--except for Justin Masterson who doesn't count)

1. Jed Lowrie has done such a fabulous job filling in for Julio Lugo--another J--that people are taking notice.

2. Jacoby the thief. Jacoby Ellsbury steals bases in much the same way that he steals hearts-often and, seemingly, without effort. The first bit of Ellsbury-ana comes to us from the Projo. The second piece comes from The Register-Guard of Eugene, OR.

3. Jeff Bailey is just happy to help.

4. This post was originally titled "The Boys of Oregon" but that had to be scrapped once it was discovered that Kelso, Washington was, in fact, not in Oregon and, therefore, Jeff Bailey wasn't Oregonian. With the title change it seemed only fair to find something about Jon Lester. This was the best I could come up with. Who would have thought that Jon Lester's musical tastes were about as exciting as Jon Lester himself?

Here Comes the Groom...Skinny as a Broom.

Jon Lester told Dan Roche that he became engaged last night. Anybody care? Didn't think so. But congratulations anyway.

Go, Jonny! Go! (Jonny No-No)

Jon Lester has said in the past that he doesn't want to be known as the pitcher who overcame cancer. He doesn't want to have any special treatment afforded to him because his lymph nodes went haywire. He doesn't want his major league career tainted by the fact that at some point someone felt sorry for him and gave him a break. He wants to be there because he deserves to be there and not because someone pitied him. Today, he took another stride toward achieving that goal.

Last October 28, he went five and two-thirds of an inning and collected the game four win out in Colorado. Tonight, in his first ever attempt at getting twenty-seven outs in one game, he ended up no-hitting the Royals on one hundred and thirty pitches. He did walk two and was charged with a throwing error but it was definitely a huge step toward proving he's legit.

Also, a nod to Varitek who now holds the major league record for the most no-hitters caught (four.) I also adore the beaming with pride looks that Varitek and, to a much larger extent, Francona give him before embracing him.

How did you Spend the Off Day?

I watched the season finale of The Office last night but apparently, Red Sox pitchers have better things to do than hanging around watching t.v.


Manny Del and David Aardsma made the looong trek up to Colchester, VT to visit Porters Point School, the winners of the Hood Sox Tops for Kids program. The kids seemed to be more into meeting Wally but I suppose that's to be expected when you throw two relatively new relief pitchers at a bunch of little kids. I've also got to say that I've never been too impressed with what I've seen of Manny Delcarmen as a person but his interaction with the kindern seemed quite cute.


In the meantime, Jon Lester, was headed in the other direction. He went down to Dunkin' Donuts in Warwick to hand out free iced coffee.


Mike Timlin headed up to Maine for the opening of the Cabela's.

Jon Lester, no. 31

Since it appears that he'll be around in the spring, I'll move him up from the bottom of the list where he was languishing with Coco and Ellsbury.

Birth Date: January 7, 1984 in Puyallup, WA

Height/Weight: 6'2", 190 lb.

Contract: League Minimum ($390,000)

Lester started last season in Greenville, moved up to Pawtucket in April (where he threw fourteen games with an ERA of 3.89 and a WHIP of 1.37), he was called up to Boston on July 23, then (thanks to Wake's taking himself off the roster because of shoulder problems) he pitched the clinching game of the World Series on October 28. It's damn impressive.

He pitched in twelve games for the Red Sox in 2007. He started eleven of them and won four of them. He threw 63 innings, during which he faced 275 batters. He struck out 50 batters and walked 31. He gave up 61 hits and 33 runs (32 of which were earned.) Ten batters were able to hit home runs off his pitches. He threw one wild pitch and hit one batter with a pitch. His Earned Run Average was high (4.57) but was still below the league average (4.74). His Walks and Hits per Inning Pitched, at 1.460, was also high.

Defensively, he had six put outs and four assists. He was charged with one error. His Fielding Percentage (.909) was above the league average (.952). His Range Factor (1.43), however, was below the league average (1.60). So if the ball was headed right for him he did a pretty good job of getting the out; but if he had to move, then not so much.

He's got both a two-seam and a four-seam fastball that sit in the low nineties but can get up to the mid-nineties. He also has an above average changeup, a curveball in the seventies, and a slider in the mid to high seventies. He generally has very good control but has off-days when he can't seem to command his pitches. He's also inconsistent.

I can see him improving next season (and not just in a homer-ism, Go-Jon-Lester!, sort of way.) I would think that a stark reminder of one's mortality would shake one's confidence some. Plus, chemotherapy is not a pretty affair. With a World Series win under his belt, being trade-bait for the best pitcher in baseball, his confidence should be restored. He was once considered to be a future ace; the future could be very bright.

I don't actually have an opinion on Jon Lester as a person (which is odd because I have an opinion on almost evertyhing.) I suppose he's still sort of in neutral for me (until recently Kevin Youkilis was in the same boat.) I don't love him, he doesn't annoy me, he doesn't make me cringe; he's just sort of there. I realize that he lives for my approval but it's not necessarily a bad thing. His coolness-factor did go up slightly when he said he didn't want to go to Minnesota (I choose to pretend that it was because of the fans.)