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| Jon Lester delivers a pitch during the Sox 4-1 win on Friday. Lester pitched six strong innings. |
That's how we do it in Boston. Get six strong innings from your starter, mix in a key hit or two, and get three scoreless innings in relief from your bullpen. Why can't all of them be like that?
The Sox were able to break their losing streak while seemingly finding a new member of the rotation for a long time to come. For the most part, Lester got ahead of hitters, pounded his fastball in the strike zone, and displayed confidence. The best thing about his outing, though, was how he got out of jams. There were a couple of times late (specifically the fifth) where he allowed a few runners on but got out of it with little or no damage. That's the important thing to look at, I think.
With the uncertainty of the rotation, it's nice to see a great outing from Lester against a decent lineup. Curt Schilling and Tim Wakefield have been rocks in the rotation, but to have a third may put us over the hump. And getting Josh Beckett turned around would make us near untouchable.
Let's not forget about Mike Lowell. He knocked in the first run of the game, but his defense was great tonight. It's been great all season -- along with his bat. After the game I went online and voted for Mike Lowell in the All-Star game because he deserves it. Let's take down Alex Rodriguez!
With Clement on the D.L., that leaves a no-named starter for Monday. Kyle Snyder? No thank you. But this has to be said about the Royals-Reject: remember the last time we took a player the Royals didn't want? It was Curtis Leskanic in 2004. And he was real good and a big factor for the reason we won the World Series last year. He was money of the bullpen for us. Could lightning strike twice (apparently it can -- crazy guy)?