CLEVELAND — Jon Lester is a study in contrasts. When the baseball leaves his left hand on its way to the plate, the Chicago Cubs ace is dominant, particularly in October.
When it leaves his hand on the way to first base, however, all bets are off.
A mental block. The yips. Whatever it is that's making Lester turn a routine pickoff throw into something far more problematic, he can't shake it.
And on Tuesday night the man who first noticed the troubling signs and tried to shield it from view will try to exploit it when Lester starts Game 1 of the World Series against manager Terry Francona and the Cleveland Indians.