How confident would you be if Jon Lester took the mound in his next start against the White Sox with a chance to clinch the division? Hopefully it won’t come to that, but after last night’s 5-0 win over the Pirates, Lester has suddenly emerged as the team’s hottest pitcher just as the season winds to its close.
The crafty left-hander isn’t going to get you 7-8 strikeouts anymore except on rare occasions, but he has mastered the art of pitching to contact and proved last night that he can be just as effective keeping hitters off balance as he was when he was punching out 180-220 batters season after season.