Saturday brought yet another lackluster performance from Jon Lester, in a game Boston ultimately lost to Tampa, 14-5. The Sox lefty starter is now 2-3 on the year, with a 6.31 ERA and 1.57 WHIP. Not great numbers from a guy who was a top-five pitcher in the American League in 2008. Yesterday against the Rays, he gave up eight earned runs on ten hits in just 4.1 innings pitched. Evan Longoria continued his incredible season, going 2-for-4 with five RBI and three runs scored. He now has 44 RBI on the year, to pace the Major Leagues.
Lester closed out last season looking like one of the best pitchers in baseball. This year, he has been anything but. He has allowed the long ball to derail his starts, giving up eight in just 41.1 innings this season. He still has an impressive K:BB ratio of almost 4:1 (49:13), so there is certainly hope of Lester turning around his 2009 campaign. The Red Sox need the young southpaw to start producing at the top of a rotation that has already lost Daisuke Matsuzaka to injury, in an unforgiving division that likely won't allow teams to recover if they fall behind in the standings. It's looking more and more like the Blue Jays aren't going away, the Rays obviously have Boston's number, and the Yankees always have something to say about it.
Josh Beckett (3-2, 6.75 ERA) takes the mound tonight against Boston nemesis Matt Garza (3-2, 3.51 ERA). Beckett hasn't exactly been lights out himself lately. The Sox could really use eight strong innings out of the big right hander in the rubber game of a three-game weekend series. First pitch is at 8:05 from Fenway.
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