Lester is Supposed to be Andy Pettitte? Really?

He sure doesn't look like him through two starts of Spring Training. While that might be patently unfair, the early returns aren't quite as glowing as Sox fans would expect from, say, Johan Santana. Not that there's any comparison to be made there, but the Sox did talk about swapping those pitchers in the offseason, you know.


Instead, Boston is left with a fourth starter who, two starts into the preseason, has already had one outing where he couldn't hit the second inning and another where he tossed 34 pitches in an inning. Yikes.

Now, that's not saying that Lester won't hit his stride as the season ramps up. By all accounts he's bigger and stronger than he has been in any past campaigns, but his pitching control just hasn't returned to the level that he exhibited throughout his pre-cancer days. However, the bigger concern from this afternoon's 7-6 loss to the Reds has to be renewed repetition of  of some of Lester's past problems. Like letting a 1-2 count lead to a walk. Or giving up a two out double to a weak hitter, then granting a seeing-eye single to an even weaker hitter.

For the moment, Wednesday was a firm step back in the right direction for Jon-boy, seeing as he was able to throw far more than 50 pitches and got through three full innings, which is a whopping two more than he could last time on the hill. But he's not showing Andy Pettitte-like dominance yet. Maybe we'll see it coming. And hey, he's a heck of a lot cleaner than Pettitte, right? We can always rest on that.

Fairly significant news from the order, as Julio Lugo was scratched from the anticipated starting lineup with tightness in his back. Anytime a back is involved, an injury immediately becomes significantly worrisome. According to those around camp, Lugo has been much more at home in year two, and attested to the impact a bizarre intestinal ailment (that he got while traveling Europe with his wife?) had on his game last year before things even got rolling. That doesn't seem like the thing a player would say unless he was confident he'd show improvement and, of course, that he was sufficiently healthy.

The Lugo-less Sox still managed a ferocious rally, albeit without most of the regulars who started the game getting involved. Some of those regulars did get a handful of hits, with Manny Ramirez going 2-for-3 for the first time this spring, as did Alex Cora. J.D. Drew, Kevin Youkilis and Mike Lowell all had a single base knock, as did George Kottaras (who was hitting in the DH slot as opposed to the presumptive catching spot), who is hitting a blazing .600 this spring. 

As for the non-Lester related part of the pitching box, Hideki Okajima and Manny Delcarmen both put out another impressive outing, putting up 1-2-3 innings, Delcarmen's with two strikeouts. So where did all the runs come from, you ask? Your former lefty specialist Javier Lopez, who gave up a whopping  five runs in a single inning. That's a second horrendous outing for Lopez, for those of you keeping track at home, who has to feel his ever tenuous seat getting a bit warmer. Devern Hansack also had another relatively lackluster line, giving up another run in his lone inning. Alas, perhaps he really is just a great Nicaraguan name.

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