Remember when Jon Lester was a guy with a ton of potential but no consistency? Somewhere this season (probably after the no-hitter), the young lefty has gained confidence and started throwing more strikes on the mound. The results that have followed have been outstanding.
Working in a reputed hitter's park, Lester threw seven shutout innings last night as Boston defeated Philadelphia, 3-0.
Lester (6-3) gave up six hits with one walk and five strikeouts.
The unlikely offensive star for the Sox (45-29) was Coco Crisp (2 hits, 2 steals), who had a two-run homer in the second off Phillies (42-31) starter Jamie Moyer (7-4) and scored on Julio Lugo's (2 walks, steal) double in the sixth.
Boston tied a club record with six stolen bases. Sean Casey, Dustin Pedroia and Jacoby Ellsbury notched the other steals (while Ellsbury was also caught once).
Moyer lasted only five innings as the Sox worked five walks off him. A night after looking like the MVP he was two seasons ago, Ryan Howard looked more like how he's been this season: he struck out all four times he came up.
For one game at least, the Sox' 8th-9th inning combination of Hideki Okajima and Jonathan Papelbon looked like they took a time machine back to last season when they were both unhittable. Okajima pitched a scoreless eighth and Papelbon picked up his 20th save of the season after a clean ninth.
In a matinee this afternoon, Justin Masterson opposes Kyle Kendrick as each team tries to take the series.
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