DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum Red Sox Jon Lester Throws No-Hitter!

05/19/2008 11:43 PM ET
Lester's feat special for many reasons
Lefty, Buchholz linked forever by back-to-back no-hitters

Everyone knew. From the moment in June 2002, when the Boston Red Sox made the skinny left-hander from Tacoma's Bellarmine High School their second-round choice in the First-Year Player Draft, they knew Jon Lester had a date with greatness.

So that late-Monday scene in Fenway Park, as Lester made his ear-to-ear grin reach toward the first-base dugout through a gauntlet of hugs and under a shower of cheers from 37,746 on their feet, it was confirmation of the convictions of those on the outside.

Everyone knew everything.

Lester didn't know anything.

Twenty-one months ago, he didn't know whether he would live or die. A lymphoma diagnosis does that.

A year ago, Lester didn't know whether he would pitch again in the Majors. He had been declared cancer-free after months of treatment, including aggressive chemotherapy, and he was working his way back in the Minor Leagues, but a career, like life, doesn't come with guarantees.

Five months ago, he didn't know whether he was headed to Minnesota. The Red Sox wanted Johan Santana, the Twins wanted him and there appeared to be some shaky fingers on the trigger.

Today, Lester still doesn't know: Do I send my glove or my cap to Cooperstown, N.Y., for the Hall of Fame to celebrate the first no-hitter by a Boston left-hander in 52 years?

Of those postgame embraces, the longest and most emotional was between Lester and his affected manager, Terry Francona. They wrapped their arms around each other, until Francona had to break away.

He didn't want his tears to mix with Lester's sweat.

"I've been through a lot the last couple of years," Lester said a little later. "He's been like a second dad to me. It was just a special moment right there."

In sports, we tend to throw around the word "inspiration" like it was rice at a wedding. Hyperbole is our impersonation of Chicken Little, and when something truly inspiring punctures the monotony of a mundane Monday evening, we have to convince people that this time the sky truly is falling.

You will not come across anything more uplifting than a 24-year-old willing himself to a no-hitter in his 22nd start after getting knocked off the mound by a diagnosis of cancer.

Seeing Lester's Major League comeback last July 23, with his parents cheering and eventually breaking down in their Jacobs Field seats, was enough to make you feel weak in the knees.

Then, what about this?

The resolve to see through the appointment with destiny after never before having thrown a ninth-inning pitch for Boston?

The desire to dial up a 96-mph fastball for Alberto Callaspo to swing through for the 27th out on his 130th pitch, after never before having thrown more than 113?

Well, unlike those fans at Fenway, you have to sit down. It is a bit overwhelming.

So is the symbolism of Lester's gem, 80 baseball days removed from the same effort by Clay Buchholz, the 23-year-old who fired a no-hitter against the Orioles on Sept. 1, 2007.

For the Major Leagues' last two no-hitters to have been authored by the junior members of their rotation makes a powerful statement about the Red Sox, for the long term as well as for the immediate future of this 2008 American League East race.

Maybe you have not noticed, but the youngsters in the enemy's blueprint and in their rotation, the Yankees' Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy, have not done quite as well.

Lester and Buchholz have a modest five wins between them, which is ... let's see ... five more than Hughes and Kennedy.

The fascination with this continuing story extends beyond the high-pitched rivalry between those teams, of course. Both had a chance to forego the youngsters and draw for the decorated Santana and chose to keep their hands.

You've got to like Boston's cards. To oversimplify, Buchholz and Lester have combined to make the grand total of 48 Major League starts, and two of them ended in no-hitters.

With his feat, Lester drew comparisons to a couple of yesteryear pitchers.

One is quite flattering: Nolan Ryan, of all people, is the only other pitcher to have no-hit the Kansas City Royals.

The other brings a reminder not to take anything for granted, even from baseball's highest pedestal: Mel Parnell, the last previous Boston left-hander to throw a no-hitter, won a total of only four more games following that July 14, 1956, masterpiece against the Chicago White Sox.

Lester will henceforth forever wear the "no-hit pitcher" label. But long before, he was both a marked man and a man earmarked for great things.

It is quite remarkable, in fact, that on May 19, 2008, he would still be wearing a Boston uniform. This is a testament to the resolve of young general manager Theo Epstein, who for years has had to shoo other teams away from Lester the way you shoo flies away from the watermelon on a picnic table.

Before the 2004 season, the Texas Rangers demanded Lester for Alex Rodriguez. Two years later, the Florida Marlins insisted he be included in the trade for Josh Beckett. And then came last offseason, when he was the deal-breaker with the Twins.

They, too, knew.

Tom Singer is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

That's really something. A no-hitter is incredibly hard to do.

I hate the Red Sox, but I got a chance to watch the 9th inning last night and I was pulling for him, good for him, special moment for him after what he went through.

I love the Red Sox and especially Jon Lester, he's really got an amazing story!

No-hitter a record fourth for Varitek
Red Sox catcher enters history books with Lester in Boston
By Mike Petraglia / Special to MLB.com

BOSTON -- Even for someone who has now caught more Major League no-hitters than anyone in history, Monday's night gem by Jon Lester was still very special and unique to Jason Varitek.

"This was a weird one," Varitek said. "I didn't really know he had a no-hitter until the eighth. I looked up in the seventh and saw that he was around 100 pitches and he did his job. I glanced in the bullpen and saw nobody warming up and thought that was weird."

Entering Monday's contest, Varitek and 12 other big league catchers had the distinction of catching three no-hitters in their careers.

The moment Kansas City's Alberto Callaspo swung and missed at Lester's 130th pitch, Varitek stood all alone in the history books.

"The fact that he's caught four in his career, the only catcher to ever do that, that's a team effort," Red Sox pitching coach John Farrell said. "Jason has a huge impact on what goes on. Certainly, Jon threw every pitch, but Jason's guidance certainly got him to that point."

Ever since he assumed the Red Sox's full-time catching duties in 1999, Varitek has commanded the respect and admiration of every pitcher from Pedro Martinez to Curt Schilling to Josh Beckett.

And before Monday night, he caught no-hitters from Hideo Nomo in 2001, Derek Lowe in '02 and Clay Buchholz last Sept. 1.

"It also says he's caught some very good pitchers," Farrell said. "I think the most important thing is that I think every pitcher that walks to the mound has the utmost confidence in what he calls, and we're fortunate to have him here."

But ask Varitek about the job Lester did to come back from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, and he'll tell you catching this no-hitter may have meant more than any other.

"I'm very fortunate," Varitek said. "It's so exciting to be part of one as a catcher. Each one's so different. The work that Jonny Lester's had to do -- to be able to be part of something like that with him is totally different. Each one has been totally different, but Jonny keeps working to become more complete, and he's working his way to becoming that way."

Catching history
Jason Varitek caught his Major League-leading fourth no-hitter on Monday. The Red Sox catcher was also behind the dish for no-no's tossed by Hideo Nomo (April 4, 2001), Derek Lowe (April 27, 2002) and Clay Buchholz (Sept. 1, 2007).
Player

Games
Jason Varitek 4
Yogi Berra 3
Roy Campanella 3
Alan Ashby 3
Ray Schalk 3

Varitek, as he always does, did his best work as the game moved along, helping Lester overcome a bullpen session beforehand that left the southpaw feeling less than confident about his stuff.

But calling a game that featured Lester's curve and high fastballs mixed in with a steady stream of the lefty's signature cut-fastball, Varitek helped his pitcher find a rhythm as the game unfolded.

"[Lester is] someone who's got what I would consider a photographic memory, and ... he retains the information that goes on inside a game and how he's attacked the same hitters -- first, second, third and fourth time through the lineup," Farrell said.

It was somewhat ironic when Callaspo, batting for the first time since entering the game as a replacement for American League batting leader Mark Grudzielanek, swung and missed at a four-seam fastball clocked at 94 mph for the final out.

Varitek simply pumped his fist in the air and rushed out to congratulate his pitcher after not allowing a hit, something the Red Sox's captain has done that more than any catcher in Major League history.

Mike Petraglia is a contributor to MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Good for Lester, after everything he's gone thru it's nice to see hard work paying off.

Good for him. That's an inspiring story.

This is the kind of no hitter that makes me stand up and be proud to watch Baseball. Considering all he's been through, to put it in simple English: To a better guy it couldn't have happened.

Great pitching always beats good hitting.