Projo Sox Blog

For a time, earlier this season, Jon Lester didn't think he was pitching badly, no matter what the numbers said. Often, he wasn't; it seemed like he would be cruising along, and one little thing would go wrong, and the wheels would come off.

But once too many little things go wrong over too long a time, is it still bad luck? Or is that, in and of itself, equate to bad pitching when the results are indisputably bad?

Earlier this year, Lester would have said it doesn't mean anything. Now, he's taking a different tack: acknowledging that even if they are small mistakes, different ones each time, they are still mistakes, and they help to create the poor result.

"It seems like every outing it's something different. They're small things, that turn out to be big things. I need to minimize those mistakes as best I can," Lester said. "I don't think we're far. I think it's just little things right now that are screwing up my outings. Hopefully -- no, not hopefully, it will turn around in the future, for me and the team."

After giving up five runs in 5.2 innings yesterday, Lester's ERA sits at 6.75. He is now 2-4 on the season, and is allowing 1.62 walks and hits per inning.

With so many runners on base, it's a testament to Lester's stuff and his strikeout potential that his ERA isn't even higher. He has 54 strikeouts in 47 innings, testament to the fact that has generally pitched out of jams quite well -- but hasn't been able to avoid the big inning. Yesterday, again, that was his undoing.

"Early, he had to pitch out of some trouble, which he did, very effectively. He made some great pitches," manager Terry Francona said.

Lester, who signed a five-year, $30 million contract this offseason, issued a decree stating that he would outwork every other pitcher in the majors to get back on track.

"I can promise you that there hasn't been a pitcher who has worked harder than I have from the beginning of the season, and there won't be a pitcher for the remainder of the season who will work as hard as I will to get back to where I've been in the past," Lester said.

"Whether that be conditioning, whether that be focus, bullpen work, whatever it may be, I'm going to continue to work hard and continue to try to improve, and get to the point where I can execute pitches," he said.

His teammates expect this is just a blip on the radar.

"I think he's going to be fine. We're not worried about Jon," second baseman Dustin Pedroia said.

Lester's first full season as a starter was in 2008, and he was a much better pitcher in the second half of the season than the first. In 20 first-half starts, he was 7-3 with a 3.38 ERA. In 13 second half outings, he was 9-3 with a 2.95 ERA. He couldn't judge if that was an important trend -- and said he didn't even want to.

"I don't know if I'm a slow starter, but I think that's more of an excuse, and I'm not going to sit here and give you guys excuses as to why I'm not throwing the ball well," Lester said. "Whether it's May, or it's September, it's terrible outings, and terrible execution of pitches."

 Tags  Boston Red Sox Dan Barbarisi Jon Lester Terry Francona

---