Sports Redux: The Lester Cometh

The Red Sox will be a long way from home tonight when they kick off their four-game series against the Cleveland Indians, but there's one player in particular that deserves to know that he has the folks back home standing in front of their television, applauding his image on the screen.

We'd like to imagine that Jon Lester will be able to hear a faint roar of Boston cheers, sound that has traveled the 638.22 miles between Fenway Park and Jacobs Field, when he takes the mound for his first major league start since he learned in August of last year that he had anaplastic large cell lymphoma.

When news of the diagnosis reached Red Sox fans, it put the game into perspective. "It's only a game" took on new meaning as we watched Lester go from a pitcher of the future to a man fighting to overcome a disease.

And now he's about to come back to the game. Congratulations, Jon. Welcome back. We here at Bostonist are just sorry it's not a proper homecoming - but just wait until you get back to Fenway Park.

Speaking of the hallowed grounds, the Sox wrapped up their 11-game home stand with a 6-5 record, after Sunday's less-decisive-than-the-score-indicates 8-5 defeat of the Chicago White Sox. If anything, the game proved just how determined Boston is to keep things interesting for fans - opening the door multiple times for a Chicago team seemingly determined not to capitalize on it.

Too harsh? Not really. We were as happy as anyone else to see Curt Schilling in his Boston uniform, and of course we were thrilled by the Lester news. But armed with a 8-1 lead in the seventh, the Sox allowed Chicago to charge back with four runs. Wakefield, charged with three of those runs, was replaced mid-inning by Manny Delcarmen, whose dominance in relief was nowhere to be found in the Sunday sunshine before Hideki Okajima stepped in to get the final out of the inning and pitch brilliantly in the eighth. While we figured things were set from that point on - Oki setting things up for Jonathan Papelbon to finish out the job - Chicago loaded the bases off Pap and was one rocket shot away from taking the lead.

We've rarely been so happy to see a double play as when the Sox got out of that jam and won the game.

But let's give a big hand to our newly rediscovered offense. Manny Ramirez and Mike Lowell each fired three-run shots into the stands, and the pair is tied for 15 homers on the season. Coco Crisp finished the day with three hits and Eric Hinske added a hit of his own as he nicely held down things in left field for the Sox while Manny continued his DH-ing stint.

Photo of Okajima on the mound in front of the Fenway faithful by Victoria Welch