I'M BACK!

And, in more exciting news, so are the Red Sox.  Despite the fact that the local nine only managed to split yesterday's doubleheader, they're still tied for first place in the AL East.  After that brutal beginning, who would have thought we'd recover by Memorial Day?

Admittedly, we owe some thanks to the Yankees and the Rays (and all of their successful opponents, of course) for dragging their feet out of the gate, as well.  Somehow, we've survived injuries to Daisuke Matsuzaka, and John Lackey, and while Lackey looks to be on his way back soonish, there are whispers of Tommy John surgery for Matsuzaka.

Tito claims that surgery is not a possibility, but there's also no word as to when the enigma will be returning.  Luckily, Alfredo Aceves and Tim Wakefield have been performing admirably in the meantime.  Each of these "placeholders" have notched two wins already this season, and it will be interesting to see who gets pushed into the bullpen when Lackey makes his (hopefully) triumphant return.

My bet is on Aceves, since he's the more conventional hurler, and Wakefield has made it known in recent years how he feels about the bullpen.  We all know about Tito's loyalty to his veterans, and Wake is the capital-"V" veteran of this team.

Whatever happens, I'm just SO HAPPY to be back home where I can watch EVERY Red Sox game on NESN on my very own TV, where I don't have to fight with the internet of MLB.tv, and where I can't go anywhere without seeing somebody wearing a Sox hat. Home sweet home, indeed.

Flirting with .500

Just when you think they're going to turn it around for good, and reach .500 for the first time since Opening day in Texas, they go and hand in a heartbreaker like last night's.  Jonny Lester wasn't himself last night,and he would be the first to say so, admitting that he let his emotions get to him during a first inning where he gave up three runs and the calls just weren't going his way.

Red Sox pitching gave up three home runs in last night's game, and the bats just couldn't keep up, despite homers from Adrian Gonzalez (2), and David Ortiz.  This was not the way the Sox wanted to open the series, with a loss, and Lester only able to pitch 5.1 innings, meaning that the bullpen was more heavily taxed than they would have hoped.

Tonight we have John Lackey going against Jesse Litch, before the Sox head south to New York for a three-game set.  There's an off-day in between, and the rotation has been shuffled so that Clay Buchholz,Josh Beckett, and Lester will pitch against the Bronx Bombers, and Daisuke Matsuzaka won't go until we face the Orioles next week.

Someday the Red Sox will get back to .500.... Maybe it will be this Friday.

Jon Lester is a BOSS.

The offense exploded for seven runs last night, as Jon Lester notched his fourth win of the young season.  The game seemed to go off without a hitch, and everything went as if scripted by Theo during the offseason: the starter threw 7 fantastic innings, and handed the ball off to the bullpen who finished the job.  All the while the lineup was performing well, as everyone but JD Drew and Dustin Pedroia had at least one hit.

So how good was Lester? Since MLB.tv seems to hate me in Argentina, I didn't actually get to watch him pitch, but the stat line is quite impressive.  Lester went seven full innings, scattered six hits, gave up just a single run (a homer from Trumbo), one walk, and eleven strikeouts. Yes, eleven strikeouts.

Peter Abraham of the Globe stated in the Extra Bases blog that Lester could be among the best of his generation, and I can't find many reasons to disagree.  The man is only 27 years old, and he owns a career winning percentage of of .714 (65-26).

Despite traditionally struggling mightily in April, Lester managed to win three games last month, and continued his dominance last night.  It's right about now that I'm wishing I had managed to draft him for my fantasy team - that was a failure on my part.

I suspect this isthe year that Lester finally gets his due, even among the more casual fans.  Of course, even the Cy Young winner can get ignored when he pitches for a small-market team (somewhere, King Felix weeps).  But Lester looks to be building a strong resume for the award (though it's very early), and the Red Sox are anything but small-market.  More than one sports periodical picked Jon Lester as the 2011 AL Cy Young winner, and he's not taking any prisoners along the way.

I'm guessing he's also really fun to watch during this stretch - it's too bad MLB.tv won't let me.