Feeling Better than Better

21 May 2008



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Bosox Jon Lester No-Hits Royals

The Boston Red Sox got a no-hitter out of 24-year-old Jon Lester on Monday night as the home team beat the Kansas City Royals 7-0. It was the first no-hitter of the season, Mr. Lester’s first, the first by a Boston left-hander in over half a century, and as near as this journal can determine, the first no-hitter thrown by a man who has beaten cancer. Add in the fact that Mr. Lester won the last game of last year’s World Series for the Sox, and he’s having a pretty good time of things.

A couple of years ago, that wasn’t the case. Mr. Lester missed part of the 2006 season after being diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Wikipedia succinctly explains, “On August 27, 2006 Lester was scratched from his scheduled start against the Oakland Athletics due to a sore back. The following day he was placed on the 15-day disabled list, and was sent back to Boston for testing. At the time, Lester's back problems were thought to be the result of a car crash he was involved in earlier in the month. On August 31 it was reported that Lester had been diagnosed with enlarged lymph nodes and was being tested for a variety of ailments, including forms of cancer. A few days later, doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital confirmed that Lester had a treatable form of anaplastic large cell lymphoma. In December of 2006, ESPN.com reported that Lester's latest CT Scan showed no signs of the disease, which appeared to be in remission.”

On Monday, he put in an amazing performance. Of the 29 batters he faced, he was ahead of 20 in the count. He walked two: a second inning free pass to Billy Butler and the other in the ninth to Esteban German. A kid who had never thrown more than 113 pitches in a game tossed 130, 86 for strikes. His last pitch was a 96-mile-per-hour fastball to strike out Alberto Callaspo. He did get some help from the fielders, especially Jacob Ellsbury’s diving catch of Jose Guillen’s line drive in the fourth.

Mr. Lester said, “I had more adrenaline going in the ninth inning than I did in the first inning, which I guess is normal for that situation. You don't feel tired in that situation. You've got some much adrenaline going.” Pitching coach John Farrell agreed, “It seemed like he got stronger as the game went on. He had all four pitches working. His fastball command, how powerful he was, for all of us that was something special to witness.”

Another cancer survivor on the field Monday was Mike Lowell, the Bosox’ third baseman, who said, “It makes the story that much better. I think his story is a great one to start. This is a nice exclamation point for him. He went through something that's very trying. The best part about it is it focuses on his abilities as a baseball player, not so much on a player who overcame cancer. I like that they talk about his ability, because he's got a lot of it.”

To put his talent into context, John McGrath of the News Tribune in Tacoma, Washington, pointed out, “On their best days – and their best days often were on display twice a week – Christy Mathewson, Bob Gibson and Tom Seaver were the most dominant of pitchers. Each threw a no-hitter. Once.” So has Jon Lester.

© Copyright 2008 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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