Jon Lester

 

 

Jon Lester is a hero.

 

            The left-handed pitcher made his start in the Major Leagues with the Red Sox in 2006.  Since then, he has recovered from cancer, won the final game of the World Series, and thrown a no-hitter.  He’s not the most stupendous pitcher, but his list of achievements on top of his cancer makes him a star.

            Jon Lester was born in Tacoma, Washington, where he was the Gatorade State Player of the Year in 2000.  He was drafted by the Sox in the second round two years later.  Jon did well in the minor leagues, with an 11-6 record and league leading numbers in strike outs and earned run average.  Lester was sought after by many teams during his rise to the majors:  In ’04 the Texas Rangers demanded he be included in a potential trade for the then-Ranger Alex Rodriguez.  Two years ago the Marlins insisted he be included in a trade for now-Red Sox pitcher Josh Becket.  Other teams tugged at him, but the Sox would not let go.  His rookie year (’06) was nothing special.  After being called up in June, he went 7-2, a decent record, with a less-than-good 4.73 ERA.

            However, with August-September came a big shock to Jon Lester.  He was placed on the DL with a sore back, but later tests showed bad news: Lester had lymphoma.  He underwent treatment during the playoffs (which the Sox did not do well in) and the off-season, and by mid-’07 he was pitching rehab games in the minors.  He pitched a scattering of games during the regular season, finishing with a 4-0 record, impressive for a man coming back from cancer.  Although he didn’t really do much MLB work in the regular season, he did well in the playoffs.  Terry Francona made a noble move and in an important situation, gave Lester the start in Game 4 of the World Series against the Rockies.  The kid pulled through, going almost 6 shutout innings.  It shows a lot about Lester’s determination and strength that he could help win the World Series when the same time a year before he was receiving treatment for cancer.

            This season, Lester made big news again, but much better then announcing he has cancer: a couple weeks ago he threw a no-hitter against the Kansas City Royals.  (It turns out Kansas City is actually in Missouri.  Go figure.)  The game actually didn’t start out looking like a potential no-hitter; the Royals players were making contact with Lester’s pitches.  Lester himself actually made an error in the second inning.  But he pulled through, and finished the 9 innings without letting up a hit.  Lester’s no-hitter was the 18^th thrown by Sox pitchers, and the first in the Majors since Clay Buchholz’s last year (see blog entry on Clay Buchholz).  It was catcher Jason Varitek’s record 4^th no-no caught.  But besides the numbers, the achievement itself is glorious: within two years of being diagnosed with lymphoma, Lester had won a World Series game and thrown a no-hitter, a combination of trophies that most veteran pitchers cannot claim.  If you ever need an inspirational story, look up Jon Lester.  

*This just in: It’s just been revealed that Jon Lester’s father has lymphoma!  Bummer for the Lester family.             

Daisuke Matsuzaka

 

Fenway Park is famous for its fans posting up big red K’s whenever their pitcher throws a strikeout.  Daisuke Matsuzaka’s name lends itself to this, and his performance lets the fans put up many of the K’s.

            The famous Dice-K, as dubbed by the Boston Globe, is one of the Red Sox’s most promising pitchers.  While just in his second year in the American Major Leagues, Matsuzaka played in the Nippon Professional Baseball league since 1999.  He was born in Kanita, Higashitsugaru District, Aomori, Japan, (can’t they just say Kanita, Japan?) but spent most of his childhood at his father’s in Tokyo.  He excelled in Little Leagues in Japan, and he was accepted to baseball powerhouse Yokohama High School, where, by his second year, had developed a 90-m.p.h. fastball.  We’re talking a 17-year-old with a fastball worthy of the Majors.  In the Summer Koshien (a high school invitational baseball tourney in Japan), Matsuzaka had perhaps the most epic of all his highlights.  Here’s his “Legendary 3 Days”: Day 1, 148 pitches in a complete game shutout.  Day 2, 250 pitches in a 17-inning win.  Day 3, he closed a seven-run rally after starting in left field.  That’s three days, 413 pitches.  And in the final game, he pitched a no-hitter, only the second ever in a final.  All this at 18 years old.

            After high school, Matsuzaka was drafted by Nippon League team the Seibu Lions.  He recorded his first strikeout on a fastball clocking in at 97 mph, from an 18 year old.  In his first year, Dice K was already considered the Lions’ ace, and finished with a 16-5 record.  His fame was so great that rumors sprung up that Matsuzaka could throw the mythical “gyroball,” a pitch that may or may not exist.  It’s no wonder that American Major League teams were already interested in this superstar.

            In 2006, Dice K hired an agent for dealings with the MLB.  The Red Sox paid dearly just to talk to the legend; they coughed up more than $51 million just for negotiating rights alone, never mind salary costs.  And when the Sox and Matsuzaka finally agreed to terms, the salary wasn’t cheap-$52 million over six years.

During the ’07 season, Matsuzaka pitched well enough, but certainly not well enough for an eight million dollar salary that year.  He didn’t make many headlines through skill, it was mostly his legendary status that had critics raving.  Dice K did help the Sox clinch the division against the Minnesota Twins with an eight inning win.  He finished the season 15-12, nothing special compared to ace Josh Beckett’s 20 win season.  However, he did break the Sox rookie strikeout record with 201.

If his season performance was mediocre, the start of Dice K’s first MLB playoffs was abysmal.  He did not make it through 5 innings in either of his first two starts.  In his second start, against the Cleveland Indians in the ALCS, he was past the 100-pitch count by 4 and 2/3 innings.  Pretty pathetic from a player who, at 18, was pitching consecutive complete games.  Matsuzaka did begin turning his performance around at the end of the ALCS, winning Game 7 against the Indians and putting the Sox through to the World Series.  He won Game 3 of the Championship, in which he got his first Major League hit, a two-run single off Rockies pitcher Josh Fogg.  Matsuzaka put his name up with two other legends with his two RBIs, being the one of only three Sox pitchers to do so in the World Series.  His name is now up there with former Sox uber-legends Babe Ruth and Cy Young. 

This season, although Josh Beckett (5-3) is considered the Sox ace, Daisuke is doing much better, with an undefeated 7-0 record and a solid 2.15 ERA.  Next year, hopefully Dice K will get the title of ace, which he clearly deserves much more.                             

*UHOH!  Dice-K was injured in his start against the Seattle Mariners yesterday, May 27.

Dustin Pedroia

 

            He’s the current Boston Red Sox second baseman.  He helped lead the Sox through the American League Championship Series last season.  He has some of the most dynamic plays of the Sox infielders. 

            Ladies and gentlemen, he is Dustin Pedroia.  The short Arizona State graduate has done a lot in his two years of Major League Baseball.  Pedroia is a consistent, skilled player who has been a valuable asset to the Red Sox team.

He has his roots in California, where he played for the Woodland High School.  At ASU, Dustin played three years of baseball, during which time he never batted below .347, an impressive stat.  After being drafted by the Red Sox in 2004, Dustin played two years in the minor leagues with a batting average of .308.  He got his first Major League appearance and hit on August 22^nd of 2006.  His first MLB home run was hit September 9^th.  Pedroia played 39 games during the ’06-’07 season as a backup 2^nd baseman, and occasionally shortstop.

His college and minor league stats led many to believe that the prospect player’s Major League career would be just as good.  However, when he began his career as a starting 2^nd baseman in 2007, his hitting was shaky.  His average often dropped below .200, at its lowest .172.  He disappointed much of the fan base, and Alex Cora often got the start in place of the struggling star.  Although many fans were disappointed and disheartened by Pedroia’s playing, I had always thought he looked promising, even during his poor early season performance.

Fortunately, my faith paid off.  A little bit later in the season, Pedroia found his stride.  At the start of May, his batting average was the low, low .172.  However, by mid-May he had turned it on and raised his average up to .322.  Highlights from his improvement time include a 13-game hitting streak and a five hit game against the San Francisco Giants.  His bat was not the only outstanding part of his game last season.  The reason I remained so faithful to Pedroia was that, even while he struggled at the plate, his fielding stayed strong.  He is one of the best consistent fielders I have seen in a while, with many sliding catches, diving plays for ground balls, and dramatic mid-air throws for the double play.  Dustin’s skill during his big turnaround was enough to get him the American League Player of the Week for May 28-June 3, and the May AL Rookie of the Month.  Pedroia was not only the Rookie of the Month, however….

Pedroia did pretty well in the playoffs, but he got better as time went on.  During the best-of-five ALDS, he only got 2 hits in the Sox three-game sweep of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.  (An unnecessarily complex name, if you ask me.)  In the 7^th and final game of the ALCS, Pedroia helped the Sox secure the W with 5 RBIs coming from a 2-run homer and a bases clearing double.  Pedroia helped the Sox start off the World Series with a bang, becoming the first rookie and only the second player ever to hit a home run on the first pitch of the Championship.  He ended up batting .278 for the series, with 5 hits and 4 RBIs.  After the playoffs, it was revealed that Pedroia had been playing through the playoffs with a broken bone in his left hand.  His performance even with the fracture shows his determinacy and ability for the Red Sox.

Pedroia has been a valuable part of the Sox organization since joining the team.  He has been consistent in making plays, a good aspect of a player every manager should look for.  He has been doing well, not outstanding, but well in the ’08 season, and we can all look forward to many more years to come.        

Julio Lugo

 

            I’m going to start off on a negative:  Julio Lugo is not the best player on the Boston Red Sox.  When we first acquired him from the LA Dodgers during the off-season before the ’07 year, we had just been through several different shortstops since losing the former Sox legend NOMAH (that’s Nomar Garciaparra, for those of you who didn’t watch the disappointing 90’s-early 00’s Red Sox), including Championship player Orlando Cabrera, who was let go after the World Series, Edgar Renteria who the Sox paid to leave after a 30 error season, and defensive superstar (not so much offensive, however) Alex Gonzalez.

            At the start of the ’07 season, Lugo was less than good.  His defense was shaky at best, and his batting was terrible.  Sox manager Terry Francona had acquired Lugo in order to have a strong leadoff hitter, but soon Francona had moved the inconsistent shortstop to the bottom of the order because he struggled to get on base.  Throughout the season last year, Lugo recorded 19 errors and 82 strikeouts-many of which came in his 0 for 33 slump from June 15^th to July 3^rd.  At this point I had little faith in the surprisingly seasoned shortstop from the Dominican Republic.  I think columnist Tom Elitch put it best with his phrase, “Lugo for 4,” playing off Lugo’s common 0 for 4 batting stats.  He had played since being drafted by the Houston Astros in 2000, but at that time he was playing like a fresh rookie with no experience at all.  I know every player gets in slumps, like Big Papi did to start off this current season, but not reaching base in thirty-three at bats is pretty low.

            However, when Lugo did get on base, he was often a force to be reckoned with.  Last season he recorded just as many steals as at-bats he had during his slump: that’s right, an impressive 33 stolen bases.  The speedy shortstop also had 36 doubles.  Also, after his 0-33 slump, Julio turned it around with a 14-game hitting streak which raised his abysmal .136 batting average up to a decent, not great, .226.  He finished the ’07 season with an average of .237.  Not amazing, not terrible, just an average average.

            Julio Lugo helped out enough in the Red Sox playoffs last year on the way to the World Series.  He had 13 hits, including three doubles, and a stolen base with a .271 average.  This season, Lugo has been doing better, with a .283 average, 8 RBIs, and 30 hits.  Unfortunately, his defense is still only average, and he has 10 errors already this season.  Hopefully his D will undergo a change like his offense did last year.

                Now for some highlights in the last week:  Second baseman Dustin Pedroia had three hits in Saturday’s game against the Rays, rookie Brandon Moss had an appendectomy on the same day, and Jon Lester won another Sunday during the Celtics’ slaughter of Game 7, bringing the pitcher’s record to 2-2.  Next week, look out for two blogs coming your way.