Lester Wins in his Back Yard, Much-Maligned Manny on Fire
Jon Lester’s amazing season continued last night in Seattle, with 7.1 shutout innings of the Mariners in his own stomping grounds. The Evergreen State native was, quite literally, in complete control, with zero walks in this outing. While the environment was definitely in his favor (an extreme pitcher’s park coupled with an extremely bad opposing team), the decreased walk rate continues to be the main reason for Lester’s success this season. Lester has not walked more than 3 batters in a game since April.
While most of the Red Sox offense came courtesy of the 8-9 hitters (Varitek and Lowrie), Manny Ramirez stroked 3 more singles in this game. Manny, who is now officially a polarizing hot-button, a non-stop talk radio subject after a botched outfield play in Anaheim this weekend, is hitting over .500 since his foray into the exhilarating sport of Geezer Tossing.
Up north, David Ortiz had yet another impressive night in the minor leagues, and is now 5/12 (.417) with 3 HRs, 4 walks, and only 2 strikeouts. He should be in the lineup this Friday against New York, who will be without one of their key bats.