Lester Getting Locked in for 6 years.

Jon Lester's fairy-tale story appears to have reached new heights.
The left-hander has agreed to a five-year, $30 million extension with the Red Sox, according to a Yahoo! sports report on Sunday. Boston reportedly holds a $13 million option for 2014.

Lester was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma during his rookie season in 2006. He was declared cancer-free later in the year. He returned in 2007 to appear in 12 regular-season games. The 25-year-old was on the postseason roster and ended up getting the win in the World Series-clinching Game 4 in Denver against the Rockies.

Lester broke through last season, going 16-6 with a 3.21 ERA in 33 starts. He surpassed 200 innings and, more importantly, his velocity returned to his pre-cancer mid-90s mph level.

On May 19, Lester's feel-good story became more dramatic when he threw a no-hitter against Kansas City at Fenway Park. Lester would not confirm the report to The Boston Globe on Sunday, but he knew that talks had intensified between his agent, Josh Yates, and the Red Sox.
"I know that the past couple days have been pretty good," he said, according to the newspaper

Sox, Lester, Bay take game one 4-1

OCT 1. Anaheim, CA. Jason Manny Bay's two run shot in the 6th inning paved the way to a Red Sox victory in Game Number One.

"I think we proved a lot," Bay said. The Angels won eight of nine regular-season games between the teams this year, outscoring the Red Sox 42-17 in the final six. But the Red Sox have won 10 straight postseason games against the Angels dating to 1986, including first-round sweeps in 2004 and 2007 en route to World Series titles. The World Series champion Red Sox tied a major league record for consecutive postseason wins over the same opponent, a mark Oakland set against the Red Sox from 1988-2003

Lester got the Game 1 assignment after Josh Beckett was pushed back to Game 3 because of an oblique problem. He retired his final seven batters, striking out four, and only one outfielder had a putout during his stint. Lester struck out seven and walked one.
"Early he established his fastball in," Francona said. "Once we got the lead, he really went after 'em. He came with a vengeance and struck out the side." That was in the bottom of the sixth, when Lester fanned Howie Kendrick, Mike Napoli and Matthews.

The Angels, who wrapped up the AL West title with 2 1/2 weeks left in the regular season, finished with a franchise-best 100-62 record that was tops in the majors. But they lost for the eighth time in 10 postseason home games since winning the 2002 World Series.
Lackey, who won Game 7 of that World Series, allowed two runs and four hits in 6 2/3 innings with three walks and five strikeouts

Welcome to the Pedey and Papi show

September 2. BOSTON -- The public address announcer had already gone through the lineups and the first strains of the national anthem were about to follow when Boston's scheduled No. 4 hitter, first baseman Kevin Youkilis, was scratched with back spasms.
There was only one place for manager Terry Francona to turn: Dustin Pedroia

The diminutive second baseman filled in at cleanup for the third time in four games and delivered a career high-tying five RBIs on Tuesday night to lead Boston to a 14-2 victory over the struggling Baltimore Orioles. "It was a quick move tonight," Francona said. "We put Petey in the four-hole and he just continues to get hits." Pedroia had a double, a homer and a single, and is batting .600 (18-for-30) over the last seven games to raise his AL-leading average to .330. A year after hitting eight homers and winning the AL rookie of the year award, Pedroia has 16 homers for the season.

The numbers are typical of a cleanup hitter, but not the kind that were expected from a feisty, 5-foot-9 second baseman. But with Youkilis ailing, Pedroia has gone 7-for-12 while providing protection for slugger David Ortiz. "It's funny to see him come up after Ortiz, a big burly guy," teammate Mark Kotsay said. Ortiz and Coco Crisp also had three hits on Tuesday, and Ortiz added four RBIs as the Red Sox won for the 10th time in 14 games. Boston cut its deficit in the AL East to four games behind Tampa Bay, which lost 7-2 to the New York Yankees; the Red Sox lead the wild-card by four games.

Jon Lester (13-5) allowed one run and six hits, striking ouPedroia hit .374 in August, scoring 33 runs in the month and convincing Red Sox fans that he should be the AL MVP. Pedroia is doing his best to tune out the "MVP!" chants when he is in the batter's box.t five and walking four in five innings while the Sox bashed 20 hits in the 14-2 victory.

The "MVP! MVP!" chants continue from adoring fans who are continually amazed that such a small player can generate so much power. Yet again last night, Dustin Pedroia, hitting cleanup after Kevin Youkilis was a late scratch with back spasms, thumped the baseball in a manner that would make Albert Pujols jealous.

Bay and Lester beat the O's 6-3

BALTIMORE (AP) -- Before he came to the Boston Red Sox, Jason Bay didn't know much about Jon Lester. Bay likes what he's seen. And, to be sure, the Red Sox are also pretty pleased about what they've witnessed thus far from their new left fielder. Lester outpitched Jeremy Guthrie, and Bay homered twice and drove in four runs to help Boston beat the Baltimore Orioles 6-3 on Monday night.

Lester (12-4) allowed one run, four hits and a walk in seven innings to improve to 5-0 lifetime against the Orioles. The left-hander is 9-1 since May 25. "I'll be honest, I didn't know a lot about him before I got here," Bay said of Lester. "But it's pretty obvious to me after being here that he's one of the better pitchers in this league." Bay, meanwhile, is quickly becoming one of the AL's most dangerous hitters. In 16 games with the Red Sox, Bay is batting .348 with three homers and 16 RBIs.

Red Sox hang on again. Beat Rangers 8-4

August 14, 2008. Boston, MA - With his shaved head and hustling style, Kevin Youkilis will never be mistaken for Manny Ramirez. But there is one similarity, at least lately -- the power Youkilis has brought to the cleanup spot held by Ramirez until he was traded July 31. Youkilis doubled in each of his first three at-bats Wednesday night, leading another hitting outburst that gave the Boston Red Sox an 8-4 win over the Texas Rangers.

"You can't worry about where you hit," Youkilis said. "When you go up there it's not like they put a number on you saying you're hitting fourth today." He delivered a day after his three-run homer gave the Red Sox a 19-17 victory, a win that came after they blew a 10-run cushion. Youkilis homered twice in that wild win. Youkilis "has had a phenomenal offensive year," Boston's Jason Varitek said. "We've known about him as a hitter, but now he's added some power."

In seven games batting fourth since Ramirez left, Youkilis is 10-for-25 with two home runs, five doubles and eight RBIs. His 22 homers are six more than the career high he set last year, his 83 RBIs match his best total and he's only two points behind AL batting leader Johnny Damon.

Texas trailed 8-0 in the eighth inning, but Milton Bradley's three-run homer made it 8-4. The Rangers then put their first two batters on base in the ninth before Ian Kinsler -- leading the majors in hits -- grounded into a double play and Texas fell short of another big comeback.

Jon Lester (11-4) held the top-hitting team in baseball to seven hits in 7 1/3 innings. He left shortly after Kinsler's solo homer, and the Red Sox got a mini-scare later in the eighth when Mike Timlin allowed Bradley's 20th home run. "We made it a little more interesting than we needed to," Boston manager Terry Francona said. Javier Lopez got the final two outs of the inning and Justin Masterson worked the ninth.

Jon Lester's last 11 starts

Jon Has Gone 5-1 with a 2.13 ERA in His Last 11 Outings

.................score.IP H R E W K
Jun 22..St.Lo....W 5-3 7.1 9 2 2 1 3
Jun 17..at PHIL..W 3-0 7.0 6 0 0 1 5
Jun 12..BAL......W 9-2 7.0 7 2 2 1 3
Jun 5...TB.......W 7-1 6.1 8 1 1 0 5
May 31..at BAL...W 6-3 5.0 7 2 2 3 4
May 25..at Oak...L 6-3 5.0 7 4 3 2 3
May 19..KC.......W 7-0 9.0 0 0 0 2 9
May 14..at Bal...L 6-3 6.0 5 2 2 2 4
May 9...at MIN...L 7-6 5.1 8 5 3 1 2
May 4...TB.......W 7-3 6.0 4 1 1 3 5
Apr 29..TOR......W 1-0 8.0 1 0 0 4 6

Youkilis Hits Walk-off in 13th; Sox Win 5-3

June 22, 2008. BOSTON, MA Kevin Youkilis socked his second home run of the game in the bottom half of the 13th inning, giving the Red Sox a 5-3 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals. After leading off the 10th, 11th and 12th innings with doubles and failing to score, Kevin You-Killed-Us hit a two-run home run off of Mike Parisi in the bottom of the 13th inning to lift the Boston Red Sox to a 5-3 victory over the Cardinals on Sunday.

The Red Sox avoided being swept in a series at home for the first time since losing two contests to the Blue Jays last April. The Cardinals had a chance to take the lead in the top of the 13th off Javier Lopez(2-0), but Chris Duncan was thrown out at home plate by Red Sox right fielder J.D. Drew trying to score on Adam Kennedy's base hit. "He hit the ball hard enough to be able field it on a nice run," Drew said. "I was surprised to see him going and it wound up that it was a nice hop to Tek and he had time to duck under."

After the Red Sox scored twice in the eighth to take a 3-2 lead, the Cardinals tied the game in the ninth off Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon, who blew his fourth save opportunity of the season. After striking out the first two Cardinals he faced, Duncan drew a walk and Adam Kennedy doubled to center to tie the game at 3. Joel Pineiro, who hasn't won since April 29, gave up two runs and seven hits over seven-plus innings. In his last three starts, Pineiro has allowed only five earned runs over 19 innings. Lester was nearly as good as Pineiro, allowing nine hits over 7 1/3 innings. It was his 11th straight start in which he has held his opponent to three earned runs or fewer.

Lester silences potent Phillie's bats 3-0

June 17, 2008. Philadelphia, PA. Jonathan Lester pitched seven strong innings, allowing six hits and walking only one, improving his record to 7-3. He has allowed three runs or less in each of his last 10 starts and is 5-1 with a 2.09 ERA over that span. Lester struck out five over seven shutout innings and Coco Crisp homered to lead the Bosox to a 3-0 win over the Phillies on Tuesday night. "I think his confidence is growing," Francona said of Lester. "It looks like he's trying to grow up as a major league pitcher."


"It seems like every start, things are getting better," Lester said. "Walks are going down, I'm more around the zone with better command of my stuff. I have the confidence to throw any pitch, any time." Lester peered over reporters' heads to catch a glimpse of the NBA Finals halftime show. Crisp gave him all the offense he needed with a two-run homer in the second inning off left-hander Jamie Moyer (7-4). Julio Lugo added an RBI double in the sixth. Papelbon struck out the side in the 9th for his 20th save.


Chase Utley, Ryan Howard and Pat Burrell finished 0-for-12 with eight strikeouts against three Boston pitchers. Burrell was impressed with Boston's lefty starter.
"We hadn't seen him before and he's pretty good," he said.

The Red Sox went wild on the basepaths, stealing a total of 6 bases. Jacoby Ellsbury stole his league-leading 34th base; was caught attempting to swipe 3rd base though, the 4th time a pitcher has nabbed him.