Is Something Wrong With Jon Lester?

 At the beginning of the season, there were so many questions about this Red Sox team: Will they hit?  Can Napoli be an everyday first-baseman?  Will Ellsbury bounce back?  When will Iglesias be called up?  How can they win with that pitching rotation?  Who will be the closer?  Which Clay Buchholz will pitch this year- the one who is dominant or the one who is injured?

There were also questions thrown around about Lester.  Would he be able to pitch without the security of Beckett?  Would he be able to step up and be the leader of the rotation?  Would he be able to control his disgust with the umpires when he got a call he didn’t agree with?  But, there was one thing people were sure of: Lester would be hungry to win and be dominant again.

Lester seemed to coast the first nine or so games this season.  On May 10^th, he threw a complete game shutout against the Blue Jays.  On May 15^th, his ERA stood at 2.72, and he had 50 strikeouts to 15 walks.  He was 6-0 at this point.

Since May 15^th, Lester recorded the loss in 3 of 5 games he’s pitched without any wins.  In those games, he has a 6.90 ERA, raising his season ERA to 4.12.  He’s recorded 22 strikeouts, 18 walks, and has 23 earned runs. 

The Red Sox really needed Lester to go deep into the game yesterday after taxing the bullpen in the 14-inning win Monday night.  With Buchholz’s next start being pushed back, the Red Sox (and fans) thought Lester had the best chance of the starters to go deep into the game and relieve the bullpen.  Not the case.

Last night, Lester gave up 7 earned runs in 6.2 innings, throwing 98 pitches.  He struck out 3, walked 7, and gave up 3 home runs.  It was by far his worst start of the season, and the Red Sox was forced to put in Jose De La Torre to mop up.  De La Torre did an admiral job, giving up 2 hits, 1 run, walked 3, and struck out 3 in 3.1 innings.  (The Boston Globe stated that while reporters were interviewing De La Torre, Lester came up to De La Torre, shook his hand, and thanked him for finishing off the game).

So, the question is now raised, is something wrong with Jon Lester?  Farrell commented after the game that nothing is physically wrong with Lester.  He seems to think it’s a mechanics issue.  Lester, for his part, says he feels great physically, and last night was probably the best he’s felt all season.  Farrell also indicated that Lester’s velocity hasn’t changed.

Lester posted this tweet this morning:

I want to believe Lester.  You never want one of the players on your team to be injured.  If the injury is significant enough to hamper the players’ performances, you want them to recover without causing more harm to themselves or the team.  If Lester is injured, he needs to fess up.

Farrell, for his part, indicated that Lester’s overall command is down.  That may be.  All 7 runs that Lester gave up last night were with 2 outs.  The 7 walks also shows that Lester’s command is down.

So, what does Lester do now?  One of the best things about the Red Sox this season is their coaching.  John Farrell, one of the best pitching coaches for the Red Sox in recent history, is the manager.  Pitching coach Juan Nieves has really done a great job thus far with the pitching staff.  Farrell, Nieves, and their assistants are going to work with Lester.  They are going to pinpoint exactly where things go wrong for Lester, and they’re going to make him correct it.  I have faith in this team, and these coaches. 

Let’s be honest.  It’s a long season, and this may be just a hiccup for Lester in the overall scheme of things.  The thing about this moment is the Red Sox needed Lester to go deep last night, and he couldn’t.  Things may get better, or things may get worst.  We never know.  Which is the point of this post, no one seems to know what’s wrong with Lester.