Thursday, September 07, 2006

Lester Begins Treatment Tomorrow

Jon Lester and the Red Sox held a press conference at Fenway yesterday to let their fans know that he will begin chemotherapy for his non-Hodgkins lymphoma tomorrow at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, and thanked everyone for their support. Lester said it was impossible right now to even consider when he'll be back in a Red Sox uniform. He said it could be next February, or in two years. But now his mind is on getting healthy, not baseball, where it should be.

We wish Jon and his family all the best. All our prayers are with them.

The Red Sox looked totally listless against the White Sox last night and took a pounding, 8-1. They had just four hits against Jose Contreras, and Kyle Snyder gave up five runs in less than three innings. And down in Miami, ex-Red Sox farmhand Anibal Sanchez pitched the first no-hitter in the majors in two years as the Marlins beat Arizona, 2-0. Sanchez was part of the Josh Beckett trade, and has been impressive with Florida this year, going 7-2.

Of course, playing before a few thousand fans in Miami is just a little different than playing before a packed house in the fishbowl called Fenway Park. The National League is far weaker than the American. Back in November, everyone thought the Beckett-Lowell trade for the Red Sox was a steal. But you weren't going to get a couple of proven World Champion players for absolutely nothing, and both Sanchez and Hanley Ramirez have had fine rookie campaigns in South Florida, where the pressure to perform isn't quite the same as it is in Boston. Good for both of them.

His no-hitter is still a great accomplishment, so congratulations to Anibal Sanchez on his splendid night against the Diamondbacks.

2 comments:

Peter N said...

Agreed. Anibal and Jon are similar in many ways. Unfortunately, fate has put our Jon on a different path. FOR NOW. But I wish AS sucess, and JL health. And for those of us who are whining and moaning and wah wah wah-ing, I ask them this. Where would we be without Mikey Lowell? Thanks Q .

BklynSoxFan said...

Nicely put, Peter. Thank you.