Jon Lester continued to strengthen his case for the AL Cy Young Award last night, with a devastating performance against the Seattle Mariners.
Lester is red hot right now, getting his 17th win of 2010, and he still has a good shot at winning 20. He went eight innings last night, striking out 12, allowing just one run in the 5-1 Red Sox triumph.
Lester went over 200 mark in strikeouts, and he's now at 208. He also made some team history as well. He became just the fifth Sox pitcher to have back-to-back 200K seasons, joining Cy Young, Roger Clemens, Smokey Joe Wood and Pedro Martinez in accomplishing that feat.
Lester also became the first Sox lefty to strikeout 10 or more in four straight games. He also became the first AL pitcher to turn that trick since Johan Santana did it in 2004. Only Pedro Martinez has ever struck 10 or more in five straight games for the Sox.
The kids from Pawtucket did the offensive damage last night. Daniel Nava and Lars Anderson had RBI doubles, and Ryan Kalish blasted a two-run shot that iced the game late. Daniel Bard finished up in the ninth.
New York lost to Tampa Bay last night in 11 innings, so the Rays took over first place by a half-game. Anyone else notice New York is free falling right now, having dropped 7 of 8? The Sox trail them by 7 with 18 to go in the Wild Card race. They still have six games between them later this month and in early October.
Yeah, I know. I'm dreaming. But weren't the Mets up by 7 with 17 to go in 2007?
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