Lester: The New Stopper

Jon Lester can add this to all of the accolades he has already achieved:  he is a definitive stopper on the Boston Red Sox.  He has overcome Cancer, won the deciding game of the World Series, pitched a no-hitter and, oh yeah, is right now the most effective starting pitcher the Red Sox have.

But as good as Lester was, there's still plenty of time and places to express worry.  Manny Delcarmen could not get to the end of an inning again.  Terry Francona, who has been quoted as saying sometimes you need your closer to close it out in the 8th inning (the extra runs in the top of the 9th made it a much more comfortable game), put out the fire that Delcarmen began by walking two batters after getting the first two outs.  Maybe we can petition MLB to only require two outs in the last three innings of a game, but then we might be using rules copyrighted by the Olympic people (see below for an Olympic Baseball rant).

Lester can stop all the losing streaks from here on in; if the bullpen doesn't pull it together, and I mean soon, we won't have to worry so much about who the starting pitcher will be in game one of the division series.  Either it won't matter, or the Red Sox won't be there.

This is a good place to say I am not backing off previous predictions; I still say the Tampa Bay Rays fold in September and the Red Sox win the East.  But if someone doesn't emerge from the bullpen, it's very possible they might win by default...because no one will be there to take it away from them.

Someone in the pen has to step up and take the ball (this is a recording...I know I've written this before).  And if no one is there to take that step, it's time for plan B (please, tell me someone, somewhere, is working on a plan B). 

Let's enjoy the success of Lester.  Let's enjoy this win.  But let's keep our eyes on the prize and hope someone figures it out soon.

* * *

I'm going to admit up front that I love the Summer Olympics.  I've watched more swimming matches than I knew occurred at the games, yelled and cheered at the television when Michael Phelps could not lose, sat through many soccer games thus far, kept an eye on the U.S. Basketball team, and suffered through gymnastic judges who still seem like they are getting paid off by the same guys who funded the "Tim Donaghy for Millionaire" fund. 

But I haven't seen much baseball.  And I just found out what might be the quirkiest baseball rule I have ever heard in existence.  In the Olympics, if the game is tied after ten innings, the 11th inning begins with runners on first and second with no outs.  The coach of the team at bat can choose whomever he likes to be on base, and the batter is next in the order after the runner on first. 

Come on!!!!  I realize that I'm the guy who thinks hockey would be far better off if the NHL played until there was a winner and forget this shoot-out thing.  (Granted, the shoot-out is far better than ending in a tie, but there's room for improvement...maybe they could choose two players to fight at the end of a tied game to determine a winner...it would improve TV ratings...but I digress).

This is worse than overtime in college football.  (Okay, not much worse, but worse because it's baseball.)  I have what seems to be an original idea when it comes to extra innings or just overtime in general:  PLAY THE FREAKIN' GAME UNTIL SOMEONE WINS.  It's not like this is some high school JV game...it's the Olympics!

Honestly, I feel better getting that off my chest.