I think it's about time to admit that Jon Lester has defied all the critics -- myself included -- and broken out this year.
Lester (15-5, 3.15 ERA) wasn't supposed to be this dominant. When the Sox were considering trading him for Johan Santana, I was all for it. He was a feel good story, had a couple of solid outings, won the clinching game of the World Series, but there questions about his consistency and whether he could ever be a front line pitcher.
Here we are, closing in on the final two weeks of the season, and Lester has gone toe to toe with Roy Halladay, Mike Mussina, Andy Pettitte, rookie sensation Nate Blackburn, Scott Kazmir, need I go on?
He's the antithesis of Clay Buchholz. The odds were, starting the season, that Buchholz would rack up 10-15 wins and Lester would struggle to put up steady numbers.
Look where Buchholz is now, and look where Lester is -- on the cusp of being a major player in the Sox 2008 World Series drive.
And let's not forget about that no hitter.
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