Jon Lester, The ace of the staff?

An excellent article at Over the Monster on Jon Lester's walk rates and mechanics.

I do get the sense watching him that something could be wrong physically. This link offers other possibilities which I very much prefer.

I HOPE something's off, physically. Not that I mean I hope he's injured, but there needs to be a sound explanation for his current poor performance. If he's got a mechancial issue, or is favoring something, those are fixable. And that's a good thing.

If not, yikes!

+1

Lester's recent history is not pretty.

Merloni (on The Baseball Show) thinks his problem is mental, that he's fine as long as things are going his way, but when the umpire doesn't give him a strike on a close pitch (or blows the call altogether), or when somebody reaches base, he's not limiting the damage.

We can all see his bad body language at times, so there may be something to this. And frankly, this should be an easier fix than something physical.

Thanks, Jon

a good outing obviously last night.

Lester is not an ace.

According to Mazz we don't have one, and it's hard to disagree at this point in the season. Beckett is, Ithink, back to being our best, but we don't have that guy who can win a 2-1 duel when that's what we need that night.

An ace would have gotten that third out yesterday in the 7th. That doesn't make Lester bad, it just makes him not an ace. Semantics perhaps but there are games when you need your starting pitcher to get it done. My definition of ace is the guy holds the lead in a 2-1 game.

i think mazz iscorrect we dont have one,im not sure we have a 2 either as i said in the gamethread,it looks like we may have a collection of above average 3 types,good enough i dont know,the AL east teams all have warts,no superior team,what has me doubting is that the sox wont/dont have money to improve what needs to be improved,in fact i wonder if we are where wer ae at the deadline whether ben turns seller,particulary if attendance really declines.

i think mazz iscorrect we dont have one,im not sure we have a 2 either as i said in the gamethread,it looks like we may have a collection of above average 3 types,good enough i dont know,the AL east teams all have warts,no superior team,what has me doubting is that the sox wont/dont have money to improve what needs to be improved,in fact i wonder if we are where wer ae at the deadline whether ben turns seller,particulary if attendance really declines.

Attendance has declined, but the tickets have been sold. People are not showing up, or they're coming late, leaving early.