It Just Keeps Getting Better

After 86 years of torture, my beloved Boston Red Sox finally ended the drought with a World Series title in 2004. Last year, they made it 2 titles in 4 years with a sweep of the Colorado Rockies. One of the many great stories on that team was Jon Lester, the starter in the clinching game 4. He beat cancer last year. Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, diagnosed in late 2006 because of a sore back that he thought stemmed from a car crash. That he was even on the field again at all was rather miraculous, let alone him being given the ball my manager Terry Francona with a World Series title on the line.

As if the Lester story could not get any better, he went out and no hit the Kansas City Royals on Monday night. His 130th and final pitch of the 7-0 victory crossed the plate at 96 mph, the hardest he threw all night. It was the 18th no-hitter in Red Sox history. While that sounds like a lot, remember that teammate Curt Schilling has thrown more than 3,000 innings without a no-hitter; Josh Beckett has won a World Series MVP and not thrown a no-hitter, and Daisuke Matsuzaka was the most dominant pitcher Japan has seen in generations and never threw a no-hitter. Strangely, the last person to do so was Lester’s teammate, Clay Buchholz, who threw one in his second major league start last September.

I know I'm biased, but you just can't make up a story this good: Cancer survivor makes it back to the big leagues, starts the clinching game of the World Series, throws a no-hitter. “To watch him do that beyond tonight was beyond words,” Francona said. Couldn't have said it better myself.