Hardball Heaven

The Sox are going to need young Jon Lester to come through, and if last night was any indication, he could give the team (pardon the pun) a huge shot in the arm.

Lester won his first major league game last night against the Braves and Tim Hudson in Atlanta. Not too shabby. The talented southpaw (think John Tudor with more velocity and a better bender) went six full innings, struck out five, walked three and gave up one run. Just a huge performance, particularly coming off an ugly sweep in Minnesota.

The big hit came from Captain 'Tek in the third, when he slammed a double to right-center with the bases full. All three came around to score, putting the Sox ahead 4-1 for good. The rest of the game went according to plan - Seanez pitched an effective seventh, Timlin a clean eighth, and Pap, per usual, slammed the door in the ninth.

Today, we'll see if Josh Beckett has made any adjustments since his woeful outing a week ago. He goes against Lance Cormier. Game time: 1:20. And we'll be watching, because there's no Tiger on TV this weekend. :-(

Notes: The team put Matt Clement on the 15-day DL yesterday with a weak shoulder, and called up old pal Gabe Kapler from Pawtucket. Kap, you'll remember, suffered an ugly Achilles tear running from second to third in Tampa last fall. Glad to see him back. The Sox also traded for Kyle Snyder, a journeyman starter who was most recently in the Royals system. Snyder may start on Monday against the Nationals at Fenway, which would have been Clement's turn.