Jon Lester Flying High - and Making History

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Jon, whatever you're doing this season is working so keep it up.

- From a fan.

He has been outstanding all year, but particularly in his last 2 starts. He and Clay Bucholz have been anchoring the rotation so far, with their brilliance. Neither of them have lost a decision so far. And that's been huge for us so far. Having a dominant 1-2 punch is going to be key to our success as a team this year. Obviously, you hope to get solid performances from 1 - 5, but having those two guys at the top you can rely on to steady the ship is big.

Last night, he did more than just win, though. He has now pitched himself into elite company. He currently has 1,110 strikeouts and joins Cy Young (1,341), Pedro Martinez (1,683), Tim Wakefield (2,046), and Roger Clemens (2,590), according to mlb.com. That's very prestigious company to be in, as these names are some of the best in the game. Period.

Lester said all the right things in his post-game interview. According to mlb.com, he said he was honored, but his main focus was on winning games. And he's definitely won games. He might have been playing it down for the cameras, or he might actually feel that way, but either way I can respect what he said last night. When push comes to shove, the ultimate goal is winning a World Series, and the best way to do that is to win games. Lester has been huge - he's been dominant when the rest of the team can't come up big. So I will repeat: Jon, keep up whatever you are doing, because clearly it works.

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Conor Frederick
Contributing Writer