Jon Lester will attempt to quiet a Texas lineup that has scored 32 runs in it's last two games... you would have thought they'd be tired after beating Baltimore 15 to 7 on Sunday, but I guess not...Lester had his first bump in the road, in what seemed like forever, when the White Sox tagged him for 4 runs on 6 hits and 3 walks on Aug. 8. He still gave the Sox 7 full innings, and he did it on 95 pitches, so I'm not too concerned - and niether is Lester:
“I threw the ball a lot better than the linescore said,” said Lester, who is 7-1 with a 2.95 ERA in 12 starts since losing at Oakland on May 25.
Our surging southpaw gave up 10 hits and 3 runs to Texas back in April, but the Sox won the game 6-4... and that was when Lester was still working the kinks out. I expect him to be much sharper this time around, and the 6-1 record at Fenway is a good sign too.
The Rangers have the best offense in baseball, but they are simply average against lefties (.260 BA, 17th)... but Lester is 0-2 against Texas with a 5.06 ERA, so who knows what to expect.
Texas will counter with Luis Mendoza, a recently converted reliever. He's 3-5 in 10 starts this year and has allowed an average of 5 runs per game over his last four starts.
Most recently, Mendoza got beat up by the Orioles, lasting just 3 innings and giving up 5 earned runs on 69 pitches. Both bullpens were worn out last night, so the Rangers could be in trouble is Mendoza needs help early...
Who to Watch: David Ortiz hit a 3-run homer off of Mendoza back in April - maybe he just likes to hit 3-run ding-dongs against Texas... Josh Hamilton is 2-4 with a homer against Lester... and Marlon Byrd, Kevin Youkilis and Dustin Pedroia are all on fire right now.
Bottom Line: Another slugfest is plausible, but I think Lester will keep Texas in check... after all Okie-Dokie (lefty) managed to hold them down for 1 2/3 innings last night.
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