Jon Lester’s to-do List by age 24:

• Beat Cancer (check)
• Get the victory in the clinching World Series game (check)
• Become the first Sox lefty since 1956 to throw a no-hitter

Some people may say that all wins are equal, but clearly when Jon Lester wins, he makes sure he wins BIG. So when I looked up at my computer screen in the 5th and thought “huh, Lester hasn’t allowed a hit through five,” he took that as an opportunity to add one more notch to a resume many a pitcher would already have killed for (except for the first check-mark) and no-hit the Kansas City Royals. (Strange “did you know?”: the Royals had only been no-hit once before this, and it was almost 35 years ago to the day – May 15th).

As I turned on the game in the 8th, it was clear that this Jon Lester was not the same one who we often see get in trouble by nibbling around the plate. He was confident, worked quickly, and most importantly came after hitters, with control of all of his pitches. He was striking out Royals hitters and making them look jut silly in the process. Even when he walked the first batter in the 9th on five pitches, you could almost see a lightbulb go off in his head to remind him that he needed to keep attacking. Two groundouts and a swing and a miss on his 130th pitch of the night, Lester had his no hitter.

When I met Lester back in April, he struck me as a very confident, but not a cocky or egotistical person. I think that’s the best way to describe his performance tonight. So congrats Jon, you, of all people, deserve this.

As I leave you with video of the last out, here are a couple of things to chew on:

• Tek has finally learned that he will destroy pitchers if he keeps jumping on them. I’m glad he’s choosing to now pick them up after big games.
• Tek has also now caught more no-hitters (four) than any other catcher since 1900. Some of that has got to be luck, but there must be an ounce of skill involved. If Curt didn’t shake him off, we’d be talking about five no-no’s.
• Jon Lester has a father, but he clearly has two additional father-figures. Even without Tito’s postgame quote (”I feel like my son threw a no-hitter”), it’d be hard to miss the heartfelt embraces that both Tito and Tek had with Lester after the game.
• No hitters thrown by Johan Santana: 0
  No hitters thrown by Jon Lester: 1