When Jon Lester pitched his no-hitter it seemed like he had done everything a lefty starter on the Sox could hope to accomplish, short of a Cy Young award. For a recap, here was Dirty Watah’s imagined to-do list for Jon Lester by age 24:

(Sorry, I know it was a shameless plug.) I didn’t realize that his to-do list by age 25 was to break the Red Sox single-season strikeout record by a lefthander, or to allow one or fewer earned runs in 11 of 19 starts. How good is Lester right now? On Friday night, he started the game for the Sox and three of the first four batters he faced reached base. “Screw it”, Lester says, “I want a do-over.” So the rain started pouring, the umps suspended the game and Lester shut-out the Rays for eight innings on Sunday. He’s so good right now, that he gets a second-chance when he wants it. Not even Pedro could do that in his prime.

In the past we’ve hoped that Beckett could teach Lester a thing or two about pitching. But I think the student has officially passed the master. With the sweep of the O’s and the Rays, the Sox sit 26 games over .500 and four up in the Wild Card race. And when the playoffs start, if the Sox are one of the eight finalists, Tito shouldn’t have much of a question as to who to start in game one. Jon Lester is no longer pitcher 1b or 2, he is the ace of this pitching staff.

Speaking of Tito, I have to give him credit for his handling of the bullpen with the day-night doubleheader today. Granted it helps with Buchholz goes 7 innings and only gives up one run, and Lester goes 8 shut-out innings, but using Paps to close the first game and holding Wagner to close the second was the perfect use of having two bonafide closers in the pen. Reason number 26 why he manages the Boston Red Sox, and I write a blog about them.