THE RAYS and A ONE WAY
TICKET TO "MANNY-WOOD" ...
Just say "No" ... Jon Lester

May 19, 2008 ... Jon Lester, the Red Sox young lefthander threw a no-hitter against the Kansas City Royals tonight at Fenway Park, which in baseball is often cast as an immortal act but for a cancer survivor is something to be taken with a touch of modesty, a pinch of humor, and, in a quiet moment, to be like the game ball, stuck in your shoe.

Yet for a guy determined to be seen as nothing special because of his illness, Lester has shown an uncanny knack for doing the extraordinary, and all by the age of 24. His story is a good story as it I, but to add a no-hitter to it, adds something great to the story.

Last October, Lester won the deciding game of the World Series, just 14 months removed from his diagnosis of non-Hodgkins lymphoma. Tonight, with the assist of a remarkable diving catch by Jacoby Ellsbury, he threw the first no-hitter by a Sox pitcher since rookie Clay Buchholz last Sept. 1, and the first by a Sox lefthander since Mel Parnell more than a half-century ago.

The first pitch, on a 56-degree night with a 23-mile-an-hour wind blowing from the west knocking down most balls headed toward left field, came at 7:06 p.m. and was a 93 mile-an-hour fastball to David DeJesus. It was called a strike, and it set a tone. Of the 29 batters he faced, he threw first-pitch strikes to 20 of them. The radar gun registered fastballs at 94, 95, and 96 miles an hour.

He walked Billy Butler with one out in the second. Miguel Olivo forced him at second with a ground ball to Lowell at third, and Olivo reached second on a wild pickoff throw by Lester. He would be one of two Royals to reach second base.

The other was Esteban German, who walked to lead off the ninth. In between, Lester set down 20 Royals in succession. Seven of his nine strikeouts came in that span. The Royals hit only six balls in the air to the outfield. One was a sinking liner by Jose Guillen to right-center with two out in the fourth. Ellsbury was shaded to left-center against Guillen, the Kansas City DH who earlier in the day had been named the American League's Player of the Week. Ellsbury started sprinting, and at the last moment, he went into a dive. The ball stuck into the web of his glove inches off the grass.

By the sixth, certainly the seventh, he was aware that he had a no-hitter in progress. None of this finding a solitary spot on the bench between innings and avoiding teammates. His teammates knew, too. Lester may have been cool, but no one else was.

The crowd was on its feet through the seventh, when Lester blew a high fastball past Guillen to end the inning, and again in the eighth, when Butler looked at a third strike, Olivo went down swinging, and Mark Teahen flied to center. Teahen had collected the only hit back on July 18, 2006, when Lester and Jonathan Papelbon had combined on a one-hit shutout, but there was no suspense riding on that hit; it came in the second inning.

The victor in last night's game never was in doubt. The Sox sent 10 batters to the plate in the third against Royals rookie Luke Hochevar. J.D. Drew singled to open the inning, and Jason Varitek sent him to third with a hit-and-run single.

Julio Lugo hit into a double play, Drew scoring, but Ellsbury revved up the inning again with a triple to the triangle. Hochevar walked Dustin Pederoia on four pitches, then lost David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez on full counts to force home another run. Mark Grudzielanek then dropped Lowell's popup for two runs, and Kevin Youkilis's ground-rule double brought home another run. The Sox made it 7-0 in the sixth when Drew was hit by a pitch and Varitek homered into the right-field seats, his fifth home run of the season.

Only the no-hitter was in doubt as the Royals came to bat in the ninth. No one felt good when Lester walked German to start the ninth. Tony Pena Jr. chopped a grounder to third. Lowell threw him out as German advanced to second. DeJesus skidded a grounder to Youkilis, who waved off Lester and made the play himself. Two out.

Up came Callaspo, who had entered the game for Grudzielanek in the bottom of the seventh, Royals manager Trey Hillman deciding that Grudzielanek's night (the dropped popup, two whiffs, a comebacker to Lester) had been tough enough.

Early in the last at-bat Callaspo fouled off a good curveball and a good cutter. Then a swing and miss. Lester thrust both fists forward before being lifted in the air by Varitek. Francona whispered something in Lester's ear. John Farrell, who had lost a no-hitter to the Royals with two outs in the ninth on a May night in 1989, beamed.

Jason Varitek, who caught Jon Lester's 130 pitches tonight, became the first catcher behind the plate for four no-hitters. Varitek caught Clay Buchholz's no-hitter last Sept. 1 against the Orioles in Fenway Park. He also caught Derek Lowe's no-hitter on April 27, 2002, in Fenway Park against Tampa Bay, and Hideo Nomo's no-hitter on April 4, 2001, in Baltimore against the Orioles.

Winning the final game of a World Series. Throwing a no-hitter. How many people can say they've done that?  Just Jon Lester.