According to Peter Abraham of The Boston Globe, Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine hinted that he could put Jon Lester up against C.C. Sabathia in the final game of the Yankees series on Sunday.
As it stands Daniel Bard would be in line to face the Yankees number one starter but with the off day Thursday and the fact that Lester only threw 80 pitches on Tuesday, he would be able to start on adequate rest.
The Sox and Yanks’ respective aces have been opposite of each other in the early goings of ’12. C.C. was mediocre in his first two starts before pitching well in his last and Lester was dominant in his first two but couldn’t handle the Rangers’ powerful offense in his last start.
The move does make sense for Bobby V and the Red Sox, with Lester on adequate rest they give themselves a better chance of taking the series from the Yanks–a sure way to get some momentum going in advance of the teams next road trip.
The way things have gone for Bobby and the Sox in the early part of the season, salvaging any win possible looks like a good move to me. Let’s just hope–when Lester runs out of gas–that Bobby has the common sense to park him in favor of a competent reliever not named Justin Thomas.
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