- Last night's return of Jon Lester was a rousing success, as Lester beat Cleveland 5-2. I was a bit nervous about the Sox bringing Lester back against a very good hitting Indians team, but Lester proved more than up to the challenge. The only runs he gave up in his 6 inning stint were on a 2-run homer to Grady Sizemore. He later came back to strike out Sizemore to get out of a bases loaded jam. If Lester and Gabbard keep this up, Francona is going to have a tough decision on who is out of the rotation when Curt Schilling comes back.

- I only caught bits of Lester's performance on the video board at McCoy Stadium last night. The kids had gotten some free passes at school, so we joined my parents to see the Pawsox-Louisville Bats matchup in Pawtucket last night. We only stayed through the 6th inning, since the kids had to get up early to go to camp and McCoy is about an hour drive. What we did see was pretty entertaining, though, as David Pauley pitched quite well for the Pawsox and Joe McEwing hit a home run. Pawtucket was leading 2-1 when we left, but Louisville tied it up and sent the game to extra innings. The Pawsox ended up winning 3-2 in 10 innings on a Brandon Moss single.

- Two outstanding pitching matchups today and tomorrow in Cleveland. Daisuke pitched against CC Sabathia tonight and it certainly lived up to expectations as the Sox have a 1-0 lead in the top of the 9th as I write this. Tomorrow we see Josh Beckett take on Fausto Carmona. Hopefully that one's just as good (at least from the Red Sox perspective).