OK outing for Lester, family

SEATTLE -- By his count, Jon Lester figures there were about 50 family members and friends in the stands yesterday at Safeco Field, a place they'd seen him pitch once before, while he was still starring for Bellarmine Prep in Tacoma.

``Same game we played then, just more people, better players," said the Red Sox rookie lefthander, whose homecoming ended in a no-decision for him and a 9-8 loss for the Sox to the Mariners.

Butterflies? ``They were fine," he said. ``Just another game. More people I knew in the stands, that's it."

Lester was pitching for the first time since his combined one-hitter with Jonathan Papelbon, with a chance to become the first Sox rookie to start 6-0 since Aaron Sele in 1993. He already was the first Sox rookie lefty ever to start 5-0.

He'll still get a chance to match Sele, although the Sox couldn't hold the 7-5 lead he had when he left after giving up Kenji Johjima's single to open the home sixth.

Lester had spotted the Mariners a 3-0 lead in the first on four straight hits -- including bloops by Willie Bloomquist and Raul Ibanez and a two-run double by Adrian Beltre -- and a sacrifice fly by Eduardo Perez. After the Sox tied it in the third, Ibanez doubled and Perez homered off a Lester changeup in the bottom half to give Seattle a 5-3 lead, but the only two hits Lester allowed thereafter were singles by Adam Jones in the fourth and Johjima in the sixth.

``I thought I threw the ball well," Lester said. ``Stuffwise, this was the best stuff I've had all year. I just got hit a little bit. A couple of bloop hits in the first inning, Perez hit a good pitch, you just tip your hat and move on.

``It was good to be home, but I'm glad to get out of here, too."

Wednesday will mark the one-year anniversary of the game in which Sox pitcher Matt Clement was struck on the side of the head by a line drive hit by Carl Crawford of the Devil Rays. Clement underwent two CT scans and was hospitalized overnight, but he did not sustain a concussion, and, other than a cut and bruising on his right ear, there was no outward sign of injury.

Clement returned to the rotation Aug. 4, missing just one start, but whether it can be ascribed to the scare or not, it has been regularly chronicled that he is not the All-Star pitcher he was in the first half of last season.

Since the Crawford line drive, Clemens has appeared in 23 games for the Sox, not including a horrendous postseason outing against the White Sox in which he gave up eight runs in 3 1/3 innings, and has an 8-8 record with a 5.75 ERA. Only eight major league pitchers have a higher ERA over that span (minimum 100 innings).

Clement is back in Boston, continuing a rehabilitation from an injury that is listed as a right shoulder strain but also has been described as biceps tendinitis. He has not pitched since June 14 in Minnesota, when he was lifted after 4 2/3 innings and placed on the disabled list the next day.

Manager Terry Francona said Clement has been throwing just 60 feet after doing no throwing over the All-Star break while working to build up his strength, and acknowledged it could be September before Clement returns.

Until this season, Clement never had made fewer than 30 starts in his seven previous seasons in the big leagues. He had made a total of 222 starts in that span, the same as Roger Clemens. Only eight pitchers made more starts.

Clement's durability was one reason Theo Epstein signed him as a free agent to a three-year contract that is paying him $9.825 million this season and guarantees him another $9.5 million next.

David Wells is scheduled to throw about 75 pitches in a simulated game today in Oakland, another step toward his return to the rotation, but Francona continued to praise rookie Kason Gabbard, who allowed just two earned runs in 5 1/3 innings in his major league debut Saturday.

The Sox have an off-day Thursday, which means they could skip Gabbard's next turn in the rotation, which would fall Friday at home against the Angels.

Francona will defer that decision for now.

``I'd actually like to see him come back," Francona said. ``I was really excited with what he did.

``But at the same time you've got to take into consideration that I don't know much about him besides what I did in my homework. Is he better than he threw yesterday, is he worse, you don't know. It's one outing. It's a small sample size.

``But I thought he had some things -- he held runners real well, he got the ball down, he changed speeds. To me, he looked like a major league pitcher."

Gabbard said his first name was given him by his mother, who went to school with a ``Casen," liked the name, and spelled it differently for her son. He is, not surprisingly, the first ``Kason," in Sox history.

It appeared yesterday the Sox and Rockies would not strike a deal that would send Julian Tavarez to Colorado for lefty Ray King. The Rockies remain unwilling to take on the $3.1 million in salary Tavarez is owed in 2007 . . . Contrary to published reports, the Sox are not pursuing Tampa Bay infielder Julio Lugo, although it's a safe bet they will have interest in him this winter if he is a free agent . . . Jason Varitek's home run off Mariners closer J.J. Putz was the first allowed by Putz since April 4 . . . With his first-inning single, Ichiro Suzuki has 1,274 hits, tying him with Wade Boggs for the most over a six-year span in the last 70 seasons. Boggs accomplished the feat with the Red Sox (1983-88) . . . The Sox lost despite three hits and two RBIs by David Ortiz, who has a league-leading 24 RBIs for the month. Vladi Guerrero of the Angels has 21 . . . Perez's home run was the first allowed by Sox pitchers in 78 innings . . . Besides being 1 for 16 lifetime against Mike Timlin before he hit his walkoff homer, Richie Sexson began the day as the worst two-strike hitter in the American League, batting .105 (19 for 181). On a 1-and-2 count, the count when he connected off Timlin, he was 4 for 46 (.087), with 27 Ks.