Lester makes a visit

Jon Lester hadn't been gone that long from the minor leagues that things down in Greenville, S.C., were completely foreign. Still, with everything that was strange about the start to his baseball season, there was one thing that looked the same. Gabe Kapler in the clubhouse at Fenway. Gabe Kapler as his new manager with the Greenville Drive.

"Really, he could still be playing," Lester said with a smile during his first news conference at Fenway Park since he first spoke to the media about his cancer diagnosis last September. "He looks like a player in that clubhouse, and he acts like a player. He has a good time doing it. It's just a lot of fun. Definitely not a tense moment in the clubhouse, I can tell you that.

"I don't really know how much attention Kap paid to [my pitching] last year, so I don't know if he could compare it or not. But it was nice to have him there. I could bounce some things off of him about certain things and he would listen. And he'd bounce some things off of me about being a manager in A ball.

It was definitely a learning experience for both of us."

And one that, as of yesterday's appearance at Fenway, he had left behind.

After four rehab starts with Greenville, Lester already had thrown the side session that had brought him to Boston, so all that was left was to relax. He could enjoy the night, enjoy the game, enjoy the fact that his trip to Boston -- and his impending stint in Pawtucket -- signaled good things as he tries to make the dugout at Fenway a permanent home rather than a way station.

Lester was headed to Triple A for two more starts before his rehab officially runs out, and the Sox had him up for a talk and a visit. He'll head to Rochester for a start Wednesday, then start the following Tuesday against Indianapolis. He'll be re-evaluated at that point, as a decision will have to be made on whether to option him to Pawtucket or put him on the active roster.

"Right now, mechanically, I'm feeling pretty good," said Lester, who should have a follow-up appointment with the doctors in Boston within the week. "Last year, for some reason, was just a struggle from the beginning. Nothing ever felt right.

"Now when I throw a bad pitch I know why. Last year I mentally beat myself up about some things and I didn't know why. Now I'm starting to figure some things out, starting to feel a little more comfortable with everything. It's good to have that sore arm again after you pitch, and go through the workouts, and do all that fun stuff that starting pitchers get to do."

Last season, when he was in the minors, the Sox put a strict pitch count on Lester, and he's on one again.

Back then he said it was frustrating, but under his new circumstances he accepts it.

"You've got to look at the greater picture and understand that they have these limits on me right now for a reason," Lester said. "It's not just because they want to. It's for medical purposes. They want to make sure I'm ready physically to do what they ask you to do every five days. Sometimes if you're pitching well it [stinks] to come out of the game because you've got 80 pitches. But, like I said, you've got to look at the bigger picture."

So he says. But perhaps not, according to Sox manager Terry Francona.

"That's killing him," Francona said. "It's just bothering the heck out of him. In a couple more starts [the pitch count] won't be there anymore. I think you'll see his personality and his pitching get better as he goes. That's how it was last year at the beginning of the year and it drove him crazy, but it was good for him."

Lester knows his first start at Triple A will be a bit different than those he had with Greenville. A little more pressure, a little more talented opposition, a little more everything.

"The adrenaline will be going a little bit more, so I'll be using a little bit more energy," Lester said. "So I think that first start is going to be tough because of that. First couple innings I've got to control myself a little bit. Hopefully it'll be all right.

"Hopefully the jitters will be gone and it'll be just another fifth day to go out and pitch."