Lester not a stretch pitcher

His struggles have led to short starts

Jon Lester will be pitching with an extra day's rest when he makes his seventh start of the young season tonight against the Toronto Blue Jays, a team he will be facing for the first time in 2008.

Lester has not been involved in the decision in his last three starts, two of which ended as Sox wins. This season, he has pitched into the seventh inning twice, and has not gotten past the fifth three times, which illustrates the erratic nature of his performance.

Lester, 1-2 with a 5.40 ERA, is averaging almost two base runners per inning, having allowed 37 hits and 19 walks in 31 2/3 innings. He has more walks than strikeouts (16), and opponents are batting .301 against him, with a .394 on-base percentage. He has allowed five home runs.

Lefthanded batters are actually hitting him for a higher average than righthanded batters (.333 to .289) and he has had his greatest difficulty the second and third times through an order. Opponents are batting .424 (14 for 33) against him on pitches 51-75.

For what it's worth, all three of his decisions have come on extra rest.

With Bartolo Colon getting closer to joining the Sox - he threw a 35-pitch bullpen session yesterday and manager Terry Francona has tentatively identified May 5 as a target date for Colon to pitch in a game, presumably on a rehab assignment - the 24-year-old Lester is looking to establish greater consistency to solidify his spot in the rotation.

"The inconsistencies are very evident," pitching coach John Farrell said over the weekend. "Even in a given game, you'll see stretches of total control, such as the first three innings in Cleveland. We've also seen very good adjustments he's made - the first three innings against Texas, the first three innings against Anaheim - and then some adjustment to location and some adjustment in attitude that kept games in check.

"I think he's maturing, he's come up with a two-seamer, he's got the ability to pitch to both sides of the plate more frequently. On one hand, there's improvement, but yet at the same time the whole package is not yet where it will eventually become. He has had some points of frustration, evident at times by some mislocation, but I think overall there are pieces that are improving.

"The best way I can explain it is that while there is maturing going on, he's not where he'll eventually get to."

Lester is pitching in an environment, of course, where people are not inclined to remember that he had just 26 big-league starts coming into the season, and that this is his first season with the big club that he has begun fully healthy.

"That's the reality of pitching or playing in Boston or another major city," Farrell said. "If this same type of progression is going on in Pittsburgh or Kansas City, it would be done in obscurity. The ability to be patient is much more affordable.

"We all recognize that. That's what attracts people, that's what drives people to this, but we have to make sure there's feedback and objectivity given to Jon, that there are strides being made but improvements that are needed."

First aid

With Mike Lowell due back today after being on the disabled list since April 10 with strained ligaments in his left thumb, Brandon Moss figures to return to Pawtucket, where he will continue his apprenticeship at first base.

"Certain situations I have trouble recognizing, like bunt situations, [throwing to] second," Moss said. "It's just one of those things where I just have to be put in that situation more often.

"Worse comes to worse, I can play there right now. I've been playing there. It's not that I can't play the position now or I'm not comfortable there, it's the more I play there, the more comfortable I'll get."

Moss, an outfielder, contemplated a position change earlier in his career: He toyed with the idea of becoming a pitcher. He had been a pitcher in high school, throwing a 95-mile-per-hour fastball and a changeup, but with a curveball so bad that he refused to throw it to high schoolers.

"I can throw the fastball. I just have nothing else," Moss said. "After my second year, which was short-season A ball, I thought I was going to have to be a pitcher after I couldn't hit. I was like, 'I'd better start figuring out how to throw other stuff.' "

Moss did not hit his first two seasons in the Sox system, batting .204 in the Gulf Coast League and .237 in Lowell.

But he eventually decided against trying to make his way as a pitcher, which paid off for him and the Sox.

He hit a combined .353 in 2004, his third pro season, with Augusta and Sarasota, and three years later was in the big leagues.