Pitcher Lester pauses again to show poise

Jon Lester's father, John (left), was diagnosed with lymphoma last month. "He's doing really well," said the Red Sox pitcher. (File/Bill Greene/Globe Staff)

OAKLAND, Calif. - Jon Lester was expected to see his father, John, last night for the first time since learning his dad had been diagnosed with lymphoma. The elder Lester lives in Puyallup, Wash., not far from Seattle, where the Red Sox flew last night for the start of a three-game series tonight.

John Lester was diagnosed with the disease not long after his son, a cancer survivor, was receiving his World Series ring at Fenway Park back in the second week of April.

Jon Lester made the revelation on ESPN's "Sunday Conversation" with Erin Andrews, but after losing a 6-3 decision to the Oakland A's yesterday at McAfee Coliseum in his first game since his no-hitter May 19 vs. the Royals at Fenway Park, the pitcher was reserved about his father's condition.

When asked how much his father's diagnosis had weighed on him the past few weeks, Lester said, "It hasn't." The pitcher told Andrews his father's cancer is "slow growing" and highly treatable.

Asked whether it felt good to have it out in the open, the lefthander said, "It's been out in the open, I just haven't told y'all. I want to focus on pitching and I want to get asked about pitching and I don't want to get asked about [his father]. That's something between me and my dad and my family. When I'm here I want to focus on [pitching]. I don't want to have to worry about [cancer]."

Lester beat non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and then resumed his career, winning Boston's World Series-clinching game against Colorado last fall.

He has shown tremendous poise given all the things that have been thrown his way in his short 24 years. Yesterday, for example, when not only was the nation following his first start since the no-hitter, but the revelation of his father's cancer came out, though Lester had told manager Terry Francona a few weeks back.

"People are posed with distractions every day," said Red Sox director of performance enhancement Don Kalkstein, who has been talking to Lester quite a bit, though those discussions remain confidential. "It's part of learning to have a coping mechanism to come in and perform like anybody else who has things going on on the outside. It's about learning to separate those things and follow the process he has followed for so many years."

Kalkstein said his job is to discuss problems players have in dealing with outside life and things associated with the games they play.

He said it is always healthy when a player wants to discuss issues because, "I might recognize something different, their behavior, their demeanor, maybe they're sullen that day. It's just like if there's something different just like you would see in a co-worker that you've spent a lot of time around. Something like that might come out."

Lester spoke freely to ESPN about the succession of curveballs thrown at his family.

"It's been a long road with my family," he said. "It's been tough with me and my family. I think he's definitely seeing my side of everything now. He's starting to realize that I have an opportunity to touch a lot of people with some different things, and he's been really pushing on me to do that. It's not my personality to go out and just embrace people and do that, so I think now I need to start taking some steps."

Lester added his father is proud of him for handling things the way he has.

"Just because now, even my dad said, 'I look up to you,' " Lester said. "After the no-hitter, a lot of different media people called him, and he was very, very frustrated that he couldn't tell them why he was so proud of me. Now he's telling everybody.

"He wanted me to tell people, and he wanted me to get it off my chest and tell as many people as I can about it. I think once he talks to me and kind of says, 'I feel run down,' I kick him in the butt a little bit, and he goes back to work for a little bit longer and then comes home. He's doing good.

"He's telling everyone . . . like he won a prize," Lester said. "It makes him feel better to sit there and talk about it. He can tell people, 'You know what, I have cancer, I'm doing great, everything is going to be good,' and people look at him like he's crazy. I guess that's how everyone looked at me when I told them."

Lester told Andrews his mother sat him down and told him the news about his father's condition. "You hear the word cancer, and you figure death," Lester said.

Lester said he was going to bring his father a new Red Sox World Series hat to cover his head, which is now bald because of the treatment.

"Usually your parents get it before you do, or whatever it may be if you get it," Lester said. "He definitely remembers some of the times I had and how I approached everything, and he tries to do it the same way.

"His is something that he's going to die with, not from. He's doing really well. He has to go through treatments, which [aren't fun] to do. But at the same time, it's going to knock it down to where he can live a normal, healthy life."

Lester said his father has two treatments remaining.

Yet while he wanted to get the story of his father out in the open, Lester means it when he says he wants to be treated normally. He doesn't want anyone feeling sorry for him, or for his father's predicament. If he pitches badly, he wants to answer questions as to why. That's where he wanted to steer the conversation with reporters.

"All the positives we had talked about the start before, getting ahead and dictating the count, was just the opposite today," he said. "It was frustrating because I couldn't find a rhythm. Couldn't get a good tempo. All of the things that we had strived to do better this year seemed like I took a step back. I made some good pitches when I had to. It's just tough pitching out of jams every inning."

Lester allowed a single to Jack Hannahan, the first batter he faced, quickly ending any designs of back-to-back no-hitters. But he said the hit didn't ruffle his feathers.

"No, they're going to hit the ball," he said. "I made a good pitch to him that he just stayed inside and hit it the other way. Tip your hat, a good piece of hitting."

Nor would he blame the 130 pitches he threw in the no-hitter for his outing yesterday (5 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 3 K).

"Physically I felt fine," he said. "Like I said, early on I felt I didn't get into a rhythm. Finally kind of hit my stride in the fifth inning. It was good to end the outing on a good note. I felt that I found a little bit of rhythm and threw the ball a little bit better."

Today, Lester is expected to forget the baseball speak for a while and visit with his father, someone he's obviously very proud of as well.

Nick Cafardo can be reached at cafardo@globe.com.