Postseason wins are part of Lester's routine

Jon Lester walks into the Red Sox clubhouse before his playoff starts unchanged from the regular season. Everyone knows to stay away from him. He slips headphones over his ears. He sits in front of his locker, his back to the room, and stares straight ahead. "He's the same guy," said reliever Manny Delcarmen, whose locker is a few stalls down from Lester's.

Lester's routine changes once the game starts, so subtle his teammates may not notice. Lester exits the field during the regular season and meanders between the dugout and the clubhouse "not really paying attention to what's going on," he said. Lester remains in the dugout during the playoffs, riveted on every pitch.

"It's the postseason," Lester said. "I mean, we're one of four teams left right now. You can't really describe the atmosphere of the ballpark when you go play, and every pitch matters. It's just fun."

Lester's enhanced focus in an enhanced atmosphere has perhaps made him, at this moment, the most valuable player on the planet. Lester's two starts this playoffs stand as twin masterpieces, a pair of seven-inning feats of dominance that established him as the Red Sox' hands-down best pitcher. Lester has not allowed an earned run in his last 22 2/3 playoff innings. His ERA in the postseason is 0.77, second best all-time among pitchers who have thrown at least 23 innings.

He is the exact kind of pitcher a team needs in October - stopper, ace, money pitcher, whatever term you prefer. He is, more urgently and specifically, the pitcher the Red Sox want - if not need - on the mound this afternoon against the Tampa Bay Rays in Game 3 of the American League Championship Series.

"He's the guy everybody wants to give the ball to right now," Delcarmen said. "Everybody feels confident that after the tough loss [Saturday] night that he's going to come back and put us up, 2-1, and we go from there. He did it against the Angels. I'm pretty sure tomorrow he's going to throw seven innings and we'll probably win."

Such confidence in a pitcher with 59 career starts in the regular season may seem, to an outsider, a bit overzealous. But Lester's playoff outburst is not an aberration. Lester went 16-6 with a 3.21 ERA in the regular season, anchoring the staff while every other starter battled through injury, inconsistency, or both.

On a national stage, Lester has become a prominent story line, making broadcasters open dictionaries in search of superlatives. In the Red Sox clubhouse, he is the same staff rudder he was all year, making teammates nod in unsurprised affirmation.

"You don't all of a sudden snap your fingers and it comes together," catcher Jason Varitek said.

Said starter Josh Beckett, "I had fun all year watching Jon Lester pitch. I saw him take it [to another level] about May 1. Actually in April. I've seen him all year. He's been like this all year. It's just the stage. He's kind of taken everything he's done all year and rolled it into his last couple starts."

Lester today will face the team he dominated more than any other during the regular season. He started three games against the Rays and won them all, allowing two earned runs in 20 innings, a 0.90 ERA. He last faced Tampa Bay Sept. 8 at Fenway Park, and he shut the Rays out for 7 2/3 innings, allowing six hits and striking out nine, tying his season high.

"They're a very energy-based team," Lester said. "If they start getting the feel that they can attack you, then they're going to start going up there with confidence. If you can keep them off balance and keep them away from those big innings, I think you have a chance to really shut them down."

Lester has dominated these playoffs while Beckett has foundered, suddenly creating a new, unspoken hierarchy in the Red Sox staff. Lester is the ace; everyone else pitches when Lester rests. It may be best if Lester, 24, ignores such a lofty designation, and he does.

"I don't think I try to be that," Lester said. "I just try to pitch my game. You guys can put the labels on it as you want. I don't worry about that stuff. It doesn't matter to me who's the No. 1 starter and who's the No. 5 starter."

But there is a difference, made evident by the assurance the Red Sox felt yesterday knowing Lester could erase the crushing, marathon defeat Saturday night. Today, Jon Lester will walk to work and look the same as he always does. Then the Red Sox will hand him the ball.

"And this time of year," Lester said, "every pitch, every at-bat, every out, it matters so much more."

Adam Kilgore can be reached at akilgore@globe.com.