For Lester, two poor pitches lead to disaster

Reviewing his Game 3 performance, Jon Lester kept coming back to two pitches - a misplaced fastball and a backdoor cutter that morphed into more of a slider. Two pitches. Two mistakes. Two home runs for the Tampa Bay Rays in the third inning. B.J. Upton sent the fastball soaring into left field for a three-run homer. Evan Longoria lifted the cutter-turned-slider out of Fenway Park for a solo home run.

For Lester, the two pitches meant the difference between another strong posteason outing and a stinging 9-1 loss to Tampa Bay. It also marked the end of an impressive postseason streak for the lefthander. Before yesterday Lester had not given up an earned run in four postseason appearances, including last year's World Series-clinching win over the Colorado Rockies. A week after starting the series clincher against the Angels, Lester gave up five runs (four earned) on eight hits over 5 2/3 innings.

"At times, I was effective with everything," said Lester. "I didn't execute, for the most part, two pitches and that hurt me. With this team, you can't have big innings like that. You can't or they get at you and put up a crooked number and it's tough to come back."

When Lester retired Akinori Iwamura, Upton, and Carlos Peña on four pitches in the first inning, it appeared he was ready to fulfill his role as the Sox stopper. He was fresh, working on six days' rest, and coming off a Division Series in which he allowed no earned runs in 14 innings. There was no reason to doubt that success would continue. That was until the second inning, when Tampa Bay showed signs of mounting confidence at the plate.

Longoria started the inning with a walk. A single by Willy Aybar was followed by a passed ball with Dioner Navarro at bat, advancing the runners to second and third. Longoria scored on Navarro's grounder to second, giving the Rays a 1-0 lead with an unearned run. But when Tampa Bay added four earned runs the next inning, Lester knew he had put his team in a tough position.

"I got in some trouble in the second inning, but got out of it with just one run," he said. "I didn't stay away [from trouble] from the beginning. With this team, you can't do that. You can't give them momentum like that. When you do, it just makes it that much harder to come back . . . I did tonight what I said you've got to stay away from. They had a big inning and that kind of broke the back a little bit."

Added manager Terry Francona: "It certainly wasn't his sharpest outing . . . you put up four in an inning. Other than that, he was actually OK."

Maybe that was why Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon left Fenway last night feeling a little fortunate.

"I just thought we had some good at-bats tonight and, when he made a couple mistakes, we took advantage of it. He is very good. Don't be deceived. We just had a relatively good night. We had some good at-bats at crucial moments. Three-run homers are nice to get. We were very fortunate with that. But I have a lot of respect of him, and this is one of the better young lefthanders in the American League and all of baseball actually."

Maddon is wise to praise Lester, considering Tampa Bay could face the lefthander again if the series goes seven games. For his part, Lester hopes he gets a second chance to make amends for his two poor pitches.

"I felt all right," said Lester. "Not the best I've ever felt, but I felt fine. I just didn't execute well to Upton, which was big, and Longoria. I just didn't execute those two pitches. Hopefully, I get a chance to do it again in Game 7 and I'll be able to execute pitches then."