Young and the restless

The Rangers had talked around the second or third inning about making Lester throw more pitches, Young said. But with the way the lefthander was throwing, that wasn't necessarily the answer, either.

"It's tough when the guy keeps pounding the zone," Young said, "because you don't want a bunch of 0-and-2 counts."

So when he came up in the seventh with a fly out and a strikeout to his name, Young didn't key on any pitch in particular. As long as it was a strike, he was swinging.

His manager, Ron Washington, didn't blame him.

"You only may get that one pitch," Washington said. "And when you get it, you can't miss it, and he didn't miss it."

Lester fed Young a fastball down in the zone. Young scorched it for a double in the left-center gap. The Rangers were trailing, 8-0, and would go on to lose, 8-1, but the consolation was that the perfect game Lester had been working on was gone.

"The guy was just lights out," Young said. "That was one of the best games I've seen in my career by a pitcher."

Young was including the no-hitter Mark Buehrle spun against Texas two years ago, when Young went 0 for 3.

He went 2 for 4 last night, collecting the only two hits the Rangers could muster, and he said the way Lester threw was different from the jewel Buehrle tossed.

"That was one of those games where that guy just didn't miss a spot all game long," Young said. "Lester had the dominant stuff to go along with it."

Topping out at 98 miles per hour, pounding the strike zone with every pitch, and working his cutter, curveball, and changeup while keeping his pitch count low (107 pitches, 72 strikes), Young said of Lester, "You've got to give him credit, he flat out threw a great game."

Lester threw first-pitch strikes to 22 of the 31 batters he faced.

"That's a pitcher's best friend other than a double play," Washington said. "Get ahead and then you can do some things, and that's what he did.

"I know his record doesn't show [it], but I think Red Sox fans know how good he can pitch and tonight is one of those nights when he did it."

The pitcher he was dueling, lefthander Derek Holland, is a 22-year-old who's had the misfortune of having to battle the Yankees and Red Sox his last two starts. He was in a staredown with Lester early.

"[Lester] came out in the first inning throwing 98," Young said. "And Derek comes back and he's hitting 97. So it was a lot of fun to see him react to this ballpark."

But a balk in the fifth inning broke Holland's focus, and aided a three-run frame for the Sox.

"To be honest I don't know exactly why he called it," Holland said, adding, "That's just me letting one thing build up and it's like a snowball effect. I lost my composure. I wasn't as focused, which was bad on my part, and then I wasn't going after hitters. First-pitch strikes was the big thing."

After he broke up the Lester bid, boos showered down on Young during his final at-bat.

"That's what makes Fenway Park so cool," Young said. "I love playing in this place. The fans are great."

So was Lester.