Tuesday morning briefing

1) There are great stories, there are classic stories, there are even stories for the ages. And, yet, this one doesn't fall under any of those. This story is nothing short of epic. What Jon Lester has accomplished, and experienced, by the age is 24 typically takes a full lifetime to achieve. Become a Major League ballplayer? Check. Be diagnosed with cancer... and win? Check. Win the clinching game of a World Series? Check. And, finally, throw a no-hitter in the Major Leagues? Check.

Lester fanned 9 over his complete game shutout Monday night as the southpaw no-hit the Kansas City Royals in front of a packed house-- no surpirse there-- at Fenway Park. He needed 130 pitches to do it, but it was the 130th-- a 96 mph fastball-- that was the most impressive.

Lester has come full circle with his life and his baseball career. He is no longer worrying about the status of his health or the strength of his arm. Both are right where they should be. You would think that a guy who is not quite used to being extended like this in his outings would have been gassed heading into the final innings.

Nope. Not Lester. Lester admitted that he couldn't even feel himself or his arm in the ninth inning because of the adrenaline that was pouring through his veins. The kid has been through too much to feel fatigue when on the cusp of another piece of baseball history, Red Sox lore. Want to talk about fatigue with Lester? Try bringing up the chemotherapy treatments he endured only a year ago, and then he may admit a little fatigue. But put that on the same scale with his outing last night, and 130 pitches is a leisurely stroll through the park.

This is indeed the best type of sports story anybody could write. It is not entirely everything that Lester has overcome and accomplished that makes him so likeable. The way he has handled it all at his age is what seals the deal for me. How much maturity and faith and perspective does it take for a 23 year old athlete, who is on the verge of doing big things on the biggest stage, to keep a positive attitude and a smile on his face when he is told that his body-- the indestructable specimen that it is-- is ill? His hopes and dreams of being a professional ballplayer and winning championships while playing in one of the most storied sports venues could all be crashing down because of a body and an immune system that failed him.

But, yet, that was not the case for one second with Jon Lester. I cannot fathom the composure that it takes to go about it the way he has. It was easy to root for the kid last October when he was standing on the mound in Coors Field, firing fastballs and sliders at the Rockies' hitters, putting the Red Sox on his back to the tune of the franchise's second title in four years. But looking at Lester last night was a little different.

The joy and flare that comes with his play is beloved and, even if you are not a Red Sox fan, a piece of you was with Lester when he was making those pitches in the ninth inning. I was not able to catch it live, but I was even a bit squirmish watching the highlight. The highlight, I tell you. I already know what happens. That is the magnitude of not only the no-hitter, but the story of Jon Lester which is seemingly only beginning. He may have only been a boy when diagnosed with cancer, but looking back on the class that he has exhibited in the last year, the trials and tribulations that have been conquered, Jon Lester is as much of a man as anyone around.


2) The greatest stroy in Los Angeles this spring has been the emergence of Blake DeWitt. DeWitt was not even suppossed to be in big league camp in spring training, but was sent over when the injury bug came crashing down on the Dodgers. Nomar Garciaparra was going to be the third baseman, but the oft-injured veteran has yet to be healthy for any extended length of time.

Andy LaRoche was, and to some degree still is, considered the third baseman of the future until he broke a finger and was about to miss the first two months of the season. So there it was, the job was DeWitt's by default. Going into Opening Day, Joe Torre sat the kid down and said make the routine plays at third and just don't hurt us. Don't put too much pressure on yourself to hit, what you give us will be a bonus.

Well here's your little bonues, Joe: Through 37 games, DeWitt is batting .322 with 4 homeruns, 23 RBIs, and 21 runs. The kid has gotten hits during the day, hits at night, hits in the clutch, and hits everywhere in between. He has showed good range and soft hands at third base, and the arm speaks for itself. When Rafael Furcal is at shortstop, I struggle to think of a left side of the infield that has better arms than the Dodgers' left side of the infield.

DeWitt was the man on Monday night against the Cincinnati Reds. The youngster came up with a big, two-out hit in the fifth inning of Monday's ballgame, bringing the Dodgers back from a 3-run deficit to tie the game at 5-5. That was nice, but there is more.

In the bottom of the ninth, the Dodgers' Russell Martin grounded to shortstop to lead off the inning, but rookie Paul Janish fired the ball into the dugout, allowing Martin to reach second base. Jeff Kent came up and sent a groundball to second base to move Martin over to third with one out. The Reds walk James Loney intentionally to set up the double play, and then say the heck with it, and put Kemp on as well since they would rather face DeWitt with the double play in order than Kemp. I don't really understand this since I think Kemp still has the urge to chase some pitches once in a while. They could have pitched carefully to him, getting him to chase and strike out or at the least take a bad swing on a bad pitch and hit a weak groundball or pop up. At the worst, you walk him and are in the same situation.

But with all of that aside, DeWitt is the man they want. He works the count, one of his strengths, before Reds' reliever Dave Weathers throws a fastball inside to back him off the plate. The pitch would have hit DeWitt in the hip, and the Dodgers would have went home with a victory. But DeWitt reacted and jumped out of the way of the pitch, his only blemish of the night, and immediately knew he made a mistake by not wearing the pitch.

With a 2-2 count, Weathers fired a two-seam fastball running away from DeWitt, who waited on it and stroke a line drive into left field-- identical to his hit in the fifth inning-- to drive home Martin, carrying the mail and winning run. LaRoche is healthy down in Triple-A and is wondering why he is not in the big leagues. Because of that, DeWitt is playing for his job every night and he keeps coming up with good games. I cannot think of another player who is on as short a leash as DeWitt. But yet it has failed to phase him, and the kid is becoming a fan favorite in L.A.