Chicago Cubs' Lester finds his comfort zone
To see Jon Lester now with the Cubs is to see a different guy from when he first got here.
At the end of his second season in Chicago, Lester is more willing to reveal a little more of his personality and yes, even a sense of humor. The other day in San Francisco, he was asked about being on Twitter.
“I hate it,” he said with a smile before adding that he tweets in support of his charitable foundation.
He also was asked about being mistaken on Twitter for presidential debate moderator Lester Holt and whether he had met Holt. “I have not, no,” he said. “I don't do anything with politics. I'm not on that.”
Lester has turned out to be everything the Cubs hoped he would be when they signed him to a six-year, $155 million contract in December 2014. After going 11-12 with a 3.34 ERA last season, he had Cy Young-caliber year this season, going 19-5 with a 2.44 ERA.
He started and won Game 1 of this year's National League division series against the San Francisco Giants, and on Saturday night, he gets the assignment of pitching against the Los Angeles Dodgers' Kenta Maeda in the opener of the championship series at Wrigley Field.
Lester says his increased comfort level has been a gradual process.
A shoulder ailment in his first spring training with the Cubs set him back physically, and he admitted to trying to put too much symbolic weight on his shoulders for much of last season.
But by the time the Cubs reached last year's NLCS against the New York Mets, Lester has loosened up quite a bit.
“I think it's a gradual process,” he said Friday before the Cubs and Dodgers worked out. “You get thrown into a city with all these — I talk about expectations — expectations on your back.
“You want to live up to those, not only as a player and as a teammate and somebody that's involved in the city and the community.
“There's a lot of things last year, man: getting settled in a new place, figuring out what's going on here, the travel, the teams, all that stuff. Obviously, your teammates are first and foremost, getting to know them.
“So, yeah, you spend a full year together and you grind through that season and you make the playoffs and you come back this spring and we had two new guys come in, three new guys, one that I already knew (pitcher John Lackey).
“You're obviously going to feel more comfortable that second year as opposed to just getting thrown in that first year with a whole new atmosphere in front of you.”
Behind the plate for Lester's start, as always, will be veteran catcher David Ross, who caught Lester when both were in Boston and who has had the role of Lester's personal catcher in Chicago.
Ross has noticed Lester's growing comfort level.
“I think there's a lot that goes into that with a second year around, having a successful season, not battling through the stuff he had going on in spring training last year and never really finding his rhythm until the second half and really wasn't as good as he could have been,” Ross said.
“This year, building on spring training and going all the way through, he's way more comfortable, being more comfortable with the guys.
“The expectations of the contract is more over with. We've got Lackey in here, who is good for him. Yeah, he's definitely more comfortable, but there's a lot that goes into that.”
When the Cubs signed Lester, they said they were getting a pitcher who could not only win, but lead other pitchers by example.
Manager Joe Maddon cited Lester pitching 8 innings in Game 1 of the NLDS to outduel the Giants' Johnny Cueto.
“That was a spectacular game, and he was able to go 8 and do what he did,” Maddon said. “Having this experience definitely matters, especially as a starting pitcher. He's going to walk out there, he's going to be very comfortable in that moment, actually, inspired by that, I believe.
“Watched him the last game against the Giants, really calm demeanor. Threw the ball where he wanted to, him and David always worked well together.
“And I think, I want to believe, that the rest of the group grasped a little bit of courage from that fearless nature that he demonstrates as a starting pitcher in the playoffs.
“So all of that's there. And I witnessed it from the other side, too, when he was with the Red Sox. He's good. And right now he's at the top of his game.”