Levine: Jon Lester Not Quite Ready For Prime Time
By Bruce Levine--
CHICAGO (CBS) -- In reality, new Cubs ace Jon Lester was making his last spring training start Sunday night, as opposed to his first outing of the 2015 regular season in Chicago's 3-0 loss to St. Louis at Wrigley Field.
"Look, when it's time to compete, it's time to compete," said catcher David Ross, who was bought in to be Lester's personal catcher. "Even in spring training, the urge is to compete. He was not as sharp as he wanted to be, but if that is his worst start of the season, we will be in great shape."
Lester missed a 10-day period of pitching in March due to arm and body fatigue. He was off with his stuff in the opener, leaving some pitches up in the zone during his 4 1/3 innings of work.
"The shape of stuff and timing was good in the bullpen," Lester said of his pregame warmups "It just did not carry over into the game for whatever reason. It's about getting the ball down in the zone, no matter who you are pitching against, and I did not do that tonight."
Without having his best stuff, Lester struck out six Cardinal batters, while walking two. The Cubs' offense was poor, to say the least, going 0-for-13 with men in scoring position. Chicago struck out 12 times, carrying over a bad habit from the 2014 team that set a team record for batters striking out.
If this is the worst Lester pitches all year, the Cubs will more than likely get their money's worth in his next 32 starts.
"I believe in Jon Lester," said Joe Maddon, who lost his first game as the team's new manager. "The Cardinals did a nice job."
Maddon had to respond to a fifth-inning double steal that was set up by Lester failing to hold the runners at first and second.
"What you see is a steal of third base, and no throw to second base," Maddon said. "That is something we need to work on, and we will. Jon was hitting 93-94 mph early, his breaking ball was not always sharp, but I have no concerns with Jon Lester at all."
Cubs fans can expect close games once again throughout the season. The power arms in the bullpen did their job, throwing 4 2/3 innings of shutout baseball. The bullpen allowed just one hit and two walks, while striking out five Cardinals hitters.