TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Win Or Lose, Lester, Cook Are Bona Fide Successes

ADVERTISEMENT

The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 28, 2007

Updated: 10/28/2007 01:22 am

DENVER - Perspective takes the hill tonight.

Two mountain climbers go at it.

It doesn't matter who's batting in Game 4 of the World Series, Red Sox or Rockies (Wait, the Rockies bat?).

There will be a survivor on the mound, an inspiration.

Their names are Jon Lester and Aaron Cook. Lester will start for the Red Sox. Cook will start for the Rockies.

We don't know where to start.

Ten months ago, Jon Lester was finishing chemotherapy.

Think about that.

Three years ago, Aaron Cook nearly died.

Now they'll pitch in their first World Series.

'I thought I'd be here,' Lester said, 'but I didn't think I'd be exactly where I am.'

'I'm sure he realizes, without talking to me, that baseball isn't the most important thing,' Cook said.

Lester Won Before Making A Pitch

Lester, 23, wouldn't be making a Series start if Red Sox pitcher Tim Wakefield wasn't shelved with an injury.

That he's making any start ...

'I think even before he picked up a ball this spring, his season was a success,' Boston manager Terry Francona said.

Lester joined the Sox during last season. He went 7-2, but in late August he was troubled by back pain and weight loss. On a road trip to Seattle, Lester, a Tacoma native, visited an uncle who was a doctor. Soon there were other doctors, and grim news: non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

His season was done - and maybe more.

Cook, 28, was pitching for Colorado on Aug. 7, 2004, when he complained of dizziness and shortness of breath.

He had blood clots in his lungs and pitching shoulder. If a clot had cut loose and found his heart, he would have died. Cook underwent eight hours of surgery. A rib on his right side was removed to relieve pressure on a major vein and a vein to his wrist was rerouted. He missed a year of baseball.
Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling, hero of the bloody-sock win in the ALCS three years ago, knows it pales next to Lester's story.

'I remember the other night when we won the pennant and we were on the field, I said to him, how awesome when you think about where you were a year ago and where you are now, a chance you're going to pitch in the World Series.'

Lester underwent six rounds of chemotherapy. Last December, he was told there were no signs of cancer. He was in remission.

Lester might not admit tonight's significance. Others will.

He won't admit the significance of it is special for every cancer victim out there,' Rockies manager Clint Hurdle said, 'that there's a battle that can be on your hands, but there's a battle that can be fought, and just as important, there's a battle that could be won.'

Jon Lester returned to the majors on July 23 to start in Cleveland. He allowed two runs in eight innings for the win. The bat boys hugged him in the dugout.

Cook's Faith Was His Strength

In 2005, nearly a year after his surgery, Aaron Cook returned to finish the season 7-2 with a 3.64 ERA, earning him the Tony Conigliaro Award for overcoming adversity. Lester went 4-0 after his return.

'A lot of my strength came from my faith in God,' Cook said. 'I believe that God has a plan for us all, and that we all deal with things differently, and there's a verse in the Bible that says 'Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials on many kinds because testing of your faith develops perseverance.' That one verse I really held onto.'

'This year, I've just tried to have fun, treat it like a game, have fun doing it,' Lester said. 'I don't beat myself up over little things anymore ...'

Schilling, whose wife is a cancer survivor, said the hard part is over for Lester.

'There's no mountain he can't climb, no hurdle he can't jump,' Schilling said.

Jon Lester goes tonight - against Aaron Cook.

'I don't think it's a coincidence,' Hurdle said. 'I guarantee you Terry Francona wasn't looking for a way to match up Lester with Cook, nor was I. But it's happened because it's happened. And I believe in a lot of different venues that God's fingerprints are all over a lot of things if we're able to open our eyes ...'

'It's neat to be pitching here when I think of where I was,' Lester said.

Jon Lester is on the hill tonight.

Seeing is believing.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT