Well... that didn't take long, Lester

Earlier today I wrote a piece about how the Red Sox hopes for 2012 are entirely in the hands and arms of Jon Lester and Josh Beckett.

They need to pitch like aces.

One pitch into today's game, Lester let up a homer and the Sox were down 1-0.
One innings into it, they were down 5-0.

Gonzalez homered to make it 5-3. Momentum shift?
Nope. Lester let up two more homers and has let up 9 runs in two innings.
9 runs in 9 innings horrible.
9 runs in 5 innings is "send him to the minors" territory.

9 runs in 2 innings? That's "The season is over."

Even if they win, they have lost.
Even if they come back, there is no erasing the awful start by Lester.

One pitch into this game and the season might be over.
If they lose today (and as of this writing they are down 9-3) then they will be a .500 team in late July with suspect starting pitching.

Yeah, sounds like a contender to me.