Jon Lester is making significant strides so far in spring training. Lester took the hill for the Sox on Friday in the first minor league game of spring training. He fared very well by throwing only 20 pitches to the 6 batters he faced in two innings of work. 15 of those 20 pitches were strikes.

So what does this mean for Lester? It means that he will now sit down again with Terry Francona and John Farrell to map out a course of action. They had been working on a two week schedule with Lester, each time setting a goal of where they wanted to Lester to be. So far so good, as he has passed all the tests in his return from his battle from cancer.

“It felt good to get more of a game setting with umpires than a controlled setting like last time,” said Lester, who completed chemotherapy for anaplastic large cell lymphoma in December and has since been given a clean bill of health. “It felt good, and hopefully, I can build from it and go one more or two more innings next time.”

“You can always look at a radar gun for speed, but it’s good to get feedback from them when you don’t feel 100 percent on your fastball, and they’re late on it,” Lester said. “So you know you have pretty good carry on it, and you know you’re doing the right things to get it there. All in all, it was pretty good.”

This is just more great news for Lester and the Red Sox. A healthy Lester will make the Red Sox rotation even more deeper and stronger even if he is pitching in Pawtucket to start the season. I hope that he is ready for the big leagues again by the end of spring training and makes the Red Sox think about keeping him up there. Of course, it’s a selfish thought because I want him in the rotation and Jonathan Papelbon to move back to closing games. A boy can dream can’t he.