So, who else thinks Jon Lester has a legitimate chance to no-hit the Oakland A’s this weekend, and join Johnny Vander Meer as the only pitchers to throw back-to-back no-hitters? Yeah, I know we’re supposed to bask in the glory of one no-hitter and not get ahead of ourselves, but frankly the Lester story — his cancer, his cocked hat, his left-handedness — has already been smothered to death by the press-pass word monkeys. I’d rather be ahead of the curve, and the only way we’re going to keep challenging Lester is by presenting him with new goals. Given that, I think we need to start small — by having him no-hit the Oakland Athletics this weekend.

As a left-handed pitcher coming off a no-hitter (which Lester is), you really couldn’t ask for a better follow-up team than the Oakland A’s, who are hitting .242 versus southpaws (third-worst in the American League) with an anemic .314 slugging percentage (dead last). Mind you, if Lester was going for a perfect game, the A’s would be the LAST team he’d want to face, since the Moneyball-lovers lead the American League in free passes. But here’s the lineup the A’s can be expected to roll out versus the Red Sox’ lefty this weekend. This box score was taken from Oakland’s last American League game versus a left-hander, Cleveland’s Aaron Laffey.