Last October, Jon Lester won the deciding game of the World Series, just 14 months removed from his diagnosis of non-Hodgkins lymphoma. Last night, with the assist of a remarkable diving catch by Jacoby Ellsbury, he threw the first no-hitter of the 2008 season, the 18th in club history, and first by a Sox pitcher since rookie Clay Buchholz last Sept. 1, and the first by a Sox lefthander since Mel Parnell more than a half-century ago.

It has been an amazing comeback story in a book that has only had a few chapters written. Lester has even inspired his teammates.

"His story is a good story as it is," Sox third baseman Mike Lowell told the Boston Globe, who was among the gleeful throng of teammates that engulfed Lester after he struck out Alberto Callaspo for the final out of a 7-0 win over the Royals witnessed by a sellout crowd of 37,746 likely to grow exponentially in the years to come. "But to add a no-hitter to it, it adds something great to the story.

The Red Sox shopped Lester in the off-season in their quest for Johan Santana, but Santana ironically went to the Mets, a team that has never a no-hitter.