• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Halladay, Lester go head-to-head for third time

Sep 20, 2008 - 10:15 AM Boston (90-63) at Toronto (82-72), 1:07pm EDT

TORONTO (Ticker) -- Roy Halladay has one more chance to beat Jon Lester in a head-to-head showdown. That opportunity will come on Saturday.

The Toronto Blue Jays' longtime ace and the Boston Red Sox's improbable one will meet for the third time this season as the clubs duel.

So far, the Boston lefthander has had the upper hand. Lester (15-5, 3.15 ERA) got the better of Halladay (18-11, 2.77) in a dominant performance early in the season, holding the Blue Jays to one hit over eight innings in a 1-0 Red Sox victory. In a rematch between the two on Sunday, Lester once again came out on top. The Blue Jays managed to quadruple their hit total, but still fell, 4-3.

That is indicative of the type of performances the Red Sox have gotten from Lester all season - and with time running out to catch the first-place Tampa Bay Rays (91-61) in the American League East, they're going to need another one. Though they have virtually assured themselves a playoff spot - holding a7 1/2-game lead over the Minnesota Twins (83-71) and New York Yankees (83-71) in the wild-card race - the Red Sox are still 1 1/2 games behind the Rays in the division.

Lester has won each of his last three starts and has allowed two runs in 20 2/3 innings during that time.

Though Halladay has yet to beat him this year, he certainly hasn't pitched poorly. In fact, he's shutdown the Red Sox all season, registering a 2.20 ERA over four starts. Unfortunately for his win-loss record, his offense hasn't been able to get much going to support him.

Boston has won four of its last five meetings against Toronto, including Friday's 4-3 victory. Jason Varitek's run-scoring fielder's choice broke a 3-3 tie in the eighth inning as Toronto missed out on a chance to get righthander A.J. Burnett his 19th victory.