"It's going to take a while for the 2011 Red Sox to return to their rightful perch as .?.?. pause here for drum roll .?.?. the Best Team Ever. But in a month that has been laced with question marks, here's one of the few exclamation points: Left-hander John Lester.

Lester, you'll recall, has not always been on speaking terms with the month of April. A year ago, he was a 1-2 with a 4.71 ERA in five April starts. The year before that, he was 1-2 with a 5.40 ERA in April. And in 2008, the man who started and won the clinching game of the World Series the previous autumn was 1-2, 4.31 in April.

And be honest: When the newly christened ace of the Sox pitching rotation took the mound on Opening Day in Arlington, Texas, earlier this month and was cuffed around to the tune of six runs in 51/3 innings — giving up a career-high three home runs along the way — you no doubt were muttering something along the lines of, "Here we go again."

Well, settle down. Lester's latest April is now in the books, and the numbers are very good. He allowed two runs in eight innings in the Red Sox' 6-2 victory over the Baltimore Orioles last night at Camden Yards, improving his record to 3-1 in six starts and lowering his ERA to 2.52."