01:00 AM EDT on Thursday, April 13, 2006

PAWTUCKET -- Running a little late Monday night. Wanted to be home, in front of the TV, in time to see Jon Lester's pitching debut for the PawSox. Finally flopped on the couch in the top of the third inning. Saw the score was 1-0, Rochester. Didn't see Lester.

Where is he, I wondered? Sure hope the kid didn't get hit by a line drive, or something. A 22-year-old lefty, Lester's one of the top pitching prospects, not just in the Red Sox organization, but in all of minor-league baseball.

The Red Wings have just one run, I thought. It's only the top of the third. What could have happened to Lester that he was taken out?

Found out why a little later. Pitch count. That was the reason. He'd thrown 59 pitches. That was enough. Time was, a guy who'd thrown 59 pitches was just getting warmed up. These days, it's time for him to hit the showers.

Telling you all this in short sentences, by the way, because I have a word count.

Just kidding.

Because if I had a word count similar to Lester's pitch count, this story already would be half over.

To get the story on why Lester was lifted so quickly in his first Triple-A start, I stopped by McCoy Stadium yesterday afternoon to talk with PawSox pitching coach Mike Griffin,

Griffin was educated in the Old School. As a 20-year old pitcher in Class A ball, he threw 19 complete games and was irate with his manager, Wayne Terwilliger, when he yanked him just one out away from what would have been his 20th.

What Griffin, who pitched for five major-league teams, including the Yankees, between 1979 and 1989, learned from the experience was that wasn't the best way to develop young pitchers.

"I was dead tired at the end of the season," he recalled. "Then I pitched in the Instructional League after that. It took such a toll on me, both mentally and physically, that the next year was one of the worst of my career."

Lester has a promising career ahead of him, one that Griffin and everyone else in the Red Sox organization hopes will have him pitching in Boston for many years to come.

"We're in this for the long run," Griffin said. "Our business here is player development. It's our job to develop pitchers to pitch in Boston who'll help the Red Sox win another World Series."

Lester made 26 starts last year in Double-A Portland, going 11-6 and leading the Eastern League in strikeouts, with a 163 in 148 innings, and earned-run average (2.61.)

Far from rushing him along, the Red Sox are being cautious with him. Fans old enough to remember the days of four-man rotations, when every starter threw well over 200 innings in the course of a season, might even say the organization is coddling him.

Not so, says Griffin.

"It's a plan we have with all our pitchers, not just Jon," he said. "Coming out of spring training, we sit down with each guy and explain the program. We communicate exactly what's going on."

Heading north to chilly Pawtucket after spring training in sunny Florida, the PawSox don't want their young hurlers throwing too many pitches too soon in cold weather.

"The pitch counts are going to climb," said Griffin, "as the weather gets warmer. The reason (Lester) came out (Monday night) was because he'd hit his pitch count. If it had been June, he would at least have worked his way out of that inning."

Lester and the other members of the PawSox pitching staff have a workout regimen that includes playing "long toss" daily to build arm strength. The starters also throw between starts, under Griffin's watchful eye.

"They don't throw for 25 or 30 minutes in the bullpen the way I did between starts in the 70s," he said. "Every guy is different. You've got to know all their quirks. You need to know who needs to throw a little more, and who needs to throw a little less. In any case, I never have anybody throw more than 35-to-40 pitches. It's the quality that counts, not the quantity."

There are quality arms in quantity in the Red Sox system. Through use of pitch counts, the organization is committed to developing those arms, without injuring them.

"It all comes back to our plan," Griffin said. "We have a plan, and it works. We had some younger kids (Jon Papelbon, Craig Hansen, Manny Delcarmen) who went up to Boston last year and made an impact. We're proud of that."

jdonalds@projo.com / (401) 277-7340