BOSTON -- Hopefully, Clay Buchholz was watching ace left-hander Jon Lester last night and saw himself in the future, maybe a year or so from now.

Buchholz has been struggling in this, his rookie season. He is nowhere near as polished as Lester.

Yet only a few years ago, Lester was Buchholz, if you will. He also had his ups and downs, nibbling too much, falling behind in counts, working slowly, lacking confidence. Over the last two seasons, though, with time out on the mound because of cancer, Lester has developed into the dominant, unflappable, confident pitcher the Red Sox always thought he could be.

Last night he won his 11th game, limiting the Rangers to three runs on seven hits over 7 1/3 innings. He was leading, 8-1, when he left but was charged with two more runs when Mike Timlin served up a three-run homer to Milton Bradley, the first batter he faced.

Lester no longer nibbles. He uses all of his pitches and throws them with conviction, such as the changeup that fooled All-Star Michael Young for a strikeout looking in the third and a nasty curveball down and in the dirt that had the switch-hitting Bradley flailing and missing for a whiff in the sixth.

Buchholz has similarly dominant stuff. What he needs is a little more mound maturity and confidence. Jon Lester should be his role model.