FORT MYERS, Fla. — Who knows how many times Jon Lester had dreamed about yesterday morning, how often he dared allow himself to envision being back where he most likes to be?

Ever since he was diagnosed in late summer with non-Hodgkins lymphoma and underwent a debilitating series of cancer treatments, his baseball future had cruelly been put on hold.

No longer did he have the luxury of worrying about repeating his delivery or improving the crispness of his breaking ball or between-starts routines. Lester had other things about which he could worry.

But yesterday morning brought with it a return to the mound, and with it, a return to routine.

“It’s great,” Lester would say later. “Just to get back and be normal again is awesome. Just to get back on the mound and throw the baseball and not worry about other things. It’s good and I enjoyed it.”

Freshly armed with new perspective but eager to resume his baseball career, Lester tossed a perfect inning against the Minnesota Twins in an otherwise non-descript “B” game yesterday morning at Hammond Stadium in front of a crowd of less than a hundred people, half of which were scouts and members of the Red Sox and Twins front offices.

A small step, to be sure. But one in the right direction.

“There were some jitters,” said a smiling Lester after the outing was complete. “I didn’t know where the first pitch was going to go.”

Fortunately for Lester, the 88-mph fastball cut the plate in half and was called a strike to infielder Alexi Casilla. His next pitch, another fastball, was hit to short, resulting in a routine groundout.

Lester further established his fastball with two strikes to the next hitter, Glenn Williams, before bouncing a couple of breaking balls in the dirt, evening the count at 2-and-2. He then threw another fastball and got Williams to ground out to third.

Finally, Lester threw a 90-mph fastball, his best of the day, and got veteran catcher Mike Redmond to ground out to short.

The inning was over almost before it began. Then again, it was a long time in arriving.

Even yesterday morning, Lester found himself fighting a familiar sensation — pre-game jitters. It had been a while.

“I tried not to think about it,” he said, “and treat it like a normal game and take it from there.”

Lester isn’t quite a normal pitcher again, so the Red Sox severely limited his workload. After his eight-pitch cameo, he was done for the day, his appetite barely whetted, a sweat not yet broken.

“I understand,” said Lester afterward of the curtailed assignment. “I know that the team has my best interest at heart. I’ll get my work in one way or another, so I’ll just take it from there. … I wasn’t worried about how many pitches or innings I threw — I just wanted to throw well and move onto the next step.”

Manager Terry Francona, who drove over to Hammond Stadium specifically to watch Lester’s inning, came away impressed, noting that the lefty’s fastball had some nice “little finish” to it, something that it lacked at times last summer when Lester struggled.

“I think he just wants to pitch,” said Francona. “I’m not sure he’s into getting patted on the back for just pitching. He doesn’t want to be treated as anything special. But we owe it to him to put the reins on him.”

After a side session tomorrow, Lester will pitch two more innings in a simulated game Saturday before pitching in a minor league game next week.

With no spot in the Boston rotation available and concern about his stamina and physical well-being, it could be that Lester will remain in the team’s extended spring training program when April arrives.

Those are cautious steps, but necessary ones.

“I think the fact that we’re talking about him pitching (again) is exciting,” said Francona.

“Obviously,” said Lester, “it’s a long road back.”

But what a first step.

smcadam@projo.com