Here’s a quick look at how Jon Lester vs. Alex Rodriguez (0-4, K) went down during his complete game shutout of the Yankees on Thursday, July 3rd:

The left-hander threw 13 pitches to Rodriguez over the course of 4 at-bats. The blue box is A-Rod’s approximate strike zone, and the arrow represents the batter (the axis are in feet). 9 of the 13 pitches were classified by PitchFX as fastballs, and they have been circled in blue.

The only pattern that seems clear here is that Lester was avoiding putting the ball down and away from A-Rod. Other than that, he was mixing his spots, which is probably as good an idea as any against an elite batter like Rodriguez. The first at-bat, which lasted five pitches, was the most interesting. He took the first two pitches, both fastballs right at the knee, and fell behind 0-2 (the only two called strikes against A-Rod in the game). Lester then tried to climb the ladder with the high fastball you see there. Rodriguez then fouled off a nasty cutter on the inside corner of the strike zone before whiffing on a fastball directly on the upper-right cordner of the strike zone. Varitek set the at-bat up beautifully, Lester executed, and Rodriguez went down swinging.

A-Rod, possibly anticipating fastball, swung at the first pitch of his second at-bat. He got a change-up on the right side of the plate – again, excellent execution by Lester – and pulled it on the ground to Lugo. He went up swinging in his third at-bat, and this time got a first pitch right on the inside corner, a fastball right on his hands that he fouled off. He went up and away with a curveball that just barely missed being called a strike. He went back inside for the third pitch, placing it almost exactly where the first fastball was. This pitch was a cut fastball, though, coming in at about 3mph slower than the first. Rodriguez managed to lay off of it. He fouled off another fastball in on the hands, took another fastball in at the knees that could’ve gone either way, and then flied out to Coco Crisp on a fastball back on the outside corner.

In A-Rod’s final at-bat, he appeared to guess right on the first pitch, a fastball right on the inner edge of the plate that Rodriguez finally managed to get his hands inside of and put in play. He didn’t get all of it, though, and the result was a routine fly ball to Ellsbury in left to end the game.

The Lester/Rodriguez matchup was a great example of what happens when a pitcher is really “on” during a performance: hitters get set up, the pitcher executes, and batters are retired. For most of the game, Rodriguez was unable to handle pitches on the inner half of the plate and couldn’t do anything with pitches on the outer half, and when he finally got around on an inside fastball, the pitch was good enough to result in a harmless fly out. A-Rod is arguably the best hitter alive and one of the best of all time, but no matter how good you are with the bat, when you run into a pitcher that’s having an exceptional night, you’re probably not going to do very well. #13 has certainly already reviewed what Lester and the Sox did against him that night (he got two hits yesterday against the Sox). Yankees and Red Sox fans alike eagerly await how the next Lester-Rodriguez matchups turn out.