It was a match up of two rookies on a damp afternoon in Boston today. Jon Lester, in his big league debut for the Red Sox, was to match up against John Rheinecker, in his fourth game for the Rangers in the first game of a double-header.

It would seem that the Rangers bring rain clouds into town with them when they visit Fenway. During their last visit in May, the first game of the weekend was called (a 6-0 victory for Texas) after six innings, and the remaining two games of the series were postponed due to the rain. This time, the rain began falling in last night¿s game, although they were able to finish before it got too heavy. They were to make up one of the games during a double-header today, but the 1:25 start was delayed nearly five hours, eliminating the possibility for a second game.

Rheinecker and Lester did meet up, but neither came away with a decision. Lester quickly fell behind in the top of the first. He began his outing with a strikeout to Gary Matthews, Jr., but allowed two doubles (to Michael Young and Mark DeRosa) and a walk (to Hank Blalock) that gave Texas a 2-0 lead before the Red Sox came to the plate.

Rheinecker also gave up two hits (both singles- to Mark Loretta and David Ortiz) and a walk (Kevin Youkilis) in the bottom of the inning. Loretta scored Boston¿s first run on a ground out. In the second, Lester continued to struggle, allowing two more walks. He also had to contend with a would-be fielder¿s choice that was foiled by a fielding error by Mark Loretta and a double-steal by Ian Kinsler and Jerry Hairston, Jr. With Michael Young¿s walk, the bases were loaded for Mark Teixeira, but Lester managed to strike him out to get out of the jam.

The third inning was somewhat better for Boston, with Lester allowing just one single and Coco Crisp scoring the tying run after leading off the inning with a double. In the fourth, the Rangers regained the lead with a sacrifice fly by Matthews, but Boston tied it up again in the bottom of the inning with Jason Varitek scoring on an RBI single by Alex Gonzalez.

In the fifth inning, Lester was relieved by Julian Tavarez with one out after giving up a lead-off single and a walk. Tavarez struck out the next two batters to end the inning, but he gave up the go-ahead runs to Texas in the seventh. With the bases loaded, Ian Kinsler hit a single, scoring Blalock and DeRosa. Rudy Seanez took over after that, but the damage was already done with the Sox down 5-3.

Rheinecker did not last much longer than Lester. After two singles and a double-play ball in the sixth inning, he was relieved by Bryan Corey. The 32-year-old, making his fourth major league appearance (and first for the Rangers), struck out all four batters he faced in the sixth and seventh innings and was on record for the win.

The Red Sox did get one run back in the eighth inning with Manny Ramirez hitting a lead-off homerun off of Rangers set-up man Francisco Cordero. The Rangers added on to their lead in the ninth, though, with a two-run homerun from Hank Blalock off of Keith Foulke. In the bottom of the ninth, Akinori Otsuka retired the Red Sox in order to give the Rangers the 7-4 victory and even up the season series between the two teams.

And, oh yeah- Lasorda for Commissioner.