John Lackey has been far from dominant in his first season pitching in the AL East, but Terry Francona still believes in Boston's investment. "Well, it's different," said Francona. "You're running through the Yankees and Tampa Bay, Toronto and Baltimore. It's no day at the beach. But saying that, you look up at his ERA and it's higher than he's probably comfortable with. It's like a guy hitting that's lower. Saying that, we love him. "When [general manager] Theo [Epstein] told us that day he signed him, I was thrilled. I still am and I think three or four years from now, we're still going to be. It hasn't gone perfect. That doesn't mean [it can't be improved]. There's a lot of good things there. He's a stand-up guy. I don't know that everybody's going to have their career year every year. I wish it would happen. But it doesn't always work that way."