I watched John Lackey throw a 30-pitch full strength bullpen session to Steve Soliz in preparation for his start against Boston in Anaheim on Wednesday evening. Angels pitching coach Mike Butcher stood in as batter. Orlando Mercado was also present but is not in this photo.

Although John was coming off of a lackluster start against the Rangers you would not know it by the way the pitches absolutely zipped right in to hit their spots. Soliz, an early-1990s product of the academically-rigorous Cal State L.A. baseball program, danced his catcher's glove around the plate like a complicated trigonometry formula, but professor Lackey completed each arm-stretching algorithm with flair and precision. Lackey's infamous slurve dove in to Soliz' glove location with biting dips that challenged the occasional loophole in the laws of physics.

Butcher offered not one word of coaching nor advice and everything else about the appearance on the bullpen mound was as routine as a jogging drill.

One can only assume that Lackey's lackluster Friday night was a straight fastball session meant to delight Texas hitters and just break a sweat.