On a perfect day for baseball, the Boston Red Sox and Houston Astros showcased\u00c2\u00a0their ace pitchers before\u00c2\u00a0a capacity crowd in Kissimmee.\u00c2\u00a0 Roy Oswalt and Jon Lester each worked the first four\u00c2\u00a0innings with Oswalt departing with a 1-0 lead for the win.\u00c2\u00a0 Oswalt focused on locating his fastball while Lester mixed in more off speed and breaking pitches.\u00c2\u00a0 It was a 55 foot curve ball that cost Lester the run as Carlos Lee raced in from third base when\u00c2\u00a0Jason Varitek was unable to corral the pitch.<\/p>\n
Five Astro relievers each pitched a scoreless inning with Wesley Wright gaining the save by pitching the 9th inning in the 3-0 win.\u00c2\u00a0 There was much less substitution than in a typical spring training game since the Astros had a split squad with the other squad playing a night game against the Yankees in Tampa.\u00c2\u00a0 The game was played in 2 hours and five minutes.<\/p>\n
The Astros scratched out their second run in the 6th inning without\u00c2\u00a0hitting a ball out of the infield.\u00c2\u00a0 Kaz Matsui\u00c2\u00a0put down a perfect bunt and alertly took third when the Red Sox watched a bunt by J.R. Towles down the third base that stayed fair.\u00c2\u00a0 Matsui scored when Carlos Lee hit into a double play. The final run scored on consecutive doubles by minor leaguers, Matt Kata and Brian Esposito, in the 8th inning.<\/p>\n
An interesting sidelight was Astro Chris Johnson playing third\u00c2\u00a0base,\u00c2\u00a0visiting with his father, Ron Johnson, between innings, who was coaching third base for the Red Sox a few feet away.<\/p>\n
A SABR member since 1984, Bill has written articles for The National Pastime, The Baseball Research Journal and other publications and web sites.\u00c2\u00a0 For the past 16 years, he has worked for Tal Smith Enterprises on salary arbitration and has attended many arbitration hearings.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On a perfect day for baseball, the Boston Red Sox and Houston Astros showcased\u00c2\u00a0their ace pitchers before\u00c2\u00a0a capacity crowd in Kissimmee.\u00c2\u00a0 Roy Oswalt and Jon Lester each worked the first four\u00c2\u00a0innings with Oswalt departing with a 1-0 lead for the win.\u00c2\u00a0 Oswalt focused on locating his fastball while Lester mixed in more off speed and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":140,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[5131,4519,589,5119,5122,3247,2668,3215,3099,5120,645,3242,257,686,5129,5124,5132,2421,5123,5121],"class_list":["post-3537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","tag-arbitration-hearings","tag-baseball-research-journal","tag-boston-red-sox","tag-brian-esposito","tag-capacity-crowd","tag-carlos-lee","tag-curve-ball","tag-houston-astros","tag-jason-varitek","tag-matt-kata","tag-national-pastime","tag-roy-oswalt","tag-sabr-member","tag-salary-arbitration","tag-smith-enterprises","tag-split-squad","tag-tal-smith","tag-training-game","tag-typical-spring","tag-wesley-wright"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t