Tim Redding gave up his first two runs of Spring Training but still pitched very sharp baseball over five innings Thursday night, and the Astros' stalled offense found high gear in the late going to race past Los Angeles at Kissimmee 7-2.

Tonight's score is deceiving. Houston led the game much of the way only 3-2, as Redding and Kaz Ishii dueled over the game's first half. In fact, the Astros scored all their runs in two bunches: three in the second inning, keyed by RBI singles from Brad Ausmus and Craig Biggio, and four runs against a tiring Edwin Jackson in the eighth, with the biggest hits in a six-hit frame being a two-run triple from Jason Alfaro, an RBI single to CF by Jose Vizcaino, and an RBI single from minor-leaguer Dax Norris.

Redding struggled tonight more than in previous starts, but that's only in relative terms. We're comparing tonight's outing to the near perfection with which he's worked in previous starts. The Dodgers made him break a sweat in the fourth inning, putting together four hits, good for two runs, with the key blows being struck by Olmedo Saenz--a double to RF--and Alex Cora--a single to CF. Other than that rough patch, Redding was as good as ever. In a perverse way, the extended inning may have helped him because it gave him a chance to throw more pitches. He hasn't thrown all that many in games this spring. And I know, in my superstitious way, that allowing runs now is better than being perfect all spring and getting bushwacked in one's first start.

As you know by now, the Astros have a new guy named Mike on the ballclub to play 3B, and this Lamb was not silent tonight. Acquired from the Yankees earlier this afternoon in a trade for A-ball pitcher Juan deLeon, Lamb started Thursday and contributed a second-inning double to the three-run rally and a later sixth-inning walk. Although there's some serious question about how good Lamb can be, my own quick take is that getting him was a deal the Astros had to make. There was no adequate backup for Morgan Ensberg in camp, and there may be some concern about Ensberg himself as a full-time starter. After all, Geoff Blum's left-handed bat was in the lineup for much of 2003, and Lamb is also a left-handed batter. Essentially, the Astros have returned to the state they were in at 3B before Blum was traded, and one way of looking at that trade now is as a two-for-one swap, Blum for Brandon Backe and Lamb, both of whom figure to help the Astros. Lamb's career stats indicate that he will be a serviceable player for the Astros on offense. Last season wasn't a good year for him, but he'll get a lot more playing time in Houston than he would backing up A-Rod in NY. Houston needs his stick, and the switch to him from Blum, who was never quite the turn-the-fastball-around-in-the late-innings kind of guy that Gerry Hunsicker thought he'd be, might work. Lamb's arrival forced the removal of P Santiago Ramirez from the 40-man roster, it compelled the release of John Valentin, and it put additional pressure on those bench candidates still in camp--Phil Hiatt, Ryan Thompson, Eric Bruntlett and, perhaps, Orlando Palmiero. Lamb can play the corner OF spots, too, so Thompson is still under the gun, but that veteran continued to respond tonight with a base hit to LF in the eighth, a hit that followed one by Palmiero, as Houston made LA pay for trying to stretch out Jackson, who has probably won the fifth starter's role in the Dodger rotation.

Mike Gallo, Dave Veres, Dan Miceli, and Octavio Dotel each pitched a scoreless inning in relief of Redding, with Dotel and Miceli seeing big-league action for the first time in about a week. The competition between Veres and Gallo is still too close to call. If ya like strikeouts as a measure of effectiveness, Gallo had two of 'em in the sixth on curves. If ya like quick, efficient innings, Veres had one in the seventh. The biggest decision remaining to be made in camp is the decision to carry eleven pitchers or twelve. If the Astros carry eleven, that would fit the more likely April workload of a staff dealing with probable inclement weather,and it would also create a spot for another position player, which would make somebody on the bench very happy. My guess would be Houston would carry eleven pitchers, but I have no idea who the extra postion player would be--Thompson, if camp broke tomorrow, but there's still a week to go in the Florida phase.

The Astros are now 11-8-1 and 6-2 at Kissimmee this March after banging out twelve hits and holding LA to eight. According to fans who saw Wednesday night's game in Port St. Lucie, bad lighting might have been a factor in the Astros' poor showing. They redeemed themselves to some degree tonight under the better lights of home, but it will be a pleasure--one of many this year--to unleash the everyday lineup when April gets here and sic the fully-primed Houston starting rotation on the rest of the NL, too. General impressions of spring are fleeting and they should be heard with caution from whatever source, but it certainly appears that the strength of this team will be its starting pitching. How good the offense will be is as yet a mystery. It may have the same all-or-nothing characteristics as last year's offense, but if the pitching in 2004 really is strong, then the Astros may be better in close games and in one-run games than they werea year ago, and that could make a tremendous difference in a close divisional race as the season moves along.