First pitch. Two-out double to left field. End of bid for perfect game and no-hitter.

But Izturis was the only Blue Jay to reach base as the Boston Red Sox broke a three-game losing streak with a 5-0 win on Friday night.

"The no-hitter, perfect game, all that stuff, the stars got to be perfectly aligned for you," Lester said.

He should know.

Lester (5-0) threw a no-hitter on May 19, 2008, beating the Kansas City Royals 7-0. Just nine days shy of the fifth anniversary of that gem, the left-hander retired the first 17 batters before Izturis lined a clean double several feet over the outstretched arm of third baseman Will Middlebrooks that landed just inside the foul line. Lester then ended the inning by striking out pinch-hitter Adam Lind.

"If that ball's two feet to (the) left, it's right at him," Lester said. "Good pitch, what we wanted to throw especially to an aggressive hitter. He did a good job of hitting it."

Catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia could have a tough time forgetting it.

"As soon as the game was over I started thinking about it," he said. "Changeup, first pitch. I'm going to have nightmares about it to be honest with you."

The closest the Blue Jays came to another hit was Brett Lawrie's low liner starting the sixth that center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury caught easily.

"He was throwing everything," Toronto's J.P. Arencibia said. "I think he used our aggressiveness against us a little bit. He's pretty special when you could throw cutter, sinker, four-seam, hook, changeup, and on both sides of the plate. The guy's one of the best in the game for a reason. He showed that tonight."

Lester wasn't the only pitcher to give up only one hit Friday. St. Louis' Shelby Miller gave up a leadoff single then retired 27 in a row in a 3-0 victory over Colorado.

Lester finished with five strikeouts in the 10th complete game and third shutout of his career, effectively mixing his pitches and locating them precisely. He threw just 118 pitches only 58 in the first five innings and retired the first batter in each of the first three innings on one pitch apiece.

"We've always seen him good. He's one of the better ones in the game," Toronto manager John Gibbons said. "He carved us up pretty good tonight."

But the Red Sox led only 1-0 before scoring four runs in the seventh.

"In the seventh we were able to bunch some hits together, which was kind of elusive," Boston manager John Farrell said.

Boston continued to waste numerous opportunities. It left runners on base in each of the first seven innings after stranding runners in all nine innings of Thursday night's 5-3 win over the Minnesota Twins.

They scored in the second against Ramon Ortiz (0-1) when Daniel Nava walked, took third on a single by Saltalamacchia and scored when shortstop Izturis fielded Middlebrooks' grounder but his throw to start a potential inning-ending double play eluded second baseman Mark DeRosa.

The Red Sox finally built a comfortable lead in the seventh.

Singles by Ellsbury and Shane Victorino put runners at first and second and they moved up on a wild pitch by Brett Cecil. Dustin Pedroia singled in a run, but the next two batters struck out. Then Saltalamacchia doubled in two runs and Middlebrooks drove in another with his second double of the game.

Friday's outing was the fourth time Lester allowed just one hit while pitching at least seven innings and the third time against Toronto.

The other two were over eight innings in a 1-0 win in Boston on April 29, 2008, and seven innings in a 2-0 win at Toronto on April 28, 2010. He also did it against Kansas City in eight innings of a 1-0 win on July 18, 2006.

Then there was the no-hitter in his first full season when he relied on veteran catcher Jason Varitek to tell him what to throw.

"I feel like back then (I was) such a thrower, not really a pitcher. I think the best way to put it is, effectively wild for my no-hitter," Lester said. "Now, obviously going through this a couple of times and (I'm) a little bit more mature and understanding what I'm trying to do."

And that made his catcher's job simpler.

"My job was easy. I put the glove there and he hit it," Saltalamacchia said. "I don't think whoever we were facing could have hit him."

NOTES: The last Red Sox pitcher to allow one runner in a complete game was Josh Beckett in a one-hitter at Tampa Bay on June 15, 2011. ... Toronto designated hitter Rajai Davis left the game with a left oblique strain. Lind pinch hit for him in the sixth. ... Clay Buchholz (6-0) pitches for Boston against Mark Buehrle (1-2) in the second game of the three-game series Saturday. ... Toronto's six-game winning streak at Fenway ended.

De Lappe has traveled the world over the decades working on the Oscar Hammerstein and Richard Rodgers masterpiece in places across Europe, Japan, Canada and the United States. Now she's in Chicago, trying to help director Gary Griffin recreate a version of the original "Oklahoma!" production. It opens on Saturday and runs through May 19.

"If you remain true to the script and to the music it's not old fashioned at all," de Lappe said in an interview in the rehearsal room at the Lyric Opera in downtown Chicago. "It's new. It was new then and it's new now."

Griffin calls de Lappe a link to the original intent of the production, which is often considered a landmark of American musical theater. He encourages her to talk about every number, every idea that she has during rehearsals.

"This show begins and you can see she feels the depth of what's contained in all of it and recall it and gives it to all of us," Griffin said. "Having her being able to fill in those gaps and information is incredible."

The original dances from "Oklahoma!" were crafted by famed choreographer Agnes DeMille, who often used de Lappe as an inspiration. De Lappe, who lives in New York, has actively worked for years to save de Mille's work.

Rodgers, Hammerstein and DeMille would often check up on productions of "Oklahoma!" to see if directors were departing too far from the original show, de Lappe said.

"They'd clean it up again, simplify it, make it ours," de Lappe said. "That's what I've dedicated my life to."

De Lappe, who was awarded the Tony Honors for Excellence in the Theatre in 2007, knew Rodgers and Hammerstein well, she said, even sitting in on musical sessions with Rodgers in London.

"I really learned what he wanted with all those songs, the pronunciation, the enunciation, the tempos, phrasing," de Lappe said.

Ted Chapin, president of the company that owns the rights to the Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals, Rodgers and Hammerstein: An Imagem Company, said the Lyric chose to honor the original choreographic essence of "Oklahoma!" when it hired de Lappe.

"She's very, very straight forward about what she knows and what she demands," Chapin said. "She's not going to sit back and just take notes."

De Lappe's eyes dart from dancer to dancer when she's in those rehearsals, with an intense stare observing each number. She will stop the dancers, directing them about the need to swoop in a certain way or interact with each other differently. At times she will even demonstrate the steps.

"When I hear it with the performers and with the show I'm just as enthusiastic as I was the first time I saw the show," she said.

Modern audiences haven't seen a proper production of "Oklahoma!" for two generations, de Lappe said. She said that's why it's important for Lyric to recreate the show's original concept.

The production is the first of five classic Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals that the Lyric is staging as part of its American Musical Theater Initiative. "The Sound of Music" is planned for next year, followed by "Carousel" in 2015, "The King and I" in 2016 and "South Pacific" in 2017.

The Chicago production of "Oklahoma!" includes 37 members of the Lyric Opera Orchestra and a company of nearly 40 actors.

"The minute you walk into the rehearsal hall and you start, the energy is there no matter how tired you are," de Lappe said. "I find it happens to me every day."

___

Online: http://www.lyricopera.org/oklahoma

___

Follow Caryn Rousseau on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/carynrousseau

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Viewers are gearing up to crown the first female winner of "American Idol" in six years, but the biggest drama at the once-dominant Fox TV singing contest is taking place backstage over which of the celebrity judges will be voted off.

Audiences for what was the most-watched TV show in the United States for eight years have slumped to new lows in the current 12th season, despite the addition of singers Mariah Carey, Nicki Minaj and Keith Urban to the judging panel.

Veteran record producer Randy Jackson, the only member of the panel to have been with the show since it started in 2002, announced on Thursday that he was quitting after viewers vote for their winner next week.

Jackson's announcement came a day after entertainment website TheWrap reported that Carey, Minaj and Urban would not be asked back, along with the show's longtime executive producer, Nigel Lythgoe.

TheWrap.com said that Fox television was turning against paying huge salaries for big-name judges, only to see ratings fall.

Fox and production company FremantleMedia on Thursday declined to comment on the overhaul reported by TheWrap that have overshadowed the battle between singers Angie Miller, Candice Glover and Kree Harrison to reach the two-part finale.

Carey, one of the world's best-known recording artists, is getting a reported $17 million salary, with rapper Minaj pulling in about $12 million and country singer Urban around $7 million a year for their jobs on the contest.

Audiences for "American Idol" have fallen to around 12 million viewers per episode in recent months, compared to about 30 million during the show's heyday in 2006 and 2007.

The show is facing stiff competition from NBC rival "The Voice."

The report by TheWrap followed a story in The Hollywood Reporter last month that said producers had considered a mid-season replacement of Carey with Jennifer Lopez, who had quit the panel in 2012.

A Fox television spokeswoman termed that report "another ridiculous 'Idol' judge rumor."

DIVAS GRAB THE SPOTLIGHT

Minaj told "Idol" host Ryan Seacrest in a Thursday interview for his E! News show that she enjoyed being a judge. But she dodged the issue of whether she would be back.

"I feel happy here and I have to thank them for giving me this chance. They could have picked anyone in the world. And they picked me. So that's all I'll say about that," Minaj said.

Lyndsey Parker, managing editor of Yahoo! Music, said that Minaj had been met with a backlash from the core, middle-aged and family "Idol" audience, especially after reports last year of a feud between her and Carey.

"I think they were hoping she would bring in some kind of youthful audience but that doesn't appear to have happened," Parker told Reuters.

As for Carey, "she came to the panel with a lot more credibility than many others, but I don't think she is very good TV - a little bit low energy - and she rambles," Parker said.

The backstage drama comes in a strong season for women, with female singers dominating the final rounds for the first time in years.

On Thursday night, Seacrest will announce which contestants viewers have chosen to be in the finale in Los Angeles next Wednesday and Thursday.

Battling for the two spots are piano-playing pop singer Miller, 18, from Massachusetts; former travel agent turned powerhouse soul singer Glover, 23, from South Carolina; and 22-year-old country singer Harrison, from Texas, whose personal story and the loss of both her parents has won as many hearts as her voice.

Whoever is crowned the new "American Idol" will be the first female winner since Jordin Sparks in 2007.

Fox is a unit of NewsCorp.

(Reporting By Jill Serjeant; Editing by Xavier Briand)

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Shrinking the size of kids' plates and bowls and encouraging them to eat more frequently throughout the day might help them eat less and keep off extra weight, new research suggests.

In one study, researchers found first graders served themselves smaller portions when using miniaturized dishware - and ate less food when they had less on their plate.

Another review of past research found kids and teens who ate most often during the day were 22 percent less likely to be overweight than those who ate the fewest meals and snacks.

Jennifer Fisher, who worked on the dish-size study, said it was preliminary but could still inform parent choices.

"For now, certainly it seems like something parents can easily incorporate into their daily lives without a lot of work and effort," Fisher, from Temple University in Philadelphia, told Reuters Health.

She and her colleagues studied 42 elementary school kids who were given the chance to serve themselves lunch. On four days the kids used child-sized plates and bowls; on another four they used adult-sized dishware, which was twice as large.

First graders served themselves an average of 300 to 500 calories worth of the lunch entre - pasta or chicken nuggets - each day.

When they used adult dishware, the kids took an average of 90 more calories of food, the researchers found. And kids who ended up with more food on their plates also tended to eat more, Fisher's team wrote Monday in Pediatrics.

"It doesn't appear that simply because you might have large dishware at home, your child is going to overeat," said Fisher - because it depends on who's doing the serving and how much is served.

But, she added, "If more food appears on the plate, they're going to eat more."

"The results are very interesting and confirm our expectations that the impact of plate size on adults in the laboratory also apply to children," Dr. Thomas Robinson, a childhood obesity researcher at Stanford University in California, told Reuters Health in an email.

"This study provides very important preliminary evidence that using smaller dishware may help reduce children's energy intakes."

For their own analysis, researchers from Harokopio University in Athens, Greece, looked at 11 studies, mostly conducted in the Mediterranean, that compared eating frequency and weight in close to 19,000 kids and teens.

The overall pattern showed that youth who ate most often - typically at least four or five times per day - were least likely to be overweight or obese. However when they looked closer, the researchers found that link only held up in boys.

Robinson, who was not involved in the new research, said it's hard to tell which came first in those studies: eating frequency or extra weight.

The results "do not look very convincing one way or another," he said. "It is also hard to come up with a convincing reason why boys and girls would be different."

The researchers said their findings don't prove that a given child will lose weight by eating more often. But schools, for example, may be able to make a difference by integrating smaller, more frequent meals into the day.

"Instead of providing three big meals per day, it would be better (for parents) to have their children eating smaller meals and more snacks throughout the day," co-author Mary Yannakoulia told Reuters Health in an email.

However, she added, parents still need to pay attention to the quality of those snacks.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 17 percent of kids and teens in the U.S. are obese - a proportion that has almost tripled since 1980.

"We know that it's so complex that there's absolutely not one cause or solution," Fisher said.

A third study also published this week in Pediatrics found teens who spent more time focused on the TV were heavier than their peers. However, time spent playing video games or on the computer was not tied to weight.

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/jsoh2P Pediatrics, online April 8, 2013.

"The visit will highlight the fundamental importance of the U.S.-UK relationship - a relationship through which together we address a broad range of shared global and regional security concerns," White House spokesman Jay Carney said in a statement.

(Reporting by Roberta Rampton; Editing by Peter Cooney)

(Logo: )

Recall Summary

Name of product: Bell Full Throttle Bike HelmetsHazard: The buckle on the helmet's safety strap can release in an accident and allow the helmet to fall off the rider, posing a risk of head injury.Remedy: RefundConsumer Contact: Bell Sports Inc. toll-free at (866) 892-6059 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. CT Monday through Friday, or visit the firm's website atand click on "Recall Notice" for more information.

Recall Details

Units: About 2,500Description: This recall involves Bell Full Throttle, full coverage bicycle motocross (BMX) helmets with a chin bar. The all-black helmets have UPC code 035011 937052 and part number 1009159 printed on a label on the side of the helmet shell. The Bell logo is affixed to the front and lower side of the helmet.Incidents/Injuries: None reported. Remedy: Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled helmets and contact Bell Sports for instructions on receiving a full refund. Sold exclusively by: Toys R Us stores nationwide and online at ToysRUs.com between July 2012 and January 2013 for about $60. Importer: Bell Sports Inc., of Scotts Valley, Calif.Manufacturer: MHR Manufactured in: China

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is still interested in receiving incident or injury reports that are either directly related to this product recall or involve a different hazard with the same product. Please tell us about your experience with the product on .

CPSC is charged with protecting the public from unreasonable risks of injury or death associated with the use of the thousands of consumer products under the agency's jurisdiction. Deaths, injuries, and property damage from consumer product incidents cost the nation more than $900 billion annually. CPSC is committed to protecting consumers and families from products that pose a fire, electrical, chemical, or mechanical hazard. CPSC's work to ensure the safety of consumer productssuch as toys, cribs, power tools, cigarette lighters, and household chemicalscontributed to a decline in the rate of deaths and injuries associated with consumer products over the past 30 years.

Under federal law, it is illegal to attempt to sell or resell this or any other recalled product.

To report a dangerous product or a product-related injury, go online to: , call CPSC's Hotline at (800) 638-2772 or teletypewriter at (301) 595-7054 for the hearing and speech impaired. Consumers can obtain this news release and product safety information at . To join a free e-mail subscription list, please go to .

CPSC Consumer Information HotlineContact us at this toll-free number if you have questions about a recall:800-638-2772 (TTY 301-595-7054)Times: 8 a.m. 5:30 p.m. ET; Messages can be left anytimeCall to get product safety and other agency information and to .

Media ContactPlease use the phone numbers below for all media requests.Phone: (301) 504-7908Spanish: (301) 504-7800

SOURCE U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission

[More from BGR: ]

For Q2 2013, we are expecting mobile ad revenues of $448mm (32.5% of advertising revenues), representing 20% growth QoQ, and $931mm of desktop advertising revenues, representing a 1.6% decline YoY, Sheridan wrote in his note.

[More from BGR: ]

Facebook is spending extremely aggressively, as it continues to invest in the future of its company. Overall spending during the quarter rose 60% to $1.08 billion, and if products such as ,and others play out as the company expects, the spending will prove to be worth it over the long haul.

Facebook talked up how important it is to developers on the earnings call, and mobile is at the forefront of this as well. CEO Mark Zuckerberg noted that Open Graph came to mobile this month, and the results are already being seen. And our efforts are paying off with now 81 of the top 100 growth in iOS apps and 70 of the top 100 Android apps integrating with Facebook and continuing to grow, Zuckerberg said on the call.

Facebook, with its 1.1 billion users, is leading the mobile advertising revolution, as advertisers continue to see the benefits of smartphones and tablets. The social networking giant has done an excellent job of increasing engagement, and future products are geared towards increasing that, trying to stem any fears of the platform losing traction.

So far, it looks like Zuckerberg and team have gotten this one right.

This article was

If users choose to download Facebook's Home software starting on April 12, the social network will become the hub of their Android smartphones. A phone from HTC that comes pre-loaded with Home will also be available starting that day, with AT&T Inc. as the carrier.

The idea behind the software is to bring Facebook content right to the home screen, rather than requiring users to check apps. "Home" comes amid rapid growth in the number of people who access Facebook from phones and tablet computers. Of its 1.06 billion monthly users, 680 million log in to Facebook using a mobile gadget.

The service is part of Facebook's move to shift its users' focus from "apps and tasks" to people, said CEO Mark Zuckerberg during Home's unveiling at the company's Menlo Park, Calif., headquarters on Thursday.

The new product, which resides on the home screen of Android phones, is a family of apps designed to help people share things with their Facebook friends. Rather than seeing a set of apps for email, maps and other services when they first turn on their phones, users will be greeted with photos and updates from their Facebook feeds. There will be ads too, eventually.

"We think this is the best version of Facebook there is," Zuckerberg said.

Zuckerberg says users can have an experience on Android phones that they can't have on other platforms. That's because Google makes the software available on an open-source basis, allowing others to adapt it to their needs.

Recognizing that text messaging is one of the most important tasks on a mobile phone, Facebook also showed off a feature called "chat heads." This lets users communicate with their friends directly from their phone's home screen without opening a separate app.

The move that coincides with rapid growth among the number of users who access the social network from smartphones and tablet computers and Facebook's aim to evolve from its Web-based roots into a "mobile-first" company.

"What Facebook wants is to put itself at the front of the Android user experience for as many Facebook users as possible and make Facebook more elemental to their customers' experience," said Forrester analyst Charles Golvin.

The new Home service won't be available on Apple's iPhone and iPad devices. Apple's iOS and Mac operating systems include features that integrate Facebook's services, but Zuckerberg says doing something like Home would require a closer partnership.

Apple had no immediate comment.

The deeper mobile integration will likely help Facebook to attract more mobile advertisers. Though mobile ads were a big concern for Facebook's investors even before the company's initial public offering last May, some of the worry has subsided as the company muscles its way into the market.

Last year, Facebook began showing ads to its mobile audience by shoehorning corporate-sponsored content into users' news feeds, which also include updates from friends and brands they follow. Facebook now faces the challenge of showing people mobile ads without annoying or alienating them.

The mobile advertising market is growing quickly, thanks in large part to Facebook and Twitter, which also entered the space in 2012. Research firm eMarketer expects U.S. mobile ad spending to grow 77 percent this year to $7.29 billion, from $4.11 billion last year.

EMarketer said Wednesday that it expects Facebook Inc. to reap $965 million in U.S. mobile ad revenue in 2013. That's about 2.5 times the $391 million in 2012, the first year that Facebook started showing mobile ads. Clark Fredricksen, vice president at eMarketer, says "there are some clear reasons why a deeper integration with mobile operating systems and handsets make sense for Facebook. At the end of the day, the more deeply Facebook can engage consumers, no matter what device or operating system or handset," the better.

Facebook's stock rose 82 cents, or 3.1 percent, to close at $27.07 following the announcement. It's still 23 percent below its initial public offering price of $35.

___

Barbara Ortutay reported from New York.

(Reuters) - Times are changing for gays in American sports and National Basketball Association (NBA) player Jason Collins' decision to come out will encourage others in the top leagues to be open about their sexuality.

Two years ago, NBA great Kobe Bryant was fined $100,000 for using an anti-gay slur against a referee and on Monday the five-time NBA champion applauded Collins for coming out as the first gay man in a major North American professional sports league.

Bryant's reaction illustrates, at the very least, the shift in what is considered acceptable language and behavior in U.S. professional sports, the days when insulting others by using a reference to homosexuality are coming to a close.

Indeed Collins's very public coming out via the front cover of Sports Illustrated magazine was greeted with a stream of supportive comments from within professional sports in the United States with only the slightest hint of any dissent.

Mike Wallace, a wide receiver with the National Football League's Miami Dolphins, tweeted his incomprehension that any male could prefer to be in a relationship with a man rather than a woman but was soon on the back foot.

"All these beautiful women in the world and guys wanna mess with other guys, SMH (Shaking My Head)," Wallace tweeted before deleting the message and apologizing for any offense caused.

Wallace's reaction was not dissimilar to that of San Francisco 49ers cornerback Chris Culliver who made headlines before this year's Super Bowl by saying he would not welcome a gay player into the team's locker room.

Culliver spent a pre-Super Bowl media session with scores of television cameras pointed in his face as he repeated his apology for an hour.

Whether it is a genuine change of attitude towards gays, reflected in several surveys of U.S. public attitudes, or a an understanding that homophobia is no longer acceptable, there is no doubt that professional sports are turning away from intolerance of gays.

In many ways, sports are simply catching up with so much of American society where homophobic comments are unacceptable in the workplace and no one would even think to ask if gays would be accepted in the office.

'MOVEMENT COMING'

The question now is whether Collins's move - and the widespread support for him - will lead to athletes from other leagues following suit.

"I feel a movement coming," Robbie Rogers, the former U.S. national team soccer player who came out in February, tweeted on Monday shortly after Collins's announcement.

Gay rights and anti-discrimination groups certainly believe that Collins is making things easier for those who will come.

"All of us have huge admiration for what Jason is doing," said Patrick Burke, co-founder of equal rights advocacy group You Can Play.

"Jason's courage in stepping forward with his personal story will provide athletes and fans with a new role model."

Campaigners hope that Collins's move will help break down any fear that non-open gays may still have.

"We hope his actions inspire confidence in others who might have been afraid to live their lives openly until now - both on and off the court," said NOH8 Campaign co-founders Adam Bouska and Jeff Parshley.

Collins, in his Sports Illustrated article on Monday, cited his frustration at not being able to participate openly in the debate about same-sex marriage and that is a reminder that the issue of homosexuality in the sports arena does not exist in a vacuum.

Sociologist Brian Powell at Indiana University Bloomington believes that what follows in sport now may follow a similar pattern to how the debate on marriage has unfolded.

"I don't think there will be a huge number of people coming out but there will be a probably a steady stream of people coming out, not unlike what happened last month when politicians came out in favor of same-sex marriage," he told Reuters.

"One day one person did and the next day another. I think the same will happen - it will be slower but there will be an increased number of players coming out."

The next generation of professional athletes in the United States are currently playing in college sports and Powell believes they will bring with them a fresh attitude.

"What I hear, with college athletes, is the real question for them is whether or not their team mates do their job. Competence and ability to play comes before anything else," he said.

"The more athletes publicly come out, the more other athletes are going to be comfortable with this, simply because they can then stop thinking of it in terms of the person's sexuality and focus on their performance."

(Reporting by Simon Evans in Miami; Editing by Frank Pingue)

(This story was refiled to correct Culliver's position in the seventh paragraph)