Perhaps not at the level of the albino Opus Dei monk's self-inflicted scourging in "The DaVinci Code," but the San Diego Padres suffered nonetheless this weekend in Houston, losing three straight to the previously hapless Astros.
Today's third loss had to be the most painful, as the Astros piled up season highs in both runs and hits en route to an easy 12-5 win. Starter Jody Geer gave up five runs in the first two innings and two more in fourth before being knocked out of the game. The Astros' lead grew to 9-2 before two Padre homers (Gerut and Gonzalez) made the score 9-5. Carlos Lee and Ivan Rodriguez answered with their own homers in the eighth to create the final score.
Lee, Rodriguez and Miguel Tejada combined to go 10-13 with five runs scored, 10 RBIs and a home run each.
The win went to starter Roy Oswalt, his first of the season. Pitching with a big lead, Oswalt threw strikes and gave up two homers.
Lance Berkman missed his third straight game with soreness in his left wrist.
The Astros' record improves to 14-17, good for fifth in NL Central. They lead sixth-place Pittsburgh by two games, trail the Reds by three games for fourth, and lag 5-1/2 games behind the division-leading Cardinals.
The team has Monday off before playing the Colorado Rockies in Denver on Tuesday. Felipe Paulino and Ubaldo Jimenez are listed as starters for that game. Like the Padres, the Rockies are six games below .500 and well behind the Dodgers in NL West.
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