Boxscore

Well, that settles that. I guess we can call off the season now.

In the first battle for first place of the season, the Cardinals (10-4) easily handled the Brewers (8-5). Apparently, the key to defeating the Brewers is to walk Prince Fielder every time.

Who knew Braden Looper (3-0) was so mighty? He’s looking like Cy Young right now with his 2.70 ERA. Way to go Cardinals. Ride that unexpected goodness as long as you can. Dave Bush (0-3) got the loss for the Brewers, although he did turn in a quality start. It doesn’t help much when your team scores only one run.

The two play again today. Hopefully Milwaukee will win so that the final game of the series will be another first place battle. Gametime is 7:15pm CDT. Carlos Villanueva versus Adam Wainwright.

Boxscore

The Cardinals (9-4) activated one of their starters from the disabled list prematurely, and they never recovered as they lost to the Giants (5-8).

No, the pitcher wasn’t that one or even that one. It was Joel Pineiro (0-1). Pineiro was terrible, doing the opposite of a quality start by allowing 6 runs in 3 innings. Tim Lincecum (2-0). Brian “Beach Boy” Wilson (S 3) picked up the save.

The Cardinals lead in the NL Central fell to a half game over the Brewers with the loss.

The Cardinals get to defend that lead as the Brewers head to the mountainous Busch Stadium Tuesday in a fight for first. David Bush faces Braden Looper at 7:15pm CDT.

Boxscore

Wednesday was the second game the Red Hot Family attended at Minute Maid park. And with an area doctor visited and ear-infection antibiotics happily procured, the rough part of the trip was already behind us. Alas, the rough part of the series was not over for the Astros. The home run pump didn’t increment a single number the whole time we were in attendance.

Hunter Pence. You look at this picture and you just can’t help but notice his…socks.

Weird how his…socks…aren’t as noticeable in this photo. They probably help with his strike zone, though.

Albert Pujols was a monster this game, hitting two solo home runs and single-handedly providing the margin of the Cardinals’ win. Yeah, the Astros fans really don’t like Pujols.

Here at Red Hot Mama, we make our fair share of fun of Tony LaRussa’s sunglasses. But this vantage has shown us the error of our ways: we ought to be making fun of his tight pants.

The Astros grounds crew was sponsored by a local car wash. I bet they got a sweet cut of that action.

Awwww…someone got all engaged at the game. But neither that nor Tejada’s double would be inspiration enough for the Astronomicals to put a line in the W column on this evening.

Tuesday was the second game of the 2008 season held in Minute Maid park and the first time the Red Hot Mama clan had ever visited the juice box. Just check out the stylish shorts they’re wearing in Texas this time of year. It reminds me of mail men walking about in their abbreviated uniform pants and high black socks.

We didn’t arrive early enough to get the Hunter Pence statue (can you believe they’re already doing give aways in the opening series??) due to an ear infection our son was just beginning to develop, but we were there in time to catch some of the pre-game stretching.

Look! Carlos Lee at the plate. Lee is one of the no-glove, all offense players that are the new face of the Astros now that they’re getting entirely away from their good pitching/no scoring roots. Speaking of roots, the CTS mentions that Carlos Lee fields like an ent.

Did you know that the Astros have an official cosmetic dentist? Do you think that there are gopher-toothed prospects out there praying to be traded to Houston for that very reason?

Here, the CTS shows off his mad zoom skills with a tight focus on Chacon and Towles meeting at the mound. We were sitting in the Terrace section, the third level. Binoculars would have been more than appropriate for where we were watching from.

The Astros have a nice way of acknowledging their retired numbers, so that the names are posted along with them. There are several nice features of this park, such as the most challenging 5-card-Monte scoreboard game, but it loses serious points for having no cup holders. On the flip side, they did have straws, which are usually missing from ballparks, so I liked that.

Here we see the famous Minute Maid pumpkin train. Love that Minute Maid pumpkin juice. Nothing starts my day off quite the same way.

Lee was safe! Can you believe it? The shot, I mean. Again, the CTS with the power of the zoom.

Alas, the run would not be enough as the Astros lost to the Cardinals 5-3. We had to appreciate them keeping it close right up until the end though, and we wandered back to our hotel, happily unaware of the nighttime ear pain that would keep me and my son up most of the night.

Boxscore

We caught most of this game in the hotel after some vacationing fun around downtown Houston. The first 7 innings flew by thanks to the lack of scoring, and I found myself thinking, “Self, this game is boring.” By then it was the hotel’s complimentary happy hour, so we headed down to the bar to enjoy ourselves.

Somehow during the elevator trip, the Astros (3-5), who had been boringly leading since the 7th, decided that was no way to stage a home opener. So shiny new closer Jose Valverde (2-0) coughed up the lead so Miguel Tejada could win the game in walk-off fashion. Nothing like saving the incompetence and excitement for the end, I guess.

Kyle McClellan (0-1) gets the loss, although I still like the kid. He could have a very bright future.

The two teams play the second game of their series, where we’ll be in full attendance, tomorrow at 7:05pm EDT. The marquee matchup is Brad Thompson versus Shawn Chacon.