Reds catcher Corky Miller (37) reaches out to tag Astros' Richard Hidalgo, after tagging Brian Hunter out at third in a run down, for a double play during the eighth inning. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

        HOUSTON — How does that song go?

        “Fire! . . . Romeo and Juliet . . . Sampson and Delilah . . . Fire!”

        Well, add “Houston and first place” to the list of incendiary combinations, because here they come. The Astros are on fire and, frankly, it's about time a team in the National League Central Division played some red-hot ball. The Reds and St. Louis Cardinals sure haven't — not for a while, anyway.

        The Astros beat the Reds 2-1 Saturday at Minute Maid Park before 38,431 fans, who had no trouble waking up for the 12:15 p.m. Central start.

        The Astros have won eight of their last nine games, while the Reds have lost seven of their last nine, including four in row, meaning Houston has lopped six games off the Reds' hold on second place in the past week and a half and now trails them by only 1 1/2 games. The Astros go for the sweep today.

        “We've played some good ballgames; we're just coming out on the short end,” said Reds starter Jimmy Haynes (10-6), who again pitched well (one run in six innings, six hits, six strikeouts) but threw 114 pitches.

        That was all for him . . . and it was all for the Reds.

        Reliever Scott Sullivan wasn't able to hold the Astros, who broke a 1-1 tie on Craig Biggio's RBI double in the seventh inning.

        “It's frustrating,” said Haynes, “but it always seems like there's one team you always have a lot of trouble with.”

        Forget the Cardinals. The team everybody is chasing — or at least soon will be, judging by the handicapping charts — is Houston.

        The Astros are putting the lie to that Bob Dylan line about “what looks large from a distance, close up ain't really that big.”

        Close up, these rampaging Astros look large indeed.

Astros' Julio Lugo reacts after umpire Brian O'Nora, right, rings him up in the seventh inning. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

        When the Astros aren't tanning the ol' horsehide, they're playing effective little ball and getting excellent starting pitching, plus lights-out relief pitching by Pedro Borbon, Octavio Dotel and Billy Wagner.

        In the critical seventh inning, Brad Ausmus doubled to left-center, and after Orlando Merced struck out looking, Julio Lugo singled to left, moving Ausmus to third. Biggio doubled Ausmus home.

        “I have no idea,” said Biggio, when asked how he got the hit off Sullivan. “He's owned Jeff (Bagwell) and me his whole career.”

        The Reds took a 1-0 lead in the second on a Brandon Larson infield single, a Corky Miller walk and a Haynes sacrifice bunt that Astros pitcher Pete Munro bobbled to load the bases. Todd Walker got the run home with a groundout to first base.

        It wasn't exactly power baseball. Although Munro (1-0) pitched well Saturday, he's no All-Star. At some point, the Reds have to start hitting, and then fans will stop wondering how much they miss recently traded Juan Encarnacion, who had a way of busting up games when nobody else was hitting.

        “You want to come in here and play well against a team that is so close to you (in the standings),” Haynes said. “We need to get that combination of pitching and hitting together and win some ballgames.”

        Reds manager Bob Boone had intentionally kept outfielder Adam Dunn out of the starting lineup Saturday, wanting to give Dunn a rest. But it didn't get any easier for pinch hitter Dunn, who struck out looking for a third straight day with the game on the line. This time, it was Dotel who got him for the final out of the game. Nobody was on base. Dunn is getting some unbelievably tough pitches on the corner right now, and never on the corner he's anticipating.

Lugo runs into Miller to score on a single by Lance Berkman in the fifth inning. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

        “This is the third game since the All-Star break — he had a bad day (Friday) and was facing Dotel (Saturday) throwing 95,” said Boone, adding that he wasn't concerned about Dunn, who is still learning as a hitter in his first full big-league season.

        Maybe not, but right now, the Reds are missing somebody. One thing's for sure: No fans are talking that nonsense anymore about benching Ken Griffey Jr. when he returns to health, probably next week. Right now, the thought of Griffey coming back is the best thing the Reds have going for them.

        The best play of the game was by Reds catcher Miller in the eighth inning, when second baseman Walker threw home on a groundball to freeze Houston's Brian Hunter between third and home. Miller ran him down, tagged him out and then dove at the Astros' Richard Hidalgo, approaching from second base, and knocked his legs out from under him for an unassisted double play.

        Boone said he never saw a play like that and certainly had never been involved in one during his long career as a catcher.

        But this is the second time Miller had done it.

        “The first time, it was in (Single-) A ball where guys are usually running around like crazy,” Miller said.

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