"It took a long time, by fly-ball standards, for Carlos Lee's record-breaking grand slam to reach the left-field seats.

But even by the standards of a last-place team, the time during which things went well Monday night was short.

Except for Lee's seventh grand slam with the Astros, which broke the club record he previously had shared with Jeff Bagwell and Bob Aspromonte, the Astros were completely outclassed in a 10-5 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium.

At 33-69, the Astros are 36 games under .500 for the first time since 1963, when they were known as the Colt .45s.

"We're a team that right now, a lot has to click for us to win ballgames," losing pitcher J.A. Happ said.

And nothing did.

Happ (4-12) struggled to finish off hitters, allowing six earned runs in 42/3 innings to raise his ERA to a National League-worst 6.12. And his defense was of no help, starting in the same way that Sunday's game ended, with a rather routine fly ball to right field.

But this time, it was not the sun, which had affected right fielder Hunter Pence at Wrigley Field, but the turf, which was new for Monday's game after the old surface was wrecked during a U2 concert eight days earlier.

With the game tied at 1 in the second inning, Nick Punto's fly ball forced Pence in a few steps, but he slipped, and the ball went over his head for an RBI triple, marking the last time the game would be tied.

Pence and center fielder Michael Bourn had problems with their footing, as did Jose Altuve while heading to first base on one of his three hits, which raised his average in five games to .412."