HOUSTON • The Cardinals' failed opportunities to enhance an early lead provided a fitting finish to a failed trip that may ultimately doom a foundering season.

Matt Holliday's first-inning home run delivered the Cardinals' first lead in 35 innings, and that was all the runs they got despite repeated chances in a 5-2 loss Wednesday to the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park.

The loss continued the Cardinals' nose-dive in the standings as Houston swept a series for the third time this season. The Cardinals limp back to Busch Stadium having gone 2-8 on their trip and are eight games behind the division-leading Cincinnati Reds. Fresh from their worst August in manager Tony La Russa's tenure — an 11-15 thud of a month — the Cardinals started September with a game that had that familiar reek of road kill.

"We've been stinking up the place," La Russa said. "We stunk today, and we stunk the whole trip."

The Cardinals reach their final off day of the season today with 31 games remaining to play in 31 days, starting Friday against Cincinnati. They have lost their past six series against teams with losing records, and they've won once in their last nine games. Eleven days ago the Cardinals left Busch eyeing this trip as a chance, as one player said Wednesday, to "really make a statement." The three opponents had a combined .399 winning percentage at the start of the trip, and the Cards saw the opening as an opportunity to make a move in the standings.

Oh, they made a move, all right.

Houston infielder Geoff Blum told MLB.com after the game that the Cardinals "didn't look like they wanted to beat us at all." The Cardinals had a different tune in their clubhouse, talking about "righting the ship," "applying pressure" and "just grinding." They aren't blind to the stark mathematics of the gap with the Reds. Holliday knows how difficult a gap that is to close: He and the Colorado Rockies trailed by seven games on Sept. 10, 2007, and won 14 of their final 15 games to reach October.

"We can't win seven games in the three-game series against the Reds," Holliday said. "We've got to starting winning and winning a lot. It can be done. ... You feel (the desperation) a little bit. It's September. There's one month left. There's no time to put it off. We've got to start playing better."

It can start by scoring more regularly.

Holliday's 24th homer of the season gave the Cardinals their first — and only — runs of the three-game series at Minute Maid. The left fielder matched his homer total from last season after fouling off three consecutive pitches and nailing a breaking ball from Nelson Figueroa (4-2). After Holliday's homer, the Cardinals put a runner in scoring position in three consecutive innings and did not score again against Figueroa or the parade of five relievers who followed him.

The first two batters of the third inning reached base, but Aaron Miles and Albert Pujols flew out before the Cardinals left the bases loaded. They would also strand three runners in the fifth inning and fail to exploit an intentional walk to Holliday. The lack of additional offense left starter Jeff Suppan exposed, and in the fifth Suppan's two walks and Hunter Pence's three-run homer upended the Cardinals.

"If you score first, you improve your chances to win," La Russa said. "But that was the last time we scored. We had that formula a few times on this trip. It just doesn't work."

La Russa took issue with a question about the team's inert offense and insisted that the Cardinals "lose as a team, and that includes the offense, the pitching, the defense and the manager." He cited the team's batting average — .265 and second in the NL — as an example of why the offense shouldn't be singled out. That average hides the team's habit of prolonged funks.

At the start of the series, the Cardinals were shut out in back-to-back games by the Astros for the first time since 1980. Holliday's homer was the Cardinals' first rally with at least two runs in 31 innings. They were held to two or fewer runs in five games on the trip and in eight of their 17 games since last being in first place. The offense, while inconsistent, is also isolated.

In the past six games, the Cardinals have scored 13 runs. Four of them have not been an RBI or a run provided by Albert Pujols and Holliday. Houston held Pujols hitless in 10 at-bats and the Cardinals scored two runs.

La Russa said the criticism should be spread around.

"I don't ever exclude myself, either," he said. "Whatever it is. We're getting beat. You can't say you're not doing what you're not. You take it. And you keep competing."

Suppan (1-7) came off the disabled list Wednesday after missing a month with a groin strain. He pitched well and around trouble through four innings before a leadoff walk in the fifth and a two-out walk to Jeff Keppinger that same inning. Michael Bourn preceded Keppinger by driving in Houston's first run with a sacrifice fly. Suppan hung a breaking ball to Pence, who deposited it in the left-field seats to turn a deficit into a two-run lead. The Astros added a sacrifice fly off reliever Fernando Salas to set the final score.

The Cardinals have three games at home against division-leading Cincinnati before going back on the road. Friday starts a sprint to the finish with no off day in sight and plenty of squandered ground to make up.

"I'm not all that excited about the reception we're going to get when we get home on Friday," La Russa said. "I know we deserve what we get. We have to show we're a better ballclub than we showed on this road trip.

"That's our assignment."