HOUSTON _ They're still celebrating at Minute Maid Park.
On Monday, the Houston Astros unveiled a gold World Series pennant above the left-field wall. Their rings, with the 118 diamonds, 11 of them making up the large "H" in the center, were handed out to players and staff on Tuesday.
Friday, their three MVPs from 2017 showed off their hardware and then saw paintings of themselves the Astros had commissioned _ depicting American League MVP Jose Altuve being carried off the field by teammates, Justin Verlander smiling alongside his ALCS trophy and George Springer hoisting the World Series MVP trophy.
Fans also received replica World Series trophies on Friday. Saturday, replica rings will be given away.
The Astros are still winning, too.
Or were, until the Padres came to town.
Luis Perdomo scratched out five innings, the bullpen pitched a dominant four innings at the end, Jose Pirela had three hits, and a 4-1 victory gave the Padres their second victory in eight games and handed the defending champs their second defeat in eight games.
No one will likely be celebrating this one. This wasn't about topping the best.
The Padres were just trying to be better.
"It's time for us to play good ball," manager Andy Green said before game in direct response to a question about what it meant to play the team that won last year's World Series. "Obviously, we have respect for them. ... But the fight to prove what we have, especially coming off the homestand we had, that's inside every one of the guys right now."
The Padres took a rare early lead _ just the second time this season they have scored in the first inning and the second time they have scored before their opponent _ when Pirela singled and came around on a walk, an error and passed ball.
Perdomo threw tons of pitches early but didn't allow a run until the third _ on two singles and a sacrifice fly.
His first perfect inning came in his final one, as he got the heart of the potent Astros lineup in order in the fifth. He had reached 97 pitches at that point, not the most efficient evening but effective and a definite improvement over a March 31 outing that had the Padres' brass almost at wits end with his continued inability to pitch aggressively.
The Padres chased Astros starter Lance McCullers Jr., who did not lose in 11 home starts in 2017, by stringing together five successive hits for two runs in the fifth.
That set up Perdomo for the win.
And when he left, Padres relievers continued his late dominance.
The Astros would not reach base in two innings against Jordan Lyles and one against Kirby Yates.
The Padres added a run on back-to-back doubles by Eric Hosmer and Christian Villanueva in the ninth.
Brad Hand, pitching the day after he allowed three ninth-inning runs on three walks and a hit to take the loss against the Colorado Rockies, got the save with a scoreless ninth.
