HOUSTON – Astros acid indigestion – namely, Jim Edmonds – arrived early (about 7:35) Monday night in the stomachs of Houston baseball fans around the globe.

Less than a couple of months from his 38th birthday, Edmonds returned to haunt the Astros for the second time with his second team in 2008. If Edmonds decides to play center field for six different teams this season, he’s sure to haunt the Astros six times.

While Edmonds offered fourth-inning indigestion, fellow Cubbies Aramis Ramirez and Geovany Soto added to Houston’s home run heartburn with long balls as Chicago doubled Houston’s hit total and claimed a 7-2 verdict in a nationally televised series opener before 32,458.

Chicago’s uppity Northsiders signed Edmonds last Wednesday… just in time to visit Minute Maid Park when Hunter Pence batted in the Astros’ fourth with a runner on base and two outs. Poor ol’ Jim. He’s washed up at 37…. or so the San Diego Padres must have figured.

Pence ripped a 420-foot shot at least to the base of Tal’s Hill. Edmonds saw absolutely no reason to treat Astros fans any differently than in Game 7 of 2004. That’s when his diving catch robbed Brad Ausmus during an early Astros rally. Jim’s ability to run down baseballs in center field does not appear to have diminished one bit.

Edmonds sprinted at least six to eight strides with his back to home plate. He maintained his speed while tracking the ball over his left shoulder. For a split second, Edmonds actually missed the ball’s location but he regrouped in time to make a basket catch over his right shoulder. Jim finished gathering in the ball halfway up Tal’s Hill. The new Cubs center fielder laughed all the way back to the third base dugout.

“When the ball is hit that hard, you have to turn and run as fast as you can,” Edmonds said in the Cubs clubhouse. “I love this park. I always want to play here. I’ve been here a lot. As I got near the hill, I kinda knew where I was.”

The Cubs have a bargain here for the current major league minimum of $390,000. San Diego released Edmonds on May 9, eating virtually all of the player’s $8 million annual salary. Former Golden Gators pitcher and current Padres GM Kevin Towers turned impatient when San Diego dipped to 12-24 and last in the National League West by then.

Although his batting average has remained under .200 and scouts believed Jim’s speed has lessened considerably, the San Diego exec and former Beaumont minor-league righthander admitted last week that he opted to release Edmonds because of the team’s struggles rather than the individual player’s slow start.

"He (Edmonds) wasn't quite performing up to what we were accustomed to seeing all those years in St. Louis," Towers told Cubs writers. "A lot of it could've been the calf injury that he had in spring training. He just got off to a slow start."

"If we would have been 21-12, we probably could have stuck with him a little longer. But the way we're playing, we had to make some changes.”

Thanks to Edmonds’ latest remarkable Astros robbery, Pence watched his hit streak end at 16 games. Scorching mate Lance Berkman saw his end at 17 with three strikeouts.

Winning pitcher Ted Lilly (5-4) explained his team’s strategy against Berkman.

“I kept the ball out of the center of the plate,” the Cubs lefty said. “After extended video watching, we just determined that he hasn’t been missing any of those in the center.”

Even if Edmonds makes circus catches against the Astros every night, Houston’s pitchers are going to have to quit permitting so many home runs. Astros arms have served up 64 home run balls – the most of any major-league team. That’s seven more than the nearest National League chaser, Milwaukee with 57.