Ratings: Baseball hits, Brothers clots

Brothers and Sisters, the star-studded family drama that ABC just gave a full season to, stopped its ratings slip and held steady last night. The show retained almost 70 percent of its Desperate Housewives lead-in, and crept up a one-tenth of a ratings point from last week, from 4.9 to 5.0 in adults 18- to 49-years-old.

Game two of Detroit Tigers/St. Louis Cardinals World Series on Fox scored 18.2 million viewers overall. That's a 6 percent improvement over last year's Game 2, enough to help Fox come out on top for the night.

Overnight ratings for the world series are estimates and will be revised later today.

At 8 p.m., Fox's World Series batted a 5.4 in 18 to 49s, ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition built a 4.9, CBS's Amazing Race globe-trotted to a 3.8, NBC's Heroes repeat marathon began with a 2.3, and CW's recently picked-up 7th Heaven saw the light of a 1.1.

At 9 p.m., ABC's Desperate Housewives led with an 8.0, followed by Fox and the World Series at 5.7, CBS's crime show Cold Case at 4.3, NBC and a Heroes repeat at 2.5, and CW's recently axed Runaway at a 0.9.

At 10 p.m., Fox and baseball took a 5.1, ABC and Brothers took a 5.0, CBS and Without a Trace took a 4.3, and NBC took a 2.5 for the final Heroes repeat.

Overall, Fox scored a 5.4/14 in 18- to 49-year-olds, with 16.1 million viewers; ABC scored a 5.2/13, 13.5 million; CBS won 3.7/9, 13.1 million; NBC nabbed 2.1/5, 5.1 million; and The CW grabbed 0.9/2, 2.3 million.