El Grande Puma. Esta Bien. Esta muy Bien.

So I leave work last night to go play some raquetball, and my Astros are down 7-3. They started off the game down 6-0. I think, no biggie, this good run has to end sometime. So I get home from working out, and rewind my DVR (it was still tuned to FSN Houston from the game on Wednesday night), just to see how bad the 'stros lost.

Unbelievable.

No freakin' way. Down 7-3, in the 8th, Lee hits a HR. BOOM! . Now still down 7-4 in the 8th inning, a dropped 3rd strike gives the Astros 2 guys on base. Darren Erstad pinch hits. BAM! - 3-run HR! That ball never got 2 feet higher than the wall it cleared. All tied up. Unbelievable.

Then, top of the 9th inning, game still tied, who's the first guy to come up to bat for the Astros? You guessed it, the Puma. First pitch - KABLAMMO!!! (yes, i've resorted to using sound effects from the old 60's Batman TV show - so?). Berkman's splash HR gives the Astros an 8-7 lead, completing the comeback from down 6-0. Valverde slams the door shut in the bottom of the 9th. Astros just keep rolling.

The Astros are doing good. Reeeeeallly Good. Berkman is doing awesome. It's the best. I love it!They've won 11 of 13 now, most of it on a long, long road trip. It's fantastic!

Berkman, Astros, continue rolling with 10th win in 12 games....

Didn't that headline sound like it came from a newspaper or something?

Anyways, I have no intention of turning this into an Astros-only update blog, but I did watch the game last night, after creating my tribute post to Lance Berkman only a few hours before, and what does Lance do in the 1st inning? POW!!! 2-run homer batting right handed (his supposedly "weaker" side). Just tattooed it. Why are people still pitching to him?

Pitchers gotta start giving him the Barry treatment until he cools down, or else the Big Puma will make them pay. He's on a historic run the past 10 days - 2 weeks. I keep hearing comments during the TV broadcasts about him doing stuff that hasn't been done in the expansion era (since 1962), and how he's only the 2nd or 3rd guy in the last 50 years to do this or that. He's batting .587 over the past 2 weeks. At one point he had something like 16 hits in his past 20 at bats, and went 18 for 24 at one point (that's a .750 average, math majors). Stuff like that is tough to do in a video game w/ the settings on "rookie". Dude is just rolling.

So, Berkman's mammoth shot, his 14thHR and 40th RBI so far this season (he's only played 40 games) - Puts us up 3-0 right off the bat...Giants came back to tie it, but we ended up taking the lead late (again...this has been a habit of the Astros this year, taking the lead late, coming back in the late innings.....I like it) on a Tejada single, and, of all things, a Brad Ausmus 2-run job in the 7th. And he crushed it. No doubter. He can do that when he gets ahold of one ( about every 2 years or so).

And for those who thought that maybe my last post was a little too scary/obsessive about the Puma, at least I haven't taken it this far. Of course, I would have, but I don't have much video/photoshop experience...

An introduction to my Houston Astros and Lance Berkman obsession...

In case you didn't know, I really love this man (as much as one heterosexual man can love another).

I mean, look at him. Flipping his glove on the field as if he didn't have a care in the world. "I'm the best player on one of the more successful teams of the past dozen or so years - ho hum." That's how he plays baseball too - effortlessly. And it looks like he's having a blast doing it too.

Lance has got to be one of the most talkative guys in the league. If you ever watch an Astros game, just notice what happens when an opposing player gets to 1st base. My boy just talks his ear off. If Lance isn't talking to someone while he's on the field, then its a pretty safe bet that the other player is either (a) a dick, or (b) doesn't speak English. That's just the way he is, all the time. Whether its a pressure situation, or just the top of the 1st inning - always even keel. That's one of the many reasons I love the guy (as a ballplayer, of course).

Anyhow, I'm sure that several of my coming blog entries will further detail many aspects of Lance Berkman and/or the Astros, including, but not limited to: how great a player he is, how underrated he is, how he never gets the attention appropriate for a player of his caliber, how he is better than Albert Pujols (yes, I went there), how I met/stalked him in Chicago once, etc..... But I just wanted to give a brief intro of my boy, and profess my like/love for him early on - get it all out on the table up front, just so there's no confusion and no mixed messages - I love him (not in "that" way....not really). It's just, well, hard to explain. Perhaps its best that I explain it like all normal heterosexual men express themselves - in song!!!!!

Clear now? Good. Just guy love between two guys, that's all...(actually, its kinda one-sided, but you get the point). And now to leave you with an image that got me all excited while I searched for Lance Berkman images on Google....enjoy. (Again, not gay, not that there's anything wrong with that...)

First Post

Well, this is my first post, and it'll probably be a little rough. Actually, I'm just going to cut and paste a chat I had with my buddy Brian on G-Chat a little while ago.

I'm posting this "chat" ("chat" in quotes because it basically involved me typing my rant while Brian patiently waited for me to stop), because it is what inspired me to start this blog. I needed an outlet for my rantings and ravings, so I could save my girlfriend, brother, friends, and anyone else who happens to be in the room, from my (sometimes) endless need to make my point clear, and convince everyone of my position. Maybe releasing my thoughts and opinions here will help mitigate (though not eliminate) the amount of me that I subject the aforementioned people to (I've been told I can be a bit much at times - thanks Ami and Katie).

The following rant starts out about the Astros and Cardinals, as arguments with me often do, and ends with a brief summary of one of my main pet peeves when it comes to MLB analysts - That may seem random, and make very little sense, but that's how I work sometimes (I have slightly edited it from its original chat form, to make it a bit more readable):

me: i was reading something about the NL central, that article that debated the Brewers vs. the cards vs. the Cubs as the best team in the central it was actually a chat 9:06 AM

Some guy asked the supposed expert who was on the chat, "what about the Astros, they've been on a roll lately" (this was a week ago or so). The guy was like - after Oswalt you've got Wandy, Backe, Chacon and Sampson, not exactly top class.

Well what about the Cards, a team they considered above the Astros?9:07 AM After Wainright, they've got who - Lohse, Reyes, Pinero, Wellemeyer? They're doing good, but they're not top guys.

Stupid chat guy. Pitchers can get better, ya know?! 9:08 AM Just b/c Wandy has been average to bad his first few years, doesn't mean he'll always be that way - I'm actaully excited about his return.

Same w/ the Cards - just b/c Wellemeyer has been an average bullpen guy in the past, doesn't mean he can't be a good starter now. 9:09 AM

That's my #1 peeve about baseball analysis "experts", whenever they talk about a team's pitching, they bascially name the team's ace, then say "but after him, you have no other top class guys"9:10 AM. That's the dumbest argument ever. Aces can develop over time and very few teams ever have more than one. Who thought Wainright was a dominant ace 1.5 years ago? No one. Now he's considered a top guy. 9:11 AM. Guys can go from middle of the rotation guys to top line borderline aces over the course of even one year. Happens all the time, like with Wainright last year (or Haren last year).

I'm just saying that I always hear that stupid argument, and its just a cheap way to get out of actually answering a question about a team's pitching - just criticize their chances by pointing out that they have an ace, but no other great pitchers after that. It sounds good, but its really a dumb argument, as it only takes into account past performance in our assessment of what constitutes an "ace", and doesn't take into account the potential of some formerly middle of the road guys to take a step up to potential ace status during the course of the year.

Sorry bri, too much to say. I need to write a blog or something - get my shit out....


And so it began....