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...)