Buzzsaw, thy name is Berkman

I pity any pitcher in the National League right now who has to face Lance Berkman. To say the guy is on fire is an insult to him. I am completely in awe of what the Big Puma has been doing with the bat of late. It's like he's trying to make up for his sub-par performance last season in a two week period this season. The Astros web site has a nice story on the stats he has been rolling up of late including 19 hits in his last 25 ABs. That is just sick. Since Cecil Cooper wised up and put Berkman into the fourth spot in the batting order on April 19, Berkman has 9 HRs and 24 RBI. He was batting .295 coming into that game and is now batting .382.

Oh, and since April 19 when Coop tweaked his line-up, the Astros are 13-6. Ironically enough, the Astros lost that day but thankfully Coop stuck with it.

A look at the players that Ed Wade cut loose from the Astros in the off-season:

• Luke Scott - 1HR, 10 RBI, .267, 27Ks
• Matt Albers - 2-1, 2.39 ERA, 13Ks in 26.1 innings
• Dennis Sarfate - 2-1, 4.02 ERA, 17Ks in 15.2 innings
• Adam Everett - 0 HR, 2 RBI, .196
  
• Mike Lamb - 0 HR, 13 RBI, .235
• Chris Burke, 0 HR, 5 RBI, .137
• Chad Qualls, 0-4, 2.75 ERA, 20Ks in 19.2 innings, 1 SV (has been charged with three losses in last four games)
• Trever Miller, 0-0, 5.23 ERA, 10Ks in 10.1 innings

Right now, the only one or two guys I'd say the Astros miss are probably Matt Albers and Chad Qualls as both of those guys could help shore up our sometimes shaky bullpen.

Not Sure Where She Got Those Genes From

Today Chandler Bess did her first Triathlon and finished THIRD in her age group and finished in the Top 50 overall among kids up to age 10 (she's 8.) Given that her mother and I have never 3done a triathlon, nor have we ever had a desire to do one, we're scratching our heads as to where she gets these athletic genes she will sometimes display. She did great considering right as she was lining up to get in the pool, I had to remind her this was a race (which she didn't know) and that she could pass up other swimmers in her lane.

Here are some pictures from the morning's event.

Trying hard here to contain her excitement

Trying Hard Not to be one of THOSE Parents

Last night, Clancy had a t-ball game out at the Leander-Cedar Park complex. Because this was a make-up game from Saturday's rain-out, they played on the field where Chandler normally plays her softball games. We were sitting in the bleachers next to our friends Gary and Krista and made the comment to them about how the fans aren't quite as intense at this field during t-ball as they are during the coach pitch games that Chandler plays in. After we got home from the game, I thought back to that comment and felt a bit convicted about how I might be contributing to some of that intensity that occurs during those games.

I look back at the tournament Chandler's team (the Red Raiders) played in out at Oak Hill last weekend and something that happened at the end of the first game. The Red Raiders went into the bottom of the inning tied with one out and a runner on third. The batter hit the ball off of her foot but it still rolled out far enough out in front of homeplate to give the runner on third time to score the winning run. The ball should have been called a foul ball since it hit her foot. As the runner was crossing the plate, I was standing by the first base side and yelled (quite loudly) towards the umpire "that was a foul ball, it hit her foot." You should have seen the look the first base coach from the opposing team shot me. Not that it mattered what I said, the ump wasn't going to change his call.

This is where I get a bit dumber, as I was helping Chandler gather up her equipment, I proceeded to tell her how her team got "homered" by the local Oak Hill umpire ... not once, but a few times. Never once did I tell her, "you guys played really hard, it was a tough loss, but if you keep playing hard, you will win some of those close games." The last thing I want to do is instill a mentality in her that it's someone else's fault everytime her team loses a game. I guess the good thing is that Chandler typically ignores about 99 percent of what I say.

The bottom line is that youth sports, 7/8 year old girls softball or any other, is increasingly becoming more of a parent showcase rather than a venue for the kids to have fun. I've got to do a better job making sure I'm not evolving into one of THOSE parents.