Houston Astros' Bats Clutch in Recent Victories

When Lance Berkman stepped up to the plate in the top of the ninth inning yesterday in San Francisco, I know I wasn't the only Astros’ fan thinking "home run."

Berkman did just that, sending the first pitch he saw over the right field wall (and out of the stadium for that matter) and into McCovey Cove.  It gave the Astros an 8-7 lead and their biggest comeback since I can remember.

With Berkman becoming as hot as the surface of the sun and with the addition of Miguel Tejada and Kazuo Matsui, the Astros' lineup has become downright predictable, not to mention scary.

Astros' hitters have found a way to stay in each and every ballgame regardless of the early score and have come back late in 13 games thus far in the early 2008 season. And we're talking about clutch, clutch stuff here.

Contributions were made by everybody in the lineup, including Brad Ausmus, who launched his first homer of the season into the left-field bleachers on Wednesday night. 

It was none bigger than the three-run pinch homer by Darin Erstad last night that tied the game at seven.

With the pitching staff performing (in my opinion) above expectations for this season, other than the statistic of the most homers allowed by opposing hitters, Houston has an extremely dangerous and potentially deadly baseball team that can do serious damage against their opposition.

Houston enters a three game series starting today against the Texas Rangers in Arlington, with hopes of keeping its white-hot streak alive.

Chances are, Berkman and Rangers' slugger Josh Hamilton will be a daunting task for pitchers on both staffs.

After this weekend Houston will return home to face the Chicago Cubs, who have also been very tough lately.

However, with the way that Houston has played on the road and the fact that they've done extremely well at home this season, it should be a tall order for any club to come into Houston and leave with a series win.

If Lance Berkman continues swinging the bat the way he's been doing, and if hitters like Carlos Lee and Miguel Tejada also go off on red-hot streaks, Houston just might give all other teams a big, big problem.