The Angstros

Lance Berkman, who has supplanted Jeff Bagwell as the Astros' MVP, just got tossed out of tonight's game after a terrible called third strike.

For way too long, the Astros have been defined by the whiny passive angst of Bagwell and Biggio. Even Berkman is a pretty quiet leader, but it's nice to see a little bit of fire every once in a while from the team. For the most part this season, there's not been much fire at all -- just a team that looks happy to be underachieving.

They're still behind by a run against a terrible Phillies team, though, and showing no signs that they're going to score.

Meanwhile, the Texans' season opens in about 100 days or so, and this city will forget the underachieving baseball team at that point.

(Update) The Angstros tied the game, and had a chance to push the go-ahead run to third with a successful bunt. Unfortunately, the batter couldn't get a good bunt down, and the lead runner was thrown out on the attempt. It is amazing to me that major league hitters cannot bunt successfully.

[Posted at 20:51 CST on 05/08/02] [Link]