Results tagged “lanceberkman”

Astros first baseman Lance Berkman belted his13th home run of the season today in the second inning against Kansas City Royals pitcher Brian Bannister to give him 1,001 career RBI.

Houston, today is the greatest day known to man. It's Opening Day!

The boys from Kissimmee-by-way-of-Houston have won a grand spanking total of one game in Spring Training so far, to go along with fourteen losses and two ties. (Yes, there are ties in baseball, apparently) The pitchers are getting lit up, and the bats are odiously silent. Is this what the regular season will be like? Should fans ready the torches and pitchforks?

With one year under his belt, Astros manager Cecil Cooper is ready for the 2009 season to begin. After a rough first half which saw the Astros at 6-12 to start the season, Cooper and his team got hot after the All-Star break to go an best 42-24 while just missing a Wild Card birth by 3.5 games. We can all thank Hurricane Ike and Bud Seling for that. Houstonist caught up with the Astros skipper at Thursday's Baseball Writers Association of America Awards Dinner to talk baseball. Coach, with spring training just right around the corner, how exciting is it for you this time of the year? Well, it's extremely exciting. We want to make a stronger showing than we did a year ago and we think we have a chance to do that. It's pretty exciting to get there (spring training) knowing that I'll pretty much have the same team that I had a year ago and we'll be familiar with each other knowing we can just go out and play baseball. What was the difference between the first half and second half of last year? It was a rough start, but the team rebounded for a strong second half finish. Well, I think number one, they got used to our style of doing things. Then I think everybody's role was really determined a little bit better and then I thought the biggest key was that Carlos Lee got hot and Roy Oswalt became the Roy Oswalt that we all know and love. The interview continues after the jump.

This one was an easy choice. Andre Johnson was without a doubt one of the best players in the NFL this year.

It's that time of the year again, Houston. This year's mid-summer classic will take place in historic Yankee Stadium as two Astros and two Houston-area products will be showcasing their talent at the 79th All-Star game in The Bronx.

He's fast. He's agile like a cat. And he's the National League Player of Month. Lance Berkman's torrid May garnered the Texan the award for only the second time in his career.

If you're like Houstonist, then you can't wait until Monday for the Houston Astros, MLB's hottest team, to return to Minute Maid Park. So what are you going to do until then? You're going to pack your bags and truck it on up I-45 to Rangers Ballpark in Arlington to see your beloved Astros this weekend, that's what!

For the second time in three weeks, Lance Berkman was named National League Player of the Week, presented by Bank of America, for the week of May 5-11. Berkman, who continues his Triple Crown chase, put up staggering numbers last week.

Astros first baseman, Lance Berkman was named National League Player of the Week, presented by Bank of America, for April 20-27. The Texas native continued his torrid 2008 start by putting up massive numbers. Berkman hit .455 (10-for-22) with four homers and 12 RBI, which lead the league.

With two outs in the ninth inning and facing MLB's all-time saves leader Trevor Hoffman, Lance Berkman was well aware the Astros were just moments away from an 0-3 start, but he didn't let that happen. Hoffman delivered a fastball to Berkman on a 3-1 count and he smashed it to deep center field for a three-run home run to give the Astros a 9-6 win.

A week after the pitchers and catchers arrived, the Astros' position players are due in Kissimmee today. Some, including Hunter Pence, Michael Bourn, and Kaz Matsui, have already arrived to get a jump on the rest of the team. Others, like focal point Miguel Tejada, arrived on time today. Like we did with the pitchers and catchers, we'll take a look at the guys out in the field and see where things lie.

Meanwhile, Curt Schilling thinks Clemens should give back his Cy Young(s), Congress probably wants to talk to him, and reporters are blasting him for not defending his reputation convincingly enough, though he did make a blanket denial statement in the past 48 hours. The Astros, though, say they'll honor Clemens' personal services contract.

The Astros may have 99 problems, but the pitch ain't one. After stumbling out of the gate to start this week's series against the St. Louis Cardinals, the Astros saddled up thoroughbred Roy Oswalt and rode to victory last night, securing Cecil Cooper's first major league win as the 'stros new manager. Oswalt worked with trademark efficiency, blazing through seven innings while throwing only ninety-nine pitches. Offensively, the team rode homers by Luke Scott and...

The Astros defeated the Dodgers in LA last night, but the big story was in how the game ended. The Dodgers were rallying in the 9th against the Astros bullpen (imagine that), and Dodger pinch hitter Mark Sweeney had just driven in a run to bring the score to 7-4, Astros. Brad Lidge is summoned from the bullpen and strikes out Rafael Furcal, and that's when things got weird. MLB.com doesn't allow us to imbed...

The second half is underway and the Astros find themselves flat on their face. After a promising 7-4 home stand before the All-Star break, the Astros were hoping for some form of hope coming out of the gate. Instead, the lowly Washington Nationals sent the Astros to their fourth consecutive loss and 15 games under .500. Astros starter Woody Williams (4-11) was hanging onto a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the sixth inning...

After a historic Thursday night in which Craig Biggio collected his 3,000th hit, the newest member of the elite club garnered the Bank of America Presents the National League Player of the Week for June 25-July 1, 2007. Biggio batted .444 (8-18) for the week, which included two runs and RBI. His five hits on Thursday, which gave him a total of 3,002, were the most hits in a game for a player who...

Houstonians were on the prowl for wood, tools and/or tongue rides at Lowe's last week. What gives? Seems like handy folks are shy - thus, the Missed Connections. Lots of photos were up as well. Although Houstonist is unsure if they help or hurt. Adam Ant? What the? Idiots.

After nineteen hits led to a win on Friday afternoon in Omaha, the surging Rice Owls baseball team scored fourteen runs on as many hits on Sunday to remain in the winner's bracket, and now gets two days off before playing again, which should put Rice's already deep pitching staff in great shape. Friday's star Danny Lehmann, who led the offensive attack in the earlier game, hit an early double and anRBI single, and...

Astros trying fail to stand on rockie ground There is no denying that the Astro’s have hit (what we hope is) their low this season. On Tuesday, both Lance Berkman and manager Phil Garner were ejected from the game after Carlos Lee was intentionally appeared to be hit by a pitch from the Colorado Rockies Manuel Corpas. Luckily the Astros managed a 2 run ninth inning rally to win that game and end a...

Wandy Rodriguez and the Houston Astros left Minute Maid Park victorious after a 5-2 win in front of 37,230 Sunday afternoon against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Rodriguez (1-3) pitched five solid innings allowing only four hits with three strikeouts to record his first victory since July 2, 2006. Carlos Lee put the 'Stros on the board in the the first inning on a RBI single scoring Craig Biggio. The D-Backs would answer back in the...

After Friday night's 4-1 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers, the Houston Astros have decided to purchase the contract of Triple A Round Rock star, Hunter Pence. Pence, who exploded onto the scene in Spring Training with a .571 batting average in 19 games, has continued his dominance at Round Rock and is currently batting .341 with three home runs with 19 RBI through 22 games. Pence will make his MLB debut Saturday night as...

Hey, hey! How about those Astros? With the game winding down with two outs in the eighth inning, the Houston team punched in five runs to give Chris Sampson (2-0) a much deserved victory. With Orlando Palmeiro on second with two outs, Lance Berkman single him in to knot the game up at 2-2. Carlos Lee then reached base on a walk which prompted the Reds to a pitching change and the Astros summoned Mark...

The 10th annual Silver Glove series is set and ready to go. This year's three game series starts tonight at 7 p.m. at UH's Cougar Field as Houston (18-14, 5-1 C-USA) sends Aaron Brown (4-2, 4.62 ERA) to face the fifth-ranked Rice Owls (27-10, 8-1 C-USA) and Ryan Berry (5-1, 2.58 ERA). Both teams will be looking to capitalize on each teams errors as they shoot for C-USA positioning. Rice and UH both currently...

The buzz continues on whether or not Roger Clemens will rejoin the Astros for another (partial) season. Seeing the Rocket as a guest at the Texas Ranger’s opening day made us all a little nauseous, but he’s also still in talks with the Red Sox and Yankees, also. As we noted before, the trouble began late last year when the Astros passed on offering Clemens salary arbitration. In a recent interview, Clemens noted, “If...

Jeff Bagwell came out and said Saturday what we've all figured for a while: He may never play baseball again. Bagwell started several spring training games with the Astros, but left two of them after two innings complaining of shoulder pain; so far, he's hit .219 with two RBI. Bags' shoulder has been a problem since 2001, but it didn't really take him out until last year, when he missed 115 games after surgery. Now, he said he'll probably have to have shoulder replacement after he leaves the game.

You lose one World Series and things start going to pot. Just look at the Astros' negotiations with Roger Clemens, who said he won't decide until January whether he'll return to the team next year. So that leaves the 'Stros in a tough position: If they wait until January, they won't be able to re-sign Clemens until May 1 — after the season starts — but if they make a move and sign him or...