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| Lance Berkman |
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Once again, the Pirates have appeared to cure what ailed us, and I wonder what it is about playing a fundamentally poor team that jacks up one's own fundamentals?
Great defense turned in by the 'Stros all series. Great defense from Willy, and Adam, and Lance, and Morgan and Christ even Mike Lamb.
And runners were moved over, and the sac was laid down, and strikes for the most part were thrown,and can we play the Pirates for 162 games next year?
We'll see how well the Astros newly found crisp offensive play translates into the coming homestand, but I think we can all take it to the bank that Lance's slump--which had showed signs of ending Friday and Saturday--had the wooden stake driven through its heart with the monster three run short off Chacon.
What warmed my cockles was not so much how far it went--though it approached what he did at PNC during the Home Run Derby--but that the pitch he clobbered was, on closer inspection, a breaking pitch well on its way toward disappearing off the table.
It takes some effort for the naturally sweet lefthander's swing to appear ungainly and awkward, but that's exactly how Lance had looked frequently during the slump, which we can now say was of about two week's duration.
But the fashion in which Lance first greeted the ball and then followed through was once again a thing of great beauty.