Lance Berkman continued on his roll, going two for three. But though he was able to get on base, he was not able to do any damage by way of scoring or knocking in runs. And Brandon Backe tied his career high with nine strikeouts, but he also surrendered six hits and four runs in his six innings of work, continuing with what has always been a problem, going deep into the game.

I don’t know how the Astros are winning these things. They’re being outplayed, outhustled, out-hit, and out-pitched. Well, most of the Astros are. Lance Berkman tied the Astros team record last night when he got his eighth straight hit in the fourth inning. A hit which just happened to be a home run. A monster of a home run that landed on the choo-choo tracks.

JCF: So now what? Do you get a break? Or do you just dive straight into draft and free-agent prep?

DM: It’s both. Free agency arrives a couple days after the draft so you gotta be ready for both. So with the coaching staff it’s more about free agents or trade targets. Then with the personnel side it’s more draft. Then we’re also working on off-season player development plans for the players; strength and conditioning plans as well. So we’re packing in a lot of off-season planning this week, then that will free up more time to study free agents, trade targets and draft eligible players for the next seven weeks.

JCF: So you don’t mind running down your list of trade targets, do you?

5. Clyde Drexler was one of the greatest basketball players the city of Houston has ever produced. As a broadcaster, well, let’s just say that as a broadcaster he was a better coach. Sure, he’s an improvement over Calvin Murphy, but that’s just because he doesn’t waste time talking about cookies.

4. Mark Vandermeer has a great voice. Unfortunately, when he’s broadcasting a game, you get the feeling that he’s more concerned with trying to fit in one of his catchphrases than he is with actually describing the play. You also get the feeling he’d be happier hearing his voice on a SportsCenter highlight than with the Texans winning a game.

The interesting thing, to me, is with the AHL as a whole. Specifically, just how many teams will there be in the league next year? I ask because the Dallas Stars terminated their arrangement with the AHL’s Iowa Stars. So, at the moment, there is no AHL team playing hockey in Des Moines.

The Dallas Stars are building an arena in the Austin area, and it is there that their AHL-affiliated team will play. There’s just one problem: This arena won’t be ready in time for the 2008-2009 season, so currently the Dallas Stars have nowhere to put their not-ready-for-primetime players.

Do I have any other thoughts? Yeah, Shawn Chacon sucks, and the fact that the team is still depending on him to be a solid pitcher does not bode well for the rest of the season. But I am very much liking that Fat Elvis is becoming the Big Puma – last night was the first five-hit night of Lance Berkman’s career. I’m thankful every night for Michael Bourn and Hunter Pence in the outfield, especially, once again, after watching the Nats trying to play out there.

But despite the Astros coming from behind, again, to win this game, I am still in agreement with the Chron’s Brian McTaggart when it comes to this team. They’re not that good. When the offense is clicking, like it has been the past week, it can beat just about anybody – except for good pitching; I firmly believe good pitching will always defeat good hitting. But when the team slumps, there is just not enough good pitching on the roster to pick up the team.

Oh, don’t be fooled. There is a conflict of interest regarding Andy Pettitte, but the judge ruled, correctly, that Brian McNamee was not the correct party to request Hardin’s removal from the case.

I give you Jose de Jesus Ortiz on ESPN yesterday, making the entire city of Houston look like country bumpkins.

We noticed this little dig, after a quote from Rocket’s pronouncement: “…Clemens said in a statement handed to the Houston Chronicle, a favorite outlet for Clemens and his lawyer Rusty Hardin.”

Gee, Ortiz, are you referring to Mrs. Rocket, who Roger threw under the bus by admitting she used HGH? Do you mean that same Mrs. Rocket who had to sit behind Rocket while he was testifying before Congress, the same Mrs. Rocket who had to sit there as her husband exposed her secrets to millions of people?

I want to know where Ortiz’s cares and concerns were in December and January and February and March and April and May as Team Rocket went on the attack against Brian McNamee. I don’t recall Ortiz telling us to lay off McNamee because of the effect on McNamee’s family when Rusty Hardin played a tape of a phone conversation between Rocket and McNamee, a phone call where a desperate McNamee pleaded for Rocket to please call his son, an ill son who still worshipped Rocket. And where was Ortiz and his call for sympathy when Rocket and Hardin were out there calling McNamee a rapist? Or when people close to Team Rocket were calling McNamee a drug pusher?

The Eric Gagne of the Brewers is nowhere near the Gagne of the Dodgers. He’s more of a Brad Lidge from the Astros-era than he is a Brad Lidge from the Phillies-era (Lidge is 1-0 with 7 saves and a 0.00 ERA so far this season). And Sunday afternoon, with the Astros trailing 6-4 coming into the bottom of the ninth, and Gagne on the mound, there was just this feeling that the Astros could still win this game and sweep the series with the Brewers.

The Astros did tie the game, the sixth run coming on a bases loaded walk to Berkman. Which in itself was appropriate being that if it were not for Lance Berkman’s bat, the Astros would not have been in the situation to tie the game. Berkman, with a homer and two doubles, had accounted for three of the four runs going into the ninth, and his walk accounted for the sixth.

Sure, every once in a long while there those who find themselves lucky enough to cheer for teams like the Bill Russell-era Celtics or 10-Cups-in-15-years Montreal Canadiens. But for most sports fans, embracing your favorite franchise often means bracing for the worst, year after year after tortured year.

Far more often than not, your team is going to end its season with a loss. That’s just the way it is. Of course, all losses are not created equal. That’s why ESPN.com’s Bill Simmons created his ingenious “Levels of Losing.” But no matter how you slice it, the agony of defeat is never pleasant. It’s sort of like that horrific Def Leppard and Tim McGraw collaboration ABC is using for its NBA playoffs coverage. You can listen to it loud. You can listen to it soft. You can even change the channel the second that blasphemous first note bombards your sense of hearing and good taste. But no matter what you do, exposure to such toxic audio assault is going to leave you nauseous and begging for mercy. Losing is like that, too.

Nantz comes before us with a memoir, Always By My Side: A Father’s Grace and a Sports Journey Unlike Any Other. The memoir exists to serve two purposes: It is a brief of his broadcasting career, and it is a loving tome to his father, who’s in the late stages of Alzheimer’s. For purposes of a framing device, the book is set in 2007 as Nantz embarks on a mythical epic journey – mythical because I’ve yet to find anyone who feels this feat was monumental – of becoming the first broadcaster to do play-by-play of the Super Bowl, the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament and the Masters. A journey he makes with thoughts of his father always at the front of his mind.