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The Sporting News and Major League Baseball celebrate the 100th
Anniversary of the American League in a 1-hour special airing on Fox
this Sunday at 1 PM ET/PT. Hosted by Joe Buck, this television
special includes rare baseball footage and takes a look at the
greatest moments in AL history. To rank your top 10 greatest AL
moments, go to http://www.sportingnews.com/baseball/al100


Berkman fulfilling potential with fast start

by Jim Carley

Left fielder Lance Berkman is having a dream season, something no one
could have expected this soon from the 1997 national college player
of the year (Rice University). Berkman believes it's all part of the
maturation process.

Berkman showed hints of things to come late in the '99 season when he
hit four home runs in 34 games with the Astros, though he batted just
.237. Last year he displayed more of what many team officials believe
is the best raw power in the organization. He hit .297 with 21 home
runs in 114 games and just 90 starts.

But nobody could have envisioned the complete hitter he has suddenly
blossomed into this season. In only a half season, Berkman is hitting
.355, second in the league to teammate Moises Alou (.365), and has 22
home runs and 71 RBIs.

He leads the team with 104 hits, 25 doubles and four triples, and is
spraying the ball all over the field. He also has drawn 52 walks,
just four short of his total for all of last season, and stolen four
bases.

Even Berkman is a little amazed by his current pace and says he knows
he can still go into an extended slump. But he believes his success
primarily has come because of his gradual maturation. He feels it
takes about 1,000 at-bats as a professional to get used to the switch
from aluminum to wood bats. He didn't eclipse that total until the
middle of last season.

He also believes his development was part of the normal process of
learning major-league pitchers' strengths and weaknesses. Now Berkman
believes he's
showing the fruits of that growth process. ...

Shortstop Julio Lugo has been on a tear recently, and he believes his
eight-game stint on the bench in late June helped him. Lugo was
batting leadoff early in the season and in May hit a miserable .243.

The slump continued into early June and Jose Vizcaino made several
starts, enabling Lugo to sit back and examine his problems. One of
the biggest was striking out too much (27 in 107 at bats in May) and
not walking enough (only six in May). He has gone 16-for-37 (.432) in
his past 10 starts to improve to .283 overall.

Hitting second now, Lugo has concentrated on trying to keep his
aggressiveness in check, learning when to take a pitch and when to be
aggressive, and narrowing his strike zone so he doesn't chase bad
pitches. He says he's relaxed now and feels he's over the worst of
his problems. ...

Amid growing rumors that he will lose his spot in the rotation, Scott
Elarton continues to struggle. Despite those rumors and the fact he
hasn't won since May 6, Astros officials don't seem inclined to make
a change just yet.

They believe Elarton still has ability and is just a few pitches away
each game from breaking out of the slump. Elarton has worked
furiously on his days off, pitching extra on the sidelines as team
officials try to help figure out the problem. They have tinkered with
numerous minor glitches and Elarton believes it's only a matter of
time before he puts all the technical fine-tuning together and ends
the streak.

In the meantime, he might be pushing it too hard. He admitted that he
became tired early in his start Tuesday against Arizona (4 1/3
innings, seven hits, five runs) and believes it was because of the
extra work he has put in between starts. Elarton says he's going to
ease up a little before his next start Sunday.

WHO'S HOT

Moises Alou was 11-for-25 (.440) last week. Julio Lugo is 16-for-37
(.432) his last 10 games. Lance Berkman was 9-for-24 (.375) last
week. Vinny Castilla was 7-for-18 (.389) last week.

WHO'S NOT

Brad Ausmus was 2-for-17 (.133) last week. Jeff Bagwell was 4-for-28
(.143) last week. Jose Vizcaino was 2-for-10 (.200) last week.

INJURY REPORT

Outfielder Orlando Merced (right oblique muscle strain) took light
batting practice this week and might come off the disabled list
Sunday.

FEARLESS FORECAST

The Astros will put on a furious run to the All-Star break to move
within two games of the Cubs in the Central Division.


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