as a Houston native, i thank you for your faith in the Astros, but my guess is that they are gonna fall hard this year.

yes, Berkman is a stud, Carlos Lee is a bopper, Ensberg should bounce back and Burke should hit, but you can't win if your offense includes a leadoff main who barely gets on base 30% of the time (Biggio) and the 7 & 8 hitters (Everett and Ausmus) are only marginally more productive than the 9 hitter. plus, substituting Burke for Taveras in CF is a big downgrade defensively.

behind Oswalt, who will always be a Cy Young candidate, you have Jason Jennings hoping to prove that last year's stats weren't all about soggy baseballs from the humidor, Woody Williams hoping that no one looks at his home/road splits from last year (gotta love Petco), and Wandy Rodriguez who should be AAA.

and, Lidge has already blown up.

if i'm Clemens, no way do i end up playing for Houston.

as you mentioned, Houston could easily finish anywhere from 1st to 4th. i'd bet on 4th, with the lower places not out of the question.

my darkhorse pick ($100 on them at 50-1 in Vegas): Arizona. Webb + Unit + flamethrowing relievers + lots of young hitting talent.

I thought it was an awesome read.  Your pick of the A's to win the AL West was both intelligent and worthy of immense praise.

"No, cause it ain't sh*t. Ain't nothing but 10 grand. What's 10 grand to me? Ain't sh*t ... Next time I might shake my d*ck." --Randy Moss