Astros find their groove in wake of Clemens snub

	Rookie Hunter Pence has sparked a moribund Houston offense, batting .355 with four home runs in his first 16 games. AP

After the last few nights in Houston and, really, for the better part of the last week and a half or so, we are left to deal with this nearly undeniable truth about the sometimes frustrating, yet often strangely entertaining Astros:

Roger Clemens did not leave Houston high and dry.

In fact, Clemens' decision to turn his back on his hometown team didn't hurt the Astros at all. Despite all the screaming headlines, the talk-show reaming and the fan backlash after the Rocket's so-called defection to the Yankees, the Astros are getting along just fine without the big right-hander. The Astros, believe it or not, are even winning.

Saying that the Astros are better off without one of the best pitchers of all time? That might be throwing a little screwball out there. But the Astros are playing better right now than they have all season. Their pitching is better than it has been for awhile. The Astros have, for the first time in a long time, some semblance of an offense, too, something that Clemens saw way too little of in the past three years.

And -- whaddaya know? -- after four straight wins, and seven in their past nine games, the Astros are only 4 1/2 games behind those previously red-hot Brewers in the National League Central.

Who needs the Rocket when you have Hunter Pence?

Anybody who left Houston for dead after Clemens' decision to leave town really couldn't have been blamed. The Astros, being the Astros, have looked alternately lost and just plain terrible at times. Closer Brad Lidge, famous for some spectacular flameouts in the past couple of years, was demoted from his job -- again -- after a terrible start. After ace Roy Oswalt, the rotation seemed awfully sketchy. Third baseman Morgan Ensberg couldn't hit a lick. Craig Biggio, the Hall of Fame-bound second baseman hanging on for hit No. 3,000, has struggled. Shortstop Adam Everett, a defensive whiz, still can't hit his way much past .200.

Then, of course, there was all that mildly entertaining off-field stuff. Manager Phil Garner said a little too much about Clemens' affinity for hitting the links, and it was interpreted by some in maybe not quite the way that Garner intended it. He's been backtracking ever since. When center fielder Chris Burke was demoted (to make way for the rookie Pence), a bitter Burke let his feelings be known. Some of his teammates, including first baseman Lance Berkman, chimed in, ripping the team for the move.

Just the other day, with the Giants in town, Berkman was swept into the Barry Bonds maelstrom, saying that Bonds' impending home run record would be "tainted." He tried to moonwalk his way out of the mess on Wednesday. "It's not something that I'm calling [him out] on it, or any individual is calling Barry out and saying 'Oh yeah, he's definitely guilty,'" Berkman said. "All I'm saying is that there's so much controversy, that there is a stain or a taint to the accomplishment."

Even with all those sideshows the Astros played on, and now, after a win against the Giants on Wednesday, they've cracked .500 again. Oswalt has been close to spectacular, going 6-2 with a 3.14 ERA. The bullpen, with Dan Wheeler closing, has been one of the more effective units in the NL (a 3.36 ERA and the lowest number of inherited runners to score, at 13 percent). Lidge -- whom many fans wanted to tie to the train tracks over the Crawford boxes after his early season struggles -- has struck out 21 in 13 1/3 innings in his last 13 appearances, with an 0.68 ERA.