World champ Berkman still consideres himself an Astro

Lance Berkman won the College World Series at Rice, he's been to six Major League All-Star games and started three times and he's certainly made a fortune playing the game which he loves. Yet by winning a World Series with the Cardinals this fall Berkman reached the pinnacle of the sport. "You feel like there's nothing that you haven't done in the sport of baseball," Berkman said back at home in Houston Tuesday. "That's a pretty neat deal. Now I can just ride off into the sunset and say there's nothing on a baseball field that I haven't done." Berkman made his comments at the offices of Tri-Star Productions, where he and the company announced an exclusive agreement which allows Berkman to sign World Series memorabilia only with tri-Star. Berkman, of course, played a vital role for the Cardinals throughout the regular season and certainly in the playoffs. His 10th inning two-out, two-strike hit in Game 6 of the Series tied the game. It ranks as one of the most important hits of the 2011 playoffs and it saved the Cardinals' season. Berkman reached the Series with the Astros in 2005, but he has said on more than one occasion that the 2011 Cardinals are the best team with which he has played. "We had an offense this year," Berkman said. "In '05, we were Andy (Pettitte), Roger (Clemens) and Roy (Oswalt) and then Lidge, Qualls and Wheeler and just hoped that we somehow scratched a run or two out. This team here we had the best offense in the National League and I'm not so sure we didn't have the best offense in baseball." Yet Berkman maintains he thinks of himself as an Astro first. "The only thing that would've made winning a world championship better is if we would have done it here," said Berkman. "I still consider myself a Houston Astro." As usual, Berkman wasn't shy with his opinion on a variety of topics, including the Astros' apparent pending move to the American League. "I think it's a travesty," Berkman said. "We're a National League I say, 'we', I mean it's a National League franchise. If they're going to do something like that, Milwaukee is the choice to go back to the American League." And on remarks about him from the Astros broadcaster Milo Hamilton that he didn't work hard in his final days as an Astro: "I don't hold ill will. It never really ends good. You either get hurt or you get run out of town. Anytime you come to an end at a place there's going to be some hard feelings. I remember Olajuwon leaving here and that wasn't pretty." But that's in the past. In the present, Berkman is still trying to grasp the idea of being a champion. "I'm still texting some of my teammates, saying, 'Can you believe we won the World Series?' Berkman said.