It bugs the crap out of me how under appreciate Lance Berkman was!

After watching the baseball world slobber over David Ortiz over the weekend, it really started to bother me how there was never any love over National League’s version of Big Papi, and I think that’s fair comparison. I’m not just talking about Berkman’s regular season stat line. I’m talking about how he’s one of the game’s greatest clutch hitter, and nobody seems to recognize that. First, he was phenomenal in the 2004 postseason, especially in the NLCS versus the Cardinals. After that, came game 4 of the 2005 NLDS versus the Braves (18 inning game), where Berkman hit a Grand Slam in the 8th inning to make it a one-run ballgame. In game 5 of the NLCS versus the Cardinals, Berkman hit a go-ahead 3-run homer in the 7th to put the Astros in a position to win the NL Pennant. Unfortunately, that moment was hijacked by maybe the greatest right-handed hitter to ever live. In the 2005 World Series, Berkman drove in 6 runs in the 4 games in that Fall Classic. During the 2011 World Series with the Cardinals, Berkman hit a go-ahead 2-run double in the late innings which gave St. Louis a game 1 victory. Then there was game 6 in that series. Where Berkman, after homering earlier in that game, hit a game tying single off of Astros legend Scott Feldman with 2 outs, 2 strikes in the 10th inning, which helped the Cardinals win an improbable World Championship. Berkman ranks 3rd all-time in postseason win probability, only behind Ortiz and Pujols, and everyone seems to forget about him. Yes, he didn’t have the flair and the swag that Big Papi had, but during the era of the 2000s was there anybody you would rather have up at the plate in a life or death situation that the Big Puma?