Lance Berkman hit his fifth and sixth home runs of the Cardinals’ last five games Friday night, terrorizing Jon Garland and the Los Angeles Dodgers in the course of vaulting from last place to second in the Major Leagues in home runs. Berkman’s home run outburst began with two opposite-field shots in Arizona, and he’s continued it Friday with two pulled deep into the Dodger Stadium stands.
Berkman’s 2010 season, split between the Houston Astros and the New York Yankees, started considerably more slowly; he didn’t hit his sixth home run of that season until June 3, going .246/.363/.430 over those 40 games. He finished the season at .248/.368/.413, with 14 home runs and 58 RBI; the Cardinals have to be thankful for his off year at this point, considering it led to his availability on a one year contract.
Berkman last hit 30 home runs in 2007, and last managed 40 the year before that. He has 331 in a career that began, the last of the Killer B’s off the assembly line, in 1999, the team’s last season in the Astrodome.