"Lance Berkman's slip of the tongue wasn't your average inadvertent trip back through time like referring to the AL wild card winners as the "Devil Rays" or that tower next to the Galleria as whichever name was the old one.

Oh, it was definitely an unintentional slip, but when Berkman – now cashing checks originating from St. Louis – referred Tuesday to the Astros as "we," there was more to it.

Even as he revels in the memory of his Cardinals winning the World Series, a memory fresher than some still-potable cartons of milk at just 12 days young, Berkman still considers himself a Houstonian. It's a bond with the city that did not end when Berkman was traded away in July 2010 and certainly did not end even upon his joining the fiercest division rival from Berkman's 12 seasons with the Astros."