Chicago @ Houston preview

Last Meeting ( Jul 27, 2010 ) Chi. Cubs 1, Houston 6

Lance Berkman hasn’t drawn much interest on the trade market lately. After Tuesday’s performance, the Houston Astros may be taking some calls on their veteran slugger.

Berkman will be looking to continue his strong series when the Astros close out a three-game set against the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday.

At age 34 and in the final year of a six-year, $85 million contract, a player with Berkman’s reputation usually would be in high demand around this time of the season with Houston far out of the playoff race. But Berkman has been showing his age all season, batting just .240 and dipping all the way down to the No. 6 spot in the lineup.

A full no-trade clause scared some teams off as well, and a 2-for-29 stretch entering this series all but torpedoed any chance of Berkman leaving Houston. But the Cubs seem to have stirred the Texas native, who went 2-for-5 with an RBI in the series opener on Monday and snapped a 12-game homerless streak with a grand slam on Tuesday.

The blast provided plenty of support for Brett Myers, who struck out a season-high 12 in the 6-1 victory.

While the late surge probably won’t make much difference on the trade market, a strong finish might convince the Astros to exercise their $15 million club option for the 2011 season.

Randy Wells will be looking to slow Berkman and continue his scoreless innings streak when he takes the mound for the Cubs on Wednesday. The sophomore right-hander has been up and down in his second season but seems to have found a groove lately, not allowing a run over 14 innings in his last two outings combined.

Over his last five starts, Wells has yielded just five runs while going 2-1. But his worst start in the last two months came against the Astros back on June 6, when Wells coughed up six runs on nine hits in 5 1/3 innings to absorb a loss. Carlos Lee reached him for a two-run homer and Berkman scored a pair of runs.

Wells has faced Houston four times in his career and was brilliant in the other three outings, allowing an unearned run in 20 2/3 combined frames.

The Astros will counter with a sophomore right-hander of their own in Bud Norris. The hard-throwing 25-year-old has gotten pounded in his last three starts, surrendering 13 earned runs in 18 1/3 innings. He has not earned a win since May 13 and has had only two outings in his last 11 in which he allowed less than four earned runs.

A product of the Houston farm system and a player for whom the organization has high hopes, Norris will likely be given every opportunity to work through his struggles at the major league level with the Astros going nowhere this season.