Along with some stronger comments , Cooper said , "this will never happen again." We all know never is a long time, and even longer when it comes to baseball.

But I like the fact that Cooper is asserting himself . He's trying to make his team accountable, and what could possible be wrong with that ? We all need a little kick in the butt from time to time, some more than others.

That might be the real key for Coop, finding out which players need nudge , and which ones can motivate themselves.

The criticism I've always heard about the Astros is they don't play with enough emotion. Don't misunderstand, I don't think you have to be a "ra, ra" guy, snorting fire to go out and get the job done on the baseball field .

But I like the fact that the Astros cleared the bench and the bullpen twice in St. Louis to they will not be intimidated. No punches were thrown, and order was quickly restored. But maybe the Astros were saying were not going to take it anymore .

If you hit us , we are going to hit back.

Maybe some of this fire is coming from the Skipper . Cooper is here to win a championship and with a two year contract, he doesn't really have time to take the scenic rout.

Whether he succeeds or fails , I think he's got to do it his way. If that means he needs to come in after a frustrating

loss and let his guys know that mistakes are not acceptable , so be it .

Cooper was a skipper in the minor leagues. He has 241 homers and a career .280 average in the Majors.

The man knows something about playing in the big leagues. I'm sure he was yelled at a few times in his career so what's wrong with trying to light a fire under his guys. They are all well-paid grown men who can take the heat.

After 29 games the Astros only have 13 wins. But the team has shown flashes of getting it together. Tonight Cooper and the boys will open a 3-game weekend series vs the Brewers at Minute Maid.