LOS ANGELES -- Prior to Friday's game, much of the talk surrounded Miguel Tejada and the veteran exuberance he's brought to the Astros this season.

As he heaped praise on his shortstop, manager Cecil Cooper was mindful to share the love with Lance Berkman, who, as the skipper described it, "has basically carried us. He's been unbelievable, really, from day one."

Berkman, better known to his teammates and manager as "The Big Puma," came through again on Friday, contributing a double and a two-run homer off Dodgers starter Derek Lowe as the Astros topped the Dodgers, 7-1.

Berkman, who also singled in the ninth, is on a record-setting pace when considering:

• He has hits in 16 of his last 20 at-bats as well as in 18 of his last 24;
• He's reached base in 21 of his last 25 plate appearances over his last five games;
• He's hitting .625 (20-for-32) during his current eight-game hitting streak.

"What else can you say?" Cooper said. "The guy's just sizzling right now, putting good swings. I don't know what else to say. He's been outstanding, for the last couple of weeks, just red-hot. I just hope it continues."

Cooper isn't the only one running out of new and innovative ways to put Berkman's streak into proper context. After some prodding, Berkman acknowledged he's had a pretty good week, and just may be off to his best start.

"Could be," Berkman said. "Everybody's got to have a best start, and a worst one. So I think we'll have to wait until the end my career until we can properly put it into context."

But to narrow it down...

"It's a great week, no doubt," Berkman said. "I doubt I've ever had a week like it and I probably never will have another one like it. I just have to enjoy it."

The offensive effort wasn't limited to Berkman. Following his leadoff double in the second, Carlos Lee drove him in with a double down the left-field line. Lee scored on a grounder from Hunter Pence, who reached on a Jeff Kent error.

Kazuo Matsui logged an RBI double in the third after Michael Bourn reached on an infield single. Matsui later scored on Lee's sacrifice fly. Berkman's 12th homer of the year in the fifth put the Astros ahead by six, and a Tejada RBI double in the ninth capped the runaway win.

Brian Moehler logged his first win of the season in his first start since September of 2006. Tabbed as a long reliever/spot starter, Moehler has had few pitching opportunities this year and compiled only five appearances in the first five weeks, totaling seven innings.

Clearly, the lack of playing time didn't affect him while facing the Dodgers. The right-hander provided five shutout frames, yielding five hits and striking out five during an 81-pitch performance.

"What I'm thinking is, he's the same guy we had last year," Cooper said. "Every time he had an opportunity to pitch last year -- be it 10 days without throwing or two weeks or whatever -- he came in and threw strikes. That's what I anticipated tonight, and that's what he did."

Moehler threw first-pitch strikes to 15 of 21 batters he faced, and of the 15, he recorded outs on 13.

"Moe' is all business when he steps on the mound, whether it's out of the bullpen or starting," catcher Brad Ausmus said. "He did an excellent job stepping in for Wandy [Rodriguez] tonight, gave us five solid innings. We couldn't have asked more out of him."

Ausmus, who was paired with Moehler to give the pitcher a veteran presence behind the plate, called Moehler a "bulldog."

"He's been around 10 years plus, and he's not intimidated by hitters," Ausmus said. "His velocity still gets up around 91 [mph]. He still throws well. He really did an excellent job tonight."

The soft-spoken Moehler was matter-of-fact about his outing, acknowledging that he likes the starting role but also realizes he's probably not a full-season rotation solution.

"I'm at the point in my career where I really just want to go to the playoffs," the 36-year-old said. "Whatever role that is, whether it's reliever or starter or both. It doesn't matter. Am I capable of starting? Yeah. But I'm probably not capable of giving 32-35 starts anymore. But I feel like I could give a substantial number if they need me."

With Rodriguez out for at least another week, and likely longer, Moehler can probably count on receiving another start Wednesday in San Francisco.