By Randy Whitehouse,Staff Writer

Over the last couple of weeks, Tip Fairchild has been talking baseball with Andy Pettitte, Jeff Bagwell and Roger Clemens.

Fairchild isn’t a name-dropper. He’s attending workouts at Minute Maid Park in Houston, and the former Monmouth and University of Southern Maine star has worked out with a number of the Astros stars as he prepares for his first spring training.

“They’re normal guys,” Fairchild said. “Most of the (minor leaguers) are kind of timid and don’t know whether to approach the big leaguers, but they come out and start talking to you.

“Because I’m from Maine, a lot of those guys get on me about the weather,” he added.

Fairchild, 22, has been enjoying the warm temperatures in Houston since making the 30-hour drive down from Maine a little less than a month ago. He’s living 20 minutes from Minute Maid Park with Ryan Crew, a Milwaukee Brewers’ farmhand who played with Fairchild for the Sanford Mainers.

He goes to the park on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and typically works out in the Astros’ plush facilities from 8:30 a.m. to noon. His sessions include weightlifting (he now weighs a solid 215 pounds), plyometrics, running and throwing. This week, he began a regimen of two bullpen sessions per week, and hopes to impress the organization’s braintrust, including manager Phil Garner, major league pitching coach Jim Hickey and minor league pitching coordinator Dewey Robinson with a refined cut fastball. The more exposure he gets to the Astros’ staff, the better, he said.

Fairchild’s performance last year impressed the Houston brass enough that he’s been invited to spring training in Kissimmee, Fla., which gives him an inside track for a roster spot with one of the Astros’ full-season Single-A affiliates in Lexington, Ky., or Salem, Va. Only half of the Tri-City pitching staff were invited along with Fairchild. The rest will report to extended spring training.

The Astros drafted him in the 12th round (374th pick) last June and assigned him to their short-season Class A affiliate in Troy, N.Y., the Tri-City Valley Cats. In 20 games, including six starts, he posted a 3-6 record with a 4.91 ERA. In 58 2/3 innings, he surrendered 70 hits and seven home runs while striking out 63 and walking 14.

In some ways, Fairchild’s season was just beginning. He lived in Portland during the offseason. From October to New Years, he worked out at USM and gave lessons at Frozen Ropes. Everything from his workout regimen to his nutrition was mapped out for him by the Astros.

“He’s pretty organized,” said his father, Bill, the athletic director and former baseball coach at Oak Hill High School. “He’s got it broken down into reachable goals. He understands what he has to do.

“The biggest thing was to learn to eat right,” he added, “and he did real well with that.”

He’ll visit USM again when he comes back home for a week on Feb. 24 and throw batting practice to some Huskies hitters as part of his final preparation for training camp in Kissimmee, which starts March 4.

“I’m pretty primed up now,” Fairchild said. “My arm’s good. I feel pretty good. I’ve got a month to get in even better shape.”

He’s rarin’ to go for spring, but Fairchild admits to some anxiety about where he’ll be spending his summer. He also knows that no matter how hard he works, some of it will be out of his hands.

“All you can do is get ready and then just catch some breaks,” he said.